Sharks, Joe's and love.

Two kids in an aquarium.

It's almost the end of February, which means it's the month of love and that I am safe in updating this blog for that purpose. My manfriend and I just celebrated our 3-month this past Saturday. I'm still trying to figure out how three months has gone by with this man; it feels like we've been together forever already, but really, it has only been a blink. We've been up to a lot recently, including the Mandalay Bay aquarium, he cooked me a very lovely meal on Valentine's Day and we went out to Chicago Joe's Italian eatery for the first time downtown for our 3-month. Every moment I've spent with him thus far has been a pleasant adventure, and I look forward to making many more fond memories with him.

Rae is on a date with Rey,
touching a ray. Whoa.

Rey took me to Mandalay Bay for a date because he knows how much I enjoy sea life, sharks in particular. He even bought me a shirt against my will ... because he loves to dote on me much to my annoyance ;) It was a a great night of skipping through tunneled corridors and pressing our noses up to the glass tanks like we were on an elementary school field trip - except there wasn't a legitimate fear of cootie catching, as there was plenty of hand holding. 


We hung around the aquarium for a while until we decided to catch dinner elsewhere. Overall, it was a lovely, memorable evening, and I'm glad I get to share the memory with you :D 

Rey being a ray. Confused yet?

Jaws 3, anyone?

Walking on water ... okay, 6 inches of glass.

My man loves him some jelly.

Thinking cap.

Who knew sharks could need glasses!

It's just a flesh wound, man.

For Valentine's Day, I was spoiled at the hands of Rey. If you couldn't tell, we're food enthusiasts and thankfully for me, not only am I living with an amazing woman who knows how to cook, my very handsome manfriend cooks as well. Looks like I'm not destined to be a supermodel after all. I mean, what supermodel gets the luxury of this kind of dinner? 

Sorry Victoria's Secret. I choose calories.

He made us a delicious dinner of steak, veggies, his own mashed potatoes (that compete heavily with my mom's ... who knew that there could even be a competition!), and Alfredo noodles. Oh, and bread. AND wine. Yeah, I was spoiled. He definitely knows the way to my heart.

Just a slice of heaven.

Oh, and did I mention that during the day he had Edible Arrangements send me send me a bouquet of this deliciousness?? 

Dark chocolate and strawberries. Yeah, he's a keeper.

 Saturday the 18th rolls around and we decided to celebrate three wonderful months together at an Italian restaurant suggested to us by our friend Sybrina. It's called Chicago Joe's, located in the Fremont area on 4th Street. It's basically a brick house that has been converted into a quaint restaurant, covered in random memorabilia, Christmas lights and a romantic atmosphere. It's so cheesy it's cute. The food was excellent and the prices weren't bad. I wasn't allowed to pay for the check despite the fact that our meal was supposed to be my gift to him, so I can't tell you what the actual damage was. What I can show you, though, is our lovely meal in all of its Italian glory. 

Penne and chicken in a spicy sauce.

Mussels and cheese bread, baby.

I went with the mussels and spaghetti dish because I am a big fan of eating something that will absolutely make one's breath insanely rank on a date. He went with the penne pasta and chicken in a spicy sauce so that I wouldn't pick off of his plate. He had a beer and I had my wine. Together, we enjoyed a lush dinner on our own sides of the table before hitting up a bar at the Aliante Station Casino. There, we had fun listening to a guitar player as he serenaded us while we drank beer and So-Cos and Coke all while snapping pictures of ourselves on our phones. I'm still wondering why they didn't card us ...

We are so special.

The love of my life.

And while the next photo would be considered horrible quality by anyone else's standards, I love it. I don't know why ... I just do :) Happy Valentine's Day and 3-month, Reynaldo. I love you so, so much. Here's to many more memories together.

Oh, the quality of Blackberry.

Staying hungry for love,
Rae.

love and art.

Okay: two posts so far, both about friends, food and adventuresome eating experiences. You've seen the inside of our home, had a glimpse of our wacky fashion sense and have been fed nothing but honesty. But somehow, I'm going to get even more personal with you, which is going to tap into the surface of my ... *wait for it* ... love life. The best part about that is that this also goes along with one of my other favorite things to do (and if you couldn't tell, I have a lot of favorite things to do, like italicizing words for dramatic emphasis). 


I have been super blessed in my life, despite some very hard challenges. I am surrounded by the best of friends, one of which who lives with me, many who are still living back home in Cali, a few sprinkled across the U.S., and a handful that I have had the pleasure of meeting out here in Las Vegas; I have a wonderful, cooky family that has supported me emotionally with every decision I've made thus far, and have had many forms of inspiration come into my life. Denise has a heart bursting with ideas of cooking and traveling, both of which fuel my own desires of learning and seeing the world. She is also very artsy, which is the direction I'm getting to in this post. I have been fortunate enough to know some very talented artists, especially in the field of drawing - which is where I find myself when I put on that art cap (I would call myself a writer before an artist). I've also dabbled with charcoal, which is the medium I am using for my current project, a piece from a scene in my unfinished novel. I really enjoy using charcoal because it is messy and so full of possibilities; every stroke, purposefully or on accident, is a gateway to another way in which to bring one's original idea to life. 


I bet right now you're wondering what my love life and my love of art have to do with each other. As I mentioned twice before, I've been blessed with knowing and coming to know some artsy, inspirational people. One of which is my boyfriend - or rather, "manfriend" as I call him, as he is a man, not a boy ;) His name is Rey (also my nickname from back home, spelled differently) and we met through our work in Las Vegas. There are many things I love about this man including all of our almost-creepy similarities, but here are three things I love about him most and that stick out to me right now: 1. I know it sounds cliché, but he honestly loves me for me; 2. He genuinely shines in our field of work, which emulates the kind of person he is - compassionate and with a heart of gold; and 3. He inspires me in my art. He is genuinely interested in my love of writing and drawing, and he requested one of our last hang outs to be an art session. Rey loves to water color paint. He loves to paint eyes and create characters from curvy, abstract lines. This past week I had the pleasure of watching him paint while I worked on my own piece, each stroke of his brush calculative and spontaneous at the same time. I didn't know where he was going with it at first but I knew somewhere behind those brown eyes that he did ... mostly. The beautiful thing about creating art is that the destination, which can be hinted in its skeletal form, is never completely known until the piece is finished. It's all about the journey there, that is what makes the piece so much fun to work on. Neither of us have finished our pieces yet, but I'm excited to be working with him. I've never really had the opportunity to actually work in that way with a significant other before, and the fact that we share a common interest in art - and, thankfully, so many other things - makes doing them together that much more fun and with little distraction from one another. We sat in his bathroom, the unofficial art studio, in verbal silence while our hands worked separately, allowing the melodies of Anthony Green, NIN's Ghost Album and some Circa Survive provide the tempo for our works. It was a purely lovely way to spend a Monday evening together doing something different from the norm, bonding and creating together in an unconventionally romantic way.


Here are some glimpses of what we have finished so far:

Do you have an idea of what it could be?

Tools of the trade.

Mine.

Outlining.

Hopefully we'll finish these pieces soon and then I will post the finished products for you guys to see. But for now, I shall leave you with a picture of my and my darling manfriend. He always puts a smile on my face <3 

Staying creative for life,

Rae.

At New York New York ... I love you, babe <3