I love you, baby.

Those were the last words that my father said to me.

It was exactly one month ago that he passed away. Needless to say, it's been a pretty bad day.

How Old Is Too Old?

"Age is an issue of mind over matter.

If you don't mind, it doesn't matter."

~Mark Twain

The question of "how old is too old" has been haunting me lately. A few weeks ago I found myself attacted to a man who was around 40 and it got me thinking about the issue of age and relationships. Is 40 years old too old for a 28 year old? Would that qualify me as the "mid-life crisis girl"?

Oddly enough, as I was flipping through the TV channels tonight I ran across a show called "Age of Love". The plot of the show is to have a single man in his 30's decide who would be a better partner - a girl in her 20's or a woman in her 40's - the kittens vs. the cougars.

As you may have guessed, I was sucked in and had to watch the show. It was amazing to see the difference between the two age groups. The 40's were confident, mature and fun. The 20's, on the other hand, were the exact opposite: jealous, insecure and surprisingly boring. Now I understand that this could all be the work of the show producers and editors but I think that the concept is fascinating. Especially since I've been wresting with the issue of age myself.

What do you guys think...does age really matter?

What's A Girl To Do...

In case you couldn't tell from all of my prior blogs, I travel...a lot. In the past two months, I have been on 10 different round trip flights so I think I know a little something about airline etiquette. I know all the do's and don'ts but this is one area that I'm a little grey in...the pick up. It's happened before: the lawyer, the college football coach, the Marine, the owner of a construction company and this last week, it was Michael - the land developer.

It's generally the same routine: I'm sitting by the window minding my own business (trying to avoid the person sitting next to me). The guy sitting in the middle seat becomes incredibly persistent at engaging me in conversation. I give in and finally talk; most of the time it's sub-par conversation but once in awhile it's actually fun (this is rare). You cover all the basics in flight - where are you from/where are you going/what do you do, etc. By the time that the flight ends you feel as though you somewhat know this person. When you are able to get off the plane, the guy waits for you at the door to escort you to either the baggage claim or the connecting gate. They give you their number and ask you to call them. In most cases, I smile and take the number not wanting to hurt any feelings, however, this last time it was a bit different. I actually thought about calling him. In the end, I didn't but I did listen to all of his suggestions of cool shops, restaurants and other public places to go (which were all great, by the way).

So out of curiosity, I have to ask this question: if you met a guy on an airplane (who didn't seem like he was going to rape, kill and then cut you into pieces) would you call him?

Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel

In May, my friend Jenny came out to visit. After spending a few days in my sleepy beach town, we decided to head up to LA for a night out.

We started out the day by hitting up the garment district to pick up a few purses. Whenever you go shopping there you have to look like hell so that you can barter for lower prices. So Jenny & I head up to LA in sweats, tank tops and baseball caps all in an effort to blend in and look as poor as possible. Believe it or not, this does come into play later...

After spending some time at the garment district, we decided to go and check into our hotel room for the night. We are responsible girls who do not drink and drive. Jenny had always wanted to stay at the Roosevelt Hotel because it has so much Hollywood history and is a very trendy place to hang out. Here is where the fun begins....

We arrive at the ridiculously priced Hotel at around 4 pm for check in. Mind you, we originally requested a 1.30 check in and was told this would not be a problem. After waiting in the reception line (for what seemed like ages) we were informed that our room would not be ready for another HOUR. Not to mention, they didn't give us the room we originally booked even though it was reserved. Apparently, reservations at this place are not really valid seeing as the other 2 people checking in had gotten screwed too. The receptionist told us that she would call us as soon as the room was cleaned. With nothing else to do, we walked down Hollywood Boulevard (looking like hell on earth) waiting for the call to come in. We are not off to a good start here.

After an hour of aimless wandering and a bit of shopping, we headed back to the hotel to try and get into our room. We got the keys and couldn't wait - this was the most expensive hotel I've ever stayed in and was expecting a lot. This is what it looked like - the bed:

The bathroom:

The only thing missing from these photos would be the front door and a the mirrored wall opposite the bed. The design of the room was just OK but all of the concrete in the restroom made it feel like a prison. Not quite what I was expecting when the room rate is over $700/night. Here is a view of the pool and Tropicana Bar from our balcony:

By the time that we got checked in, it was time to get ready to go for dinner. Jenny had made reservations at Parc where we had a good meal and great people watching - including a few celebrities. After dinner we walked back to our hotel which was just a few short blocks away. Of course we had to stop by some stars and hand prints along the way...

