wench

I’ve made the jump.  After a lot of debating and talking and thinking and worrying…. I decided that I’m leaving Wench.  (Technically, I’ll still own it for almost another year… but it won’t be my main blog nor am I sure what I want to do with this site just yet.  It’ll probably just redirect to the new blog if I can’t figure things out.)

Anyway… without much ado… please take the leap with me and go check out my new home!

adorkable me

Leaving your bloggy nest is a hard thing, I just hope you’ll continue to follow me on this journey.

So update your links and rss readers!  http://www.adorkableme.com

I started Wench over a year ago, and though I have no plans on giving up on blogging… I’m starting to wonder what my online identity is truly saying about me.

I started out with the lame “Post-Collegiate Lessons”, then very quickly switched to “hopelessly yours…” (the name of my old radio show)… from there I went to “Wench”.  I committed with purchasing a domain and even printing blog cards.  The past few months I’ve been wondering if this is what I want.

Wench stems from a college joke.  The summer after my first year, I was going to work at a saloon in a thrill park.  I was going to be a Beer Wench.  From that summer on, the Wench joke popped up here and there.  And well, honestly it made a decent bowling name.  And from the moment I bought my domain, I was sure and confident in choosing Wench.

But for the majority of the populous, Wench has not-so-great meanings and connotations.   Does that truly represent me?

I’m cool with my tag line, “Damn Awesome and Damn Cute”…. plus, tag lines are much easier to change.  I’m not so sure how it’d work with any other possible name though.  I don’t think it’d work with “hopelessly yours…” (though I’m starting to like that one again).

So, my lovely internet friends and colleagues, what’s a girl to do?  Does anyone have any suggestions that might be more fitting?  Also, it must be said, the pink dinosaurs won’t be going anywhere.  (I also don’t want to take “Pink Dinosaurs” over here, it fits my tumblog much better.)

Do I keep Wench?  Do I go back to “hopelessly yours…”?? Do I attempt to buy “Must Love Geek” from Jenn?  Do I create something completely new?  (If anyone is up for brainstorming, online or off.. I’d be grateful.)

Since my promotion at work… I’ve been putting in 45-50 hour weeks.

The majority of that time has been spent with an employee who makes things less than pleasant.   I thought I’d have some issues with her — I’d only been here about 3-4 months, where as she’s nearing her one year mark.  But there is a reason I was promoted and she wasn’t.

Anyway.  I won’t go into details… but yeah… I’m not the only one who has issues with her.  Which is slightly reassuring that it’s not just my managerial naivety, but it is frustrating when none of us can really work well with her.  Or when all of us dread working with her.  Yes.  For the first time ever I actually dread part of my job.  It’s a heartbreaking realization.

This chick makes me feel like I’m failing.  I’ve actually cried at work because I was just so fed up (luckily I was completely alone in the store).  I almost cried when I saw the schedule for this current week and saw yet another 4 day week of her (I luckily get one day with the general manager where my sanity can return).

She wears me thin.  I don’t think she’s a good fit for our store.  (For many reasons.)  But I can’t really do much beyond just doing my job and pushing through.

At least I have an amazing man coming to spend this weekend with me… and I cannot wait to throw my arms around him and just give him the biggest kiss ever.

“oh fuck, you have no idea how giddy i get when i read your lovey dovey posts!!!!
i feel the SAME way. i’ve always been so put off by people who are all cliche and like wayyyy too into someone at the very beginning…but for the first time in a LONG time, i feel like that. and I’m like holy shit, have i been a cynic all this time???? what is happening to me????

oh my goodness. you make me feel normal. like i’m not crazy. i’m just falling….incredibly, incredibly hard.

and fast.”

-Erika, in a comment on that last post.

I make someone feel normal.   Seriously.
Sorry.  Just needed to bask in the glory of that sentiment for a bit…

You all know I’m uber happy right now.  You all know that I think Jaron is the best.  You all know that we’re a ridiculously, adorably and nauseatingly cute couple.

