I heart Martians and I am a concert Pianist

Mr.Pea took me on a heavenly vacation last month.  Naples and Miami, well Hollywood to be exact.

I decided to give a concert in the convention center of the Hollywood Westin Diplomat.  My circus song and rendition of Chopsticks brought the house down.

Did I mention that I heart Martians?  I do.  I let everyone at Fossil know while Mr.Pea was trying on pants.

Does this make up for my absence?

First off let me just apologize for my annoying chattering but I was so excited I couldn't contain myself. I recorded this a few weeks ago while my sister Neenee was visiting(yes that is a true nikname, when I was a baby I couldn't pronounce 'Denise'). I see dolphins from my windows at least 3-4 times a week, mostly in the morning and at dusk.  I haven't seen any for the past couple days as we are in the thick of a NASTY Nor'easter right now.  The wind, oh the wind.  If only I could find the words to describe how much the wind and all her noises just warms my spirit.  I tried to get some footage of the whitecaps in my building's pool and all the scary foamy washing machine that is the sea but it started to rain really hard, the kind of rain that stings, so I'll try again tomorrow. I've heard the storm will be even worse but I welcome you bad weather.  My mantra du jour is "Me, the sea and a cup of tea."   I usually get cabin fever when it's been like this but oh what a wonderful storm we're having.  If Noah's ark shows up, tell him I'll stay a little longer.  Only St. Augustine, how's it going?  I'm worried about you down there......

Hello You. So ok I'm not dead.......

Are you still there?  Do you still heart me?  Are you mad that I've been gone?  Did you feel abandoned by Pea?  My answers would be yes, yes, yes, and yes if I were you.

 I offer no excuse.  Only that my heart wasn't here.  I found it difficult to write about a beach I loved so much when for so long that beach represented the last place I saw Mai alive and happy.  She loved my beach as much as I did and would always look through all my guide books/shark teeth/fossils whenever she was at my house.  I felt like a faker.  By the time I was ready to come back "life" happened.....my husband and I had to move and it was a stressful Spring/Summer.  I missed blogging here.  I missed my blog pals and I went back to my lurking ways.  I've been wanting to revive things around here even if just for myself.  But I wanted to let you(whoever "you" are) know that I'm still here.

I don't live on my old "secret" beach anymore.  There aren't any shark teeth here nor as many pretty shells.  But  I have this view.  And I'm not giving it back.

We've had a couple visitors lately....and a few surprise photos :o)

I was running around the backyard with Peanut last week when we encountered him.....

Luckily he decided he didn't want Peanut to notice him because I was not strong enough for that to happen.  Peanut was on a leash and all 21 pounds of Jack Russel would have gone into "making friends" with that snake.

Peanut tracked this print for a few feet on the beach before either losing the scent or losing interest.  I can tell it's not a dog or cat print so I thought I would take a pic.  Is it a raccoon maybe?

I've been wanting to post this photo for a while but "my" computer has issues.  I marked it in case anyone could guess what that was.....

Too bad my zoom isn't a pro one but not bad anyway.....

And so here's what the sky looks like when it's all over.  I was worried I would miss it because it was kind of misty all day.  I got the genius idea to go jogging an hour beforehand, telling myself it would force me to push harder since I wanted really badly to get home in time to grab my camera.  Towards the end of my run I was beginning to get worried so I did push harder to get back faster but I pushed myself so hard I nearly lost my lunch.  (I haven't used that expression since I was 12 but, it's fitting)

I'll never d that again but it was well worth it because I got some good shots.  Notice all the people on the beach.  Normally I have this beach all too myself.

I didn't take this picture

But it was taken a couple miles north of where I live at the pier where Mr.Pea surfs. I think this was taken sometime last summer. Pretty cool huh

Finally!

As I mentioned, I really haven't been going to look for shark teeth as much this year because I wanted to exercise more.  Then when I got myself into great shape I twisted my dern ankle and I'm finally beginning to heal.  It still aches, mind you, especially on days when the temperature is really cold(which makes me feel about a thousand years old).  But last week I couldn't take it anymore and decided come hell or high water, I was going to get on the beach at least once and take a look.



It actually took me a while since the beach where I live is not really my "usual spot".  My best finds come from about a mile North and it was way too windy to bike and my ankle is still not in shape for longer walks so I had to stay nearby.  The first tooth I found was this one so I was pretty happy.  I felt like the ocean was welcoming me back by giving me this gift.  It was in the "swash zone"

I came upon this claw that, some poor little varmint lost, probably along with his life......I find these all the time as the birds here are pretty healthy.  Actually, my beach is the only one I've ever been where the sea gulls don't beg or try to steal food.  Just a few miles North of here and the sea gulls are really aggressive or "fresh" as MrPea likes to call them.

