Caterwauling

And Catholicism arrives in America

Originally uploaded by dcwriterdawn

I feel the need to blog. Why, I do not know, because “Teen Mom” is on and I shudder to admit that it’s my favorite show of the moment.

The amazing Lady L and I packed up her furry four-pawed wonder and headed north to St. Augustine for the weekend. It was the perfect amount of time there — the town was tiny and charming and the people were absolutely lovely.

My boss refers to St. Augustine as “South Georgia,” because Southern hospitality is alive and well there. People make eye contact with you, and the servers are attentive, and not only are you never waiting for a refill but your server will ask you if you want a to-go cup so that you can enjoy your beverage as you go off on your next adventure.

It made us realize that South Florida? Blows. It’s just plastic and fake and rude and barely tolerable for nice Northern girls. If northern Florida is South Georgia, then southern Florida is South New York.

I will be spending my now-fourth weekend away from home this weekend. Yeah! I’m happily hanging out with my fur-nephew again at his palace by the sea. I prefer vacationing with him and his mom, of course. Even if his tiny 20-pound puppy butt takes up the middle half of the king-size bed while we cling to opposite corners.

My cat is slightly irritated at my absence, given the UEOEH’s proclivity to dance said cat around the apartment like a marionette. Also given that said dog ate said cat’s dinner and then peed in her dish for good measure. But, the further away I am from my roomie, the happier I am.

Work’s been good although I should probably stay up all night to deliver a project I’ve been promising for two months. Due tomorrow. Sigh. It’s not that I’m NOT working — it just keeps falling to the bottom of the “urgent” pile.

Anyway, we loved St. Auggie’s. LOVED. It’s a place to take someone you enjoy hanging out with. Even someone you downright adore. I could retire there someday; I loved it that much.

I still want my summer home to be in Vancouver, and I can always return to South Florida to attend to the business that Lady L and I plan to start. But to eat French and Spanish food in a town where everyone (even the ghosts) are friendly (minus those nasty spirits in the Old Jail), I could live happily ever after by the Matanzas Bay.

Especially if our business employed my mother a good four-plus hours away!!!

Watercolor sunset

Originally uploaded by dcwriterdawn

I was just reading Lachlan’s bucket list and wondered whether articulating/formalizing my own might make me more-inclined to start tackling it.

1. Visit Ireland. (Plan has been hatched for 2011!)
2. See every major city in Europe.
3. Kick out the Extra-Over-Extended Houseguest. Again.
4. Visit all of the Florida Keys. (The inhabitable ones. I’ve done stuff on two of 30. Lots more to see!)
5. Raise my credit score above my IQ.
6. Fall in love.
7. Get married. Hopefully to the person in No. 6.
8. Help to rear a child. Doesn’t have to be biological. I’m all about fostering or adopting, although I’ve had it with freeloaders. 😉 I may reconsider this one!
9. Feel beautiful. Whether through diet, exercise or plastic surgery. Or all of the above.
10. Forgive my mother.

Hopefully these will all become “Mission: Possible” in time, although I’m more likely to find my pot of gold than to achieve No. 10 in this lifetime.

Liberty Bell

Originally uploaded by dcwriterdawn

The only thing that irritates me about social media — other than my absolute dependence on it — is when it’s a holiday and everybody’s posting good tidings.

Skip the Suzy Sunshine shit and entertain me, damn it!

*cough* So, OK, nothing really newsworthy here. L and I spent the day sailing around Key Largo yesterday. We figure, if we’re going to live in paradise — for a brief time, probably — then we owe it to ourselves to explore it.

And we had a blast. 🙂

It was raining like hell here in Palm Beach County yesterday. But we went to Monroe County, and it was lovely. Absolutely lovely. We got into a glass-bottom boat at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, and had nothing but blue skies and sunshine and oil-free waters, which I captured with my new camera.

I need furniture. And a storage unit. And a boat to Cuba that I can toss my mother into. But alas, I bought a camera because that — shy of the boat — is what I will get the most use/enjoyment out of.

Hell, I’m just happy to get the hell out of Dodge. I can’t stand being at home. Work was really stressful last week. Not “crackhead”-level stressful by ANY means. But, you know, not easy, either.

Given the theme of today’s holiday, however, celebrating one’s independence is in HIGH order.