And as Erika pointed out, I’m not the only one.  I love that I’m sharing in this OMG YAY-ness.  It started out with Joy and her Writer.  Then all the steamy awesomeness that is Erika and Blog Boy.  The VERY brand new-ness (and nothing official-ness, yet still exciting-ness) of Manic Cupcake and The Bad Boy.  And the couple that will out-cute us all, my dear dear friend Lovely and C.  (And as far as well established couples, I definitely look up to Rachel & Dan.)  Doniree and Mawls also recently started things up — though I know less about those relationships.  There’s got to be more.  Seriously.  It definitely feels like the twitterpating started WAY before spring this year.

Heck, even my mom is in a new and pretty awesome relationship.

As much as I love sharing in the glee and giggles, I know not everyone is at this place.  People are going through heartbreak.  Someone I care about deeply put her heart out there and got a “not now” and a lot of mixed signals in return.  I’ve read on at least two or three different blogs how done people are with dating, online and off.  My own brother is ending his second marriage (with a woman who never deserved him).

In observing these other relationships or lackthereof, I found myself comparing where I’m at with all of them.  Is it too early to feel this great, to like him so much?  Is it weird we’ve only talked on the phone once?  How should we be balancing this whole who travels to see whom thing?  Should I not have already expressed that I’d be more than 100% okay if he moved to Chicago?  Is it weird that he and I have both realized and thought about the whole “four cats” situation?  Am I rushing things?  Is it odd that we’ve basically picked out my new couch together?

With all of these ponderings… I only have one conclusion.  There is no right or wrong in this.  There’s only what’s right for us.  Our relationship is not theirs and we’re on our own timeline.  I need to quit questioning things and just keep enjoying it.  Because really, as I’ve said before, this is the best journey ever.

Tired of this mushy adorable, oh-so-happy relationship stuff?  Well, don’t put your barf bag away just yet.

I’m writing this on Valentine’s Day… so therefore my thoughts are all clouded up with all this pseudo-romance floating around.  On any given day my mind is already “Jaron is soooo awesome!  Jaron’s the Best! Jaron Jaron Jaron.” … Add in all this extra-ness?  Yeah.  Big ole quixotic mess right here.

Someone formspring.me‘d this question: “I see that you have liked a lot of guys on your blog so two questions. 1. What makes Jaron so special? 2. How can you be so sure in such a short amount of time?”

I did answer on formspring…  But I did want to address it here as well.

There are many many things that make Jaron so special.  More than I’m even able to fathom.  You hear so much about people talking about how their significant other/partner/someone special just gets them.  And I feel like I can definitely say that about Jaron.  It’s an abstract thing to describe, but being able to “get” someone is just amazing.  He knows how to interpret what I say and mean to say.  That’s big.

It’s a combination of all these overwhelming indescribable things and the concrete miscellanea.  We both loath cilantro, we’re both huge nerds (though I dare say, Jaron may win the medal here), both brass musicians, both have similar indifferences and similar pet peeves.  We both embrace our inner child.  He doesn’t care that I kept stealing (and probably will keep stealing) his power ups.  And he totally gets bonus for being the best cuddler ever and giving multiple massages without any sort of prompting at all.  The butterflies every time he kisses me.

When Jaron visited last weekend there was definitely a moment when I looked at him and thought “I can’t think of any guy who could ever be better than you”…  It was just something small…  We were walking, hand-in-hand, through my favorite park in the city, the Lincoln Park Zoo.  Watching Jaron watch the animals, I noticed it.  He looks at the animals the same way I look at the animals.  It may seem ridiculous to you, but that moment was huge.  I have always wanted someone to share this special experience with, someone who would get it.  Jaron does.

How can I be sure so soon?  Honestly, there is no way.  I have absolutely no idea what the future holds for us.  All I know is that Jaron makes me unbelievably happy.  The distance is hard.  Even this early on.  But it is more than so totally worth it.  We just have to go through it one day, one moment, at a time.

I’m on the best journey ever.

I’ve been tinkering with the design a little bit… no major changes… as of yet…

Not sure how I feel, other than it’s an improvement over the previous.

Thoughts, comments, suggestions?  Links to prettiness/inspiration?