Here's another claw, well a piece of one. Obviously this claw, when intact, was much bigger. I thought it would be interesting to show how different these two are.  Plus I wanted to show off the daisies I painted on my nails.

I was freezing that day.  Ok I realize 50 degrees is not freezing but it is when all you've got on is flimsy jeans, a teeshirt, and a light wind breaker that does not break  wind(insert laughter).  So as much as I tried, when the sun started to play peek-a-boo with the clouds, I went home.  I only stayed about 40 minutes but my find was pretty decent.   That large piece on the right is some kind of bone fragment that I'll try to identify on my own and those two round pieces on the upper left are puffer fish jaws that I always pick up for some reason.  I have about a million scallop shells but I can never resist a pretty shell or two.

It's been raining all week but when the sun comes back out, I'll be back out there for more!

January sleep

I couldn't think of a better title for this post but I'm not quite sure what I'm even going to write about today.  Well maybe I should start off with a couple of updates.

-This Christmas was a sweet one.  I feel really really awful about the Tiffany bracelet that my husband bought me.  Why do I feel awful about it, you wonder?  Because I had it for all of 5 days before losing it while shopping for jeans.  I wasn't upset so much because of the cost, when I told him about it, he could see that I was truly sad and offered to buy me a new one at the end of this month.  I felt so awful because I had lost something that he gave to me with all his heart and I knew how much it meant to him to be able to give me something like that.  He was really sweet about it and it wasn't the only gift he gave me.  Still though, I wish I could have found it.  Trust me, I looked everywhere and called every place I went the last day I had it on.  It must have fallen off because it was one of those T shape-loop clasps.  And like I said, it's not because of the cost or the fact that it was a peice of jewelry, it's because it was a gift and I loved it. sigh....

-On an up note, my ankle is beginning to feel better.  I twisted it in October and it hurt for weeks.  It's finally healing although the cooler weather hasn't helped but I'm glad to be able to take longer walks without feeling like my ankle is going to fall off.  Ok I'll admit that the real reason I'm happy is because I can wear heels again.

-I haven't been shark tooth hunting in a LONG time but I did find a few today with Peanut.  The weather is going to be nicer this week so I'm going to go so I'll have some beach pictures up soon.

-I visited my OBGYN last week to discuss my future baby plans....while in the waiting room I thought to myself, "Good Lord I need to find someone else to deliver my future hypothetical child if I need to listen to this hellforsaken heehaw country music everytime I come here.  I'm here for a yearly pap not a hoedown."

-I tried to look for a school to enroll in so that I could acquire an Aestheticians licence.  I went here and I swear I felt like I was at a car dealership or some kind of cult.  I went in to tour the facilities and ask questions about tuition and I left feeling like I had just made a deal with the devil.  These places take advantage of people .  They expected me to pay $24,000.00 for the same certification that would cost around $6000-$8000.00 if I just went to a beauty school.  I also found out that if I went to a local community college, I could get a lower interest loan and tuition was half the price. I had to go in person the next day to let them know I wasn't interested in enrolling because I was afraid they would out in a loan application before I had the chance to tell them no.  I'll write a post about it in the future but it would take too long to tell the hilarity that went on in my experience with those people.  I still would like to get some training in that field but as long as I live in such a small town, there really aren't any schools for me.  I'm looking to see if I can find some kind of apprenticeship situation.  

-Remember her?  She reared her ugly head recently and I'll have to post about that too.  She's not ugly, actually she's a good looking person.  On the outside.  I don't like that expression but it was the best one I could think of.  That post will come soon.....

-I still have insomnia.  It started around the time I twisted my ankle, got worse after sweet Mai passed away and then just sort of continued into the Holidays.  It's been better and I thought about seeing an Occupational Therapist for it since I feel like my doctor would only be able to just give me pills.  But I'd really like to get over it on my own.  I went through something similar during my 8th grade summer and again during senior year of high school and both times I got over it after visiting my Grandparents.  Unfortunately(for a million reasons other than sleep of course) my Grandparents are no longer on this Earth so I can't hop on a plane and visit the most beautiful farm in West Virginia so I'll have to just suffer a little longer.  I'm getting a little better now that the Holidays are over and the days are beginning to get longer though.


I'm glad to be back on this blog.  I'm still doing my beauty channel and blog thing but I've missed my little blog  here too. I just felt like staying away a while since I only had sad things on my mind in December.  But things are better now and I appreciate the comforting comments.  I can't wait to catch up!

Still missing her

A subscriber of mine(from my youtube channel) sent me this video of a song that broke my heart this morning. I'm not even a fan of country music but this song sounds so much like our Mai that I absolutely lost it this morning listening to it. Here's the video below, this is actually a cover and I searched for the original and it's good too but I think because this girl is so young and her voice is so sweet and innocent, I prefer this version:




Here's the original video which is good to but her voice sounds more mature and polished.



