it begins

I'm actually doing it!  I was awake when it was still dark and made it to the beach in time to see the sun break the horizon!!  And I've so far resisted the overwhelming urge to get back in bed and sleep more.

The fact that it is the most beautiful day ever helps motivate me to keep going though.

Sunrise happened at 6:30 this morning so I stayed at the beach until 7:

Afterwards I required coffee.  Since Daniel RUDELY ditched me for our early morning coffee date I had to spend 8 all by myself:

After coffee I headed out for a run at 9:

Where I saw this:

And this:

10:00 got me as I was walking back home from my run:

And I had just enough time to shower and get myself together for Daniel to pick me up for coffee round two at 11:

By 12 we were ready to leave so I demanded a quick selfie:

And here we find ourselves.  At 12:30 and I am resisting the urge to take a nap.  The question is, do I go to the beach or do I go to the pride event that's happening downtown?

...or do I take a nap...

teeth, week 3

Daniel picked me up for coffee this morning so I was still pulling at Starbucks.  I know the change of lighting makes it hard to compare against the past teeth pics but I figured better than nothing.

I do feel like my teeth are improving, but I don't feel like I can show definitive results yet.  I am impressed that I've managed to do it first thing every single morning without forgetting.  It's actually become a nice part of my morning routine.

And there's only been a couple awkward mornings like this one where Daniel and I sat in silence on the way to Starbucks.  Not that he can't still talk to me but I think the pulling makes him uncomfortable.

Oh well, my body my choice.

In other news, today is my first official day at my new job!  Wish me luck!

it was a bad day for Benjamin

When I got to work there was a newsletter in our work inbox and I found myself in the list of top sellers for the week.  It was a little bittersweet as they misspelled my first and last name, but either way I was glad I put Boca Raton on the map.  If they hadn't included our store location I wouldn't have been certain it was even me.

To celebrate I got myself an afternoon starbucks.  I think the girl taking my order got distracted...

That unsteady scribble at the end is my favorite.

Ever since Jenny found out my middle name she's been really fixated on it.  Maybe I should start experimenting with it, to see if people understand it better.

I'll let you know how it goes, knowing my luck I'll get Lucy.

the best starbucks

I notices smalls first and thought it was odd that it was pluralized.  I looked to see if it was also larges when I got the joke.  I asked who was responsible for it and the two girls pointed to the guy making the drinks with an eye roll.  I like his style, totally the kind of interactions I would have with my coworkers.

In fact, I told him the story about the time I was working at the shop in the west village and my boss got the exterior whitewashed during the middle of the day.  I put up a sign that said, "Wet Paint, check yourself before you wreck yourself".  At some point a girl came in and brushed against the door, getting white paint all over her Louis bag.  The rage on her face when she said, "I can't believe there's wet paint and no sign!" was no match for the rage on her face after I said, "oh, actually, there is a sign".  I don't think she appreciated my humor.  As I recall my boss ended up giving her a gift card to the store as compensation because she was so angry so she ended up having to come back in to use it.  The first time she came back I had no idea who she was so I just talked to her as I would any random customer.  I feel bad in hindsight because if I were her that would have pissed me off all over again.

Ahh, good times working in retail.

Heather regrets her choice

I don't know what she was thinking.  Heather eats cleaner than I do!  I don't know why she thought she could handle mocha cookie crumble anything.

I'm thankful to have discovered Myapapaya where I can get a chocolate shake that I won't regret for days after.  Although to be honest I haven't really gotten past their pressed juices.  The Hawaii 5-Glo?!  So good!!  And even though it's a tad on the expensive side it actually makes it doubly good for me.  Not only am I getting delicious juices back in to my diet, but I'm so broke that I can't get anything else that would be bad for me.

I will be beach body ready for the summer.

take a long ride in the mercedes

Last week at Starbucks they accidentally made me two venti iced coffees so I thought I would have double the fun for my work day.  I put my second coffee in the back seat cup holder and totally forgot about it.  It wasn't until I was parking that I looked back and saw the empty spot where my coffee had once been.

I found the cup on the floor of my backseat, and some coffee residue on the carpet but otherwise was baffled by where my coffee had gone.  Apparently there are drains underneath the seats, and thank goodness for that.  It's those kinds of things that make it a Mercedes Benz.

Anyways, the point is, I ended up having to make an appointment to get the carpets shampooed in order to rid my car of the rancid smell of old soy milk.  The only available time they had was this morning, ironically the day before my judgement day.

So I got it all cleaned, top to bottom, inside and out, and now I can hopefully go the next six months without spilling anything, tearing anything, or otherwise getting in trouble.

To celebrate I made John take me on a pleasure cruise in it tonight.  One last time before it will only be able to be driven by me.

Not looking forward to tomorrow.

let's go to the beach-each

So for my birthday I finally joined the 21st Century and got an iphone.  Whoaoaaoaoaoa.

I love the panorama feature.  You can expect plenty more of these pics.

