You and Me in Paradise

I am laughing pretty hard right now. Which is a good thing because someone has to think what I do is hilarious.

I mean, who takes pictures of lamps they did not buy? Me?

I shouldn't even try to analyze. I can't afford to waste the energy. :)

In all honesty, I really really wanted these lamps. I resisted. Who knew I had any form of self-control?

This shot is only here because the cats look alarmed at the crap I bought the other day shopping with Bella.

A little meeting with Alli-baby about the next GNO.

We decided on a French theme. Who will wear the French maid outfit? Hmm?

The mysterious creative process. I love a good thesaurus!

These are boot bracelets The Turnstyle took in. Men like bling too apparently. Or are Conchos only for women?

First and last day on the job at The Firm. Who knew bookkeepers could be so mean? I'll be back, but that's another post for another day. Pup is not happy and I'm biting my tongue. Well, not entirely. :)

Pup and I had a little day trip last Friday. I loved the font for the motel name. I'm sad they have that fugly signage under the name!

Someone wants me to stop goofing around and pay them some attention. Or it was just a warm place to nap?

Violently Happy

I can change from being pissed off to being happy but I don't see it as bipolar I see it as being a girl.
~ Unknown

Some people are so stressed trying to be perfectly flawless, but I'm so HAPPY to be perfectly flawed.
~ Unknown

Happiness is the delicate balance between what one is and what one has.
~ Unknown

A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.
~ Herm Albright

True happiness is singing at the top of your lungs in your car while the people in the car next to you are staring.
~ Unknown

What are you all doing to get your happy on this gorgeous Memorial Day?

Smooches my hooches.

Both Sides Now

New hat for this summer's lot parties?

I sleep hot.

Sounds rather provocative doesn't it?

It adds to my insomnia.

I wake early - sometimes I can talk myself into falling back asleep. But I know that there is something very seductive about the early morning. Especially in the summer.

From both sides of it.

When I was dating my Wasband I was in my early 20s. We had a huge group of friends and most every Thursday evening, especially in the summer, after we had gotten off from work at 12:30 a.m., we'd run over to the local pub, slam down a couple of cocktails, then meet in the parking lot to figure out what we were going to do next.

We were young, had been cooped up for hours indoors, and had some steam that needed letting out.

So we'd head to a spot either by the airport or down by the river. Both places had great potential. Lot parties we would call these. Impromptu. Beer fueled. Music ruled. Lots of music. Loud music.

Many times it was my classic Mustang with the Jensen speakers I would pull out of my back seat and place on the roof of my car that would provide our music.

We'd gather in groups, laughing, talking, singing, dancing. Sometimes we'd have a fire. Sometimes we'd have a dance floor. Just depended.

Someone always had a cooler or two of beer in their trunk. A few more enterprising and planfull people (girls!) would have brought a bottle, ice, and some mix.

I'm a great singer/dancer. I am! My hugest delight is that our generation was not a YouTube generation and there is no video evidence of just how great I REALLY am. Because we all know the answer to that one. Some things need to stay in our memories. Not messed up with the reality of what really was.

So I'd sing and dance my way through the evening. Annoying everyone around me. Luckily many of those around me loved me and thought me charming. Maybe I was charming. Yes, sometimes I was charming.

Late nights soon become early morning. Especially here in Minnesota. The sun begins to come up way too early. At least for young uns dancing and drinking until all hours.

I'd always get a bit sad and introspective when the sun would begin to come up. We'd put away our coolers, I'd take down my speakers. The sudden quiet was always both known and unknown. Every time it was different. We both loved it and wanted it to go away.

But there it always was. Every time smiling its new and shiny face on us. What was this day going to bring?

We'd hug and say goodbye to everyone - all those people I loved. We'd go home, some of us together, some of us alone, and sleep the day away.

Now I wake up when the sun is beginning the day. It's just as lovely. I'm just as introspective. I can't resist the early morning allure can I?

It's just as good on this side.

Be Quiet

Remember the phrase, "radio silence"? Seems quaint now. The whole idea of being off the grid makes most of us shake our heads. Not check our smart phone a billion times a day? Not post an update on Facebook? Not twitter about something? Not read the news online?

I dither from all in; a twittering twit, a Foursquaring bore, a Facebook nut for the Words with Friends, a blogging tool - oh wait - use of my blogging tool.

I annoy with updates, location checkins, directing traffic to my blog, logging workouts, logging daily nutrition, calendar updating, right down to Google note-taking.

To nothing. Radio silence. I get overwhelmed with it all. I stop. I experience radio silence.

