it's like sugar
video	photos	gifts	stories
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The night of my first date with Georgy, I showed up at her house with this gift; a vintage Nordicware bundt pan. I didn't photograph the packaging, but it looked just like this image found on the internet. Georgy and I then went to Barbette in uptown for pomme frites and lots of cocktails.
The bundt pan looked like this, although I think it was a different color — dark green if my memory serves me correctly.
Georgy told me of a book she has that she and Violet enjoy — a book of curious words. I found another such book and got it as a gift for the Kearney house. Sadly, though the new book is loaded with great old words, the compiler and writer did a god-awful job spinning the old words into modern sentences.
I used the book's words and made up my own sentences, then printed those sentences on strips of paper. A trip to Goodwill produced the heart-shaped container into which the sentence strips were placed. Polka dots (and moonbeams) come to mind when I think of Georgy, hence the choice of gift bag.
Here are six of eleven sentences that were placed in the container.
And here are the final five sentences.
And here is the polka-dot wrapping. The image on the card was taken from the new book. The word that accompanies the image is "absquatulate," meaning, "To run off with someone in a hurry. To abscond."
Georgy recently told me about her friends who got a pug puppy. They named him Lemmy, after the legendary founder of Motorhead — brilliant! Here's what Pug Lemmy looks like. Here's what Lemmy Lemmy sounded like.
By chance, I spotted a pug-themed gift bag at Target. I photographed the bag, then merged that photo with a photo of Georgy and me at that State Fair. The headline wrote itself.
The manipulated photo became the front of a gift card. Motorhead lyrics were printed on speech balloons. Practicle items were the gift itself. I now feel that I've atoned for making such a mess of Georgy's bedsheets and for using so much of her lube on my last visit to her home.
The already cool gift bag became much cooler with the speech balloons. Now the bag is Lemmy-specific.
Fuck yeah; Ace of Spades — perhaps the ultimate thrash classic.
Here's the card's front side.
Here's the card's inside.
And here is the packaging.
Two back-to-back nights with Georgy at the state fair were positively magical. According to Georgy, cotton candy is an essential part of the state fair. Few things I've seen are more adorable than Georgy tying into cotton candy. Days ago, at my grocery, I found that cotton candy was for sale by the bucket. Who knew? Then I was reminded of a Chaka Khan song and decided that a Georgy-cotton-candy-gift would need a sound track. click to listen
The inside of the "Like Sugar" card features Chaka Kahn's lyrics and a photo of Georgy tying into cotton candy. What did I tell you? Adorable!
And here is the packaging.
A booze picnic! Gift, card, chilled water, ice, chocolate, glasses and snazzy Irish whiskey are all packed and ready for a nature-preserve walk with Georgy.
Prior to meeting Georgy for another nature-preserve walk on September 23, I walked the preserve alone and took photographs.
I wrote a poem for Georgy and used the photos to acompany the words.
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The nature preserve.
Prettily wrapped and ready for tomorrow.
And now this whirlwind romance is coming to an end. Georgy's parenting commitments and emotional unavailabilty are such that I must move on. The photo above shows a collection of items from previous gifts and (another) special bottle of Irish whiskey that Georgy and I shared, and that I am now polishing.
The new photo became a card. The card will accompany my final gift to Georgy; a small, heart-shaped baking form to which I've attached a chain, making the form into a necklace.
The card and gift are prepared for my get-together with Georgy on October 16. We will meet for frites and cocktails at Barbette, just as we did on our first date.
I must decommision the Georgy photo that has been in my room for the last month or two, not because I'm angry, not because I've stopped loving Georgy, but because I must begin a new chapter in life without Georgy.
Thankfully, my dear buddy Randall recently provided me with the perfect image to replace the Georgy photo.
Here is the inside of the final card I've prepared for Georgy.
And here is what I wrote on the final card.
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