in case there were any questions

This video will give you a pretty good idea of my life 'twixt the ages of 8 and 18.

My favorite parts were, "Most of my work is done on Sullivan's Island and the Isle of Palms, and then I also handle luxury homes in Mt. Pleasant", and the cutaway to the woman walking in to the sea.

I hope this video cleared some things up, thank you Eliza for sending this to me.  

Golden Gate and beach

Yesterday Will took me to the Golden Gate bridge per my few requests during my time here in San Francisco.

It was pretty fantastic actually.  And Will is a great tour guide, when he tells me the truth about things instead of making up lies.

I guess I didn't really understand just how big the bridge is.

It's pretty big.

And I'm glad I got to see Alcatraz, if just from a distance.

I didn't realize but all around the base of the bridge are these old forts and bunkers from various wars past.  It reminded me of Charleston.

I got scolded for taking so many pictures of the flowers.  But they are just so pretty!!  Especially as we headed to the beach.  I have posted enough beach pictures from Ft. Lauderdale that you know when Will said beach I was not imagining this:

It was quite a trek to get down there, and though the sand was nice and warm it was not the inviting hospitable beach that I had in my mind's eye.

Still really cool.  The walk back up was a long one.

So I stopped frequently to take pictures of all the pretty flowers.

There are so many and they are so tiny and colorful.  I love them.

Will was not as impressed.  The only flower he deemed worth a picture was this one:

It is pretty fantastic.  I think the combination of hiking and sun was more than either of us prepared for.  By the time we got back to the top we were both running on empty.  I got to go home and take a nap while Will had to unfortunately go do life chores all afternoon.  Other than a greek feast in the evening we didn't end up doing much of anything with the rest of the day.

It's ok though, I'm glad I got to see as much as I saw, and I still have all day today to explore.  I will find the full house house.

I'm comin' to ya lize!

The street I live on dead ends at the Intra Coastal, as seen here.  The very same Intra Coastal that we swam in here when I was in Charleston last summer for Sara's wedding.

So whenever I want to go to the beach, or go to a1a for a run, I have to cross the intra coastal, and every time I look down it and think, 'what if I just got in a boat, I'd get there eventually'.  I mean, it couldn't be that hard, just stay in the middle of the channel, never stray, until I see the friendly shores of the lowcountry, and (I assume) Eliza on the dock, margarita in one hand, dog tranquilizers in the other.

What's even more bizarre than the idea that I could boat up to Charleston is how I went for a drive the other day and before I realized it I was about to head in to Key Largo.  I didn't go because I wanted to save the occasion, but knowing how close it is is so tempting.  I really REALLY want to drive down to key west but I want to do it with a friend in my passenger seat.

So, who wants to come and visit me?  It's only going to get more and more beautiful in the coming months...

It's all happening again!

This turtle is considerably smaller, and this stretch of road had plenty of places to go besides directly in to him so we managed to avoid a collision, but I was nervous.

Just like last time there was a pick up truck barreling down on me from behind and I know the instinct seems to be, "when in doubt, smash the car in front of me" so I braced myself for impact but he actually ended up stopping and getting out to carry the turtle to safety.

With the frequency that I see turtles when I'm driving I'm surprised I don't see more animals when I'm walking around here.  Since it's been raining EVERY DAY here lately the area along the sides of the road are pretty much like wetlands.  When I'm walking I find myself frantically scanning the water for alligators but I've yet to see one.  I hear their gentle grunting in the night so I know they're in there, just waiting for me to let my guard down.

And snakes, I'm surprised I've not seen any snakes either.  I think what's scarier than not having seen them is knowing that I must have passed right by them and not noticed at all, because there is certainly no shortage of snakes in Florida.  Still not as bad as when I was telling Andrew's mom about how much I love the drive on 17 between 95 and Charleston and she said, "Oh yeah, it's beautiful, but that whole area is horribly infested with rattlesnakes.  They hang out in the trees!  I wouldn't drive through there with the top down."

Just thinking about it now is giving me the heebie jeebies.

I need to go take a shower now.

