Then that said, the rest of the weekend was even better! Saturday I woke up and went down to Columbus Circle and bought everything I need to finish up my art project, and then home for cleaning and getting ready for dinner with Ben. I love getting ready to go out with him - it's all of the fun of getting dressed for a first date, with none of the nerves. We ate at this restaurant (which would just horrify Rose, I'm sure) which was in retrospect, not the most romantic I could imagine (we got seated next to the band and spent half the meal shouting "what? I couldn't hear you!") but wonderful food and it was totally fun to splurge and go to a restaurant we ordinarily would never go to. And Ben was so generous - I had suggested going there so I could pay for it with the birthday money my parents gave me, but when the bill came, he wouldn't let me anywhere near the check and paid for the whole thing, and then we grabbed a cab and Ben took me to a movie he hadn't particularly been interested in seeing and on the cab ride home when I thanked him for such a lovely evening, he kissed me and said, "I like doing things for you." And it's not the money I'm so wowed by, although that's part of it, after being sucked so dry supporting the louse (I should have declared him a dependent on my taxes!), it is wonderful to be with a man who doesn't begrudge spending money (or time, or effort) on me once in a while. (Besides, the rest of the time Ben and I are both pretty money-cautious and go dutch rather regularly.)