2013

The week between Christmas and New Years is literally the busiest of the whole year down here. 

Including what we shall refer to as the "Asian Invasion" of 2013. A co-worker joked that she wondered if there was anyone left in Asia to turn the lights out. This year feels busier than I can remember living here. Its been quite a year.

So how to spend the last day of 2013?

108 sun salutations with my favorite yoga studio to generate some energy and heat. And a last swim in 2013 at Ft. Zach with dragonflies all around. The water was so pretty even the jolt of cold couldn't keep me from going in.

Whilst drying out, some random guy came over to offer me a beer. I didn't need it I told him, I'm feeling totally content right now. And I am.

So much gratitude. 

Happy New Year :)

First Handstand!

My fellow yogis were right! The feeling of being upside-down with all the blood rushing to your head is incredible. 

My foot even hit my favorite elephant bell in the studio as it went straight up. 

Got a cup of coffee after class and a guy went past me saying with a smile "Yoga mat and coffee. Well, you're certainly having a good morning!"

Yes, I am. Yes, I am.

Key West Wildlife Center

Someone last week at work inquired about a turtle release at Higgs Beach. I told them it was probably the Key West Wildlife Center. 

When people ask me things to go visit off the beaten path I usually recommend it cause I've heard great things about them but haven't actually been.

Well they are great and I need to go.

Yesterday while riding back from the fish market I noticed a Cormorant walking around mid-town which is strange cause you usually only see them near the water. As I got closer, I saw it had a hook in its neck which was pulling on its mouth when it walked. 

It hurt to look at him in so much pain. 

So I stopped and googled the Key West Wildlife Center wondering if they were still open. It was 4:51pm and they closed at 5:00. I've called rescue places before but they either were closed or couldn't come out. I wondered if they'd even been interested in helping so close to closing time.

"Do you take care of birds with hooks in their necks?" I asked.

"Yes! Do you have one? I'll be right over." 

Within 10 minutes he came over and we trapped the bird. Poor thing had swallowed a line complete with hook and it was coming out of its neck and mouth.

The guy thanked me for calling and whisked him off for a recovery session which is what you see above. 

What a great thing to have in this town. Really cool.

Are you a Yogi?

"Would you like to teach yoga class?" the yoga studio owner asked me.

I opened my eyes and looked up from my heavy breathing to say "Who me???" Like who else would she be speaking to when she's leaning over me pushing my thighs into my stretch a little further?

"Um, I don't know?"

"You look like a yogi. You feel like a yogi to me."

Could it be that coming everyday to class makes you a yogi? I've become a regular fixture at the studio and feel off if I don't spend my mornings bending myself into a pretzel and sweating trying to remember to stack my hips in downward facing scorpion.

"I love it." is all I could say wondering if I could teach. 

I can't bend all the ways I want to but I do know I absolutely feel like myself more and more every time I "hit the mat". Splurged this month on a good mat and recycled fish food yoga mat bag that I absolutely love.

Options...And just like my practice, things keep opening up.

Yoga practice is my meditation and for now it helped erase a guy getting in my face and yelling at me last night about how he couldn't get happy hour because our clocks were set two minutes fast. 

A reminder..

It has been a difficult week or so. Lots of feelings - some good. some not so good. and lots of random moments.

Was feeling a bit blue yesterday. My sister was leaving town for good and I have a feeling she's not coming back. She was the one who got me down here and we had never lived in the same city after growing up until Key West. 

In the beginning, I was living with her and my cousin and they showed me the ropes. Now they are both gone and I'm still here. Felt like the end of an era.

As I was contemplating that and wondering what was next, I prepared to cross White Street and up to my daily pre-work stop to get a cafe con leche. I spotted a photographer set up right outside Sandy's.

Huh, Sandy's is doing a commercial? Cool.

Nope.

I rode up and parked next to him in my usual spot to grab coffee when he said excitedly "Wow, this is great! I was going to flag you down but you just came right over!"

He then told me his name and that he was photographing locals for a book he plans to do about Key West. He lived in Manhattan and Helsinki. Oh and partially down here too. "Would you mind if I take your picture?"

"Um, sure." I said with a grin telling him I am not the best picture taker. 

Its not totally that, its I just don't feel too comfortable in front of the camera. Or always like to be seen but I've been working on that. So what a random opportunity to work on it 15 minutes before work when I'm feeling a little lost and emotional.