I know how Lindsay feels

There was a time when we had so many cars in this driveway it was starting to look ridiculous, but now it sits deserted.  Thanks to a certain someone needing the heat on in late May in Charleston my car is sitting in the shop today getting the a/c fixed.  Scott graciously took me to drop it off but then headed out to a dr.'s appt so I'm left here all alone all day with no way to get anywhere.

Like really, even if I wanted to walk to one of the few places within walking distance I don't think I could because of my bum foot.  Kitty said I might have broken a tiny bone in my foot.  Blech.  What's weird is that I can actually still do yoga, well mostly.  The warriors are hard but otherwise it's actually quite nice to do it.  It seems to stretch out the muscles and tendons that are getting horribly cramped by me walking like a gimp for the past two weeks.  I just don't want to have to get a boot.  I know so many people who had to get boots and it was never cool.  I HAVE TO BE COOL!

Which brings me back to how I'm just like Lindsay.  Maybe she's sitting at home right now just like me, browsing the internet, drinking her iced coffee.  Maybe she'll do a google search for herself (not unlikely) and find my blog and be like, "oh we can relate, we should be best friends" and then she'll email me and invite me to her next rooftop bbbq.  The extra b is for byobb.

Let me just go ahead and say I accept, just send me the details and I will head to california.

Now all I have to do is sit back and wait.  Which is convenient since I have nothing else to do today.

and now I miss the poodles too

I feel like I can say it now without jinxing myself, I am amazed I didn't get a speeding ticket during this road trip adventure.  I mean, I always try to be cautious, but I was definitely doing some speeding, and I've never taken a road trip in a car that draws as much attention as mine does, but I never got pulled over.  And I passed a lot of cops.

It seems strange to be back in Florida.  I feel like I've been sleeping in so many strange beds lately, I look forward to laying my head on a familiar pillow.

But I am sad that I won't wake up to the gentle scratching at my door that heralds Bella's arrival for her morning pets.  They really are two precious precious angels.

And I will miss them every day until I see them next.

I miss you already 40D

I can't believe I'm back on Sullivan's Island, lake lure becoming more and more of a memory.  This morning when I got up I was sad to use the fancy working coffee maker at Andrew's parents house, I miss the gentle sighing and gurgling of 40D.

Apparently anybody that has stayed at the lake house has had their own personal battle with this coffee maker.  Besides the fact that it's complicated and finicky, while it's running it makes this subtle breathing noise that is just human enough to be unnerving.  Using Amy's watercolors I painted my rendition of 40D:

"were you thinking of...coffee?  ::sigh::"

Yesterday in the car we were naming our favorite memories from the week.  I think mine was the night we were all still there, when Jay went skinny dipping.  Mostly because we were all together, but a little because I saw Jay's butt.  Plus, Jay going skinny dipping made it ok for me to go skinny dipping later in the week, and now we are the two cool kids who were brave enough to throw skin to the wind while all of the other wuss pusses just sat on the boat covering their modesty.

I also really liked when Dan changed the lyrics to Danity Kane's "Damaged" to be about him having water in his ear.  He actually didn't have to change too much...

"do do you have a first aid kit handy, do do you know how to get water out of my ear, are are are are you are you patient understanding cause I have got some water so deep in my ear canal!

I've tried every remedy but nothing seems to work for me BABY, the situation's driving me crazy, and I really want this water out of my ear, cause the lake I just jumped in left my ear so damaged, damaged, I thought that I should let you know, that my ear is damaged, so damaged, and you can blame the lake before.

So how you gonna fix it fix it fix it, how you gonna fix it fix it fix it?"

This could go on for hours, as it did all last week.

I also enjoyed the new nickname that Chana gave me by saying I looked like a brown merman, which eventually got shortened to 'merman' which then was changed to 'Merman' and eventually just Ethel.  After this point it took very little for Dan and I to burst out in to "Rose's Turn", much to everyone's chagrin.

But sadly all good things must come to an end, and so my lake lure adventure has.  I have another day in charleston to regroup and then it's back to the sunshine state for me.

