Previously on The Saga of Office Boy: The Perfect Man
As the sun barely peeked through my one tiny window, my alarm clock beeped. I moaned as I rolled over and smacked the snooze button. A few minutes later, it buzzed again and I begrudgingly dragged myself out of bed and into the shower. At 7:30am. On a Saturday.
About an hour later, my phone rang.
"Hey," I said.
"I just woke up," said Office Boy.
"I see," I said, smirking.
"What are you doing?""Finishing getting ready.""Okay," he said. "Well, I'm gonna take a shower and then I'll head on over."
"Alrighty," I said. "I'll see you in a bit."
"Do you want to get breakfast on the way?""Sure. That sounds good.""Okay. I'll see you soon.""Bye.""Bye."
I hung up the phone and chuckled to myself. Why am I not surprised? Office Boy is wonderful, but he has this habit of not always waking up when he's supposed to. Or waking up at all. Until I've sufficiently freaked out. But it's all good. Early mornings aren't really his thing. Or mine.
I finished getting ready, packed an extra bag with a different pair of shoes in case the mud from the night before had sufficiently dried, and went upstairs to wait. I plopped myself on the couch next to Westley, our cockapoo puppy, and proceeded to wait. Westley stared out the window, looking utterly dejected and depressed which could only mean one thing -- mom was gone.
Office Boy had not yet called to let me know that he was on his way over, so I got Westley psyched up, grabbed a leash, and headed out the door to take him on a walk. We wandered down the road and through the col-de-sacs throughout the neighborhood. After we had walked about half of the neighborhood, my phone rang. It was Office Boy.
"Where are you?" he asked.
"I'm taking Westley on a walk."
"Well, I'm here.""Oh, well you never called to let me know that you were on your way.""Well, how close are you?""Not too far, I just need to walk back up the road. I'll be there in just a couple of minutes." (My neighborhood is super small.)
"Okay. See you soon."
I continued on the walk slowly, cutting out a few of the col-de-sacs when my phone rang again. This time it was my dad.
"Hey, where are you?""Taking Westley on a walk.""Well, Office Boy is here.""I know. He just called me. I'll be back in a couple of minutes.""Where exactly are you?""Walking up Kenwood.""Okay," he said. "If you go up that road and around the corner, she'll be there," he said to Office Boy.
I hung up the phone and a minute later Office Boy walked around the corner. I waved and he excitedly greeted Westley. I let go off the leash and off the puppy ran towards Office Boy.
After a brief conversation with my family, we hopped on the road and made our way down I-95 and after a bit stopped at a Cracker Barrel for some breakfast.
"Hey, let's go to Waffle House!" Office Boy exclaimed as we passed the Waffle House next door to the Cracker Barrel.
"Umm...I think I'm good. Besides, you can get waffles at Cracker Barrel.""No, you can't.""Well, it'll be fine."
We parked, walked into the Cracker Barrel, and up to the hostess stand. While we waited, we went and sat outside on the rocking chairs. After a short time, they called our name and we were seated and proceeded to look over the menu.
"So umm...where are the waffles?" Office Boy asked, an eyebrow raised. I looked over the menu one more time.
"Fine, you were right. They don't have waffles, I'm sorry," I said. "But you can have waffles later."
We proceeded to glance over the menu, make our selections and then move on to the most important activity of any trip to Cracker Barrel -- playing the triangle game.
I played it and proceeded to only have four pegs left. Quite the failure, but in my defense I hadn't played the game in years. Office Boy smirked, took the game and proceeded to play it and end up with only two pegs left. My competitive side immediately kicked in as I grabbed the triangle game away from him.
It took several tries but I finally had to admit that Office Boy was better at the triangle game than I was. ((sigh))
We finished breakfast and headed on our way. It was quite an adventure, considering we were out in the middle of nowhere, but we eventually found it: the Virginia Renaissance Faire.
We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the Renaissance Faire, looking at various shops and talking with merchants.