We get started, he gives me direction. 

Turn your head right. Chin down. Relax your mouth. I'm trying to focus on something behind him to calm myself but the only thing I can see are swirling cars and people. Including a guy drinking coffee, sitting on a scooter watching me and chiming in on what I should be doing too. 

He was also following the photographers instructions for me even though he was standing behind him.

Posed pics have never been my forte. In between instruction I have my usual nervous fits of laugher, jumping around to help loosen me up and I follow it up with breathing heavy to relax into it more.

"Do you do yoga? That sounds like yoga breathing." the photog asks.

"Why yes. Right down the street actually." I responded happily thinking of my class earlier this morning.

Snap. Snap. Snap. "Ok, I think I've got it."

We start to chatting and swap business cards. I give him one of mine as he tells me to friend him on facebook. He's setting up places all over town and I give him some suggestions on where to get some gritty photos. Don's Place would be a goldmine and I give him directions. He liked that.

Fill out and sign a release form. I check the time and yell "Oh crap! I gotta get my coffee and go to work"

As I get ready to go he mentions that Key West is such a special place. He could never do something like this in Helsinki. The reason he's doing this project is to show what kind of community exists down here. Its something rare to be found in the world these days.

I couldn't agree more. And one cafe con leche later, it was just the reminder I needed.

Thanks Key West and Curt Richter...

Whatever happened to coffee?

Post work Green Parrot drink with Monica and the second time in about a week some guy has asked me to take him home and have sex with him. 

This time it was a robot salesman who I got to do a robot dance. This will be a new accomplishment section on my resume. I mean how many times do you get to see a robot salesman do the robot?

He started telling me about how he sells and trains surgeons on these specialized robots for surgery.

"Oh the DaVinci?" I asked.

He looked shocked that I knew what it was but even more shocked that I pulled out my robot moves when he first came over and introduced himself to me. He wanted to know just how I knew he sold robots. 

I didn't.  I just like to do this one weird dance move from the 80's to freak guys out and give myself a good laugh while watching them try and figure out if I'm just that cool or retarded. (Its the little things in life that make me happy)

I told him my mother had been operated on with such a robot. He then asked how her hysterectomy went and we proceeded to discuss her operation and recovery.

Strange how small this world is and even stranger how a conversation about lymph nodes and swelling eventually leads into him asking "how bout you take me home and fuck my brains out?" 

Um, no thanks. Whatever happened to would you like to get a cup of coffee sometime? 

November swims are lovely.

Well hello, Officer...Is there a problem?

I'm speeding down a highway to a place I can't find.

This my friends is the quote to sum up 2013. Its also how I started the description of a recent trip to the southwest. A wonderful road trip planned to see some of our wondrous national parks. 

Except they were closed. DOH!

Still it was a great trip and much needed after this year. The first day was a bit bumpy as per the above visit from a Utah Highway Patrolman. I was staring at a map driving desperately trying to find a place I wanted to visit. I was so determined to find it I took my eyes off what was in front of me and immediately got pulled over.

Ironically, I had been driving like a grandma the whole time before that cautious to not overspeed cause it appears once every 6 months or so when I drive, this happens. I had been waiting for my previous faux pas combining two needs, peeing and coffee, into one illegal U-turn on US1 to fall off my record. Instead it grows...

But I digress. In a strange way the Utah pullover broke my mounting frustrations and I finally gave in. No more comparisons to how easy it was last year. Giving up on finding the elusive trail head and to top it off giving the keys over to my ADD friend who I thought would get us in an accident, so she could drive. Nope no more control, I'm just gonna sit back and let whatever happens happen.

And as soon as I did that the whole trip changed. Fun little side jaunts, nice people to talk to who were in the same predicament and sharing alternative vistas to visit. I even met a cool one-eyed dog. It was great. 

There has been this theme for me for the last year and maybe even the past 8 years I've been trying to shake. I finally realized it on a hike we took off one of the highways in a red rock area that reminded me of a lot Sedona. 

As I started talking to my friend, I told her how I'd been beating myself up about that ticket and how frustrated I was by the whole situation. And the fact that we couldn't do what I had so expertly planned for us to do for this entire trip. I'm so sick of the stop start stop start thing going on in my life, I exhaustedly said.  When I backed up a bit I could see there was a thread to that frustration and that is this:

I start to see a pathway to what I want and sometimes try to push faster through to get it. In the midst of that pushing I get sidetracked or hijacked and the frustration builds in me not meeting my intended destination. 