For now while I wait for everyone else to wake up, I am going to go through my facebook pictures.  Be prepared for a lot of tagging!

oops I forgot

I also spent some more time with these nice guys before we left Charleston. 

I LOVE THEM!

as usual

Apparently the changes in latitude did not come accompanied by changes in attitude so I have still been waking up around 7am every morning, leaving me with at least 3 hours before I feel it's ok for me to go in to Andrew's room and start jumping up and down on his mattress. 

It's ok though as I've been enjoying my morning time regardless of not having anybody to share it with.  Yesterday I walked around Sullivan's Island, no particular direction in mind, and I kept stumbling on relics from my past. 

Not that I went to Sullivan's Island Elementary, don't get me wrong, I'm not part of that upper echelon of the Charleston elite.  But I do remember when this was the bus stop for our middle school bus.  It certainly didn't look like an old abandoned factory back then though.  It seriously took me several moments to realize what I was standing in front of. 

It did not take me long however to figure out what I was standing in front of when I turned the corner and saw this:

Apparently the owners of this don't exactly understand what it is though, as they have placed a birdhouse on top of it.  This seems kind of cruel and unusual punishment for the birds that would choose to nest here.  They'd get a joggling they won't soon forget.  I can't really see myself wanting to joggle next to a bird house anyways.  It just seems like it would be a mess. 

Other favorites from my walk  were the sullivan's island library seen here:

It only looks like a small library because that's the entrance.  It's an old military fort that goes back in the hill and down underground.  I also enjoy that there is an old volvo parked in front of it.  What is it about people from east cooper loving this style of volvo? 

Anyways, the most fabulous thing I found on my early morning walk was Rachel, riding her bike as usual.  And we met at one of my most favorite places:

Not so much because it's beautiful but because I've always been scared of this park.  When we first moved to Charleston my mom took us to this park to play one afternoon.  At some point afterword we found out that there were some kind of satanic rituals and kid snatchings that happened just over the hill beyond the gazebo.  I always felt like I had a brush with death that day.  And again yesterday with Rachel. 

I sit here now at the lake thinking how Charleston is already becoming a memory.  When I plugged my phone in this morning I had 63 pictures to download from yesterday.  I need to get them sorted before the others start waking up. 

clear water

Growing up I don't think I understood that our beaches were uniquely beautiful.  I figured the beach just looked the way beaches look on tv, white sands and crystal clear water.

Sure when we moved to Charleston I was excited about the big waves that come with the Atlantic Ocean, but every time I came back to the beaches here I would be reminded of how incredible they really are.  And now that i've been to beaches in other less fortunate places I really understand.

I will say that the clear water does make me scan frantically for sand sharks and sting rays, where in murkier waters I tend to just go in without thinking of what might be lurking under my little toes.  It's pretty shallow out here at Lido but that doesn't mean you're in the clear.  In fact, when I got to the beach yesterday I actually saw a herd (pod?  swarm?  murder?) of dolphins, and if they can swim in this shallow of water I'm sure there are plenty of sharks that can as well.

At least I'll be able to see them coming...

the waiting game

Oh charleston, how I long for your sun kissed shores and your cobble stoned streets.  But alas, you remain on the horizon, just out of reach.  So close.  So far.

I guess for now I'm left to play the waiting game, and it does in fact suck.

tgif?

Are you allowed to say that if you spent the better part of your friday here?

Not that i'm complaining, it was pretty nice out.  The water is finally warm enough to go in without having to run and brace yourself, and there were enough clouds in the sky that I didn't felt like I was getting cooked without my umbrella.

Going on my little mini vacation to Lido today made me even more excited for my trip up to the carolinas coming up.  I am still not entirely sure what my plans are going to be in the coming days/weeks but I eagerly await the beginning of summer road trip 2011.

So close!  So very close.

rabbit rabbit rabbit

source

I kinda wish I had used this one for last month's, but I like the one I chose for last month too.  I just found this one this morning and couldn't resist.  I LOVE HIS LITTLE FACE!  And that he is just sitting there like all the other bunnies, just being nice.

