Blissful weekend

Our cold snap has finally ended!!! Yea! 11 straight days of below 0 temperatures, but right now, at almost 11 p.m., my thermometer reads 28 degrees. Of course that means the clouds have moved in, so it's been snowing all day, but I love the snow.
It was 14 degrees when I got home from work yesterday. I didn't feel like sitting around the condo, so I put Sadie on her leash and we went for a 3 mile walk. The sun goes down around 4 p.m., but it's never truly dark. The moon, the stars, and the streetlights reflect off the snow so it's easy to see far down the street. Too bad that that moose's legs blended with the trees near the hospital. I didn't know the moose was there until I was almost on top of it and Sadie started lunging at it. She pulled so hard she almost took me down. The last thing you want is to have a moose standing 5 feet from a barking, snapping dog. Moose get mad. And when they get mad, they come out kicking! I saw the moose put it's head down and I yanked the leash so hard Sadie came off her feet. I got between 2 parked cars and ducked down on top of Sadie. I'm still shocked that she never made a peep when that moose went charging by, but maybe she could feel my fear. I peeked over the car and watched the moose run into the trees. Maybe it wasn't even chasing us, but it's better to be safe than sorry.
My company hosted a holiday party Saturday night. Yeah, it's a bit late, but the facilities in Anchorage book up pretty quickly. When the boyfriend started talking like he wasn't going to make it to town, I boldly stated that I was going to invite my 32 year-old neighbor. Hmmmm...he booked his ticket very quickly after that. We've been seeing each other since the end of September and this is the first time he has visited me instead of me having to fly to Sitka. I like Sitka, but like all small towns, there isn't a lot to do. The fact that Sitka is an island makes it even worse because you can't even get in the car and drive somewhere to find something to do. We had a great weekend, and the party was a lot of fun! We shopped at Costco, Nordstrom, and Best Buy, which may not sound too exciting, but after all, he doesn't have anything available on the island, and I generally have to do all my shopping alone. It was something we both enjoyed.
We kept my Saturday date with the grandkids, and Jordy chattered away at him the whole time. The girl is absolutely smitten. She insisted on sitting by him. She wanted him to carry her every time we got out of the car. He was having fun with it, though. After lunch, instead of taking the kids home, he wanted to take them with us to shop at Fred Meyer. It was kind of cute to watch both of them.
We got to dress up for the party. He was wearing a fantastic suit and looked drop-dead gorgeous. I had a new dark blue satin dress. This is Alaska. There isn't a lot of opportunity to attend dress events. The buffet dinner was fantastic, which is saying a lot since I don't usually like buffets. The DJ started up at 8:30 and we never left the dance floor. Well, except when he played the 80's line dance music. It was bad enough that I danced them in an actual disco. I'm not about to get out there and do it AGAIN!
I got to meet his kids Sunday morning at church. All I'm going to say about that is that they're not very friendly. Nuff said.
He left Sunday night. When we headed for the airport, he was following me in his rental car. My car had sat outside in the freezing weather for 4 nights and 3 days. That's the only excuse I have for the fact that I tapped my brakes to slow down for a car 1/2 block in front of me that was making a right hand turn. As soon as I did, the back end started fish-tailing all over. The back end went into the adjacent lane, and when I pulled it back, the front end started crossing into the already occupied lane. I pulled it back again, and went into a spin, landing nose first in the berm. I was calm throughout the whole thing, but as soon as I got stopped, I started shaking. Luckily the truck behind me got stopped without hitting me. I started backing out of the berm just as Brian came around the back of the pickup. We stopped at a gas station not far away and he told me he had seen a car go into the berm, but didn't realize it was me. I guess it made him a bit shaky as well. My car generally gets around well on our slippery streets.
The one thing I've noticed since he left Sunday night is that the condo feels more lonely without him. I don't have many visitors, so having him here that long just re-emphasizes that I spend way too much time alone. We built a fire in the fireplace I've never used. We ate meals at the dining room table instead of my usual couch and TV tray. We sat around in the morning and drank coffee and read the newspaper. I've been alone for over 10 years now. I'm beginning to think that's long enough.