I don’t have much else to say … well, that I CAN write … but life is just too short to be stressed out. Our existence doesn’t really end here, so we should be living it up while we’re in this life form because it’s the briefest. It’s all about collecting experiences, and let me tell you, I know EXACTLY how lucky I am to be who/where I am.

And I just want to enjoy it while I (can) have it. Which is why I leave crap jobs and so-called friends behind, and jump on the wind and ride it wherever it’s blowing. I’m not always as light of heart and spirit (or ass) as I should be. But I will do my damndest to not let the wrong things weigh me down.

Key lime pie French toast

Originally uploaded by dcwriterdawn

In my field, you spend your workdays with Warren Buffett.

But I’m pleased to say that last weekend, the lovely L and I escaped to the land of Jimmy Buffett … and Ernest Hemingway … and Harry S. Truman … and Tennessee Williams — that is, Key West.

Pictured is an honest-to-goodness piece of key lime pie on Texas toast with berry compote from Azur.

Not pictured is the “key lime food baby” that is very happy from the other goodies we ingested …. the world’s best key lime pie at Blond Giraffe … key lime hollandaise over a lobster (with lobster bacon!) omelet at Blue Heaven …. key limeade at Mallory Square … and other such non-key-lime noms as hogfish and steak at Pisces, a Cuban sandwich at, well, some Cuban place … coconut milk straight from the coconut at Cuban Coffee Queen … and whatever the hell else we had in between.

Oh, and Sloppy Joe’s. Best bar EVER. With ’80s music. Like Bon Jovi. Plus, frozen mango mojitos. Need I say more?

The trip was more than a foodie’s delight, what with the ghost tour, the trolley tour and the shopping. And Baby’s Coffee. But wow, what a weekend.

Can’t wait for the next time we hit the Keys … Islamorada, here we come!!!

City street, Old Montreal

Originally uploaded by dcwriterdawn

I’m sure if you’ve ever over-indulged on culinary delights, you’ve lugged around a “food baby” for a while. After last night’s dinner, I’m calling mine “fondue baby.”

Things I have consumed my weight (and possibly yours) in during the last 7 days:

1. Brie
2. Goat cheese
3. Baguettes
4. Croissants
5. Bordeaux
6. Coffee
7. Escargots
8. Beer
9. Fondue. Swiss cheese and white wine, with tomato bread pieces, merci beaucoup

Tonight, whilst back in dog-breath-heat-and-humidity-land (i.e., South Florida), I went for the tried-and-true native cuisine, fish tacos and key lime pie.

While I miss all the fabulous French food, a girl just can’t eat like that every day. Well, she COULD, but not if she wants to continue buckling that airline safety belt over the fondue baby!

City Sky from CityPlace

Originally uploaded by dcwriterdawn

I feel like I need to blog. I don’t know why. There’s nothing I can type aloud. And yet, here I am.

My trip to Baltimore/D.C. has resulted in a lot of lingering thoughts. Far from closing any doors (which was never my intention anyway), it opened so many more.

I would never claim to be settled in my career, but I’m happy. Well, like a friend pointed out, anything seems better in comparison to a Thai brothel, so there you have it. 🙂 I’m trying hard not to get to the overworked state with which I am altogether too familiar. Because it’s too damn easy to get there.

So, I keep my energy and my hours in check, and while I stress out that some shit should have been done a long time ago, I acknowledge that I have the same hours in the day as everyone else. And if it ain’t life-or-death, don’t treat it as though it were.

I remember hauling ass and working seven days a week for five months. No church or Weight Watchers meetings. Nothing for me. And I did it, you know? These days, I look back and wonder FOR WHAT? (Think “tree falling in the forest.”)

I killed myself trying to be perfect and productive for someone who could give a shit less about my well-being. I got criticized at every available opportunity. For nothing and by nobody. And my commitment was rewarded with distrust and disregard.

To quote a wonderful Lucy Woodward song, “Something like this only happens to dumb girls.”

Relationships, well, were never my weakness nor my strong point. Another friend once said that witnessing my career has been like watching me pick one loser after another.

I always figured I’d be divorced by now; I can certainly say that leaving a certain job was pretty much the equivalent of dissolving a partnership and having nothing … not even anger or hatred … left. We should have lived together before we got married. The end. Take back the ring — it was probably cubic zirconia anyway.