Once back at our hotel we changed clothes and headed down to the Tropicana Bar. The place was packed and we had a great time. We made our way into a couple of roped off areas and we even crashed some guys birthday party. He was nice....

The next morning when Jenny went to check out she was presented with a bill for over $400 from the Tropicana Bar. Apparently, someone was charging all of their shots, drinks and food to our hotel room. When Jenny tried to fight the charge they were total jerks about it! Long story short, they charged over $2000 to Jenny's card and it 5 phone calls, two bank reversals and a whole lot of yelling to get it fixed. Unbelievable!

I think at some point we were asked not to snap structural photos but considering how hellish the whole stay was, I'm posting these just to piss'em off. Enjoy!

Playing A Little Bit Of Catch Up...

Life is busy.

I'm sure that we can all attest to that but I really have to ask - what happened to May 16th -June 21st? It's all a distant memory at this point and I'll see if I can catch you up to speed here. I guess the easiest way to tackle this is going to be in the form of several smaller blogs so I don't overwhelm myself.....here goes nothing!

Let The Games Begin

Hmmmm....

Welcome to Southwest Louisiana.

It's hot. It's humid. And could someone please tell me why it smells like an armpit?

Dallas Skyline

I think that Dallas might be my new favorite skyline:


Have you seen some of the architecture in the city? Good stuff...

*image from the web

Steeplechase 2007

This last weekend I headed back to Nashville, TN for Steeplechase 2007. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the race it's a charity event that benefits the Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt.

It was my first time attending Steeplechase and I really enjoyed myself. After dressing up in our summer dresses we headed out to the race track. The majority of the day was spent in the infield drinking, mingling with people and checking out some outrageous hats/outfits. In my opinion, the best part was getting to see these beautiful horses race. Hope you enjoy the photos:

The one thing that I always forget about Nashville is how hot it gets, even in May. Those poor horses had to be miserable considering that temperatures were in the high 80's with around 95% humidity. The heat, I can handle but the humidity is just awful. Now I remember why I moved to the beach!

I Feel Like A Kid Again

What is it about swimming pools that makes me feel like a little kid again? Most people I know like to take it slow; walking down the stairs and letting their bodies adjust to the water. Not me - I like to run, plug my nose and jump in the deep end. It's all or nothing in this girls world.

So tonight I find myself in Phoenix, AZ and the hotel I'm staying in has the best pool area that I have ever seen. It is a childs dream come true and a parents worst nightmare. There is a sport pool where I was shooting hoops for awhile. Then I moved onto the lazy river where I floated around the property on an inner tube. After that was the pool that had two waterfalls and last but certainly not least, was the water slide. It was awesome!

There is nothing that will make me feel more like a kid again than flying down a waterside. Not to mention it was close to sunset so I had the place all to myself. What more could a girl ask for?!

Summer Is Here!

It's a beautiful day in Southern California. The temperatures have risen enough for me to head to the beach for the first time this year. As I was walking to the beach (yes, I live that close to the ocean- jealous?) I noticed some things that let us know summer is upon us:

• Parking becomes scarce on the numbered streets.
• The pro-volleyball tournament is back in town this weekend.
• The airplanes that fly ad banners behind them are back.
• It's almost impossible to cross over PCH because of all the traffic.

I spent two hours trying to turn my pale skin brown. The cool wind finally won the battle and I had to head inside.

There weren't too many people in the water today, however, since it was rather windy, a lot of kite surfers were out. I'm always amazed at how they can control these monstrous kites and it provides great entertainment while taking a break from reading my book. Here is just one of the six that were out today:

Off to dinner now - hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Leaving Albuquerque With A Flash

So it's Tuesday afternoon and I am in the security line at the airport. I'm wearing a super cute outfit - great jeans, cute wedge heels and this very loose fitting top:

Why is my outfit so important? Well, you're about to find out.

Have you ever been through one of those air puffer security machines at the airport? If not, it's a machine that you stand inside that blows several short puffs of air on you to ensure that you aren't carrying any explosives. I've been through them several times before and it's never been a big deal.

