Because Emily Says So

Bacon Pops

2009-12-22T07:43:00.001-06:00

This week, my cousin's boyfriend mailed me two of the bacon lollipops that horrified me so much last month.

Last night, I decided that Art and I should try them. He reluctantly agreed.

Upon tasting his, Art immediately made that face a baby makes when you feed it something gross and it's about to spit it right back in your face and said "Blech! This tastes like a chemical!" Then he ran to the fridge for a beer to wash out the taste.

My reaction was a little slower. I licked the bacon pop (which actually turned out to be a bacon and maple syrup lollipop, a concept that for some reason, I found a little less disturbing) over and over, trying to figure out what it tasted like. It didn't seem to be maple, and it certainly wasn't bacon.

It didn't taste chemical-y to me either, but I slowly came to the realization that whatever it was made of was gross. And for some reason, painful to my tongue.

If you'd like to try these lollipops for yourself, feel free, but I think I've closed the book on these.

Sorry Colin.

Working from Home

2009-12-21T07:58:00.006-06:00

Aww, it looks like today's Toothpaste for Dinner was made just for me:

toothpastefordinner.com

Car Trouble

2009-12-20T19:55:00.002-06:00

I decided quite recently that I was set on living with my love/hate relationship with my car and waiting until June to buy a new(er) car.

So of course, weeks later, it needs its first (not counting the accident or the break-in) repair. Something the AAA guy who had to come help me said was "probably gonna cost me."

So . . . crap. This might affect my time line.

Now, I'm not sure how much this repair is actually going to cost because my car is currently sitting at a Honda dealership with a note in their drop box, but this definitely changes my thinking.

I mean, how much money do I want to put into a car I'm planning on replacing? Then again, it's still probably a lot less than six car payments, so maybe I'm better off fixing my car and saving up a little more down payment money.

There's also the fact that I don't feel prepared. I have it narrowed down to two models I'm strongly interested in, but I haven't taken a test drive, explored financing, or priced out insurance. You know, all those responsible, grown up things you're supposed to do before even considering buying.

Anyway, I'm in a bit of a panic spiral and know I need to step back and take a deep breath on this one (especially since I don't even know if it's even going to cost much money), but if anyone's got any used car purchasing words of wisdom, I'd love to hear them.

The end of an era?

2009-12-17T16:15:00.001-06:00

Last night I had dinner with Stephanie, important ladyblogger and author of Bacon Wednesday, and some other friends at Solera*.

Our friend Becca was having a little trouble ordering because she's recently stopped eating mammals (for moral/guilt reasons), and it was hard to tell from the menu what kind of meat (if any) was in the various tapas.

Anyway, this led to a whole conversation about why she wasn't eating mammals. Which made Stephanie mention that maybe she shouldn't eat mammals either.

Not that there's anything wrong with that. I'm down with the vegetarians**. I even occasionally toy with the idea of becoming one myself.

But this is Stephanie. And bacon is a mammal.

This could shake the entire foundation or our relationship.

*Very delicious. Very spendy. Not a lot of food.

**But not the vegans. Cheese is good. Get with the program.

Twin Cities Thursday

2009-12-17T07:55:00.004-06:00

Art invites us to save the date for MN Beard-Off or stay updated on Twitter.
City Pages reviews what the hipsters haven't ruined. Amber rejoices.
Bill Roehl unleashes his sassiness upon the MVTA.
Ed Kohler is concerned about whom the 1029 Bar's dress code is targeting. I'm also concerned that it doesn't address their cougar overpopulation problem.
Bigboxcar notes that one of my favorite local restaurants is also Packer-friendly.
Camacho Watcho ponders dining out alone.
Jess has yet another shining moment at the gym.
Ericaaaaa discusses eating in winter.
Overheard in Minneapolis makes me wonder if they've been hanging out at my office.
I accidentally listed a post twice and don't have a tenth one for you this morning, so I'll take this opportunity to tell Bill Roehl to suck it.

Winter Commuting

2009-12-14T10:19:00.005-06:00

When I was in college, I had this friend who was constantly trying to one-up people on anything bad about their lives.

If you had a paper due, she had three papers due. If you didn't have any money to go out that night, she was thousands of dollars in debt and could never go out again.

Later, you'd find out that her papers weren't due for a month and her debt was a student loan that she wouldn't make payments on for three years, but still, this girl wanted you to be damn sure you knew her life sucked more than yours.

