on my very first date with S, one of the first things i realized was how many shared interests we already had -a love for travel, bad reality TV, our family, good food, and hockey movies. and as expected, with these commonalities as our foundation, it has been nearly effortless to grow our relationship over the past nine and a half months. but what has perhaps had a larger impact in bringing us closer is the attention we’ve shown in embracing each others’ individual interests and hobbies. for example, S took up tennis again to appease my love of the game and i learned that furniture can be made outside of the pottery barn warehouse. his interests have become mine, and vice versa. and i feel like i’ve become a more well-rounded person as a result.

this weekend, i got a deeper look into another of S’s hobbies -vintage cars. as i mentioned in this past friday’s “it’s friday, i’m in love” post, S is just a few parts (and hours) away from finishing restoring a 1969 volkswagen bug. it’s black with red vinyl interior and i cannot wait to cruise down PCH with him when it’s finally complete. anyway, it’s still in need of a few exterior trim pieces and a rear bumper, so about a month ago S told me to “save the date” for the next vintage car swap meet held every other month in pomona. and yesterday morning was finally the day for my first vintage car show experience.

so with sleep still in our eyes we hit the 15, starbucks in hand, en route to the fairplex in pomona (also the site of the los angeles county fair) for the pomona swap meet and classic car show.

just FYI to start: for those who may be as mistaken as i was when gearing up for our trip, it’s important to note that the “swap meet” part of the event still pertains to cars -think vintage hubcaps, car covers, and other miscellaneous automobile accessories. i had mistakenly gone in thinking i would perhaps happen upon some vintage windows for some new living room decor, but was disappointed to learn that the only vintage windows available were for cars, not houses.

regardless, we had a lot of fun.

before scouring the vendor booths for S’s bumper upon arrival, we first took an hour or so admiring the rows and rows of vintage vehicles on display. the sections were divided by make and years; a sea of volkswagens, chevys, fords, and corvettes. S pointed out his favorite styles (chevy impala and ford truck), where as i on the other hand, had more superficial interests in mind. i didn’t care what make or from what era the car came, only that a) it was a pretty color and b) i would look cute driving on the passenger side. but in all seriousness, i enjoyed weaving in and out of the aisles, taking the time to examine each vintage car. whether you were well-versed in their pedigrees or not, you couldn’t deny the fact that some of these vehicles were truly works of art.

when we had had enough eye candy, we changed our focus to the swap meet. it was time to treasure hunt! thankfully after perusing the wares of dozens of vendors and coming up short, we finally landed upon a guy selling a pair of front and rear bumpers that we later learned were from his own 1969 bug. with a bit of negotiating, we walked away with an authentic german-made rear bumper for a steal of a price.

fulfilling what we had set out to do and now beginning to feel a tad bit claustrophobic with the crowds filling the fairgrounds in droves, we took that as our cue to hit the road. we gingerly laid the bumper in the bed of S’s truck and made our way to the freeway to retrace our steps back home.

despite it being an early morning and feeling slightly out of my element at times, i was happy to have shared the experience with my main squeeze. when it boils down to it, it’s about give and take in a relationship. sometimes you do things you wouldn’t normally find yourself doing in order to make your partner happy. and if S is going to accompany me to madewell to check out their latest spring arrivals, the least i can do is explore the pomona swap meet with a few thousand of our closest car enthusiast friends.