Alex stood up and raised a glass, “I just want to take a moment and wish the Birthday Girl a happy Birthday. Lucy, you are an amazing, talented, sweet, and kind friend, not only to me, but to the love of my life. I hope this year will bring you many good fortunes and success. To Lucy!”

Everyone raises a glass and cheers. I’m pretty sure I blush. I get ready to stand up and say thanks when Alex turns to Sophie and starts up again. “Sophie, I wanted to wait and do this in private, but I can’t wait any longer. I have to ask you now before my heart explodes, You are my best friend and I can’t imagine my life without you. I love all the mushy notes you sneak into my book bag. They make my heart swell with the love I have for you. I want to have you and your mushy notes for the rest of my life. Will you do me the honor of being my wife?” He gets down on one knee and holds out a beautiful diamond ring to her.

There is a hush in the room as we all wait for Sophie’s answer. She has tears running down her face and she nervously looks around before she nods her head yes. Alex reaches out to wipe the tears from her check and she falls into his arms. He kisses the top of her head and everyone breaks out into applause.


Uh, wait a minute. Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t this my special day? Shouldn’t I be in the spot light? People should be applauding me! I’m the woman of the hour, dang it!

I run from the room before my own tears rush down my face. Joni tries to stop me but I mumble that I have to go to the restroom and break free. I open the door to the back room and make my way towards the restroom, head down, eyes blurred with unshed tears and smack right into a solid hard chest. “Sorry.”

“Are you ok?”

That voice, it sounds oddly familiar. I look up into gorgeous green eyes. Coffee Shop guy! I wipe the tears away that escaped my eyes and try to look happy. “Hi. Yeah I’m fine, thanks. Are you?”

“Yeah, just trying to find my brother, he said he would be here but I’ve looked all over and can’t find him.”

“Oh. Sorry.” Keep talking Lucy! Don’t let him leave just yet.

“You apologize a lot.” He smiles and starts to turn to leave when he says “Take care.”

“Wait! Ummm, it’s my birthday. We have a party going on back here, would you like to join?” Holly cow! I just invited a complete, albeit handsome, stranger to my party!

“Thanks, but I really need to find my brother, Happy Birthday.” He smiles that beautiful smile and walks away.

“Yeah thanks.” I mumble to his back. Happy Birthday to me, Alex and Sophie steal my thunder and Mr. Stud Muffin walks away, just what I always wanted.

Meow! Meow! Meow! “Poe! Shut your trap! I’ll feed you in a short minute, I promise.” Oh mornings are the worst. I don’t even need an alarm anymore thanks to little Poe. His tummy is always waking us up before seven. At least I will never be late for work again. My boss is very grateful for that. Before Poe, I would drag myself into work five minutes late. My boss knew I wasn’t a morning person but she was never happy about my chronic lateness. Now that she knows Poe is the one that gets me to work on time, she is always sending me home with little gifts for the punk.

Sophie is already gone. She has left a pot of coffee on for me and a little note that says,

Lucy,
I made you some coffee. Hope your day is filled with surprises! Happy Birthday! Now do me a favor and open your gift!

Call me,
Soph


What is today? I look at the little calendar on our fridge. Wow, you know you are getting old when you forget your own birthday! I look around searching for the gift Sophie is talking about. I don’t see it in the kitchen so I take my coffee and head to my room to start getting ready for work. That’s when I see it. Sophie placed my gift on top of my dresser. I rip open the package and pull out the clutch hand bag I have been salivating over for weeks. I run to find my phone and give her a call.

“Hello.”
“Sophie! First let me thank you for reminding your very forgetful roommate that it was her birthday. I totally forgot!”

Sophie giggles at that.

“And, the bag is gorgeous! Thank you soooooo much! You are the best!”

She breaks into laughter here. “Luce, I can’t believe you forgot your own birthday! And you are welcome. You better get ready for work before your boss thinks you got rid of Poe.”

“Right. I’ll see you tonight. We should probably go out to dinner to celebrate.”

I run up the four flights of stairs to my apartment, this is the only exercise I fit in today, at the door I see a note. I pluck it off the door and take it inside with me. I open it and see this

Lucy,
Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
But nothing compares to the beauty of you.
My ears are burning,
My hands shake,
But that won’t stop me from asking you for a date.
-Finn

I don’t know if that’s creepy or cute.