But yeah, onto matters of the heart, there were some doors opened up north. Maybe even re-opened.

I had Tweeted something along the lines of spending an evening with someone I loved with all my heart, a long time ago, and then having an encounter with someone with whom I could very well spend the rest of my life.

I’ve since been in contact with both. Both are heading my way at some point in the next couple of months.

Nature will take its course here. It always does. It’s impossible to meet people near my age in South Florida, so if my fate is to be entangled with people from Maryland, so be it!

Speaking of city folk, I got my new iPad on Friday. It’s the 3G, so that was when it shipped. (i’ve had this thing on pre-order for what feels like FOREVER.) I haven’t gotten the 3G service yet, but it’s good to have the option.

Anyway, when I got my first iPhone, I’d say five out of six of my friends had one. Technology was nothing new among our group of friends. I was the oldest and yet the poorest, but my money (what little was left over) was earmarked for technology.

Down here in Florida, I have better luck with AT&T (fewer dropped calls. Note I said ‘fewer’, not ‘never’). That’s because nobody down here has a clue about technology. Hence, I’m the only iPad owner in Palm Beach County. And, quite possibly, Martin and Broward counties.

No big deal, really. I just took my iPad to Sunfest (the accompanying photo is from the closing fireworks display) and the girl who was searching my bag lost her shit and was thrilled to be able to touch ‘one of those iPad thingies.’

I enjoyed the attention, but marveled at how different things are in the city, where I was keeping up with the Joneses. And now, I AM the Joneses! Or Jones. Or what the hell ever.

Exhaustion is kicking in. I have some work to finish up tonight, but I’m not even going to bother. It’s nothing personal toward the job; I just don’t have any more productive hours left in me today.

I look forward to falling asleep and, perchance, of dreaming of the possibilities that not only lie ahead, but might be enough to make me backtrack … both in time and perhaps in geography.

Kadie’s corner

Originally uploaded by dcwriterdawn

“Every now and then I’d swear
I see you standing
On a sidewalk,
In a restaurant,
From a taxi passing by.”

— Better Than Ezra, “Under You”

It’s that time of year again, where I go through my MP3 collection to see what I already own and what I need to buy from Sunfest artists. 🙂

Better Than Ezra put on a kickass show. So did Sister Hazel, whom I last saw in the booming metropolis of Gaithersbug, Md., and I’m so glad that they are playing in a real venue (and not the bandshell behind City Hall).

There was a moment yesterday when Sister Hazel was playing “Champagne High,” one of my favorite songs in the world. My breath caught in my throat when I heard, “Our story’s completed; mine, it’s a long way from done.”

Boy, if yesterday wasn’t the day to hear that line, I don’t know when would be more appropriate. (cryptic reference to that particular day)

And even though I’ve only thought of that person in passing — and fondly, every time — it occurred to me that a big chapter of my life closed yesterday.

And that there are a million blank pages ahead of me to fill.

Yoda moment here aside, I had my first “get off of my lawn” moment last night.

I had staked out a sweet spot at the front of the stage an hour and a half before Shinedown performed. And then, just as the music started, some bunch of drunken assholes darted in front of me and proceeded to dance and bounce and chest-thump like fucking fools.

I get that they’re fans. So am I. I don’t need to jump on people’s feet and elbow their boobs and HIT THEM ON THE HEAD.

I tried to stand still. I wasn’t leaving because these kids (one in particular) were obnoxious. As long as my purse containing my precious new iPad 3G wasn’t touched, I was cool. 😉

The band made us greet each other, like we were in church or something. Immediately, the biggest offender — shirtless and sweaty and smelly — goes to hug me. I said no thanks. He KNEW he was pissing me off, and that proved it.

I cordially invited him to die in a fire, the next time he knocked me over. And five songs into the set, I left and went to hang out with the Charlie Daniels Band crowd.

I felt old. I mean, nobody needs to be jostled around by some inconsiderate fool. But I used to be able to hang, you know? Younger Goddess would have been able to jump up and down just as much as him. Can’t beat ’em, join ’em … and all that crap. Now it’s like, yo, let’s go hang with the old folks so I can feel young again. 😉

Oh, and it was worth it. Charlie Daniels did a Johnny Cash cover and I was in heaven!