Now that it's starting to snow here in Minnesota, I often think of this friend when I arrive at work. Because when it comes to their morning commute, Minnesotans tend to act just like her.

As soon as you get into the office, people will ask you how long it took you to get there. And if your commute was an hour, theirs was two. Or two and a half. Or it's possible they left last night, drove all night, and still couldn't get here by 9:00.

I've never lived very far from any job I've had here, and I almost feel guilty when people ask me about it. I mean, if I admit that while my commute was twice as long as normal, it still took me twenty minutes to get to work, people look at me like I kicked their puppy.

I guess I'd better keep my mouth shut about being able to walk to my last job and how inconvenienced I feel by having to drive to my current one.

Twin Cities Thursday

2009-02-26T07:11:00.002-06:00

Oh look, it's Twin Cities Thursday:

Mayor Rybak was totally talking smack about Pawlenty on Twitter. It happened in the evening, so I imagined he'd had a few beers and committed the Twitter equivalent of a drunk dial. This probably wasn't the case, but a girl can dream, can't she?
James Norton confessed things few foodies would at The Heavy Table, which I found totally refreshing.
Ride Boldly! argued that people in Edina believe in magic(!) when it comes to bike lanes and discussed the differences between having bike infrastructure and being bike-friendly.
Oh no! The President was captured by aliens!
The Spoonbridge officially lost its cherry this week, and Walker photographer Cameron Wittig was there to capture all the action. NOTE: I didn't realize how dirty that sentence sounded until after I wrote it, but I decided to leave it the way it was.
Lileks Bleat cracked me up with a roundup of supermarket products.
Girl Friday announced a contest (going on until Tuesday, March 3) to name an upcoming, recurring charity event for animals. If you come up with the best name, you'll win SIX FREE DRINKS at La Belle Vie.
You may have thought you celebrated Fat Tuesday in style, but unless you had this costume, you did not.
Uptown Minneapolis - Past, Present & Future weighed the pros and cons of raising kids in Uptown. Though this issue definitely isn't on my radar, I thought it brought up some interesting points about an area I associate more with hipsters on bikes than babies in strollers.
This didn't actually happen in the Twin Cities, but someone tattooed Andrew Zimmern's face on his calf.

Twin Cities Thursday

2009-03-19T07:26:00.000-05:00

Ten things I like about Twin Cities bloggers:

Katie Jo Cannon and Ed Kohler show us how to make our own Jucy Lucy at The Heavy Table.
Later, on her personal blog, that very same Katie Jo Cannon describes how she got totally owned by a Blucy this week and needs to detox for a while.
At Bus Tales, Joe, a new bus commuter, explains the mysterious etiquette of "bus friends."
I'm not sure why Andy Sturdevant talking about his love for white pants tickles my funny bone so much, but it does.
Minnetonkascenes has some interesting ideas for winter apparel.
MINNPics posted this great picture of a kid enjoying the snow melting.
Bill Roehl reviewed Beer, Burgers and the Bard at the Guthrie. His experience was mixed, but as someone who loves all three of those things, I love the concept!
The Uptown Urbanist asks whether Uptown is a haven for hipsters. And I would say yes.
Here's yet another example of Ed Kohler HATING the yellow pages but LOVING graphs.
And finally, at the Metblog, RAMPANT LAWLESSNESS!

Twin Cities Thursday

2009-05-14T09:19:00.000-05:00

Max Sparber reveals how to charm people without actually being charming.
Stephanie is free from credit card debt and ready to take over the world.
Mitch Berg isn't afraid to admit that he hates Quentin Tarantino. His supporting arguments include a Jucy Lucy metaphor and making fun of the hipsters at Chino Latino, so I can get behind that.
Your Dress Would Look Better on Me features an adorable raisin box robot. Someone make me one of these immediately!
Becca Dilley learns that, for sanity's sake, you might want to leave your wedding cake to the professionals. But her effort is still pretty impressive.
James Lileks writes up a great review of Star Trek.
Across the Great Divide asks if it's realistic to go carless in Minneapolis.
Conner makes his own jam for his lunchtime PBJ. Can I come over?
Jess ponders the Midwestern inability to Just Say No.
The Walker posts a picture of the 2009 National Dance Week crew in front of the still cherryless Spoonbridge. Some of the outfits in the group make me really happy.