So I’m pretty sure that anyone who follows me anywhere online knows that Jaron came to visit me this weekend.  I had been getting really excited and my hopes were a lot higher than I was really comfortable with….

Well the weekend, and Jaron arrived I was definitely nervous.  An infestation of butterflies took over and I found myself downtown waiting on a train.  I wasn’t looking for the guy I went to college with 5 years ago… I was looking for the man from the pictures, from the emails…  and of course he was at the end of the crowd.

I didn’t have a concrete plan other than I just wanted to spend as much time as possible with him.  And I think we did pretty well.  We played co-op New Super Mario Bros. on the Wii — a game I need to own.  We watched Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog — and he sang along…  And then not wanting to wait any longer, “I vote yes on giving this a try.”

“Me too.”

We’re a couple now.  And a freaking adorable, and probably sickeningly cute, couple.  We held hands through Avatar at the IMAX.  Held hands as we walked through my favorite park — The LP Zoo.  Made out in front of the Puffin exhibit.  We were so cute that a manager (quite possibly the owner) of the Meatloaf Bakery just needed to talk to us.

It was over far too quick.  The weekend, of course.  And it was also almost cut way to short — I was almost called into work.   That would have sucked balls.  Luckily we got a full day together.  And then he had to go back home.  It’s a 4 hour train ride.  It’s not terrible, but it’s definitely far enough.

He was the first to say “I’ll miss you.”  He texted me a photo of my favorite animal at the Zoo after I got back to a Jaron-less home.  My heart would race each time he kissed me.  He gave me massages without one single prompt.  He didn’t care that I kept stealing his power-ups.

He’s the best.

And now I’ll answer!

A couple days ago I sought you out and had you ask any questions you might have for me.  This led to an interesting formspring.me conversation… plus a handful of questions from a handful of you.

I love cupcakes! Where is your favorite cupcake from and what is it?
Quite possibly my favorite cupcake is the Watermelon cupcake from Phoebe’s in Boystown.  It’s a little sweet, but not sickeningly so (Lovely might debate me on this).  The cake, like all of Phoebe’s has a great consistancy, not to dense not too crumbly, and it has a great light frosting.  I also love the Lemon, Bleeding Heart Raspberry, and Rootbeer float cupcakes — all from Phoebe’s.  Basically, besides for the red velvet, Phoebe’s hasn’t made a cupcake I haven’t loved and they have the best prices in town for gourmet cupcakes — that I’ve seen at least.  (I’m a tiny bit of a red velvet snob.)

What is your opinion on love?
It’s awesome.

Okay.  I thought I was in love once.  I thought I was with the person who I would marry.  And I was wrong.  But I’m 100% okay with that.  He and I weren’t right for each other and we both know that.

I love a lot.  But the love it takes for that real true deep love… well, I’m looking forward to the day it comes into my life.  I won’t rush it.

What do you like about Jaron?
A lot.  Okay.  You should know I haven’t seen him in five years.  Nor have we actually talked in at least five years as well.  We weren’t close in college.  We just had a lot of mutual friends, which was common since it’s a small school.

But if you’re looking for a list — which is only going to feed his ego more… (Jaron, did you ask this one??)  … It’s a lot of small things, plus some big ones.  Things I appreciate:  We have the same views/loathing of cilantro, and we both have reactions to it (so it’s more than the “it taste gross”); we have some other similar food preferences; the similar ability to just appreciate things for what they are; he writes super long email responses to my super long emails; he’s nerdy; he built a computer in a fish tank!; he’s got confidence, and I would dare to say he’s willing to put his ego/image aside to just have fun (something I still have issues with); we have similar values, similar love of travel…  But you know what?  He makes me happy.  I have a huge smile on my face.  And I can’t wait to see him in… about three and half hours…

Why do you call yourself ‘wench’?
It all started in 2004.  I was working at Cedar Point in a saloon.  I was supposed to be a hostess, but ended up serving a lot of times.  I also “bartended” some.  Anyway.  The joke with my college friends was that I was going to be a Beer Wench for the summer.  From that summer I’ve used “wench” for things like bowling names.  And going through tons of blog titles Wench just stuck.  Oh.  And I like pirates.

