This is another one of those journals that I won’t be able to post for another month; because I don’t want to spoil any surprises. But I have to write about it now because I’m dealing with it now.

This afternoon Candyce and I hiked Camelback mountain. I’ve wanted to hike with Candyce this spring anyway, but the big reason was to give Candyce a headfake so she would think I was going to propose to her. Her dad proposed to her mom on the mountain back in the day, and it’s a probable place that I would propose to their daughter.

Candyce on Camelback Mountain

Candyce sits amongst granite boulders. You can see downtown Phoenix in the distance.

I’ve had ring for her for over three weeks now, and I am planning on proposing to her when we go out to San Diego together at the end of this month. Today’s trip of the mountain kind of diffuses expectation and creates more suspense so that when I do propose to her, it will be more fun.

We watched the sunset and enjoyed watching the colors of the trees and mountains change as the sun neared the horizon. The citrus trees were blooming in Arcadia at the foot of the mountain, and when the wind blew, the air was filled with the intoxicating aroma of orange blossoms. I swear that is the best smell in the world.

What a sunset! The mountains in the distance still had snow sprinkled on the top.

Once we got down from the mountain, we had dinner at Postino, a hip wine bar in a converted post office in Arcadia. It’s about as cool as you can get, and that means Thursday night it’s packed. The food is good, so it’s always worth the wait. By the time we were finished with our meal, it was cold out, so we decided to grab some coffee across the parking lot at LGO. Before we could make it through the door, we ran into Hipster Billy and his friend who was in town from Indiana.

Billy informed me that he finally wrote a movie review for lifeteen.com. He’s a film student, articulate, and a good Catholic, so he’s the perfect candidate to write for the site. I’ve harassed him for two years, and out of no where Adam the intern asked him once and he said yes. Go figure.

We finished tonight at Kevin Day’s birthday party. It seemed like all of our friends were there, so it was just a good time. It’s one of those parties that you leave feeling really thankful for so many good friends.

Now I’m here at the house burning off the last bit of caffeine from the cup of coffee I drank two hours ago. I’ve been conditioned to have anxiety on Thursday nights because I’ve traveled on almost every Friday for the past five years. It didn’t matter how much fun I would have on Thursday night, I knew that I had to go home and pack my suitcase, print my flight itinerary, and go to sleep early so I could make it through the weekend. But now life is different. Thursday night practically the first night of the weekend. Life is just so much easier when you have weekends.

Tomorrow I get my MTV Cribs refrigerator.

Mini Cactus

A miniature cactus blooms for the spring.