Pride and Prejudice and Perhaps a New Love Interest?!

In case y'all didn't know this about me, I'm a sucker for romantic stories. I can't even tell you how many times I've watched every Jane Austen movie ever made. I'm serious. I've watched them all. The black and white version of Pride and Prejudice from 1945?
My momma's favorite. The 2003 low budget film festival version made in Utah? Yep. I've even been to the house it was filmed in. Probably helped that it was across the street from my Diddy and Gammy's house when they were still with us. Slight tangent, I remember driving by their old house after they had both passed on and I suddenly longed to go running around in the back yard when the grass was being irrigated from the ditch in the back yard. I wanted to go collect walnuts from their tall walnut tree. But I couldn't because they weren't there anymore. And then I looked across the street and someone had torn down the Pride and Prejudice house and built a new one right on top of the spot. My heart was broken. BROKEN. I died to death.

Going back to my point, I love those amazingly romantic stories of misunderstanding and hope and love. I love love. And James had never watched them before, which isn't really surprising. He's a guy and a lot of guys don't watch that kind of thing. So I promised him the best home cooked meal he had ever tasted in exchange for him watching Pride and Prejudice with me. He agreed with the stipulation that if it wasn't the best home cooked meal he'd ever had that he didn't have to watch Pride and Prejudice with me and he would pick the movie instead. I agreed and he volunteered to bring the ingredients to make ice cream.

I didn't want to overwhelm him and push my luck by making him watch the very wonderful and five hour extravaganza with the lovely Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle.
But I feel like the 1945 version doesn't explain the ending very well. And I LOVE the ending. And while the bollywood version is amazing, I wanted James to take the story seriously and felt that he might find the musical numbers distracting.

I settled on the new classic 2009 version with Matthew McFadyen and Kiera Knightley because it covers the story well and gives a very satisfying ending. Now, I just had to make the most delicious meal he had ever tasted.

For dinner I decided to make Chicken Alfredo over penne pasta with homemade garlic bread sticks and a green salad with Italian dressing. I also made Virgin Pina Coladas to drink (because neither of us drink alcohol). It is a meal I have spent years perfecting. I once even made noodles from scratch, but since we were watching the movie last night, I didn't have time between class and homework. But the rest of the meal was completely made from scratch! And it was amazing. James loved it.

After dinner we put the ingredients together for ice cream. James brought ingredients for a salted caramel pretzels ice cream. We made just plain vanilla and started it churning on the balcony and can't call to the living room where it was time to face the music.
"well" he told me with a look of disappointment, "I guess I'm watching this girly show because you were right, that was the best home cooked meal I've ever tasted"
I think I squeeled a little bit.

So, while the ice cream was mixing we watched Pride and Prejudice and we might have cuddled a little bit which was unexpected, but looking back it shouldn't have been because we had dinner together and then sat down to watch one of the most classically girly stories ever and I know that he was only watching it because I asked him to. I guess I just wasn't thinking of him in actual terms of a relationship. But I can't say that I hated it because it was so much fun and I love spending time with him. When we first started hanging out we would talk about people we were interested in around the area or in our classes, but lately we haven't been. It's been nice. And I've been seeing a lot more of him lately. He just stops by and we talk for hours sometimes. Guys, am I interested in James? Because I really wasn't expecting to fall for anyone, let alone James. He's become a great friend. Gah. I don't even know what's happening.

And then, after the movie was over, we mixed the caramel and chocolate covered pretzel bits into the ice cream and sat back down on the couch to talk. It was the most amazing ice cream I've ever tasted. It was the perfect end to a really great day. And James even let me rewind the end of Pride and Prejudice and rewatch the ending. "Mrs. Darcy" *sigh* I LOVE that moment when they're finally together. Looking out over the dark night treasuring each other's company. And then he kisses her and I just get a little giddy every time. James just laughed a little bit at me. I don't even care. It's happy and I love their happiness. It's like at the end of Sense and Sensibility when Edward shows up to confess his love to Eleanor. I love the version with Dan Stevens and he follows her into the kitchen and instead of even saying anything when he proposes, she just walks over and hugs him and he visibly sighs and then they kiss and then I visibly sigh and it's just wonderful.

At the end of the night, James got up to leave. I gave him a hug because I'm a hugger and as I pulled away his hand slipped to my elbow and I paused and kind of looked at him and he kissed me on the cheek, smiled and then walked out the door. Which is good because I think I turned a deep shade of red and lost all train of thought. Guys. I don't even know what's happening. I never felt like this with Hollander, or any of my other boyfriends. But I think I like it.

General Conference Weekend and Polygamist Dating

Hey y'all!!! It's Conference Weekend!!! My favorite weekend of the year!! Now, I don't know if y'all know much about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, but twice a year, the first weekend of April and October, we gather together and hear from the leaders of our church! It's AMAZING!! I feel like all of my worries and doubts are addressed when I listen to these great men and women who lead us! You can check it out HERE! If you are looking for peace in your life that seems to be out of your grasp. Or if you feel like everything is just not going your way, please check it out, m'kay? I promise you will feel something wonderful and peaceful!

In other news, I have been spending some time with that new guy I was telling you about, James. He's super cute, like in a friend way. He's from Seattle and is working on a Bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering. He's really smart. He hasn't asked me out, and I'm kind of glad because I'm having fun just being friends with him. Plus, I feel like everything happened so fast with Hollander that it's nice to kind of just take things easy. Get to know him as a friend and then we'll see if anything happens later. But seriously, he's adorable. We went to get ice cream the other night and my friend Rachel came with us. James surprised us by paying for both of us and we went to sit together. It was funny watch people watch us. It was a Friday night and the ice cream shop was rather busy as we sat down and started talking between us. I noticed several couples kind of watching us with a curious glance. It dawned on me that they may have thought we were on a date. Like, a guy dating two girls kind of a date. Like, a polygamist date. And I guess it would have looked a little bit funny because I was sitting closer to James than Rachel was, but we were all engaged in the conversation. A couple left and I saw the girl shaking her head and I'm pretty sure she mouthed something like "disgusting" in our direction as she left. I turned to James and asked,

"Um, did you see that lady?"

"Did she just mouth 'disgusting' at us?" He asked.

"I think so! I think she thought we were both on a date with you." I told him.

"Why would people think we were on a date?" Rachel chimed in with.

"Because James bought our ice cream. Oh my gosh. I think people think we're on a polygamist date!" I answered. And then we all started laughing. Instead of being offended or getting upset, we decided to play it up. When we left James made it a point to say a little louder than he normally would,

"So, ladies, I got us tickets for the 7:15 show. We better hurry so we don't miss the previews" and then he took us each by the hand and we left together. It also didn't help that he had driven so we all climbed back into his car and we drove away trying not to die of laughter.

I think this is one of the things I love about Utah. People's assumptions get the best of them, which is remarkable because this place is unlike anywhere else in the world. There is a brightness to the people, a lot of friendliness and eagerness to know you. It's a melting pot of cultures because so many people travel great distances to attend BYU. Heck, I'm one of them! But it's almost like people are looking for the strangest of circumstances when there is often a completely reasonable explanation. Like how James was just being a nice person and not dating two girls at the same time. Because that would be a rather interesting situation.

So, y'all, when you see something you can't quite understand, how about you not go to the craziest explanation. And also, don't call people disgusting for eating ice cream with friends. Because it's not. And that would be weird.