But this song is so much what I need to hear even though it brought back emotions that are still very raw. And the lyrics haunt me since basically Mai was buried in her prom dress which is white satin and her coffin was full of roses. And that "boy in town" who'll love her forever is my nephew and he's been so lost without her.

I'm still worried about my nephew. He's not doing so good right now which is expected. In so many ways this loss was worse than when my Grandparents died. Not because I loved them any less just because when they left me behind I didn't feel like they were cheated out of a full life. We were able to send them away with hearts full of a lifetime of memories but not Mai. Christmas is just two weeks away and it's cold so there's this childish part of me that thinks of her at the bottom of a dark hole all alone.  I need to get the "plunkplunk" sound of the flowers hitting the casket when they lowered her down there out of my mind so that I can sleep at night again. I need to get the look of my nephew's face from that day out of my mind but the truth is he still looks that way. So yeah. The Holidays this year aren't easy and I've been faking it.



If I die young, bury me in satin
Lay me down on a bed of roses
Sink me in the river at dawn
Send me away with the words of a love song

Lord make me a rainbow, I'll shine down on my mother
She'll know I'm safe with you when she stands under my colors
Oh, and life ain't always what you think it ought to be, no
Ain't even gray, but she buries her baby

The sharp knife of a short life
Well, I've had just enough time

If I die young, bury me in satin
Lay me down on a bed of roses
Sink me in the river at dawn
Send me away with the words of a love song

The sharp knife of a short life
Well, I've had just enough time

And I'll be wearing white when I come into your kingdom
I'm as green as the ring on my little cold finger
I've never known the loving of a man
But it sure felt nice when he was holding my hand


There's a boy here in town, says he'll love me forever
Who would have thought forever could be severed by
The sharp knife of a short life
Well, I've had just enough time

So put on your best, boys, and I'll wear my pearls
What I never did is done

A penny for my thoughts, oh no, I'll sell 'em for a dollar
They're worth so much more after I'm a goner
And maybe then you'll hear the words I been singing
Funny, when you're dead how people start listening

If I die young, bury me in satin
Lay me down on a bed of roses
Sink me in the river at dawn
Send me away with the words of a love song

The ballad of a dove
Go with peace and love
Gather up your tears, keep 'em in your pocket
Save them for a time when you're really gonna need them, oh

The sharp knife of a short life
Well, I've had just enough time
So put on your best, boys
And I'll wear my pearls

Cold Beach=Beautiful evening sky

My cell phone only lets me email videos that are 30 seconds long and for some reason the sound didn't come out in the upload but oh well.  You get the point.  It was just a really beautiful winter beach sky and I wanted to capture it........

Random

Went to a Christmas Party tonight. Naturally a topic of conversation was whether or not I will have a baby in the next year. Usually I get a little touchy when people bring this up because I think it's pushy-no one asks men these kinds of personal questions. But since I was actually holding a baby at the time and sticking my nose in her neck to inhale the smell of baby powder, making wrinkly nose faces whilst singing a Korean song about a hopping bunny in the silliest voice I could muster, I took no offence. Of course it's going to happen just, obviously not today.

I know, I know, you're thinking right now, "Korean song? How does Pea know Korean song?" My BFF is part Korean and her mom used to sing it for us. That's how I know. Ok? And yes I will sing it for my future hypothetical child too.

Peanut made his great escape a few nights ago. He tricked MrPea, wiggled out of his harness and ran off down the road on a wonderful hour long adventure. MrPea is easily tricked because he is so damn trusting and Peanut know this. Of course this happened as we were fully dressed to go out for a fancypants dinner. We finally gave up walking around in our beautiful outfits and got in the car to drive down the road in the direction he was last seen because I'm always afraid he'll chase something and get hit by a car. That dog was a mile away when we found him and I could tell he was in no distress over the fact that he was away from the only 2 people on Earth who could ever love him, a bad seed, as much as we do. As we got closer I have to admit how resentful I feel about the happy look on his face. Why does he do this to me? This dog turns 13 years old this month, he should be too old for this running away silliness, I know I sure am. He acts like we keep him in such a miserable existence that he needs to just break out of jail any chance he gets.

My ankle still hurts. Of course wearing heels a couple times hasn't helped. Still though, I've never had an injury last this long and it's driving me crazy. This ankle has ruined everything. I can't jog. I can't look for shark teeth. sssiiiggghhh

Floridians don't have a right to be cold.....no one told me about this rule.

Discloser: I'm 100% sure I've posted this before but it's that time of year when this kind of stuff starts to get on my nerves so just bear with me.


