This is Love

Saw this couple one day last week on my way back from the store and it made me smile. 

She was riding on the handlebars. Legs swaying back and forth as he steered an S shaped path down the street.

He kissed her neck, her cheeks making her giggle as they happily floated along.

This is love I thought. So nice to see it again.

But You Don't Have Any Accents

So I'm sitting here contemplating yoga but am tired after 3 doubles this week so I'll share a cool night instead.

Worked and went to check out the new World of Beers after work. The last time I was in this old space it was for a Kiss cover band, my have times changed. 

Really great bar with every beer imaginable. Got to drink beer out of a snifter glass and enjoy a Boulder IPA. Can you taste Colorado through a can? The answer is YES as I had flashbacks of Boulder drinking and remembering my old stomping grounds.

As usual when I go to a bar some stranger starts to talk to me. This one was from Ohio and asked if I was local.

After I said yes, he just kept saying in disbelief how strange it is that none of us locals have accents. "Nobody has accents down here. Nobody." he kept saying over and over again like we were an alien race. For some reason it haunted me and has stuck with me all day.

After one I was done and was happy to get off Duval to enjoy a ghost town ride home. 

At some point my phone randomly switched onto this sound app which I heard coming from my purse. Its one of those goofy things I added to my iphone when I first got it and now officially love it. Waves from Oregon. 

So riding home I listened to waves crashing while taking pics of cool creepy trees at 3am. Probably the best random thing of the night.

I loved the sound so much I fell asleep to it and I gotta tell you, waking up to waves makes the day a little brighter.

Ok, one more shift...Two days off and lots to do.

Perfect Storm

Ever feel like all the things you've been working on start to come together and you might just get it right this time?

I've been feeling that the last few days and its been great. Finding my way through some paintings and spotted a call for artist deadline I'll submit to.

I notice how different my responses to various things have been compared to when I first moved down here 7 years ago and it makes me happy.

Started with handing out one of my art business cards at work this week to some curious peeps. Along with some other good feedback on those business cards, the wheels begin to turn in unison.

And the best part is its all contained in the life I've worked hard to create.

Spring Chickens

There's a reason why the post office is going to a 5 day a week service.

Waiting at the front of an ever growing line, I started laughing and wondering when the postal workers were going to bitch slap one of the customers.

One guy was trying to convince the postal worker to hand over a certified letter to him for his friend. Another was asking for tape cause he didn't want to use his saliva to close an envelope. As their antics stopped up service, the rest of the line got to talking.

"That's nothing! Last week I watched a guy mail live chickens to New York. He just punched some holes in a box and shipped it while the whole post office was crying laughing. I know what he was thinking, they're really pretty and I want one - why not ship them?" This man even showed me a pic of the box o chickens.

Another one said he saw a guy try to mail a live reptile. "They didn't even ask if it was a poisonous breed. What if he was trying to kill someone???"

Did it get mailed, you ask? Why yes. 

I asked both these gentlemen if all items shipped were found in the Winn Dixie parking lot. 

But I think my favorite part of this whole encounter was the T-shirt worn by the guy who showed me the chicken pic.

FLORIDA - A sunny place for shady people.

Welcome Back Warmth!

Had a good cold stint down here but it seems like that has finally broken. Sun is shining, wind is blowing and got to open the doors today during my yoga practice which was nice.

If you're like me and can't seem to make any of the class times at your local studio but still want to practice daily try yogaglo. 

Great online classes that can stream onto your TV. You just got to get past the distractions of your own home at first but after that its awesome!

Cheers to things warming up everywhere.

Spring Break '13

Another one is upon us. How do I know? 

A gaggle of girls crossing the street against the light. Bikers looking like they will fall off their bikes at any time. And Europeans looking into peoples houses and yards like they're at a zoo.

Hello Spring Break 2013. Goodbye beaches and bike paths for two months. 

Should be entertaining. 

Skull Love

Don't know why but after a particularly stressful time, I always want to draw skulls. 

This one came out today.

Its usually a sign that I'm coming out of the rough stuff I've been feeling lately. 

Love my skulls.

The Poops

I was thinking today how random it must be to have someone searching for information about Key West and find this blog. Especially with what is on it lately.

I can almost hear, "I just want to find out where the nude beaches are, what's all this stuff about chemo??"

Well, that's where I'm at these days. I guess its grief or perhaps a bit of the blues. 

Its had me weepy and delirously goofy to who gives a fuck, irritable and grateful. Mom doesn't have it too bad but its still hard to think about her going through it. And its really hard hearing the suffering in both your parents voices over the phone and feeling a bit helpless to relieve it.

Trying to send good thoughts to her, chat often and keep my head and heart together. Plan a trip back really soon.

Went to yoga today to get my body tuned and opened up. That always works but I settled into some sadness later in the day. It happens and I need to just let it be cause if I stuff it away it does no good. I try to keep remembering that.

Started thinking of my trip to Sedona and the guy who gave me the stone heart on my hike. I remember him telling me when things got tough, to hold it close to my heart to remember that place. 

When he told me that, I knew I would need it someday. I carry it with me always in my bag, its become a security thing I feel better having it around. Today I pulled it out and did what he told me to do.

Its not all bad, it just is. If you are someone I don't know reading this blog, you may want to escape. Either a trip or lifetime away from your worries. Its how a lot of us end up down here. I used to do it a lot. 

But the thing is, your life is you. And you can't escape that. Even when it hurts. 

I will admit it is a lot easier when the sun is shining and the birds are singing. But it can still follow you like a shadow. Something I felt when I got teary on my ride through Old Town today. 

But then there were some things to pull me out of it. Lately its been people. People I wait on, people I work with, people I've shared some good times with and people I don't really know.

Example #1:

My manager at work sending me a literal shit storm of emoticons today after I sent him a text message back containing one steaming poop, an explosion and a monkey covering his nose. I think that sequence hit a nerve.

At work we have all enjoyed the poop icon lately and he sent me a million poops today cause that note I sent him was to rub in the fact that at least once a week someone shits so violently at the restaurant its beyond human comprehension. And its usually right after he cleans the toilet. 

Its hard to feel crappy when someone is sending you a steaming poop with a smile on it. Or when your phone is dinging every minute because he has sent you a million of them.

Example #2:

Saturday night after meeting my sister for a drink we went down to a local bar for her Fireball promotional party night. A shot shindig she had put together for promoting a whisky beverage she reps. A shotski of four came calling around as we laughed while wrangling up takers with Whitney Houston playing in the background. 

Suddenly a drag queen came downstairs to tell us Nick Carter of the Backstreet Boys was upstairs and they'd get him to do a Shotski of Fireball.  It's once in a blue moon you see Nick Carter bookended by two drag queens doing a shot of Fireball but those days are pretty sweet. 

Example #3

Or the lady I met when I stopped to pet her mini horse Alfie. She and Alfie had just been kicked out of the Hampton Inn and were looking for a new place to stay. Preferably one that would let him graze.

She said she liked him to sit in her lap. He was a lap horse. The quote of the day came when she mentioned that she was about to cut his balls off and how excited she was cause a farmer told her he'd be more friendly after that.

I think the poop icon wins.

So there have it (thank you Key West). 

Mostly its been people. People I know, people I don't know. People I've had contact me through this blog to share their experiences with it all and its just been the right thing at the right time.


Everyone has their shit but if we can share and reach out, our lives become a little bit easier. Hoping that writing this stuff out helps me along in that process.

In the meantime, I'm gonna go find some more emotioncons.