At least I think I do.

Then I find myself checking emails at least. Well, you have this smart phone, use it! Just poke your head into Facebook and see what's shaking.

Not that anything is EVER shaking. But I don't want to miss it if it HAPPENS to be shaking. You know.

Radio silence.

Our kids would have no idea how to handle that. None. Proof being how no one, at least from my vantage point, can spend any time without something to read, something to blast in their ears, something to send, receive, check, log, forward. Something to do.

When I was a wee girl, and actually to this day, I would get lost in thought. All the time. Daydreaming we used to call it.

I started thinking up stories in my head when I was about seven to get myself to fall asleep. Elaborate stories. I do this still. I daydream (that can't be the right term!) while I am trying to fall asleep. I conjure up something incredibly pleasant or exciting or something that I'm looking forward to or something I'd like to look forward to.

Daydream. My own radio silence.

You'll Never Regret Saying It

My luggage coming home from Mexico. I'm lucky customs didn't put a tag on me.

I love you not because of who you are, but because of who I am when I am with you. 
~ Author Unknown

If I know what love is, it is because of you.
~ Herman Hesse

Hell is the inability to love.
~ Leo Tolstoy

If you love someone, be brave enough to tell them, otherwise, be brave enough to watch them be loved by someone else.
~ Unknown


A woman I used to work with when I had my corporate job came into The Turnstyle yesterday. She is 42. Getting married for the first time. And pregnant!

I hugged her while crying because isn't that the best? The very very best?

She is a GORGEOUS girl and I thought my heart would burst it was so happy.

Hug who you love today.

Never pass up a chance to say how you feel.

Hot Men Friday

Gavin Rossdale

I have written before how my daughter, Bella,  introduced me to lots of music I normally wouldn't have listened to. Incubus, Korn, Staind, and also, Bush.

Good stuff. This particular song still gets my attention every time I run across it here and there. It's good!

I saw him on The View a week or so ago and liked his English reserve, his crisp good looks, and the way he kinda came across as an asshole, but you still had to like him.

A man in a suit. I like suits more and more! I used to only like guys in jeans and white tees. Now it's suits. And white shirts.

And I love watching guys sing. Hot guys anyway. When the passion for what they're doing shines. Even Keith Richards looks hot to me when he's playing. Passion.

As always, when you see a hot someone with his kids it's even hotter. Is that creepy?

And of course, there is his wife. Gwen Stefani. I love how in many of the photos I found while researching, he's looking at her like this.

Or they just look like this when together.

But of course he is married to this! I'd look happy as well!

Too Much

This photo has nothing to do with anything. I just love Pam Grier.

I love . . .

. . . hoody sweatshirts - so ridiculous - I keep one in every room of the house to pull on because I vacillate from heat-from-within hot to brrrrrr chilly.

. . . my coffee from Mexico - where is it? Wah . . .

. . . salad bar at Ruby Tuesdays - don't even start with me about this, heh!

. . . how much fun I had at book club Tuesday night - met another new friend. She and I clicked and I can't wait to be at another book club night.

. . . that I am finally settling down from vacation. WTH is that about? It's taking almost longer than the damn vacation to get back to normal. Could it be I have no normal and that's the problem? hehehe

. . . toenails painted red - I am boring as hell about this one. I see all the green, blue, and gray toenails out there. Mine are red. They really make me happy.

. . . the Zelda Fitzgerald bio I'm reading. She should have lived in this time. Then her light wouldn't have been hidden under an insecure husband.

. . . being a bit tan. I have a hard time keeping my vitamin D levels good so I am supposed to get sun. It feels decadent and wrong. But my legs are looking good!

. . . being ogled. I know that's wrong. Yesterday a man at the Turnstyle nearly had his head down my shirt he was trying so hard to get a better view. He could nearly see my shoes from the top of my boobs. I so wanted to say, "Hey, you better watch out. Many men have fallen in there and were never seen again." but I figured that would be wrong as well. There are too many rules to follow people!

. . . twisting my hair - again, this is just wrong, but it gives me huge pleasure and helps me think. It does!

. . . the quote below - this describes me completely.

A couple of years ago my sister Judy and I were each given a box of truffles. The tiny print said two pieces contained 310 calories and there were six pieces in each box. We were sitting on the bus headed downtown, quietly doing our calculations: Judy was dividing by two and I was multiplying by three. When she realized what I was doing, a look came over her face that is hard to describe. "I lost all hope for you" she says now.
~Abigail Thomas, Thinking About Memoir