Totally blew my diet yesterday, while I was at it. I did well at the show. Mostly lived on fruit smoothies, so that was ‘mostly’ healthy. But then I came home to see that the Over-Extended Houseguest had left my weakness — big, soft chocolate-chip cookies — on my stove.

I have begged her for years not to spend my money on bad food for me. And yet, she does it religiously. And I lasted until 3 a.m. before acting like a kid at fat camp and NOM NOM NOM-ing cookay in a half-asleep state.

If I can walk away from a concert I wanted to see, why not from a cookay I wanted to eat? Damn it. FAIL.

Bon Jovi, 4/18/10, BankAtlantic Center, Ft. Lauderdale (Sunrise)

Originally uploaded by dcwriterdawn

Saw mah man Jon Bon Jovi on Sunday night. It rained like hell the whole day, and the arena is out in the middle of fucking nowhere.

And yay, some asshole rear-ended me as I drove around Sawgrass Mills to kill time. Pushed me straight into traffic. Motherfucker. There’s a fire just waiting for him to die in. My back aches and my car has some unnecessary paint on it, but everyone’s otherwise intact.

But alas, I’ve had these tickets for six months, and I wasn’t about to let some dickhead ruin my day.

I was going to sell these tickets about a thousand different times. I thought I was going to move to Austin, Texas. Then I thought I was going to end up in Chicago. Then a return to D.C. looked extremely likely. Then an offer came up in Baltimore. And just as I decided to stay in Florida, another Baltimore offer cropped up.

Obviously, I’ve stayed in Florida and can/will travel. In fact, I’m heading out of town tomorrow for the next five-ish days (for my paying job as well as my not-paying-quite-yet side job). I need to get my head in the game with the gig paying the bills, and I’ll feel a hell of a lot better when the multiple income streams are flowing in.

I love my life right now. I haven’t been taking care of my health all that much, but I’ll get back on track. Eventually. I’m going to run into some old friends this weekend — one I haven’t seen since 1996! Funny how the people we loved most who fell off the radar are just a Facebook friend request away.

Speaking of Facebook friends, I recorded Bon Jovi performing ‘Hallelujah,’ but since I’m FB friends with Bon Jovi, that’s probably not a good idea to post there. 😉 Oh well. I’ll always have it for my own enjoyment, along with the fake backstage passes they sent me as a special gift for spending my life savings on the best seats I’ve ever had at one of their events!

But alas, photos are fair game, and I’m going to be adding photos intermittently to my Bon Jovi photoset. When I have time to edit them. Whenever the hell that will be!

*Sham-Wow is the only towel with effective enough absorbency to clean up the quivering puddle of goo that I became at the concert

Lollipops

Originally uploaded by dcwriterdawn

There’s actually so much going on right now that I don’t have anything to say because I don’t know where to start.

So, I shall talk about lollipops. Cupcake Couture in Delray Beach just opened. Which was the highlight of my day. Other than buying three necklaces that I really didn’t need but were too cute to leave behind.

I meant to take photos of the Delray Affair for a friend’s Web site. But the weather was overcast in Delray today and I didn’t see anything interesting to shoot. (With a camera, anyway. Infer the rest of that thought if you dare!)

There was some guy creating fireballs or some shit like that at Atlantic at First. I was rooting for him to either light himself on fire or, preferably, to burn down the block. No such luck on either account. (Damn!)

OK, so if you ever do wander up/down to this area of the world, whether or not the Affair is in full swing, screw the entertainment and go to Cupcake Couture and order the Guinness cupcakes. As many of them as your belleh can hold. And then get a box to go. Because they put the rest of the supposed cupcake gods to absolute shame.

These lollipops caught my eye as being the only thing photo-worthy from my day. (Too busy snarfing in cupcakes to photograph them. I got two mini Guinness cupcakes and a mini Christian Louboutin-illa, which featured chocolate icing on white cake. Nom.)

The lollipops come in a million flavors, ranging from marshmallow to who the hell knows what.

Forgive me — I’m talking about nothing to keep me from talking about everything. All I can say right now is that perhaps I might end up being the girl who leaves her fiance at the altar because I’m in love with someone else. Or maybe I’ll figure out a way to have my (Guinness cup)cake and eat it, too.