I also love my new haircut.

It only took half a lemon to saturate it completely!! Half!!  And I didn't have to bring any hair ties with me!!

It's truly wonderful.  I'm nervous to go to work tomorrow.  I'm already used to it and have forgotten, so when I ran in to one of my neighbors just now it caught me off guard that she was so startled.  Or when I went to Starbucks this morning and one of my favorite barista's was just standing there with her mouth open when she saw me hahaha.

It's going to be a full day of that tomorrow.  I can't wait!

: )

relaxing

This guy was hanging out at starbucks this morning, just looking around and being nice.  He literally didn't move from that position the entire time we were there.

: (

I would like a nice doggy like that who will sit and be nice with me while I'm out and about.

the hits keep coming

I was driving to Starbucks and listening to 90's on 9 when this classic came on.

I thought I heard what I heard but I wasn't sure so I had to wait until I could get home and do a google search for the lyrics.  Sure enough, "Every night we smash their mercedes benz".

This is going to be the best cd ever!

I don't know what to do

Ever since I saw that gif of the nice fluffy white kitty chasing the wrinkles in the sheets I haven't stopped thinking about getting a friend for the detective.  I always had it in my mind that if the detective were to get a friend it would have to happen naturally, as it did with him.

However, I really like the idea of having an all white cat.  I was at starbucks this morning when I saw this ad for Cupcake.  He's nice, and I feel like I already foretold him coming in to my life:

detective cupcakes

But then there's also this guy:

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I love him and his silly little cone.  : (

Ugh, then I look at the detective and how peaceful he is and happy being king of the castle and wonder if I would just be upsetting the balance of things by bringing in a strange new cat.  I don't know.

I just don't know.

Ugh.

me today

source

To be honest I'm scared to leave the house today, which is what led me to google searching for images of Sigourney Weaver in Copycat; my favorite agoraphobia based thriller.

I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning, thanks to my upstairs neighbor.  He has a history of sounding like he's either moving furniture or getting shaken down by the mob during the tender moments just before daybreak.  I know what it's like to live in the upstairs unit and have crazy people downstairs complain about noises you don't think you're making, so I usually try to avoid saying anything about it to him.  This morning I decided to go to starbucks to avoid the issue, thinking he would be gone by the time I got back.

On my way to starbucks I got cut off by a guy who didn't realize I was going slow because the car in front of me was turning right.  No sooner did he cut me off then he had to swerve back in to the middle lane, then I watched as he pulled in to starbucks.

I couldn't resist the urge and ended up commenting on his driving, and oh did we get in to it.  The people of starbucks were quietly chuckling at our exchange.  I just don't understand people who shit where they sleep.  I drive like an asshole too sometimes but not when I'm about to pull in to a starbucks where I could potentially get confronted by somebody that I just cut off moments before.

Of course I get back to the apt just as my upstairs neighbor is leaving his place.  I was still raging from starbucks and couldn't hold back with him.  At one point Heather, having heard my voice, opened her door with a smile on her face that quickly changed to a look of terror when she saw my hulk rage.  I think I glared at her once before she quietly closed the door and retreated to safety.

After having my coffee, working out, and taking a shower I was starting to feel more like myself, which meant I was starting to have remorse for my morning rampage.  No sooner had I told Heather that I felt bad for yelling at the upstairs neighbor when who should pull in but the man himself.  I intended to try and smooth things over, the conversation went something like this:

Me:  Hey I'm sorry for raging at you this morning.

Him:  No man, I would too, it sucks.  I don't know what it could be that makes so much noise, it must be either my ironing board or maybe the drawers of my armoir when I pull them out.

Me:  Is your armoir just sitting on the floor?

Him:  Yeah, as opposed to what?

Me:  Well I mean is it on a rug or is it sitting directly on the tile?

Him:  It's directly on the tile, there's nothing I can do about that.

(ummmmm, you could put it on a rug)

Him:  How are you still here?  Do you ever work?

(...yes...at night...which is why it sucks to get woken up at 7 every morning...)

Me:  Yes, actually I'm on my way now.

At which point I went in to my apt before the rage bubbled to the surface again.  Which brings me to the point of all this, I am scared to go to work tonight.  I feel like something is going to happen on my drive to work, or I am going to get in to it with a customer some how.  Something's going down today and I'm scared.

Wish me luck.

driving miss daisy

I was sitting at Starbucks working and I glanced over to my left to see this nice nice guy in the backseat, just hanging out.

When the lady came out she was like, "Oh my gosh I'm so sorry, were you taking pictures to report me for leaving him in the backseat of my car?"

Umm no, I was taking pictures because your dog reminded me of this:

source

hey what have you been up to?

Oh me?  I Benjammin.

This was written by the same girl who described my hair as whimsical.  I told her my hair had never been described that way before and she said, "really, well it is, so welcome to your new favorite starbucks".

I was a little caught off guard, I blame the lack of caffein, otherwise I would have tried to keep up with her sass.