I sneak up behind Sophie and Alex intending to scare them when I hear Sophie say my name. I stop in mid sneak and listen.
“Lucy is such a sweet girl and I love her to death, but I hope that Simon won’t take her shyness the wrong way.”
Alex chips in with,
“I’m sure Simon will bring out Lucy’s fun side. It’s there and we know that, it just takes a while for her to warm up to new people.”
Hmmm, I’m not that shy am I? I just invited Mona to church with me. Of course, that is the first time I have said more than “Mocha please.” to her in three years. I walk around the couch and plop down in the chair opposite Sophie and Alex trying to act casual and confident but spilling my coffee down the front of my shirt instead. Sophie hands me a napkin and tells me that Simon is on his way. “GREAT! I CAN’T WAIT! I HOPE HE IS READY AS I AM TO MEET HIM!” Why am I yelling? Just because I'm loud doesn’t make me confident. I lift my cup to take a drink and end up missing my mouth when I get distracted and notice the door open. I turn and see an extremely attractive guy walk in. Tall, nice build, green eyes, glasses, dark brown hair, and a smile that will make your heart melt. Simon. Wait, why is he walking to a different table? Where is he going? I look to Sophie and start to ask her why Simon wasn’t coming over when I see a short stocky guy smiling with his hand extended toward me. I stand up to say hello and the guy only comes to my chin. Who is this guy? I want the other one. Sophie interrupts my thoughts and tells me that this is Simon. What?
“I’m sorry. What? I think I misunderstood you Sophie”
I smile trying not to sound too rude. The little guy looks up and says,
“Hi Lucy, I’m Simon. It’s so great to meet you!”
“Oh. Hello Simon.”
I smile and sit back down. His neck has to be cramping from having to look up so much. I glance over to my left and see the cute guy out of the corner of my eye. He is reading. I can’t tell what book it is, but I bet it’s a classic. He looks like that kind of guy, smart and sophisticated but still has a great sense of humor. I sigh. Sophie kicks my ankle and wrinkles her brow. She jerks her head to the guy’s conversation and mouths to me “What is wrong with you?” What’s wrong with me? What is wrong with her? And she really shouldn’t make that face so much. She has such a cute face but when she does that she looks like a cartoon. Sorry Lord. I’ll stop being rude. I turn to listen to the conversation taking place in front of me and stare into space. They talk about the latest football game that was on. I don’t really understand the game to begin with so I’m lost even before they start. I nod my head occasionally pretending that I know what they are talking about.....

I would like to inform you that I will not be posting any stories this month. It is National Novel Writing Month and I have joined in with the masses to try and write a novel in a month. So all my creative juices will be going into this project. I may post bits and pieces to give you a taste of what I'm working on, unless it turns out to be complete poo, in that case, you will not being seeing a thing. Wish me luck!

- Cori

The BF and I went to the pumpkin patch today. It was the perfect day for it too; sunny, crisp, fresh air, you just can’t ask for anything more! When we walked into the gate we were greeted by a dancing pumpkin, which was odd but funny, he danced us to the hay ride that took us out to the pumpkin patch where we could pick out our own little pumpkin to take home. The hay ride out there was great for me, for the BF, not so much. His allergies were flaring up pretty bad and he couldn’t stop sneezing and he started coughing like a maniac for the entire ride out there. We started to get some dirty looks from some of the moms and some even covered their child’s faces so they couldn’t breathe in germs. Thank goodness I carry everything in my bag, I hand him an allergy pill, bottled water, a face mask, and latex gloves to put on to make the mommies happy. He looks at me like I’m crazy and I tell him to put it on so that the others won’t catch his Bird Flu. He puts them on like a champ, and starts chirping every once in awhile. The mothers are horrified.

We jump off the wagon and search for our pumpkins. Don’t worry; I let the BF take the ridiculous gear off once the kiddos ran in the opposite direction. We are walking along enjoying the smell of pumpkin pies baking in the air and feeling the breeze in our hair. I follow the BF up a row of pumpkins and I feel my foot suddenly sink. I reach out for his hand but miss and fall over as I lose my balance in the sinkhole. He turns around just as I lift my head out of the mud. He rushes over to me and starts to laugh as he asks what happened. I point behind me and my foot is up to my calf in mud. He helps me up and wipes my face clean, but I tell him it’s not fair that I’m a mess and he isn’t. Bless his heart, he nods his understanding and jumps into the mud pit splashing mud all over him. He stands up, takes my hand, and walks towards a big pumpkin. My heart swells and I reach up to give him a muddy kiss.


...... more to come soon

Crocheting is a lot harder than it looks, especially when you have two cats in the house! Any time I would bring the yarn out the cats would pounce on it and start batting at it and in the process they would unravel the entire thing. I finally had to go out and buy another ball of yarn since they claimed this one as theirs. Once I got them occupied with their yarn, I pulled out my own new purple yarn, a bright green crocheting needle, and a pattern for a simple scarf..

It took me ten minutes to figure out how to get the stupid yarn on the needle without knotting it on there. Who knew a slip knot was so hard to master. By the time I got the first chain started I was working up a sweat and needed a glass of water. I stood up and promptly fell over. My cats had wrapped their yarn around my ankles booby trapping me! They usually fight with each other and I wasn’t expecting them to team up and work together to trap me. This unexpected camaraderie between them must have risen after the vet told me to cut back on their food causing the cats to become beggars. Now that they have me trapped I fear they will start torture until I give them the food they want. I shout “OK!” and untangle myself and get their treats. Now that they have full bellies I feel safe enough to go back to my scarf.

I have been working on the scarf for over an hour and have only got an inch done in length. At the rate I’m going this scarf will be done in time for Christmas 2012. How did my grandmas do this? They have stiff arthritic hands while mine are loose and nimble! Maybe that is the key to good and fast crocheting, to have well aged hands….