Category Archives: Vacation

Things are moving fast…

Hi Mom, Meet ManSo I got on eHarmony in November. Sometime in late December I was matched with a rather unattractive but very tall fellow. On January 8th, I called him and we talked. On January 11th, I met him at Unos Pizzeria and within moments found myself swooning.

Yes, I am aware I am nothing but a human Labrador. Anyone who scratches behind my ear gets my love. I am hoping this is different and it’s not just because he likes me. I think it is different. It feels different.

We have talked to each other almost every day since and seen each other whenever we can. Yesterday I introduced him to my mom and sister. They apparently approve. Of course, they are still not over Big E’s dismissal but I figure if they are able to accept a 6 foot 5, long-haired mechanic with insanely bushy mutton chops, they should be able to accept a 6 foot 5 divorced man with two daughters who works at Bank of America.

BTW, Eddie’s not that unattractive at all! He’s just unphotogenic.

In other news…

Something occurred today. I felt a whiff of spring. I know this is insane since it’s not warm at all but maybe it was the accumulation of daylight… it was 5:00 and not pitch black. I felt a sense of hope… renewal. Warmth is coming. Spring is coming.

Lisa and I went to Florida last week. Just in time for a cold spell. We froze our asses off. Here’s a picture of me in my bikini by the pool:

bikini pic

Despite the coldness, I enjoyed my time in Florida. It was nice just to get the heck out of Dodge.

It’s funny how life just keeps on keepin’ on. I look ahead only to find myself looking behind.

Yuppers

Lisa and I drove to Baltimore on Friday night and on Saturday we met up with Todd and his wife. I drank so much Natty Boh! It was nice seeing Todd again. We ended up driving home at 2am. I still feel like I am trying to catch up since that sleepless night spent on the road.

I am trying to decide what to do. I seem to be obsessed with death and it’s finality. I wish I believed in life after death. I am still reeling a bit from losing Ernie. What kicks me is how he has just totally disappeared from my life. Guess that’s for the best. Platonic friendship seems a bit of a joke. Perhaps I am just ready to find someone new? What can be my strategy? Online dating isn’t something I want to do again. Here’s an idea: I will find a way to refer to my singleton status at my speaking engagements. If someone in the audience is interested, maybe knowing I am free will give him the balls to make a move? Let’s do it!

I did meet a man while I was in Baltimore. He was standing on a street corner in Fell’s Point. I thought he was just the cutest thing… but he kept his left hand in his pocket. I realized what that meant and moved on.

The weather has suddenly changed and it’s hot. My air conditioning will go on soon.

Yesterday I took Bo outside and hosed him down. He was so stinky! It was so funny watching his fur deflate as it got wet. He went from a marshmallow to a lima bean.

Hurricane Shenanigans

I am tired, guys. Plum tired. Didn’t sleep well last night. Had odd dreams I was alternately at a Beach House and Project Runway. I kept finding myself naked in front of people and the fright of it kept waking me up.

Hurricane Irene wasn’t so bad. I lost power before she even began. It stayed off until Sunday afternoon. There was a lot of rain and a lot of wind. Trees came down and creeks flooded. I stayed home alone and read some of 4 Hour Work Week. There are still roads closed but otherwise most everything is back to normal.

On Friday, Audra and I toured Pottsville, home of Audra and Yuengling Brewery. We were recipients of the very first walking tour of Pottsville by their Visitor’s Center and we toured the Yuengling Brewery. I enjoyed learning more about Pottsville and now I want to read some John O’Hara books.

Frippity Fripp Fripp

It took over 13 hours to get here. That’s a lot of driving! We left early Thursday morning and arrived here in the late evening.

The house is gorgeous. It overlooks the water. I think I could live here all year round. Unfortunately it’s not my house.

So far my routine has been:

  • Wake up
  • Drink Coffee
  • Walk the beach with mom
  • Eat breakfast
  • Boogie Board with Lisa
  • Lay in the sun
  • Drink Beer
  • Shower
  • Eat Dinner
  • Sit outside
  • Walk the beach with Lisa
  • Sit outside
  • Drink wine
  • Sit in living room
  • Go to bed

It’s wonderful!