I know I say this every month but I can't believe it's (insert current month here)!!  Can you?  It seems like just yesterday that it was (insert previous month here).  Wow how time flies.

I have absolutely nothing written on my calendar for the entire month so far except for "flea meds" on the 24th.  That's for the detective, not me, in case you were wondering.  It actually specified on the flea meds that they were not to be used on humans, which scares me.  It scares me as much as the fact that the flea meds were prescription.  How do you abuse flea medication?  Snort it?  When in doubt, snort it.

I do have my charleston/lake lure trip on the horizon, but I don't know when anything is actually happening so I have resisted writing anything on my calendar.  I guess I could put down my appt I have to get new tires on my car this monday.  Now I feel important!

While I go organize my life for the month, or walk to starbucks so I can see all my nice doggy friends along the way, you can enjoy this month's Barbie:

She's not my favorite, to be honest, but she is trying bless her heart.  For one I don't care for her zombie queen of the undead makeup look somebody did on her, and for two I don't care for the school of tyra banks broke down doll posing.  The dress is unremarkable, and what is she carrying a beach towel?  I was hoping for something a little more spring chic, though I do like that she's wearing her signature color again.  I think it's just a little too much, but maybe it will grow on me in the coming weeks.  For now, I'm off to get coffee.

feeling bad

source

I just want to officially go on the record as saying that I feel really bad about missing Andrew's birthday this year (and apparently also last year).

I was just thinking, "wow it sure seems like i've done a lot of birthday posts recently" and I realized that besides not even calling Andrew on his birthday, I didn't even do a post for him on the day he lies and says is his birthday on facbeook.

So Andrew, I hope that you forgive me.  If you want you can use this to make us equal from me defending you to Brittany and getting slapped across the face.

I was trying to think of a specific memory with Andrew that encapsulates my feelings about him but there are far too many to choose from.  Instead I want to relate to you all about how Andrew is one of those people in my life that I knew I was destined to be friends with before I ever was.  Kind of like how I feel about Mandy Moore.

See Andrew was the cool kid for pretty much all of middle school and high school, and not that I didn't have friends of my own, but due to scheduling Andrew and I never once had a class together in all 7 years that we went to school together.  It being a small school however, most of our friends were friends with the other, but our paths never crossed.  But I knew, in my heart of hearts, that if only I could get an audience with the Arthur Fonzarelli of Charleston, I could win him over.

And so it was, during those half days at the end of senior year, when the choices were to hang out with each other or Huge, and we chose each other.  I'm glad we did too, I can't imagine my life without Andy.  It's funny to think that we could have been friends all through school as well, but I think what makes our friendship so great is that we weren't.  We pretty much had the same upbringing, yet have completely different memories.  I like friendships like that, and I like friendships that I knew were destined to be before they happened.  I only have it happen every once in a while, so when it does I try to hold on to them.  And so far I've done an ok job with Andrew, we are still friends even though I repeatedly miss his birthday, make out with people in his car when he lets me borrow it, and leave incriminating paraphernalia in his pool house for his mother to find (LIES).  So thanks Andrew, for putting up with me, I'm glad we're friends.

Happy Belated Birthday!!!

treasured memories

My computer has started telling me that there isn't even enough free space for me to download pictures off my phone to use for my blog.  So I've decided it's time to back up my old files and do a clean sweep.

Of course this is also an excuse to take a trip down old memory lane.  I'll try not to bore you all with a million pictures of my life from the past 10 years (that's about how far back the pictures go), but aren't those sunflowers pretty?  They were in a field down the street from where I used to live in South Carolina.  Meghan and I took a trip out there one day, I think when we were playing hooky from summer school, and had a photo shoot.

There were also many pictures of our debauchery in and around charleston throughout our youth.  A bunch of great photos from the night we were house/dog-sitting for Jojo's aunt and uncle.  For some reason we were all wearing trucker hats, as was the style at the time.  Many of the pictures will not be seen as they feature too many faces and too much beer cans and other paraphernalia (wtf that is seriously the spelling of that word) that I don't need sullying my blog.

But here are some pictures of a nice nice doggy!

