05-07-05 “
Saturday:
Tonight was a perfect date for me and Candyce. She finished up a difficult spring semester this afternoon, and I finished up a long week at the studio. We didn’t make plans to do anything cool, and we ended up having a wonderful night.

I was working at the studio until 7:30. It’s never fun to work that late on any day, especially on a Friday. But I was told I had to finish five new shirts by Monday to be printed in time for the 20th Anniversary party in a few weeks. I designed for eleven hours straight and crafted six cool shirts. It felt great. In the past week, I’ve designed a total of seventeen original shirts.

Candyce and her dad met Johnny and I at a hip new restaurant near the studio. It’s owned by a couple who has three other cool restaurants just down the street. The others have become so popular that it’s nearly impossible to get a seat at night. People adore the atmosphere and they love the good, reasonably-priced food. So this place had a following long before it opened its doors.

The new restaurant is on the canal, which is a first step for business owners in Arizona. The canals have been here since the Native Americans ruled the house. Since Arizona has boomed since the sixties, the canals have; carried water to the far reaches of the desert. Even though they are clean and well-kept, they’ve always been ignored as utilitarian and dirty. This boggles my mind because in any other city, builders would be lining the canal with custom homes and hipster coffee shops.

Even though we waited for an hour and a half to get a seat, it wasn’t torture like every other kind of waiting. People who are waiting for a table hung out on the patio by the canal, snuggled into the comfortable furniture and eating appetizers.; Most of the walls were tolled-up because the weather was perfect.

After dinner, Johnny loaned me his Jeep so Candyce and I could drive around Arcadia and look at houses. This is the neighborhood that I’ve explored almost every day for the past year. So it was fun to share my excitement with my girlfriend because she loves design too. It was the perfect night for a stroll around a cute neighborhood. We had a blast.

It’s interesting how a my idea of a “cool date” changes as I get older. I’ve lived in exciting places all over the country. But now the best thing is a night in my own town with the one girl I love. The glamor I experienced with “The Real World” means so little to me right now.