Twin Cities Thursday

2009-06-04T10:58:00.000-05:00

I thought I really wanted Raisin Box Bot, but it turns out what I REALLY need in my life is a Swedish Fish Bot.

This image of Twitter jumping the shark from bigboxcar makes me wish I had more graphic design skills.

There's been a huge blogger backlash against Burger Jones, but Andrew Zimmern thinks that it has potential despite its flaws.

Brian in Mpls takes issue with the fact that the Pedal Pub is allow to drive drunkards around and he doesn't. On a not at all related note, he may have the cutest puppy ever.

Jess tells a wonderful hipster joke.

Jason DeRusha is running for governor. Or possibly having some of our babies. It hasn't been decided yet.
Zach does some photography in his new neighborhood and throws in a bonus pirate joke for good measure.
The LoopHole answers an interesting question about vegetarians, vegans, and what some perceive as "pushy" behavior.

MINNPics captures Target field's progress.
Ed Kohler takes a closer look at which companies employ the most douchebags. Very relevant to my current job search.

Twin Cities Thursday

2009-07-09T09:48:00.000-05:00

MNBeer reports that Surly is trying to bring back Darkness Day!
Max Sparber is working on a "punk and glam rock inspired play about the Internet" called NSFW featuring songs like "Facebook Profile" and "Barely Legal."
Glimpses of Soul posts some great pictures of a Saints game. I enjoyed them immensely despite that fact that their mascot makes no sense. Although I suppose the Twins having a bear (not even two identical bears!) as a mascot doesn't make any sense either.
Call me boring, but vanilla is my favorite ice cream flavor, and I'm loving The Heavy Table's local vanilla ice cream taste test.
Jason DeRusha calls someone a douche. Or at least wishes he had.
And on his work-related blog where he's far less likely to call someone a douche, Jason Derusha warns Esme Murphy about the dangers of having an opinion about how to raise your own children and the wrath of Internet commenters.
Stuff About Minneapolis posts the Metrodome's concession prices from 1983.
Rob Callahan of The Rake/Secrets of the City (what are we calling it these days?) is loving that my generation loves nerds. Or at least I think we do. I hope the hipsters aren't just doing it ironically.
I was sad to hear that famous Wisconsinite Oscar Mayer died this week, but somehow this picture of Coco jumping for joy in front of the Wienermobile makes me feel better.
On Overheard in Minneapolis, a woman schemes to spend more time at the Mall of America. Did she not get the memo that that place is a hellhole?

Hipsters & Grammar

2009-07-16T20:39:00.001-05:00

Here are two sort of beginnings of ideas of posts that I've had sitting around for a while and don't think I'll ever get around to fully fleshing out. I've combined them in the hope that the result will be greater than the sum of its parts.

Hipsters
I keep wanting to write a post about hipsters and how they are an affront to society, but I can never seem to start it. I feel like I'd have to explain what a hipster is (too hard) or go into the history of how they came to be (which I don't know and am not sure I want to know), so I never write it.

Plus, I'm sure someone else has already written something on the subject that would be much more entertaining and well-informed than anything I could ever do.

Could someone please point me to that so I can read it?

Grammar
I think I have a fairly good grasp of the English language. I often flagrantly ignore its rules, but in general, I do know them.

However, I really don't like anyone's grammar (especially mine) being corrected*, especially when the person is speaking.

I just don't think conversation should be held to the same standard as the written word. Plus, sometimes saying something the "wrong" way can be much more effective.

Yet I totally relish noticing other people's grammatical errors in any context, even though I probably won't tell them about it.

I'm pretty sure that makes me a jerk in some way (which is probably why I will never get around to fully forming this post), but I haven't decided how yet.

*Sorry Stephanie and Art, I know how much you two enjoy it.

Twin Cities Thursday

2009-12-10T08:00:00.002-06:00

A Day in the Life hits the nail on the head about winter driving.
Speaking of winter driving, Across the Great Divide shares some tips for coexisting with winter cyclists.
Amber gets angry that hipsters are infringing on her fashion choices.
Crystal goes on a Chef Shack ridealong.
Beer Musings from Minneapolis-St. Paul shares an interesting/kind of gross fact about the brewing process. Kind of like when I found out Jell-O was skin and bones.
The Heavy Table clues me in to a local competing on The Iron Chef next month.
Ericaaaaa amends her plan on how to be happy in Minneapolis. Meaning she realized, once again, how much cold weather sucks.
I'm not sure where Jenni actually works, but they seem to know how to throw a holiday party.
Stuff About Minneapolis posts another vintage ad that makes me giggle.
Kate speaks out for adult carrots.

