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The last two weeks of October were crazy, and then on November 1 I had to go take BJ on an airplane ride to the land of my birth: Minnesota. My parents picked us up and drove back to Eau Claire, Wisconsin, where I grew up. I was so happy to take BJ to my home town to meet my family and bestest friend Tammy!
We went shopping at the mall (Oakwood mall, I remember it was a huge thing when it opened during my 4th grade year), and got an awesome game called Tri-Bond!!! The game gives you three subjects and you have to find out what the common denominator between the three things is. It’s addictingly fun!!! We took it over to Tammy’s house to play with her and her husband Blake, and I got to meet Tammy’s daughter Hailey for the very first time!!! I LOVED Hailey!!!!
I also got to meet my youngest nephew, Elliott, for the first time ever, who was 2, but I don’t have any pictures with him because he wasn’t quite as personable as Hailey. I also got to see my first ever nephew for the 3rd time ever (I don’t get home much) who is nine now!!!
We got home from Wisconsin on Sunday the 4th. On Friday the 9th, me and BJ drove to Pittsburgh to see Stevie Wonder!!!!! It was both our first times seeing him live and man did he rock! He didn’t stop all night. He even stood on a piano bench singing at one point, which I think made everyone more nervous than it made Mr. Wonder.
My Cutlass started acting funny right as we pulled into the parking lot. After the show we got it started, but then when we stopped for gas right outside town the battery died. We got a jump and got home fine. I found out that the new alternator I had put on about a month earlier was bad…..AFTER I put on a new battery. Oops. Note to self, check alternator before running out and buying a new battery. Luckily the shop replaced the alternator for free.
The very next day, on the 10th, we went out to Dave N Busters for the first time with BJs cousin and his girlfriend!!!! We had so much fun!!! Little did we know, it would be the first of like 4 visits in the next 3 months!!! I think we won about 1400 tickets that night. Amateurs.
On the 15th and 16th I missed work due to a sinus infection. The first of two this winter 
BJ was so sweet to me when I was sick. I love him.
On the 22nd I got to have Thanksgiving at BJ’s parents house!!!! I got to me his cousins and aunts and uncles. We had yummy food and played Tri-Bond!
On the 29th it was my b-day. BJ got me the most beautifullest necklace (that I tipped him on to). Hey baby, I just saw on the web site they have matching earrings and a ring!!!!!!!! (www.evesaddiction.com “Tiffany Paloma Picasso Inspired Daisy” set hint hint.) We went out to eat at Carraba’s!!! Mmmm, dericious.
OK, this was like the best October ever.
This month we decided to take a big step forward in our relationship….the family plan cell phones with a 2-year commitment!!! We love our new phones; it was quite an upgrade for BJ! He started taking pictures of everything!
On Labor Day we went to the Geauga County Fair. I LOVED this because we got to pet SO MANY animals!!! Of course, BJ took lots of pics. We petted horses, little teeny tiny horses, bunnies, donkeys, and piggies! We ate fudge, and calzones, and I remembered to ask for marinara sauce to dip them in!!! County fairs rock.
Alrighty, in this month Leigh performed in Sandusky with The ReBeats, The Avenue played in Put-In-Bay for two nights and Columbus, (not to mention the more local Rocky River, Solon, and Lyndhurst), and BJ’s Green Leif played in North Carolina (which meant he was unable to come to Put-In-Bay, but he didn’t miss much).
Aside from all that, BJ and I still managed to make a little time for us. We saw two movies, Evan Almighty on the 10th (our 78th date in case you’ve been counting), and I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry on the 27th. Both movies ROCKED!!! We love Kevin James!!! And Steve Carell or however you spell it!!
June 6th, Great Lakes Science Center. Man is this a fun place to go on a date! It is not for the kids at all. First of all we saw a dinosaur movie in the iMax, which was incredibly fun even tho it made me feel nauseous.
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Our 35th date was Easter over at BJs parents. It was so nice and I was very grateful to spend it with them. Great food too!