Bo in the sun

Mr. Bo agrees! He went swimming for the first time yesterday and he broke out the doggie paddle like it was nobody’s business.

The island is home to a slew of deer. They are all tagged and friendly beyond friendly. Yesterday and today, a bunch came right up to me. I think they associate humans with food and not rifles.

Time to resume my schedule and lay outside.

South Carolina Trip

Anyone located in South Carolina? I’m gonna be on Fripp Island for 7 days starting on Thursday. I am hoping to do NOTHING but sit on a porch, look out at the ocean, swim, sun, and drink alcohol. My mother and sister will be with me and so I am sure we will also laugh an awful lot and cry an awful lot… that’s typically what we do anymore. Little Bo will also be with us. I can’t wait to see him chin spin in the salty surf! He’s quite a sea dog.

It’s funny but the last few weeks I have been daydreaming of Key West. It’s funny because I don’t recall liking it that much when I was there but somehow I feel a draw to go back. I think I just need a vacation. A break from all of this crap. If I could just shut down for a week, maybe I can re-emerge charged and ready to take on the world?

The vacation that past by way too quickly

We arrived at the Borgata in Atlantic City probably around 5ish on Thursday. Right after check in, we ran to the pool and stayed there for quite some time. The pool area is really nice. Very clean and relaxing. Yes, clean. Having spent a large part of my working life traveling across the US and staying at Holiday Inns, I can tell you that about 95% of the pools out there have a floating top layer consisting of oil, sweat, hairspray and piss. I was actually totally okay with submerging my body not just in the pool but the hot tub too! This is quite unusual for me.

After the pool, we went to eat at Wolfgang Puck’s restaurant, The American Grille. Honestly, the only reason we ate there is that I happened to notice they were cooking pizzas in a brick oven… and I am so hungry for a DeLorenzo’s Tomato pie that I couldn’t resist. We ordered the Spicy Lamb Chorizo Pizza with Tomatoes, Shaved White Onion and Cilantro for an appetizer and it was interesting in a good way. The dough was really cooked through and I liked the combination of cooked (cheese, chorizo) and raw (tomatoes, onions, cilantro) ingredients on the pizza.

I decided to get the Braised Kurobuta Pork Ossobuco with Sweet Pepper Romesco and Green Olive Tapenade with goat cheese potato puree in natural juice as my entrée. My decision was based purely on the amount of vowels and how the words rolled off my tongue: Kurobuta Ossobuco Romesco Tapenade.

Harrah's poolAfter the amazing dinner we took a taxi cab to Harrah’s to see their new pool. Unfortunately it was closed so we couldn’t get up close but we were able to peek in and gawk. It really blew away The Borgatta’s pool. Amazing. Regardless, Harrah’s smells funny and otherwise looks rather run down. I was happy to stay at The Borgata despite my pool envy.

The next day I putzed until Pookie got out of his meetings. I spent a bit of time sitting at the counter of the Gelato Parlor, eating Gelato and writing in my mini-notebook. An older man saddled up next to me and asked if I was filling out a job application.

“Nope”

“Oh, do you work here?”

I pointed to my cup of Gelato and said,”Nope, I am just sitting here eating Gelato and writing out my to do list for the next week.”

“I see, what do you do for a living?”

“I own my own business.”

I got a kick out of saying that. I know he was just being friendly and we did have a much longer conversation but I couldn’t help but feel awesome saying I owned my own business after he asked if I was a waitress or applying for a job as a waitress. Looking back, I really can’t figure why he thought those things. I was dressed well and was clearly a paying customer. Maybe it was because I was writing in a little notebook. I don’t know.

Once Pookie’s meetings let out, we went to the White House for hoagies. We ordered the Whole Italian hoagie and afterward realized we should have ordered the White House Special hoagie. They are basically the same, there’s just more meat on the Special. Live and learn.