An Indoor, Above Ground Second City!

2009-12-11T13:12:00.003-06:00

Sometimes I forget that there are a lot of things that are pretty unique to the Twin Cities. Which is why this question from a friend cracked me up today:

"I was talking to someone about MSP and they were describing, in detail, this series of walkways that form some sort of indoor, above ground second city. Is this true, and is it cool?"

And because it's both true AND cool, here's a tribute video from local Internet people Leif and Kaeti:

I'm a Big Baby

2009-12-11T10:38:00.002-06:00

I'm never been much of a physical risk-taker.

As a small child, I refused to go in the water unless I was wearing a life vest. And an inner tube. AND water wings. Which was weird because I was already so buoyant that there was absolutely no chance of the water wings getting anywhere near touching the surface of the water.

When I got a little older, one of the only sports I attempted was softball. One day I was playing catch with my dad, got hit in the face (due to my lack of athletic prowess, not through any fault of his), and ended up with five stitches. Which taught me an important lesson of engaging in any activity where hard objects fly around and might hit you.

Later, as a teenager, when other kids were taking chances while driving, I lost the most amount of points on my road test for driving too slow.

Just after college, the one time I did engage in an "adventure" type activity, I completely lost it:

And now, crazy Minnesotans are trying to convince me to downhill ski. You think I should strap things to me feet that will allow me to go careening down an icy hill as fast as possible?

I think not, my friends.

The Bashful Beer

2009-12-10T12:49:00.000-06:00

As part of Art's birthday present a few months ago, I went to The Four Firkins and asked the man working there for the hoppiest beers they would sell me (Art loves him some hops).

One these beers was this Imperial IPA made by the Southern Tier Brewing Company, which we've enjoyed several times since:

What I noticed after I bought it for the first time is that this bottle of beer (which is 22 ounces) is 11% alcohol. If my math is correct (and it probably isn't), this one beer has the same amount of alcohol as five Premiums.

This also happens to be exactly the amount of alcohol is takes to get Art to what I refer to as "bashful drunk."

Every time he has one of these (or drinks an equivalent amount), he remains coherent yet convinced that no one likes him and/or we are all judging him.

Like when I came over after the first time he drank it, which somehow caused him to get really hot (it was late October) and sit around his apartment in his boxers. While I didn't understand this, he lives alone, so it's really his business if he wants to sit around with no clothes on.

Yet when I came over, he hunched over, covered as much of his body as possible with his arms, and said, "I'm so sorry. I got hot. I couldn't help it" and looked at me as though I was about to flee the room in horror.

Another time he decided I was angry at him because he was beating me in Scrabble. Granted, I don't love getting beaten my someone who's Bashful Drunk, but I was hardly angry about it.

So, my friends, if you're trying to fill someone with shame, buy them this beer. Also, because it tastes really good.

Follow-Up Question

2009-12-10T09:45:00.001-06:00

This is a follow-up to this post, but does anyone have any creative ideas for how I can get this onto a key ring?

My only idea is to make a duct tape loop, which I would then duct tape onto the key, but if anyone's got a better idea, I'd love to hear it. I'm not sure how long I can keep track of this bad boy, and I can't find my spare.

Keypocalypse Now!

2009-12-09T22:00:00.002-06:00

Tonight was not a good night for keys.

It all started when Stephanie was supposed to come over for Chinese food. I found out what she wanted, placed an order, and sat comfortably on my couch waiting for our food to be delivered.

And then Kurth called.

Somehow, he'd managed to lock his keys in his car while it was running and was wondering if I could bring him his spare key. I owed him a car favor, so I said I'd run to Edina to bring him his spare key.

Okay, no biggie. I figured I'd call Stephanie, drop my apartment keys at her office so she could grab the food and wait for me while eating and drinking wine, drop Kurth's keys off, and then be home within 20 minutes or so.

It didn't work out that way.

First of all, I got into my car, and in an overzealous attempt to get my car started with my misaligned ignition, which requires some rocking back and forth, broke my key.

That's not good.

Then Stephanie wasn't answering her phone. I drove to her office anyway, hoping that by the time I got there she would be near her phone or outside by her car. She wasn't, and although I could see her in a meeting through the window, I didn't think it would be a good idea to creepily knock on the window of a nearly empty office late in the evening.