But I am always on that destination path. And whenever I seem to veer off of it or lose sight, I have one of these blocks to slow me down and reroute. 

Call it an angel, a spirit guide or a highway patrolman. I have always had someone come out of nowhere to stop me if I was doing something I shouldn't be doing. Everytime. Its been like that my whole life.

I get so focused on something, I wonder where all this frustration is coming from after getting blocked a multitude of ways and times. Then its time to ask why. Why am I so bothered? Where is it coming from? Usually if you take time to ask that the answer is right in front of you.

So my answer is this... Stop pushing. 

I've heard this so clearly in the last year and within the last month that I give in for reals. I can't do it anymore and I don't want to.

My life is so much more enjoyable when I just do what I feel. Find enjoyment in the things I love and live in that place. The rest seems to take care of itself when I follow that route. 

Hell, the last two trips I had planned to go on my own when suddenly a friend asked if they could go with. It turned out perfect both times and I didn't need to do a thing to make it happen. 

I started to really feel the "no push mode" on this last trip out west and am trying to continue to be conscious of that feeling day to day. Especially when those frustrations mount.

I don't want to be anything other than me anymore. I just want to be. 

Keep thinking that I've got this nailed down until it comes back up to slap me in the face. This latest slap includes 6 month probation and Utah traffic school. Perhaps, I will learn how to drive and not get a ticket. That would be cool.

Anyhoo, a couple of you have emailed me to share stories of your lives and thanked me for sharing mine. I am touched that you find value in these little crazy thoughts of mine. I started out just wanting to keep journaling after a three month trip to Spain but it appears its hit a chord for some of you and that's a really cool thing.

Haven't been writing as much as doing these last few months and enjoying the hell out of it. Lots of Yoga, reading, beach swims, connecting with friends, painting, hiking, bike rides, and of course work which has begun to feel more like social hour than work. I get to talk to a lot of different people and its been quite enjoyable.

Not looking out for the next big thing instead just looking at now. And finally settling into a place where push is passé. 

Hope all is well in your worlds too.

Manatee Monday

Look who showed up at the end of my paddleboard tour. I swear they were kissing when I interrupted them.

Two things popped in my head after the tour. One was a junior high history teacher who every Monday sang "Its just another Manic Monday" by the Bangles to our class. (Yes, I'm that old)

And two: before my meltdown from corporate america I watched Office Space with a bottle of wine one afternoon after a particularly bad burnout week. I don't know which was funnier... the movie or realizing that my life resembled Office Space.

A favorite quote from it was: "Oh, does someone have a case of the Mondays??" (complete with schmoopy face)

Nope. Not anymore.

Go Fetch!

Don't know who was having more fun. 

This guy or his dogs?

Happy Labor Day

Trust the Process

is all I'm hearing and seeing today. 

Excuse Me...

Last night a little boy not more than five years old stopped eating his dinner to turn around and ask me a question.

"Excuse me" he politely said to get my attention.

"Yes?" I said turning around.

"What does that mean?" he said pointing to a large painting of a woman on the wall wrapped in cloth unraveling.

"What do you think it means?" I asked loving where this was going.

"I think she's trapped and trying to escape. A ghost has captured her and she's trying to get free" he articulated perfectly.

"Hmmmmm. That's good. Could be..." I said delighted at the thoughtfulness of this little boy.

"Well, maybe its a woman who's actually a crocodile and she's trying to get back to her swamp that's right behind her?" 

His eyes widened and he took a moment. 

Then I began to ask him what he thought of some of the other paintings and loved listening to his explanations. 

"What do you think of that one?" I asked about a semi-random portrait we all refer to as Dr. Ballchin for reasons I think you can guess.

"That's just silly." he said like a seasoned art critic.

That kid made my night. 

Been loving the people I've gotten to chat with lately. Especially that kid.

Turistas

Pre-work swim. 

That park pass continues to be my sanity.

and entertainment.

Pictures

I love pictures.

Like LOVE pictures. Looking at one I can step back into that point in time; that feeling; that memory and it soothes me. 

My artwork has a similar effect. But I think I need to know their limits.