I am not even going to say that life’s about to get interesting. It already is. And becoming even more so, with each passing day. …

Lake Avenue Bridge

Originally uploaded by dcwriterdawn

Headed out again tonight. Last I wrote, I went to a lovely beach bonfire.

Those are going to be held every other weekend, but this weekend, apparently all the new-age junkies all get together and worship the full moon in a drum circle in the same spot as the bonfire.

I don’t know what to expect when I head up to Lake Worth tonight, other than drummers, dancers, fire-spinners and other nuts like me who worship the elements — sand (earth), ocean (water), moon (as sun) (fire) and tasty-delicious salty breezes (air).

I hope I can find some time to hit the bonfire next weekend. I do so very much love free events. 🙂

Speaking of escaping donations, I’m going to skip church tomorrow, but not because I’m taking part of some holy heathen ceremony tonight.

< diatribe >

(The pastor was on a tear last week about all of us who yap about our horoscopes on Facebook — how that’s such a slap in God’s face. Fine, I unsubscribed from my horoscope, but I’m not giving up worshiping Mother Earth, yo. I need all the good karma I can get.)

< / diatribe >

Anyway, in a move that will cost about 40 times that of the weekly check in the offering at church, I figured I’d hit the South Florida Fair, as it will be the last day and all.

Sidenote: I still get such a kick out of attending things like festivals and fairs in 80-degree January weather. It’s just marvelous. It’s 11 degrees in D.C. (I’m sorry, guys — I have to count my blessings.)

However, I am slightly bummed that I won’t see my man at church, though. Perhaps he will miss me. 😉

Anyway, speaking of wasting time, I spent today in very expensive neighborhoods, and I have such a hard time coming to terms with the gaping void between the “haves” and “have nots.”

Particularly as I passed Anna Kournikova’s house, where she allegedly left her 5-year-old alone for an hour and the kid supposedly fell out of a window and into their pool, I just could do little but scratch my head as I drove my beat-up jalopy through the neighborhoods with 20-foot-tall, square hedges that shield their multimillion-dollar homes from the likes of me.

I’ll spare the “couldn’t afford a babysitter?” bit, but suffice it to say, I feel like I’m being so greedy and terrible that I spend so much on rent when I’m sure most of the residents in Palm Beach County — at least, where I was today — probably have six or seven other homes around the world. And I’m sure they have food in every fridge and about eight cars in every driveway.

This is what makes me the crazy, tree-hugging liberal I am. I don’t begrudge anyone anything. But I’ve been deeply immersed in a Patrick Lencioni book in which he examines, among other things, irrelevance in the workplace, it makes one wonder whether all these bored and unfulfilled stars would be happier making a difference in the lives of others instead of just buying happiness in the form of material things.

Wow, the diatribes just keep coming. Imagine what I *really* want to be saying instead, since my cognitive dysentery is symptomatic of penguin pokage verbal constipation. 🙂

Anyway, I’m just saying, the more money I make, the more I spend. Which means I’m as poor (although less morally bankrupt, I hope) as I was five years and four raises ago. And I think, what if I were in the bajillion-dollar income bracket — would I, instead of having seven homes around the world, have 14 … two in each country so that Mom can have one and I can have the other? 😀

I know, I know, I’m picking on her unfairly today. It’s sort of like when I used to play darts. There was the actual dartboard that I hit, and the mental picture that got me to focus on driving a sharp piece of metal into the bullseye.

I guess I’m crabby because I started thinking about moving again. Just across the Intracoastal, when this stupid lease is up. My cat has been very sick and since I missed so many signs with Maddie, I’m hyper when Kadie isn’t well.

Turns out that apparently the apartment may be making Kadie sick, as the doctor said she got E. Coli from the water. Which, Florida water SUCKS. But I wonder if it’s the ancient pipes or the water itself.

And yes, it’s slightly hilarious that I’m now buying bottled water for my cat, but I drink out of the tap. Welcome to my world. I’m two steps away from buying her a stroller like everybody else in my neighborhood does for their pets!

I don’t know what today’s theme is. Perhaps it’s that money leases your freedom and happiness over the short term, but it’s the little things that warm (or chill) your heart forever, so choose wisely, grasshopper, what supposedly small moments and memories are going to do their little part in shaping your worldview and, ultimately, the rest of your life.