Some highlights:
He stopped by my work on the 13th with orchids in hand and we had Mexican food at a stand a few blocks from my office. Orchids are my favorite and he knows it. Pre-Valentines Day went well and I was ready for the mushiness of the following day.
On the 14th, I drove to his place and thankfully no one was home except for his mom who kissed me hello and then disappeared a few minutes after I arrived.
(Things between Jose and his mom Connie have been kind of tense. A few weeks ago, Connie told Jose she was NOT going to break up with her prison boyfriend despite all the legal troubles. This made Jose very upset and he stopped talking to her for like a week. Jose was also very worried that his mom's prison boyfriend would get his friends to start sniffing around their apartment and maybe relay messages to her....or worse. I texted Jose that he had all the right in the world to be afraid and perhaps he should consider moving his siblings somewhere else to avoid ex-convicts from showing up at his place. Well, Jose being Jose used my text conversation as part of his argument with his mom. He thought I had explained the situation clearly and wanted his mom to understand how worried we all were. Well, Connie then tells Jose I'm "putting ideas" in his head. Oh please. Me? I'm not the one that listens to my jailhouse boyfriend and then gets myself ARRESTED FOR DRUG POSSESSION. I kept my distance for a few days but recently Connie has been nice and things have gone *seemingly* back to normal. I think she knows that if the rest of the kids find out she still plans to stay with her jailbird, everyone will turn against her. She knows me and Jose are the ONLY ones who know and would be screwed if we told on her; so it would benefit her to be nice)
But yes, the 14th was pleasant. I gave Jose a Lakers shirt with Kobe Bryant's name and team number on it plus some "manly" chocolates :) He loved the shirt and put it on right away, as he usually does lol. He played me my Valentines song on the guitar, which this year was "I Won't Share You" by the Smiths.
He might not be the greatest singer in the world, but his guitar playing is so good. No lessons! He just plays by ear and he picks up on songs so easy. He also got me a cute card with a picture of a sleeping kitten on it. We ordered pizza and watched "Oblivion" on HBO, without any interruptions or crying babies. Surprisingly, the house was empty for once and we had a great time cuddling and talking over the movie, as we often do :D
Fireworks came on the 15th. He came over to my house, which was also empty for once and we spent the afternoon having sex followed by dinner at The Hat. Jose can eat meat now so of course he tried the pastrami, which is to die for....yummmmy. We capped off the night at Jonny's house with some beers and Netflix.
We've been talking more about moving in together as he is getting very frustrated with his home situation. On top of the fact that his mom refuses to leave the side of her prison boyfriend, he can't stand how flippant she is about things. She lets his sister Stephanie's boyfriend (*ahem* baby daddy) drive Jose's car without insurance to go pick up food. She forgets to check the water levels on the Civic and fries the engine, which then Jose has to spend weeks fixing. And then last night, she leaves his nephew's scooter in the parking spot and he backs into it, breaking a tail light. There he is to the rescue again, buying a new tail light and fixing the car. Jose's so nice to let Connie borrow the Civic for work because it's fuel efficient and she needs to save up for her own car, but she's always abusing his kindness. He loves that car and is proud that he's resurrected and renovated it from inside to out, so why does she insist on being so careless with it?
Oh and don't get me started on the messy siblings. He shares a room with his brothers who are always wrecking the room and not cleaning up after themselves. Jose spends the better half of his time when I come over muttering about how inconsiderate they are and throwing out empty pizza boxes and soda bottles. He says he tells them to clean up but they don't listen. And then there are his sisters who never vacuum, leave trails of hair on the carpet and leave a mess in the bathroom whenever they decide to fix themselves up for the night. Stephanie's baby son and Liz's 4 year old son are perpetually there (Liz doesn't even live here but dumps Tito off at grandma's house whatever chance she gets). Baby Sean is always crying and Tito the brat is always hogging the TV. Though they're both adorable, it gets a little old after a while to feel like I'm sitting at a day care center just so I can see my boyfriend. It's aggravating for Jose and irritating for me. I just wish I could take him away from that mad house and bring him somewhere quiet and clean. Don't get me wrong, Jose's family is very sweet and kind...but they can be so clueless sometimes, it drives me nuts. Ughhh! I know, I know...when we get married they're gonna become my family, too.....I hope I can become more patient and they can become more self-aware.
We talked seriously the other day over what city we'd want to move to. Thankfully, Jose brought it up so I didn't feel like I was pressuring him. We decided Eagle Rock would be our best bet. It's an up and coming neighborhood in LA with Hispanic and hipster flavors. It would be very close to my work and my mom's house, and same for him. And then a few weeks ago, we were walking around Costco and we stopped at the jewelry section. Again, I didn't steer us over to the engagement rings....he did :D I didn't want to seem overly excited, so I casually told him that price shouldn't be a deciding factor on whether or not he wants to get engaged. I don't need a ring in the 4 digit price range....3 digits is just fine. I'm not J-Lo or Kim Kardashian, I don't need a 4 karat canary diamond ring or anything. Maybe half of a half a karat? :D...0.22 karats even? lol I laugh and tell him he could pull all the fillings out of his mouth and melt them down into a ring and I'd wear it happily. I turn to him as we hover over the pretty, shiny rings and say "I know your dad is a jeweler. If some jilted Reno divorceé comes in and wants to pawn her old diamond ring, I'll take it! Heck, if some shitty morons come in with grandma's ruby ring that's still warm cuz they slipped it off her dead finger, I will fucking take it!" Jose laughs and nods. "Ok. What about an onion ring?" he asks and raises an eyebrow, "Will you take an onion ring?" lol lol
Yeah, sure. Why not? lol
Life is headed in a great direction. I simultaneously want things to hurry up but I want it to go slow, too. My heart keeps expanding with all the love I feel for him. Exciting times!!!!!
