I am so exhausted. Gordon and I had dinner with his mother and sister last night, and it was the first time I'd met them, so I was nervous and stressed. I met his sister earlier in the day when we joined her and her friends for a dim sum brunch, and I really like her. And she seems to like me, which helps. I ate most of what was put in front of me at the brunch, though. Chicken buns, shrimp rolls, papered chicken, etc. I think there was an avoid in everything I ate. It was GOOD, but not something I'll do often.

Gordon said it wasn't important for them to like me, but they all seem close, and I think it matters more than he would like to admit.

I got only about 2 hours of sleep between brunch and dinner. We went over to his mother's about 5pm, and I took a bouquet of sunflowers with some purple stuff mixed in. She'd told us not to bring anything, but I couldn't arrive empty-handed, so flowers seemed like the best option.

We spent an hour or so on the patio, eating veggies, corn chips and guacamole. And yes, I ate it all. His mom put the salmon on the grill, and once it cooked we all moved inside for dinner. Along with the salmon, we had rice and salad, and it was all good. She'd really made an effort to accomodate my dietary restrictions, which I appreciated. And dessert was mixed berries with homemade fudge sauce. The sauce was dairy-free, but did have corn syrup in it. She tried, though, and that was more important to me than actually succeeding in working around my restrictions. I ate the fudge sauce.

It went well, though, and Gordon told me that I did great, and that I was 'in' with them. He had said it wasn't important for them to like me, but they all seem close, and I think it matters more than he would like to admit. So far, I seem to have passed inspection.

Better yet, I really like them, too!

After dinner, I slept another hour or so, and did NOT want to get up for work tonight. I was supposed to have coffee this morning with a dear friend of mine, but I don't think I'm going to make it. I'm just too wiped out to stay up late today. I'll see if we can reschedule for Friday.

The rest of the weekend was relatively calm. Had dinner with Anne and the guy she's been seeing for a few months, and neither of us were impressed with him. She deserves so much better. This guy has done something every week that is a major red flag to me. Last week he didn't let Anne know if he wanted to join us until after 7pm, and while we weren't doing anything that required a schedule, we couldn't plan anything until we knew what he (and Anne) wanted to do.... This week, we managed to make it happen, but when we arrived at Anne's to pick them up, it turned out that he'd forgotten his wallet. Now, I understand that we all manage to do this kind of thing now and then, but my instinct says that it was more than just forgetting his wallet - that it was something passive-aggressive. And then during dinner he was very quiet, hardly contributed to the conversation at all, and was generally unimpressive.

Saturday I did very little. Got all my laundry done, did some reading, went to Starbucks for some chai tea latte, and then babysat from 6pm to 2am for a great family. The daughter is so cute! She took a bath, and while she was playing she told me that it was the greatest day of her life. I asked why, and she pointed at me and said, "Because you're here." Too cute! Her parents had gone out to hear a band play, so they didn't get home until 2am. By then I was exhausted, had watched more TV than I've watched in the last several weeks combined, and was VERY ready to go to sleep. It was three am by the time I got to sleep, and I had to get up by 8:30 to get ready for brunch.

I was sorry to see that Rachel will no longer be blogging, though I understand her reasons for stopping. I do hope we'll keep in touch, and that we'll be able to meet up at some point when I go to Texas.