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...

at the coffee shop

He brought his cat to get coffee!!!

I've been working on training the detective to ride on my shoulders but so far we haven't made much progress.  Seeing that man this morning though re-inspired me to work with the detective more.

He has been all over me all morning anyways so I figured it would be a good time to work on training. You can tell he loves to be held.

He's actually very comfortable when I put him over my shoulder, as long as I hold his butt with my hand.

He can sit like this comfortably for a long time, glaring down at the world like a gargoyle.

Eventually my hand get tired though.  I'm trying to get him to lay around my neck but I don't think it's ever going to happen.  Maybe I'll just try going for a walk with him like this one day though, so others can admire his beauty.

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.

these guys

I managed to survive 8 years living in manhattan and it's only taken a year for Miami to kick me in the balls and leave me for dead.

And yet I still love it down here.  I mean, I was not expecting iguanas on my walk to get coffee this morning.  Don't get me wrong, I love pigeons, but there is something thrilling and exotic about iguanas.

Although I didn't really need to take the zoom in pic:

Not the most flattering.  But I was excited!

Jed told me that there was a frost a few years ago and it killed most of the iguanas, as they are cold blooded.  He said that it was quite a problem as the larger ones would freeze solid in a tree and then fall down, often damaging cars underneath.  Would that be covered under insurance?  I doubt it.

Anyways, I'm glad to see that they are back to running amuck down here.  It reminds me of why I came down here and why I still love it.  And I do, I do still love it, although nyc is looking more and more appealing these days.

Life is just so much simpler there.

spending the day in Napa

We had the morning to ourselves so we headed to downtown Napa for some wandering and window shopping.  We got some really great coffee at Molinari Caffe where they turn their tip jar in to a work of art:

I was impressed.

Evan and I dropped Kelly off to get a massage while we headed to the Thomas to massage our insides with delicious booze.

I had a great bloody mary, Evan had a sparkling lavender lemonade, and we both had some lovely conversation.  With each other and with strangers at the bar.

When we met back up with Kelly we headed to the Oxbow Public Market for a bite to eat before heading back to the hotel to get ready for the wedding, which is where we find ourselves now.  In fact, I need to get dressed, looking forward to a good night.

the wizard behind the curtain

source

I'm having coffee and browsing reddit when I stumble on this photo from the making of the original Mortal Kombat game.

There was no way I was allowed to play this game when it came out but thanks to having an older brother it would somehow find its way in to our house.  One Saturday morning I woke up really early and decided that I was going to see what this game was all about.

I ended up getting all the way to the end (using Sonya of course) but completely froze when I got to Goro.  I was literally so terrified that I could do nothing but shoot my bracelets, blow kisses, and wait for imminent death.

I don't know how I thought they made this game, I guess I never really gave it much thought.  If I had known that Goro was literally an action figure I may have been able to make it all the way.

My whole childhood has been turned upside down this morning.

I've missed this place

From the moment I got to the 6 train platform and saw this terrifying ad I've become quite nostalgic for my life in nyc.

My first order of business was getting 9th St. with Meghan before heading downtown to get my haircut.  The best part about having Christina cut my hair is that I get to hang out with precious angels like dolly while I'm there.

She did not help my wanting a little dog problem.

She did not help at all.

And this other bundle of joy made me miss the detective and reminded me that I should really get a little doggy to be his friend because it clearly makes her VERY happy:

Once Meghan and I finished with all our chores we did the only thing we could think of to warm ourselves.  Jam our faces with delicious pizza.

If I lived as close to motorino as Meghan does I don't think I would eat anything else.

Otherwise our day/night last night was pretty lowkey.  I got to accomplish a long held life goal of getting Meghan and Laura together and it was magical.  I think my favorite was when I reminded Laura of the time some girl threw up on her in the subway and Meghan's face lit up as she exclaimed, "that was you?!"

Unfortunately it was far too cold for any of us to have the energy to pull an all nighter so we eventually parted ways.  It was nice anyways because I got to hang out with Sam a bit when he came home from work and before we all passed out.

I'm not sure what all today will have in store for me but I do know it will include an encounter with the incomparable Dan D.  I can't wait, I think my hair is finally long enough to have achieved his request that he made so long ago.

For now I've got my long johns on and I'm ready to venture to the outside for some coffee.

I feel so betrayed

source

And not just because somebody surreptitiously took my photograph to use for their stock images database either.

I was making coffee this morning (yes, I even use a french press just like that) when I noticed on my almost empty package of grounds that I had unwittingly purchased decaf coffee.  WHY?!  Why would they even have it on the same shelf with the regular coffee?  How can they expect someone who, most likely, hasn't had their coffee yet, to differentiate between regular and decaf?!  Impossible.

This definitely accounts for my grogginess the past few days.  When normally I can only drink one cup of coffee in the morning I was having seconds and thirds, yet I would still be yawning all morning and even took a nap in the afternoon a couple times.  It all makes so much sense now.

So the question is should I just take advantage of this and try to keep weening myself off of caffein?  I know I've felt great in the past when I've done it, but I just don't think now is the time for that kind of ambition, although the worst is behind me.

I was going to say that I wish I'd never noticed it was decaf in the first place but that's not true.  I'm glad to have an explanation for why I've felt extra tired lately and if I hadn't known I would have gone right back to regular coffee and been freaked out by why it was affecting me so strongly.  I guess I'm just bummed because now the placebo affect is gone and I just can't enjoy this cup of coffee this morning.  I know it's exactly the same as the coffee I enjoyed yesterday morning, but now I know the truth.  The horrible horrible truth.

I think I'm going to have to go get coffee on the outside.

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!

5 nice guys

I love them.  I was taking an afternoon coffee break yesterday and went for a walk on the beach where I found these guys.  They're so funny!  Just standing there, looking around, being nice.

Yesterday was cleaning day so we had been fussing around the house all morning.  By the time I was taking my coffee break it felt like it was already time for the day to be winding down.  In reality it was only 2:30 (the dentist's favorite time!), which struck me as funny because that was the time that I started work at my past two jobs.  I had this moment of considering that 4 months ago I would have been just arriving at the office with my coffee, instead of just arriving at the beach with my coffee.

As much as I loved all of my coworkers I think I would prefer these nice birdies at the beach to conversation from behind computers.

two nice guys!

while getting coffee at 9th st. espresso there were these two guys hanging out in front waiting for their owner. Apparently they are such a fixture at the door that there is a similar picture of them at the coffee shop taken by a real photographer.