Well, it's my turn to go into the air puffer so off I go. I enter the machine and wait for the blasts of air. The first few came at me - my legs, stomach, face - and that was fine. Then all of the sudden there was a blast of air that went up the back of my shirt that started to balloon it out. As I lifted up my arms to pat it down another blast shot up the front of my shirt, also causing it to fly up. The end result? I totally flashed the (male) security guard. Whoops.

That, my friends, is why I can say that I left Albuquerque with a flash!

From Nashville To Albuquerque

Ah, Nashville…another trip has come and gone. Here are some of my favorite moments from this past week:

• Spending the afternoon at Centennial Park by myself – it was the first chance I had to truly relax in ages!
  

• The BBQ at J&C’s house on Saturday night – a fire pit, cocktails, cigars, good company and stories that become so exaggerated that they take on a life of their own. Oh…and did I mention the Smores?

• The tacky tourist shops in downtown Nashville. Coby, John and I set out to find the perfect Tennessee magnet for me to add to my collection and we succeeded. John also found a bumper sticker that said “The beer can doesn’t fall far from the trailer” which still makes me chuckle…
  
  
• Sitting on the deck at Satco on 21st Ave and enjoying conversation with a good friend.
  


• The view from my hotel room. Here are just a couple of photos of the Country Music Hall of Fame and one of the new Nashville Symphony Hall:


• Seeing old acquaintances from years gone by and spending time with friends that I don’t hold as close as I should.
  
  
• Realizing that I’ve made mistakes in relationships but being thankful for the growth that has occurred because of it.
  
  
• Sambuca – before heading out of town Rick and I dined here. It was a first for both of us and we were quite impressed.

The trip to Nashville is over and now it's onto Albuquerque, New Mexico. It rained earlier this evening and afterwards a beautiful rainbow emerged. I hope you enjoy it....

Music City USA

In just a few short hours I will be jumping on a plane bound for Nashville, TN.

This trip has kind of snuck up on me, so if I failed to tell you I was coming into town and you want to get together - give me a call!

Todays Observations

1.) I hate the dentist. You go in for a check up/cleaning and 18 x-rays later you leave feeling like you were hit in the mouth by a baseball bat. The pain continues for the next 5 hours...and that's just a precursor to whats coming up in 6 weeks. Ugh.

2.) I hate LA traffic. If you don't get through LA by 3pm you will be stuck in gridlock for hours. It once took me 3.5 hours to drive a measly 75 miles. Did I mention that my car is a 5 speed? Right.

3.) Crying is exhausting. Not to mention, it always gives me a headache. I hate getting bad phone calls and I'll leave it at that.

4.) You know you are worn out when a cute guy at the restaurant offers to buy you a nice glass of wine and you turn him down. In fact, you're kind of irritated that he's interrupting you. What is up with that!?

5.) There are thousands of songs on my Ipod but whenever I put it on shuffle it picks the same songs over and over. Word to the wise, don't ever load a book on your Ipod because the shuffle mode likes to pick on the individual chapters. Annoying.

6.) Speaking of music; is it just me or does it seem like I hear bands like Def Leopard & Journey on the radio more now vs. when they were at their peak years ago?

7.) Santa Barbara has an adorable downtown area and a surprising number of homeless people. They also have a farmers market on Tuesday afternoons - don't these people work?

8.) I've been informed that the "comments" section of my blog isn't working properly and your notes to me are disappearing. Is this happening to a lot of you? If so, drop me an email so we can figure out what's going on....

What Is This World Coming To?

I'm sure that the kids at Virginia Tech (and everyone affected by what happened today) would appreciate your prayers. What a sad day....

Blogger Template Hell

If I ever see this message again I am going to rip my hair out:

Your template could not be parsed as it is not well-formed. Please make sure all XML elements are closed properly. XML error message: The element type "img" must be terminated by the matching end-tag "".

Is it too much to ask for a nice/modern template that isn't being used by everyone on blogger? I decided to take a look around the web for some other options and I found some that I really liked. However, when I would try to put the code into blogger, that lovely error message would pop back up. It's enough to drive a girl insane! I hope you guys enjoy the skyline view because it's here to stay...

What Are You Thinking About?