Its been a course of letting go lately and I've been having all kinds of strange stuff happening while trying to let go of old pictures. This week its been dreams.

Dreams like watching a cruise ship sink like the Titanic and feeling bad for the people trapped inside. Ending up at an old concentration camp at night walking through a caged bridge walkway. Biking at dawn to the airport through the desert to catch a flight. 

This morning I woke up not knowing where or what day it was and which job I needed to be at. Such an odd feeling but also kind of amazing.

Been feeling a little funk lately. Lots of stuff processing and I think moving out. Funk comes with that territory usually but so does awareness.

It seems to be another round of learning how to live in the now. I didn't know how much I loved living in those pictures or at least trying to until lately.

Those pictures while lovely have limits. You cannot go back into them no matter how much you try. And that's a good thing.

Let the past be in the past cause to go back is limiting. You only want to match that picture and end up allowing no room for anything else to develop. 

To be now is limitless. Seeing things as they are in the present, accepting that and being open to all possibilities. 

My temprement has bounced between the two the past week and know what I've found? 

When I try to live in the past:  I'm closed off. angry. anxious. exhausted.

When I live in the present: I'm open, aware, limitless, loving. alive.

While doing the latter I'm finding I can talk more openly, accept more honestly and most importantly live.

So while I love those pictures, I'm going to have a healthy respect of what they are. And keep on creating more.

Amazing

Riding home tonight after work listening to Nat King Cole's "the very thought of you" while watching clouds, stars and flashes of lightning over the ocean.

This is why I don't own a car.

Balsamic Moon

They say today is a balsamic new moon. A good time for endings and letting go. 

Right on schedule. 

This year continues to be a review of things from the last eight and the growth along the way. Revisiting ghosts of the past and difficult times to finally say goodbye.


Recently realized I was trying to fit back into a life that didn't necessarily fit me well, but still wanted to try. And having bodily pains while trying.

I spoke up for it from my heart. Because my heart wanted to see if that life would really be the one I thought it to be. 


Funny thing is time moves on and with it us. Guess I didn't realize how much until I looked back.

What I discovered is that this life, the one I thought was so wonderful, doesn't exist anymore.

And the kicker when I think about it... is it might never have.

What's next, I don't know. But now there's space for it to grow.

After Work

This is usually the kind of thing I encounter after getting off work. Can you say the same?

Good friends in homemade sparkle capes wanting to do a photoshoot on the back of some random dude's car. 

Went to have one and see the band with my friend and his pregnant girlfriend who's due date was at midnight. 

God bless the Green Parrot.

Smartphone Reunion 2013

Oh Toni Baloney. My good friend from ye olde Denver days was in town and we had a nice day out. She got me started on my Iphone last year on our trip to the desert and she was at it again showing me all kinds of new photo apps. 

I got app shamed. 

I think I still have the same ones she gave me last year. In my defense I had a flip phone before.

Great catching up and you know you have a good friend when you haven't seen them in a while then just pick up where you left off. 

Got to check out some turtles, have lunch on the Gulf of Mexico and catch a good set at the Parrot. 

Zach Deputy is a one man bluesy show which was quite awesome. You know its a good show when all the town shows up for it at 5:30 in the afternoon.

Good times!

Its the little things

Walking to the water marveling at the beautiful surroundings and suddenly seeing a giant "Fuck the World" back tattoo complete with La Isla Bonita playing in the background.

Or crying laughing after a friend at a sweaty art show told a story of how raccoons raided her friends trash after they cleaned up her home birth and how she told her sister she couldn't have a home birth cause she already had a raccoon problem.

That was this week.

Life is strange... but consistently entertaining.

Feed the Beast

It has been an interesting week or so. Fourth of July was well...Fourth of July. Or as I like to call it now, ugly American day.

Don't hate. Its just down here you get an influx of mass quantities of people given the permission to act obnoxious in the name of our country's independence. 

I blame Miami.

If you need an explanation for that statement, please visit Miami immediately.

Anyhoo, the fourth while physically and mentally exhausting from the sheer volume of people, had no comparison to this past week. 

Ugly American day became ugly American week and challenged my faith in humanity. I did not expect it at all and was suddenly looking fondly back on fourth of July. 

How best to describe it?? 

Well, how about the start of work on my last day last week. An adorable toddler and his parents dining. We played peek-a-boo for a bit until I had to step away.