On April 21st we had our first show together in The Avenue as a couple! A wedding at Signature of Solon. We got to play the next weekend as well, a corporate event at the InterContinental. Before the show, my parents came into town and met BJ for the first time. That was when BJ and I got to see the A Christmas Story house for the first time!
March 1st – oh yeah! I bought us tickets to see comedian Brian Regan for our 20th date! Man, did we have a good time!!! I remember BJ laughing so hard he almost fell out of his chair. Get this…I don’t know how I did it but I got us front row center. I think I bought the tickets like a week before the show. We were looking right up Brian’s nose.
Leigh didn’t know if she was crazy or not, but she went with it anyway and for Valentine’s Day, BJ got a bobblehead of himself! Leigh ordered it from Whoopass Enterprises. Photo to come…I also made him a homemade card.
On Valentine’s Day, there was a huge blizzard. I was nervous that our date would be cancelled, or ruined, or the restaurant closed. Here’s a photo I took from standing at my front door that day. That blue car is my Dodge Intrepid, a pretty big car!:
But everything remained open and we braved it all. We went to see Helen Welch sing at Nighttown. I remember it was very cold, and we were seated by a thermostat. When no one was looking we moved it up, but I don’t think it worked…it was probably one of those fakie thermostats. I asked Helen to sing A Nightingale Sang in Berkley Square and she did! It was lovely. BJ was sleepy. Helen’s husband Doug asked me if he’d be ok to drive home. I think he thought BJ was drunk! He wasn’t. Valentine’s Day was our 15th date.
On Feb. 28th, in the living room of my apartment, BJ said “I love you” for the first time, on our 19th date. I said it back after the shock wore off 
In summer of 2005, I had just begun working at a music agency. BJ was in my boss’s band’s video, but wasn’t an official member of the band. Whenever I saw BJ in that video, I thought, “man oh man, if only I were 10 years younger, he would be just my type!” I was 29 at the time, and I guessed that BJ was 24 (I was right!).
A year later, my boss decided to create a new band with myself, and we began assembling the players of “The Avenue.” I was ordered to call BJ on the phone and see if he wanted to be a member. Tough assignment! I remember thinking he probably wouldn’t want to be tied down to a silly cover band, he was probably one of those ‘original music only’ dudes. But to my delight, he said “Sure!” enthusiastically. So a few weeks later was the first time I saw him in person, at practice.
We didn’t talk much at our rehearsals, if at all. We were green and focused on trying to live up to the agency’s name. We did a couple shows by the end of 2006, and then during the fall I began rehearsing for a show backup singing for the marvelous Helen Welch. When we finally rehearsed with the full band, there was BJ in her band as well!
At this time something had changed. He started smiling at me, a lot, a different kind of smile than he ever had before. We started getting intrigued by each other and talking when we could at rehearsals. Here’s a photo from that show, I’m in the middle of the backup singers and BJ’s on trombone:
We performed at the Carousel Dinner Theatre (ironically, where I had been the PR Assistant for 3 years directly following college), The Palace Theater in Cleveland, and a show in Erie, PA with a different band. When the shows were finishing, I told BJ to be on the lookout for an invitation to our company Christmas party for the agency. I helped mail out the invites, so on BJ’s I put “Hope you can make it! -Leigh”
A few days later, BJ got his invitation and I saw on our rsvp list that he had called in to rsvp…for ONE. Yes!
So at the party, I had my eyes peeled for him and we spent the whole night talking. Awkward. Then after, we decided to hang out some more. Very awkward. I was sure my initial instinct was correct…maybe in another time and place this would work. But I thought he was nice, and could be fun to hang out with “as a friend,” so when he asked for my number, I gave it to him. Then we hugged. Can you say, AWKWARD!? Here’s a pic of us at that party. Yeah, awkward.
Three days later, BJ called and asked if I wanted to go dancing that night. It was Saturday, December 28, 2006. I loved dancing! I said sure!
Somewhere around midnight, on the dance floor (Velvet Dog in Cleveland), things moved from awkward to tense. By the end of the night I knew we would be much more than just friends. No hug was ever awkward again.
So that’s how we met, and this blog is how we came to be…