I’ve been tagged by Digital Rich to list out my 5 most obsessive thoughts. Here they are in no particular order...

Death/Heaven: You never know when you’re going to die or how it will happen. When I do die; what will heaven be like? And eternity? The thought of it blows my mind…

Health: I’ve been spending a lot more time focusing on my overall health. I’m eating as many organic foods as possible, cutting out white flour/sugar/soda from my diet and working out every day (except Sundays). Last week the owner of the gym I go to completely reworked my routine and I’ve been in pain ever since. Must be working, right?

Family: Even though they reside 2000 miles away, they still occupy my thoughts and prayers. I’ve only seen my Godson once and whenever I get new photos you can see that he’s growing up so quick! I hate that I’m missing out on it.

Finances: Unless you are Bill Gates, I think this one is a given.

My Schedule: In my personal life I’ve never been a big “scheduler” and I always thrived on spontaneity. However, two years ago I accepted a job that required me to travel full time – I could be 20 miles away from home or in a completely different state. Enter the schedule. The good part is that I know where I will be on any given day. The bad part is that it’s beginning to creep into my personal life. Nowadays, whenever I’m asked to do something, my response is generally “I think I’m in town that day - let me check my schedule”. How snobbish is that?

Okay, No Spiders Allowed and When Pink Pigs Fly – it’s your turn to share!

My Easter Weekend

Have you ever wondered what kind of trip you can plan over a three day weekend? With less than one weeks notice, this is what I came up with....

Day 1: The Tulip Festival in northern Washington.

It's the perfect time of year to see the flowers in bloom and I was blown away by how beautiful it was. Imagine staring at acres full of tulips stretching out as far as the eye can see. It was just gorgeous and this photo does not do it justice.

On a side note - I think that tulips are my new favorite flower!

Day 2: Drive to Vancouver, BC and walk across The Capilano Suspension Bridge .

Built in 1889, the bridge is a whopping 230 ft above the Capilano River and 450 ft long. Did I mention that it sways, shakes and moves while you are walking across it? I am not going to lie - I was scared as all get out my first time across! Of course, I was on it when this 18 year old jackass grabbed both rails and started shaking it back and forth...at that point I thought I was going to have to start crawling to the other side. Luckily, a nice lady on the intercom told him to stop and I walked the rest of the way.

Once on the other side of the bridge they had signs directing you to the "treetop adventure". It's a shorter series of 6 bridges that run between several trees to give you a "squirrels eye view" of the forest. The short bridges were neat but more importantly I used them as practice before my final run across the big one.

On my last walk across the 'big one' I discovered that the fewer amount of people on the bridge; the more stable it is. Therefore, I waited for it to clear out before I went across. Because it was less shaky, I was able to stand in the middle of the bridge and snap some photos and admire the view for a bit without white knuckling the railing! Here is a straight shot down to the river blow - yikes! I stayed the night in Vancouver and the next morning headed to the Granville Island Public Market. It was my first time at such a large public market and I loved it - it made me wish that I had one closer to where I live!

Vancouver was great and I definitely need to go back and spend some more time there. There are a million bridges that connect different parts of the city and here is one of them:

I thought these birds were cool - not to mention there were about 200 of them.

Day 3: Drive to Seattle. I got a late start because I spent so much time on Granville Island that I got into Seattle around 6pm. After checking into my hotel I walked down to Pike Place Market. I wanted to see the guys throwing fish but unfortunately almost all the vendors had shut down. Here is a photo that I shot later on in the evening.

My next stop was the Space Needle. I got there as the sun was setting and it was fun just messing around with my camera to see what kind of photos I could get. I think that this one is kind of interesting:

It was surprisingly more difficult that I imagined trying to take photos that wouldn't come out blurry. The later in the evening that it got, the more the wind picked up and the building began to sway. Not good for trying to get decent shots.

And from the bottom up:

When it was all said and done I came home with nearly 500 photos to sort through...which is just crazy but wonderful at the same time. I loved having the time just to screw around and get creative with my camera again.

I also realized that I can now mark Washington off my list of "states to see". That makes 39 down and only 11 more to go. They are:

*Alaska *Oregon *Montana *Idaho *Utah *Wyoming *Rhode Island *Vermont *New Hampshire *Maine *Louisiana

Anyone up for an adventure?