Minutes later an anxious Russian co-worker begged me to go say something to them. He couldn't, he just couldn't. He was frozen. I was a woman and I needed to say something, he said gripping the bar.

What?? Well it appeared that the baby had peed in his high chair and there was a rather large puddle now pooling underneath it while they all continued happily dining. 

No problem, maybe she just doesn't see it so I tried to quietly let her know that her cutie pie had an accident. I felt bad having to tell them but I figured she wouldn't want to leave him sitting in it. 

Nope. 

She and her husband conversed for a sec, told me it was water from the beach and then kept on eating. It didn't matter that he was bone dry coming in. 

That cutie pie was left to sit in his pee for about an hour. It was so ridiculous, that I had to just laugh and kept on laughing every time I saw that puddle. It got so bad I had to go back to the kitchen for a bit. And especially when another co-worker finally wheeled out the mop asking me "Do you think she'll mind??"

It did end the ugly American week in a good way.


I had the oddest sensation a little while ago. Something I haven't felt since I worked in a cubicle. See there's a bit of a fight going on about dredging the channel for bigger cruise ships. 

Its kinda a double edged sword, they bring in lots of steady groups of people but the people are like our summer time peeps year round. They spend little, clog up resources and jet out. 

Some businesses benefit but usually only ones with cruise contracts. A lot of people think it stimulates the local economy but others think its the wrong way to stimulate it. Its a piece of the pie and can't we all get along is the general mentality for cruisers.

Well they want to dredge the channel to bring in BIGGER ships. Most people don't really like the ones coming in already. I don't mind them too much but definitely don't want bigger ones. Especially when it harms our ecosystem, which it will.

Something I got really annoyed with today when I saw a hoard of cruise shippers at Ross. I don't know if it was getting almost run over with a cart by one of them or the fact that they actually cabbed out to new town and Ross that set it all off.

They were scooping up loads of cheap crappy merchandise to take back to the ship. So there is the answer to your argument about cruise ships helping the local economy and no I don't think Ross needs more help.

I made a comment on a community forum about a new port stop at Ross today and how I'd rather see fish and healthy coral than bigger ships and buffets. 

Well, wouldn't you know I just got a text from my paddle boarding gig and would I do a huge favor and do a tour for guest services of a large cruise ship company? The company is up for a big paddle boarding contract and think I'd be the best person to give the tour. Crap.

Seriously? The one day I decide to make a political comment on Facebook. Good god. 

So I had a crisis of conscience. Yes, for a paddle board tour.

I haven't had this with work since the early 2000's when I started to realize that my former advertising profession basically consisted of marketing crap to people that wasn't good for them. Or that they didn't need. And I started to feel like hell about it.

How can I do the tour given my stance on some of these cruise shippers today is what I'm thinking as I text my manager telling her I'd be glad to help them out.

Number one: I love the company I work for. They are a great group of people and would do anything for them since I have gotten so much working with them. I snuck in the company somehow years ago and it has taught me alot about people, myself and the ocean.

Number two: the more people we educate about the environment maybe those people will start to value it and make choices with it in mind. At least, I hope. 

It always makes me happy when someone lights up after a tour and wants to get back on the water immediately.

I still don't believe we should bring in bigger ships and I'd like to see the cruise ship industry get more eco friendly, especially given all the places they go.

A Key West dilemma for sure.

Cruise shippers start your paddle boarding engines. And please... stop shopping at Ross. 

Mod Beach

Whatever self-imposed rest period finally broke (thank god) and painting has resumed. 

Also got my Etsy store up and running along with my site so now things have a place to go.

In the process of setting it up, they asked you to choose two descriptions from a list to describe your art. I discovered the words for my style:

Mod Beach. 

Having a bit of fun with it.

Starter Waves

Got to enjoy some waves today in a few ways. 

While in the ocean bobbing up and down, a lady swam out and told me there was a Jamaican high pressure system moving through.

"A Jamaican high. Can you believe it?" she said laughing.

Yup.

Tourist Watching

This time of year we get a whole other crop of tourists. While they are busy soaking in the scenery, I am watching them figure things out.

Quite entertaining. 

Oh Summertime...you bring all kinds of surprises.

Releasing the Toxins

What's worse... Waking up with a raging head cold or being awoken by someone selling God with a raging head cold?

I'd say the second one. 