How do you pronounce your name?
Ah! You got me… I don’t actually know! Okay.  Here’s the thing.  “Erini” is not my legal name, I’ve just been going by it since college.  That’s 7 years now.  As far as I’m concerned, it’s my name and one day the government will recognize that too.

My grandfather is Finnish.  So he’s the one who started calling me Erini way back when (before college even), and I really loved it.  The thing is, I cannot speak Finnish.  I can read a little bit of it, but asking me to do so outloud? HA!  Trust me when I say Chinese is easier.

So, the correct Finnish pronunciation aside, here’s what I consider acceptable:
Erin-EE or Air-Re-Nee… Rini (Ree-Nee) for short.

If you’re asking about the CS, it’s just that. C-S.

Why cupcakes over other delicious desserts?
Well, I do love certain pies.  Growing up I only liked pumpkin, but my time living with the Mennonites put a healthy appreciation for the dessert in me.  The only Menno staple I don’t care for is pecan.  I’m also not sure how I feel about shoo-fly.

Anyway, cupcakes are a great size for just one person — you won’t look selfish if you eat it all.  And when you share it, it’s intimate.  Cupcake dates (with friends or otherwise), totally awesome.  Also: Cupcakes are NOT vehicles for icing!  That’s what separates a decent cupcake from an AMAZING cupcake.

I do love other desserts… but after this summer and all the fun I had on my cupcake dates, it holds a special place in my heart.

——————————————-

All right… there’s a question from CMigs for Jaron as well… but he’s probably getting on the train or going to the station… he’s getting ready to see me.  Soo… I’ll have him answer it later.

I should probably finish as much of the cleaning as possible… I underestimated the time I’d need for these dishes and how many would need to soak some… I hate admitting this, but this is probably the WORSE I’ve left my dishes…

I really do like formspring.me, so keep asking me questions and I’ll keep answering them!

This one’s for you, Pham.

So, a friend of mine, Phampants, and his friend Karen are on a mission…
This awesome duo has been working for weeks putting together a youtube video.  Why?  They have one dream*: To become Ford Fiesta Agents.

Seriously.  It’s true.  Watch:

Watch it.  Fav it.  Share it.  Seriously.

All I ask, Pham, is that you give me rides!  Oh! And bring back cupcakes from the places you visit!  What? …  Fine.   But I will have at least one cupcake related trip for the two of you to take for  2010: Year of the Cupcake.

You should also tweet**, facespace it, and pretty much any other social media you can think of.  Let’s clog the interweb tubes with Pham.  Well, don’t clog it so much I can’t function.  I have a super awesome weekend to plan.***

Check out Pham’s post for more info.

*Okay, maybe they have more than one dream… but really… they have one dream….

**Suggestions for tweets: “I think John & Karen should be Fiesta agents cause they are awesome http://tr.im/MGQ3 @fordfiesta.  #fiestamovement” or you know, you’re smart, you can come up with clever tweets supporting them too. 

***OMG YAY!  TOMORROW!!!!

Okay, outside of being redundant, this is going to be all about me.  (Yeah, I know, when isn’t this about me?)

Anyway.  This whole being in charge of the toy store thing is really eating up a lot of my time.  I’ll get used to the schedule eventually, but this is my first week of open-to-close by myself.  Not to mention, I’m paired up with a girl who’s been there longer than I have, but yet I’m the one who got the promotion… yeah…

So.  Not that I don’t think you wouldn’t ask unprompted anyway… I’m going to ask you to ask me anything.  Seriously.  I want to say that no topic is off the table, but there are one or two things I may choose to not answer for the moment.  But ask regardless.

You can either ask here… or via formspring.me/erinichristine.
I’ll collect them for a few days or so, and then post the responses.  Maybe we’ll make this a monthly thing or something… maybe not.

So yes.  Ask me anything.  Heck, Jaron’s going to be here in a few days, if you want to ask him anything*, go for it.  I’ll make him answer while he’s here.

*I mean, he is the only guy I’m interested in… so… yeah.