"Do you want to see me breath fire?!" Yelled a young man on stilts.
"Yes, I do!" exclaimed Office Boy excitedly.
"Do you like juggling and puppies?! Then come to the Rose Stage at 1:30pm."
And so we went, to the Rose Stage at 1:30pm. We watched a young man juggle bowling pins, juggle bowling pins while spinning a plate in his mouth, juggle bowling pins while spinning a plate in his mouth and walking on a ball. He also did that with swords. And other things. At one point, he asked for volunteers from the audience and I volunteered Office Boy. He was slightly peeved, but did an admirable job assisting the crazy juggling teen by turning a jump rope. Yep. A jump rope.And then he breathed fire (the guy, not Office Boy). And Office Boy got 5-year-old little boy excited and it was kind of adorable.
After that, we continued to wander through the various shops, stopping here and there to look at jewelry, swords, and other wares that the merchants were selling. We eventually made our way down to the "pub," which in reality was a big white tent with a bar, a stage, and some tables and benches.
"What do you have that she might like?" he asked the barmaid. "She doesn't like beer."
"What about cider? A hard cider?" offered the barmaid.
"Could I try some first?" I asked. The barmaid nodded, poured a sample of the cider and handed it to me. Admittedly, it's not my favorite, but I did like it, so I nodded for her to pour me a glass.
"Alright. So now...what do you have that's like an IPA?" asked Office Boy.
"An IPA," said the bartender, chuckling.
"Well, alright then," Office Boy said, smiling.
The bartender poured Office Boy his beer and the barmaid handed me my cider, we paid and stepped away. We didn't make it two feet before Office Boy struck up a conversation with a man with a cane in a kilt. Yes. You read that correctly.
Beer and cider in hand, we continued to meander through the shops and stalls, purchasing some cinnamon sugar covered pecans and almonds, and wandering back to another section of the Faire where we found archery, ax throwing, and a corset shop.
"You should try one on," said Office Boy, as we looked in at the corset stall.
"Umm...nope. I think I'm good.""Oh, come on. Why not?""I don't really want to.""Please?" he said, using the sad, puppy eye look.
"Fine. I'll try one on, but only if you try one on, too." Office Boy looked at me in surprise and pondered the thought for a moment.
"Deal."
We walked into the shop and proceeded to converse with a gentleman. He estimated my measurements and told me where to begin looking for a corset I might like as he assisted Office Boy in finding one. This proved a bit difficult considering most of the corsets in the shop were for women and Office Boy is...well, a man. After a short time, the merchant had me laced up good and tight in a black and purple over bust corset and Office Boy laced up in a brown leather under bust corset. I really wish I had taken a picture, but alas, I did not.
And after wearing a corset, I must say that, as good as I looked and as tiny as my waist was, I am very glad we don't wear corsets anymore.
After our mutual corset venture, Office Boy and I tried our hand at archery and I am pleased to say I redeemed my failure at the triangle peg game from earlier and kicked his butt. Although, in his defense, he'd never shot archery before and I shot almost every summer through middle school and high school. But still I beat him. And redeemed myself. Win.
The rest of the Renaissance Faire passed by rather quietly. We continued to wander through a few more shops we had missed during the first go around, purchased some yummy funnel cake, and eventually made our way back to the entrance where we snapped the only picture of both of us from the day and headed on our way.
And for your enjoyment, a few more pictures from the day.
Do you have a question for Office Boy or me? Next week we will be putting up the long awaited Q&A post, but we are still accepting questions. They can be for me, for him, or for the two of us as a couple and can literally be about anything. Many of you have been following the Saga faithfully since the beginning and commenting regularly, so I'm sure you must have some questions and we want them! Leave a comment here, send me a tweet, comment on the facebook page or send me an email. I look forward to seeing all your questions!
----------
To read more posts from The Saga of Office Boy, click here.
Like what you're reading? Consider liking me on Facebook or following me on Twitter!