Particularly because I used to work there and was laid off not that long ago. That's weird.

So anyway, I sat creepily in the parking lot of my old office, waiting for Stephanie and worrying about the possibility that Kurth's gas supplies were dwindling. I also noticed that my old boss's car was one of the few left in the parking lot and was starting to worry that she was going to come out and see me in full-on creeper mode.

Finally, I got a hold of Stephanie, and I hastily ran to the door of my former office, handed her cash for the Chinese food and my apartment keys, and hurried off to Edina to rescue Kurth.

While I was driving, I got a panicked call from Stephanie that she'd somehow lost my apartment keys. Oh no!

That's when I looked over and saw that I still had my keys, sending me into a panic that I must have given her Kurth's keys, rendering my trip to Edina useless.

Luckily (for me, not for Stephanie), I then realized I had all of the keys (still not exactly sure how this happened), meaning Stephanie was going to have to hang out in the lobby of my apartment building with a giant bag of Chinese food and nowhere to go.

Things didn't go well for us tonight. Drinks were had by all.

Bacon Wednesday

2009-12-09T20:54:00.003-06:00

This week, Stephanie combines bacon with her love life. As it should be.

-Emily

Bacon Wednesday #37

This Bacon Wednesday, I share with you the story of my brief fake engagement this week. I've got the details of this momentous event over on my blog, but I want to share with you how I thought my boyfriend should fake-propose to me.

Long story short, we were joking about all the ways he could tell his coworkers he proposed to me, including those involving food. I quickly vetoed the "ring in a champagne glass" idea, as well as "ring at the bottom of dessert" method. But what did I recommend?

"Oh, I know. Say you'll roll up the ring inside a strip of bacon!" I told Boyfriend. "And the unfurl it and let it come to a stop in front of me. Because if it's too small, the bacon grease could make it slip right on."

As a proposal idea, this is a little ridiculous. Or awesome. You tell me. I guess at Boyfriend's office it never got that far--the coworker picked up the ring and knew it was a fake--but I thought I would share what I decide is romantic if left to my own devices. I wish the joke had worked, though. Just picture the fake engagement photos: me gnawing on my ring to get all the flavor out . . . ah, priceless.

Staying Hydrated

2009-12-09T13:47:00.004-06:00

I am overly obsessed with drinking enough water, and I blame my family.

Both my mother and her sister (the famed Auntie Mimi) believe that a lot of life's problems are caused by dehydration (or lack of "hydration" because they really like to use "hydrate" as a verb as much as possible), and they've passed that belief on to me.

For example, if I get a headache (or a cold, or allergies), my mom immediately asks me if I've had enough water that day. And if I'm not feeling well because I had a new too many glasses of wine, I'm immediately asked "DID YOU HYDRATE?" as if it is a cure-all that will prevent all bad things from happening to you.

In fact, if either of them gets a hangover, it's always because they "forgot to hydrate*," not because they "drank too much."

My mom even left me a voicemail on the day before Thanksgiving reminding me to "hydrate" at Thanksgiving as to not embarrass myself or have a tough time driving through Iowa the next morning.

Anyway, having it drummed into me that not drinking water makes bad things happen has made me drink water to the point where I can feel it sloshing around my stomach in order to "prehydrate." This could be because of plans to drink or just in case for some reason I don't have access to water later and will somehow be able to live off my stored fluids like a bear hibernating in winter.

I guess I could have worse neuroses passed along to me from my mother, but I'm not sure this is normal.

*This is in addition to my mother's other excuses such as "I think that was a bad batch of margaritas," "I didn't eat enough," and "I think might have food poisoning."

My Complicated Relationship with My Car

2009-12-08T16:49:00.000-06:00

I love my car.

It's a 1998 Honda CR-V that I bought two and a half years ago from a friend the week I graduated from college. Immediately afterward, I packed all my belongings into it and drove from Madison to the Twin Cities, where I'm still living (and driving the car) today.

I was also able to pay for it cash, and it was great not to have car payments hanging over my head while interning at PR agency for less than a living wage when I first moved here and then during my whole unemployment saga.

And it's served me well. I've never had any sort of problem with the engine, which, given its age and the 125,000 miles on it, is pretty damn impressive.

However, it's got some issues.