In this day and age I'm surprised that people still go door to door selling God. I mean if I wanted to find God it's just a Google search away. 

I will give her credit though, for being dressed in her best and smiling ear to ear. That can't be an easy job. 

After trying to give me a flyer and promise to come back later I politely explained I was Buddhist and that ended that.

I could have probably have shown her my cupping hickey marks and she would have ran off. Pain in physical form is what I started to experience this past month. Mostly sciatic nerve but it hurt enough to keep me from sleeping which is strange cause I sleep like the dead.

Got a massage with the suggestion of cupping to help bring the toxins to the surface so my body could release them. I'm wondering if that has been the theme of the month or perhaps year. Bringing toxins to the surface for release. It sure feels like it.

I even ran into an old boyfriend after a couple rough days and we had a conversation I never thought we'd have. It was the one I wished we would have had back then.

Enlightening to say the least and healing.

Do we store a lot of past pain in our muscles? Yup, just like a memory foam mattress. Its very easy to find that spot you were unrested in.

So a trip down memory pain lane it has been this year but in a good way. Getting a chance to release some of that old for something new. 

Thinking this head cold was the one two punch and I've been releasing ever since. By the way, it seems the physical manifestation of past emotional traumas is snot. And lots of it.

Full Circle

This season has been slow on the water. In some ways I needed a break from the work but not the water. I've actually begun to enjoy it for myself which was sorely lacking.

I remember when I started the first water job. I was curious but scared and then I grew to love it. Not being out there on a regular basis made me feel unbalanced. 

But being out there for work is one thing. To enjoy it only for yourself is another. Something I'm realizing this season especially the last week.

Decided to buy that annual pass to Florida State Parks as a late birthday gift. Its already been a godsend. Early morning meditation and swim starts my day off in a way I've been craving. 

The meditation I love began on a beach in Ecuador. It feels so much fuller doing it outside looking at the water. Wonder if that's because of how it all started. 

This morning as I struggled to get past some of the goofy conversations from nearby cruise ship visitors. I started thinking of the beach in Ecuador. Of all the stuff that's happened since then. Of where I am now and I felt grateful.

I got in the water and noticed a large storm cloud starting to gather behind the beach. When the darkness built and a water spout in the far distance showed its reach, I was like a kid asking its mother for just five more minutes. I didn't want to get out just yet.

The sun stayed clear as the clouds came near and a rainbow ring glowed around it. It made me smile and let me know someone was listening. 

Therapy

I'm definitely getting that season pass.

buzzzzzzzzzzz

Palate Cleanse

Work + Wine tasting + T-shirt photo shoot at the Bodega = one run to the Green Parrot. 

No one was in there except us. Summer is officially here.

Bloomin' Beauties

Don't know if you've ever been to the MARC house in Key West but its definitely worth a visit. They have the best gardening stuff. 

A walk through the Orchids can just lift your spirits but the best thing is if you buy something there it goes to a great cause.

Recently the state just cut funding for the MARC house which helps people with developmental disabilities. Its a great organization and a wonderful place to spend some money, especially now. Looking for a flower for someone, well this is the place.

I got these beauties today and can't wait to start planting more.

In the midst of on the road to moving some of this funk out. This is just a part of the plan. Plants!

I live in an apartment that feels like a treehouse which makes me very happy. Widows all around and trees surrounding it. It's not huge but its just perfect for me and I love coming home to it. 

Been meaning to get some more leaves in the house and the MARC house has everything I need and more. 

Starting to get in a groove again I think. I figure everyone gets in a funk from time to time, right? So why not share what helps. Here's what's currently helping mine:

#1 Red Tara meditation - This thing has been my clarity through thick and thin. Once I do it, things seem to make sense. Always.

#2 Kundalini Yoga - Its strange but beautiful and makes me feel like I've just hit a reset button.

#3 Swims at Ft Zach - Just being in salt water makes me feel like a new person. Such calm and buzz I'm considering buying a pass to the park. When I can't make it to the park, I soak in Epsom salts at home. 

#4 Good healthy food. Fruits, veggies, chocolate covered almonds. Yum.

#5 Laughter and acting stupid with good friends 

Mostly I'm just trying to do what I think feels good in the moment and it seems to be working. 

So here's to shaking some of that funk outta the trunk. Happy Bloomin' Wednesday, yo.