Either way, I look forward to a return visit to what is, in fact, my new favorite starbucks.  I will find out if she intentionally misspelled my name or not.

rabbit rabbit rabbit

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FINALLY!

I thought July would never end.  But it has, and I for one am happy to welcome August and its holiday free days.  I'm thankful for friends like Jon and Meghan who facilitate me running away from my problems and hiding until things cool down though.

I certainly have enjoyed waking up and walking to 9th St. for coffee and then sitting at meghan's table to write.  So much better than starbucks in every way possible.

It makes me anxious to find out if I get to call Ft. Lauderdale my home or not.  I can certainly get used to living alone.  Well not entirely alone, I have missed kitty while I've been here in NY.  It's just not the same waking up of your own volition.  I've come to enjoy the feeling of heavy little feet pressing in to my face as he stomps all over in the wee hours of the morning.

I'll just have to be happy with all the nice doggies in nyc while I'm away from my precious angel.  Like this guy:

I feel like having a dog that large in ny is just your way of saying that you have an apt big enough to be home to a dog that large.  I mean, that dog is HUGE!  It seems like the east village is overrun with great danes too.  It makes me wish I could walk Bella and make friends.

Instead I'll just enjoy people watching in the park and pretending that I live here for real for reals.

at least there's this

Having to share a car with my father is kind of a buzzkill, but the 90's on 9 makes it better.  Between the matchbox 20 and b*witched I had a great drive to starbucks this morning.

Of course I had to bring my coffee back home before my father woke up and started sending me panic texts about where his truck is and when I will be bringing it back.

I will find out tomorrow if I get a rental or not.

close enough

I just noticed how she wrote my name on the cup this morning.  It's pretty similar to my own signature.  I do the 'b' pretty good but everything after that is hit or miss depending on how much energy I have.  Similar to her, I usually try to make a show of it by throwing the 'j' in there so it's not all just obvious scribbles, but beyond that it's pretty much just obvious scribbles.

I give her an 'A' for effort.

why am I so paranoid?

Every time I walk to starbucks in the morning I head down this particular section and become overwhelmed with the feeling that there is somebody looming right over my shoulder.  I finally figured out that I am seeing the shadow of the orb lights as some kind of terrifying thin necked man creeping up behind me.

In the picture above my shadow is in the center with my hands up to the camera, behind me is the shadow of the light which looks like some sort of tim burton character.

The worst part is that it doesn't matter that I've figured out this is what is freaking me out, it still freaks me out.  I will be walking along and I'll see my shadow with this other shadow right behind it and clutch my chest in terror.

I think I need a nice doggy to walk with me and make me feel like I'm being protected.

Lauderdale dreams

I was only in Ft. Lauderdale for about 24 hours, but it was enough time for me to fall in love with it.  It's amazing that it's so close to Sarasota, but so completely different.  I mean the palm trees in lauderdale have coconuts on them!  Coconuts!!  We certainly don't grow coconuts on every palm tree in Sarasota.

There was also a much more fun scene for younger people.  I stopped in a local liquor store where this guy layed down the law:

Can't argue with him!

Besides the presence of liquor stores and bars, there was also an abundance of people walking down the sidewalk which was such a sight for sore eyes.  Whenever I walk anywhere in Sarasota it's like people assume my car must have broken down or something (actually my check engine light came on yesterday.  shoot me).  But lauderdale was so different, I think mostly because we were in a touristy area where most of the people were carless.  It reminded me of NY, and actually I met a bunch of guys from NY that were staying at the same hotel as us.

I'm sad that I couldn't stay longer, but I am excited to make another trip down there soon.  I mean, even the starbucks in lauderdale sells saucier things than any other starbucks I've ever been to:

Take that ariel and your seashell bra, starbucks is kicking it up a notch.

But I'm home now, back in the arms of that handsome little kitty, who has yelled at me nonstop since I got back.  Apparently I didn't have his permission to leave.  But the hotel we stayed at was pet friendly, and even had a little black cat that lived there, so I think I'll just take him with me the next time I go down.

Soon please!

two nice guys!

I was sitting outside at starbucks when this car pulled up to the drive through lane.

The guy in the back is all, "oh I'd like a tall skinny latte please, I gotta watch my figure"

I love them.

wtf is this?

When has this ever been a name?  I really don't understand.  The funny thing is that we were just discussing how I've gotten in the habit of saying my full name because it seems like people can understand it better than a monosyllabic name, but people never cease to amaze me. 

I really don't understand it but I know that it's common for people to think that this is how the name is spelled/pronounced, so this still comes in second to the guy who spelled my name "Banjamin" and then acted like I was nuts for saying there was a typo. 

"How do you spell it?" 

ummmm, like the bible?  And if not the bible then I'm sure you've heard plenty of rap songs where they discuss how they've been spending their benjamins.  Or enjoyed Miss Congeniality with one Benjamin Bratt, there is no excuse.