1776

I've been looking forward to this for a few days now.  The total amount my blog has made is $17.76.  I like four numbers because they make me think of that year in history, so anytime it's a specifically historical year it seems to take on some added significance. 

I think it started when i used to drive back and forth between Charleston and Sarasota every few months.  I play a game where I would reset the trip odometer in my car and then try to say something that happened historically for every year as they went by.  It was always so much easier when you'd get to the years around something like 1776 because it was pretty easy to name things that led up to or happened after the year. 

The next thing i'm looking forward to is when i hit the year 2000!

random man

source

Some random man just walked through the office where I work.  I was the only person who saw him.

He was not the man pictured above, but that came up when I google image searched for "random man". 

This guy came in the front door of our office, walked through the office to the back, turned around and walked right back out.  He was walking with such determination that I just assumed he must belong here.  There aren't that many people who work in this office, but there are sometimes random people like computer techs that come in.  I figured he was somebody like that. 

After he left my supervisor came over and said, "what just happened"

apparently this guy just walked in to the wrong office?  But I mean, he made it all the way through the entire office before he realized.  That seems odd, but I guess I could see myself doing the same thing.  I'm always afraid that i'll have somehow gotten on the wrong plane and have to be that jerk that has to get his bag out of the overhead compartment and walk all the way down the aisle with everyone's laughing eyes on me.

When I lived in Florida I went to a really small school that didn't have buses.  It wasn't until we moved to Charleston when I was 8 that I had to ride a bus for the first time and I remember telling my mom that I didn't know how I would know which bus to get on at the end of the day and she said, "when you get on the bus in the morning, look and see who else from our neighborhood is on the bus.  At the end of the day try to find one of those kids and just follow them on to the bus."

So on the first day of 3rd grade I get on the bus and scan all the faces, hoping that I will be able to remember them by the end of the day.  When I get to homeroom I'm relieved to see a girl, Mary Catherine, who was on the bus with me is in my 3rd grade class.  I'll never forget she was wearing a red plaid bow in her hair, I noticed it on the bus because I figured it would be easy to spot in a crowd at the end of the day.   But now I could relax and enjoy my first day of class because I knew I could handle the bus situation at the end of the day.

So it's 3:00 and we're all getting ready to leave.  I guess Mary Catherine must have noticed me frantically staring at her while i packed up my things because I remember her giving me a funny look and becoming visibly agitated.  We headed out in to the hallway at which point I distinctly remember seeing her fading in to the crowd of children while checking over her shoulder to see if i was still stalking her.  At this point I realized she was trying to lose me and I had forgotten all the other faces from my neighborhood. 

She did end up getting away from me, I searched for her frantically until the buses started to leave at which point i think i bust in to tears and the assistant principal had to take me inside and call my mom to come pick me up. 

I guess if i were as brave as that random guy i would have just said, "you know, I don't know what bus i'm supposed to get on, so instead i'll just go walk on to every bus until i figure it out".

sound logic

dream date pt 1

Last week at work I decided that I wanted to take in a day at the Theatre so I asked Dan if he'd be interested in accompanying me.  He said he was and that he would even wear a dress, which he didn't.  But we still had a magical dream date on Sunday together. 

We got to the show early because I was paranoid about getting our tickets so we ended up being like 40 minutes ahead of time for a show that was not very well attended to begin with.  After sitting in the lobby for a few minutes we decided that we should probably go somewhere and get a drink while we waited instead of being lurkers. 

We found this cute bar in the west village that actually had a live band!  It was so fun, and kind of sad because there were maybe 4 or 5 other people at the bar besides us to even listen to them.  But even so, it was really cool, I forget how fun live music is.  It made me remember all the times I've been places to hear Leah sing, like in the lobby of Charleston Place.  I always feel so sophisticated. 

Whatever this bar was that we ended up at we picked it because Dan said they had the BEST bloody mary's:

They decidedly were not the best bloody mary's but they weren't the worst.  The worst bloody mary I've ever had was at HK, but I digress.  These just needed a little salt and pepper and they were good to go.