Electrical Issues
The clock doesn't work. Neither does the gas light. Or any of the other dashboard lights. I realize that this is probably something as simple as a blown fuse, but I've sort of resigned myself to not fixing anything nonessential on the car, so I've gotten used to it. I keep my phone in my lap to check the time, and I've only had once close call with gas (driving from Madison to Milwaukee on empty - I made it!), but it's definitely an annoyance.

Insulation Issues
Last summer, someone broke into my car using the low-tech method of smashing my passenger side window. What I didn't notice at the time was that before doing this, they attempted some more high-tech trickery on the driver's side, effing up the stripping around the window. This has resulted not only in excessive freeway wind noise, but when it gets below zero, both my driver's side door and its lock freeze shut, forcing me to climb in (and out, if the trip isn't long enough to defrost it) of the passenger side. Super classy when arriving at work.

Oldness Issues
I'm all for driving cars until they die, and I know the Honda's got a lot of life left in her, but they've made a lot of advances in the automotive industry since I was thirteen years old. Basically, I'm having a bit of car envy. And while I don't think I'll ever buy a brand new car because I think it's sort of silly, an upgrade sure would be nice.

Therefore, keeping all three of these things in mind, I've decided that I'm going to get a new (to me) car. But not until June, both for insurance (I'll turn 25 that month) and down payment saving purposes.

So here's to my final winter with the CR-V. It's been a good run.

Taking it Easy

2009-12-06T20:11:00.000-06:00

I need to retrain my brain about exercising. In the past, I've tended to not go to the gym for months at a time, then have a streak where I go regularly and on every visit do as much as I can possibly make my body do.

However, that doesn't seem to be quite how training to run works.

For example, I ran a 5K yesterday and was happy with my time. My reaction? Going to the gym today thinking "If I ran it that fast yesterday, maybe I can do it even faster today!"

Ow! Shin splints!

I need to start getting into the whole rest day thing. Well, that and not feeling like I have to break a personal record every single time I run. It's not sustainable, and it's probably setting myself up for injury or at least disappointment.

So this is me announcing that I'm going to cut myself some slack.

Thanksgiving Recap

2009-12-06T19:36:00.001-06:00

Some of you may recall that I was a little nervous about spending Thanksgiving with Art's family due to their unfamiliar drinking style.

First of all, I behaved myself. So good for me.

And trust me, that's not easy to do because I was correct in my assumptions/fears that these people stick to the hard stuff. The make your own drink table of booze consisted of Bourbon, Scotch, rye, vermouth, ice, and a pitcher of water.

Oh, and a bottle of wine that was brought up from the basement for me because, according to Art, I am a baby.

So basically, they drink booze. Mixed with weaker booze*. And possibly a splash of water. Things are hard core over there.

But honestly, what I really noticed about Art's extended family is that it is much, much, much quieter than mine.

For example, when people arrive, no one starts yelling or screaming or running toward one another. (Basically, there is no Auntie Mimi.) Instead, they get up in an orderly fashion in order to greet each person.

Also, the volume of their voices doesn't exponentially increase with each drink. So that's different too.

But I still managed to have a nice time.

*Art claims that vermouth is a "mixer." I disagree.

That's not okay.

2008-10-24T14:26:00.003-05:00

My cousin (AUNTIE MIMI's daughter) sent me this article, which contains the picture below, this morning. I showed it to my friend Nicky, who responded (via Gchat), "I have to admit, I had to stop looking at it bc I thought I might vom."

Yep, that pretty much sums it up.

Are You in a SERIOUS Relationship?

2009-03-13T09:58:00.000-05:00

AUNTIE MIMI recently asked me if my boyfriend and I were "kind of serious."

In an attempt to dodge this question, I asked her what that meant (and honestly, I never have known what people mean when they asked if something is getting "serious.")

So in case you were wondering if YOU were in a Kind of Serious Relationship, here's AUNTIE MIMI'S definition:

Do you get a smile on your face when you think of him?
Are you excited when you are going to see him?
Is he a good kisser?*
Are either of you dating anyone else?
Does he like Bernard?

So there you are. If your relationship fits this criteria, then you are, in fact, by AUNTIE MIMI standards, in a Kind of Serious Relationship.

I thought you'd like to know.

*She has asked this question of every one of her nieces, starting around high school, every time they meet someone, regardless of whether their father (or grandfather) is within earshot. Awkwardness has ensued.