Once upon a time, oh..say, June of 1997, there were a small gathering of pagans (posing as hostesses) working in a dark cave known as the Carousel Dinner Theatre. One day at the end of a shift Nikki and I were on our way out when the spotlight operator propositioned Nikki (no, not like that, you sickos, ), asking her if she'd like to run the spotlight for him during the show (this was a matinee, it should be noted). Nikki replies, "I would for some M & M's!" We all had a good laugh and went about our afternoons. Later that day, the evening shift begins and wouldn't you know? There are two small bags of M & M's from the vending machine in the hostess's podium waiting for her/us. We all giggled and carried on the way teenagers do, but when the time came to give thanks, the spotlight guy didn't know anything about it. Hmmm... weird. Who else might have overheard the conversation? There was a dishwasher/server in the midst, though not a likely candidate to do something spontaneously nice for the hostesses, and there was a bartender there as well... Tough call... So anyway, we ended up blowing it off at that point. The next day we came to work, all of the previous day's candy had been consumed being that they were such small bags and so many hostesses, but to our great surprise there were two huge, new bags of M&M's waiting for us this time!! This was no accident; there was definately someone behind this, though we had made such a big deal about the first small bags that everyone knew and anyone could have been a copycat culprit at this point. Everyone was a suspect! In the next few months, we were greeted at nearly every shift with chocolate treasures beyond all of our dreams, and though we all suspected the mysterious bartender, no one had any proof. We also didn't know who the intended target was either, as there was no evidence past the M&M's that the gifts were still for Nikki. Then one day, our usual visit from the "Podium-fairy," as the gift-bringer was affectionately dubbed, also included a short note reading: "I Love You, Heather!" Oh my stars, can you even imagine?!? This up'ed the ante quite a bit. Well, after the note the podium-fairy also took to buying roses and other such floral arrangements. It was late-July (I think?) when the fateful bag of Kisses was delivered that brought Nikki and Kyle together, and by August, Jeff, the bartender, my (now) husband revealed himself. September 10th was our first date and the rest, as they say, is history. In essence, Nikki's comment to the spotlight guy indirectly found me my soulmate, and the resulting chocolate helped get her an edge in wooing her (now) husband. He (my wonderful bartender) must have spent a "fortune in fudge" (quoting Augustus Gloop of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory) to get my attention. As fun and delicious as it all was, he would have had the same success with good, old-fashion flirting. But then I wouldn't have had much of a story now would I have?

Stay tuned...

Before And After

Would I get a discount if I birthed the baby in the store? - 5/16/05
The end is near? - 5/13/05
The progession of me - 5/10/05
Cleaning update - 5/7/05
Pre-nesting - 5/7/05