Fortune telling

The drive to Petaluma was quiet.  I'd mostly abandoned my fantasies and while there were still flare-ups of anger/sadness over that, I'd pretty much resigned myself to my fate and resolved to enjoy our vacation despite the circumstances.  


Our hotel was really nice and my new eye for decorating had me looking twice at the lobby decorations, wondering if there was anything I could pull from their decoration style into my house.

I actually they could have gone with more dramatic pillows than

the blue striped ones.  It seemed a little off-balance with the frame collages.

I liked the hurricanes with candles in them, but I've already got that in my house.

I think mine are prettier

I liked the area and the hotel looked like it belonged in a coastal town.  There was actually a marina connected and our room had a view of the boats, which made it seem closer to the ocean than it actually was.

Of course, I didn't get a picture of the exterior so I had to boost

a picture from the website.  But that's what the hotel looked like, swear.

The room wasn't ready when we arrived, so we set off to look for a Target for a bikini for me and some Neosporin for Drew.  We also stopped at a Trader Joe's to grab some nibblies for our room.  We don't have Trader Joe's in Dallas - I think they're only on the West Coast?  But basically, it's kind of like Whole Foods with less variety and not quite as expensive (in my opinion.)  The biggest thing that Trader Joe's is known for is their Two Buck Chuck.  It's wine from the Charles Shaw winery that is surprisingly good and only costs two dollars.  It doesn't give you a headache or anything!  I wanted to get some since Two Buck Chuck since I've never had it and it's famous and all.  Drew couldn't believe that we'd come to wine country and I was more excited about the $2 wine.  

He only let me get one bottle.  I wanted to buy a bottle for all our friends 

but he wouldn't let me.

We also happened upon the Petaluma street market.  I don't know if that's what it's really called but it was in a part of downtown Petaluma, in the street and you could buy fresh produce and things.  Like at a market. 

This is the only shot I got because I felt weird going to the individual tents

to take a picture of what they were selling instead of buying what they were selling.

We sampled honey from the Lavender Bee Farm which was cool because that was one of the places that I wanted to visit when I saw it on Censational Girl's blog.  Unfortunately, this was as close as I got because I never heard back from them.  The honey was good though!  We also bought some fresh hummus, and had a margherita pizza that killed my insides because the cheese was so fresh my body was like, WTF?  You know we can't do cheese on a good day, much less some shit that came from the cow like five minutes ago.  No amount of dairy pills can combat fresh dairy.  I only halfway learned my lesson - Drew bought some cheese curds and I did end up trying a bite.  But only after I downed six dairy pills.  

By far, the highlight of the evening was the tarot card reader.  On a whim, I stopped at her table and paid for a reading.  I'm super skeptical of things like that and I had my tea leaves read when I was 19 on a visit to Mexico City because my aunt was way into that stuff.  She's the one who would spray me with good-luck body spray before I went out with my cousins so that nothing bad would happen to me.  But I digress.

I told the tarot lady nothing, gave her no background on what was going on with me and Drew.  I wanted to see what she came up with on her own.  I feebly shuffled the oversized-extra thick cards with their weird pictures and gold edges.

I don't remember verbatim what she said, but looking back I wish I had a voice-recorder because girlfriend was spot-on!  It was eerie.  She pulled up two female power cards, saying that I had a very strong energy, a strong personality.  I didn't agree or deny, just sat there with what I hoped was a neutral look on my face.

She said big changes were coming fast, so fast that I may not have time to get ready for them.  I wanted to yell scoff at her because of course I was thinking 'baby' and we know that wasn't happening.  I then thought about the move.  I guess it is possible that Drew's company will give us short notice when they finally decide on the relo, but I kept my lips zipped.

But then she drew the next card and said that I've had some false starts in my life and that I've not properly grieved them.  Actually, maybe it was Drew that got the false starts card - I can't remember now.  But that's not the point!  By then Drew was sitting with me and I punched him in the arm and went "Duuuuuuude!"  Then I started to take notice.  She talked about my personality and how I seek justice, that I want to make things right.  She asked if I was an attorney - I laughed out loud at that one!  I told her I was just a receptionist, to which she shrugged and said I haven't found my path.  I think that's what they're trained to say when they're wrong.

But then she drew another strength card and said that I despise weakness, especially in myself! That the She-Ra mentality is great but that to be a mother you have to be soft.  She said that!  And I said nothing about anything!  For all she knew I had four kids at home!  Or maybe not - maybe something in my body language gave it all away and the cards were just props and she was reading my hand position, my posture and my eyes.  98% of all communication is non-verbal ya'll.  She said I needed to allow myself to be soft to receive what I want, that being soft is not being weak.  By this point I wanted her to read Drew's cards.  I wanted to see what she would say about him.  She didn't give him a full reading but she didn't charge him either so that was cool.

Drew shuffled much better than I did and she started reading off his stuff.  He feels that he has to please everyone and will put himself way last in order to make everyone happy but he rarely feels good about doing that.  I totally punched him and was like, "Duuuuuuuuude!"  That's Drew to a T!  I couldn't have put it better myself.  Then she pulls the relationship card and says that we have to stop fighting and being so mean to each other.  Of course I'm paraphrasing - she used more fortune-telly words than that, but I about fell out of my chair.  I was certain that we weren't doing anything to give off that vibe!  I was touching him, sitting close to him, all that!  Where did she get this stuff?

She pulled up the family card with two kids and right after that, Drew got the same card that meant big changes coming fast.  Of course my baby brain was on overdrive and maybe that meant I'd get a viable pregnancy in the next few months or so.  I knew that only yesterday we'd decided to work on our relationship and not focus on babies, but still!  Big changes coming fast!  I wanted to hug and punch the lady at the same time, for the same reason - planting that stupid hope seed.  Oh well.

It was very entertaining and while I don't really believe in that sort of thing, it was a fun vacation activity.  But I'd be a damn lie if I didn't say that I still have her card, tucked away in my purse.

Just in case.