The ride back to Philly was uneventful until we got to Philly and then we found ourselves in the most tremendous traffic jam I have ever experienced. We crawled along at a snail’s pace for about 3 hours!?! We got home around 6:30ish… we left AC at 2:30. Gotta love Philly traffic… not.

Even though I had a really lovely time, I still feel like I need a vacation. One day.

Eine Kleine Vacation

Pookie Bear has a trade show in Atlantic City later this week and I am tagging along to spend time in the pool and spa. We will probably also eat massive amounts of White House Hoagies. I can hardly wait. Really. I need to get the hell out of Dodge. It’s just an overnight trip but it will do me good. White House Hoagies and an inside pool. Yeah. Yeah. YEAH! I need this!

My head feels like it might explode

I have such a terrific headache. Just took an Aleve. Hopefully it helps.

My eyes have been itchy. I mean, my lids have been itchy. Last Sunday I petted a cat and I am wondering if I could still be experiencing allergic symptoms? Or maybe I have an eye infection? I don’t know. All I know is I don’t want to wear my contacts or eye makeup since all I want to do is claw at my eyes.

Quebec City was a nice little getaway. It rained practically the entire time and we spent more time getting there than we spent there. Still, I experienced the wonder of poutine and spent a day and a half feeling like I was in Europe, even though it was really just Canada.

Here’s a couple shots:

I hope you like the pix. There’s no filters on them trying to make them look pretty. From Pookie’s camera to your screen, no Photoshop in between. For quite sometime I had this feeling of inadequacy. You see, I read a ton of blogs and the bloggers always post gorgeous pictures of their houses and lives… and it took me awhile to figure out that the pictures they post aren’t raw shots straight out of their camera. Their pictures are taken with an SLR and are tweaked afterward using Photoshop. Once I realized this, I don’t feel so bad about my pix anymore.

In somewhat similar news, I somehow found myself over at this very popular blogger’s site and I watched a video she posted of her office remodeling. The furniture looked really expensive and very very lovely. Made me want to take out my new Vado and show you guys my office. I am working off the same desk my parents bought me back in 1985 from Ikea. But don’t get the idea that I am not design-oriented… I recently remodeled the desk… by flipping over the top slab to hide the Garbage Pail Kid Stickers that I adhered to the corners back in the 80’s.

The explosion prior to vacation

Pookie and I decided to use up his remaining vacation days by driving to Quebec City. We leave tomorrow morning. That is, unless I explode and am unable to put the pieces of myself back together in time.

I bought the Mygica EZgrabber2 USB 2.0 Video Capture Adapter Device to convert old home movies of our 1994 trip to Slovakia to DVD. Considering the sheer size of my eyebrows and ass in the videos, it’s amazing I haven’t just deleted the tapes. At any rate, my mom asked me to convert a tape for her as well. I just ripped it and now I am s l o w l y burning it to DVD. I am guessing the tape was recorded back in 1985 or 1986. It’s of her and her girlfriends goofing around. They made it for their friend who had moved away. Gosh those ladies were a hoot back then! As a little girl, I guess I just didn’t get it. I will tell you my favorite part of the tape is where they discuss the Jerry Penacoli incident. Those were such innocent days, my friends!

So anyone live in or around Quebec City? Any suggestions on places to stay? Anyone want to meet up?

I am hoping to try some poutine.

Alive and Well and Living on Mars

My little cousins are en-route for a week long visit! I am very excited! The plans are to take them to the shore, rafting, Great Adventure, etc… It’s going to be fun!

Last weekend saw me on another mini-trip. Pookie and I went to Rock Hall, MD where we met up with friends and ate a smörgåsbord of seafood. The next day we sailed the bay and anchored at the public beach. After jumping in, a tray of chicken wings were delivered to us by a friend who waded into the water with the tray perched upon his head. We ate the wings as we swam, tossing the bones to the seagulls flying around us.

I thought I had adequately shielded myself from the sun. Apparently I failed big time because I have those silly sunglass lines where I kinda look like a Panda, in reverse. My eyes are white and everything else is dark.

In other news, today is Audra and Julia’s Birthday! Happy Birthday!