I have a love/hate relationship with snowbirds. They're great, they come to Fl this time of year and stay until the end of spring. They're usually in a good mood at first but are lacking in Southern manners, (which I am not only accustomed to but prefer) so they also bring a certain pushiness and sense of entitlement with them that I can usually overlook because I know they're not from here and mean well.(was that a run on sentence or was that a run on sentence)By the end of SPring they've pretty much worn out their welcome because I can tell that they too are beginning to get sick of the slow South(which is ok, sometimes I do too) and start complaining to anyone who'll listen which is usually me because I'm too polite to say that I don't give a f-. If I hear, "Well in (insert city) people don't blahblahblah" one more time, I might dig out my own ears with a shovel. If I wanted to know what people do or say or act or buy or eat or read or whatever, I would go there.


Why is it that if I say I'm cold, people assume it's time to start a contest of who's colder,as in "HA! That's nothing! It's 30000 below zero over in (insert city), Wimpy!"

I'm not trying to start a new Olympic competition of who's colder, I'm just saying that I'm cold. Obviously I'm not an idiot so I know it's colder in (insert city).....THAT'S WHY I DON'T LIVE THERE. Just cuz I live closer to the equator, doesn't mean I don't have a right to be cold or say that I'm cold or that I've just taken the first move in the "who's colder" contest.......just sayin'. I think I'm going to just start carrying around gold medals to hand out to people in the winter for winning the "who has more right to be cold" contest that no one told me about.


When people complain about how effing hot they are in the summer, I don't jump out of my skin to keep my head from exploding so that I can berate them about how "it's a thousand degrees here(insert snooty and disdainful laugh)" or that "we all sweat buckets at night so shut up and stop complaining because you don't have a right to be hot". My usual reply is,"Yeah, well it's summer. You'll be happier when it cools down this Fall." These are the same people who can't take air conditioners set below 85. I don't get it.

Beach Sculpture

We're having a warm month and the Thanksgiving weekend tourists must be thanking the stars for the good weather. I actually saw some kids swimming this morning. Of course I was in jeans and long sleeves.

I do like when tourists leave art behind instead of pollution:

Happy Thanksgiving Internets :o) Be safe.

There's no such thing as "back to normal"

....after a tragedy such as this.

 I know it's been pretty depressing over here, but I've never been one to hide feelings.  I am making an effort  to be myself again.  I do want to show my nephew that he can be happy again someday so I try not to get emotional in front of him.  He's 21 years old but he'll forever be my sister's first baby.  The baby I used to hold on a rocking chair and change diapers for.  Who followed me around and called me "Ann-shell".  So watching his face today as they put her in the ground I almost lost control of myself.  I told his friends to keep surrounding him.  They've been great and I'm thankful for that.  I'll take him to bring some flowers to her grave sometime this week.


I was thinking about maybe organizing a sign waving event.  Like a "Don't Drink and Drive" poster waving group at the place where it happened one weekend or 2 as we get closer to the Holidays.  I'm not exactly sure how much good it will do since by now I've known 3 people who've been affected by Drunk Driving. But it might be something healthy to do instead of focusing on how angry we all are.  I'm not sure, I'll have to think about it.  I wouldn't even know where to start but it's been on my mind.  I don't want to be a Debbie Downer, my gosh,  it's the Holiday Season.  People will be celebrating at parties and having a good time, I don't expect us all to adhere to new prohibition laws.  It was just something I was thinking about maybe doing that could get our energies focused on something proactive instead of all the negative thoughts that we're all having.  Anyone have any ideas let me know.....


Other than I don't have anything to report.  I have a routine blood exam starting on Monday with Thyrogen injections(for an accurate reading without the misery of going off Synthroid) but I'm not even worried about it. All signs have been pointing to good health (except for my damn ankle!) for over 2 years now and my doctor doesn't expect any changes.  Anyway, I hope everyone is having a great weekend and I'll be blog visiting and catching up as much as I can this week.

In Memory of Mai

A beautiful girl was taken away from us by a drunk driver. I want the world to see how full of life she was. Words can't describe how broken hearted we all are. Her family will always have a special place in our hearts and prayers.

Please Don't Drink and Drive.

How do you say goodbye, how is goodbye possible

Maida M. Sy

August 1,1991- November 15,2010

Today I watched a mother beg the lifeless body of her to daughter to wake up knowing that she will never wake up.  Today I saw a beautiful 19 year old girl lay in a hospital bed with a machine breathing for her and a tube sticking out of her skull.  I kissed the sweet face of a girl who loved my nephew and called me Auntie as if I really were her Auntie.  I too begged her to wake up, I begged God to wake her up.  This life was taken away from us by a drunk driver who walked away from the accident with his life and will now have to live with the consequences of his actions.  I am supposed to believe in forgiveness. This event is really testing my belief system and I pray not for myself but for her family who lost their only child, for my nephew who lost the love of his life, and for the world that lost a beautiful, sweet, loving, talented, bright, ----there are not enough words to fit this post to describe her. I am not ready for forgiveness.  I don't feel hatred in my heart but I have no compassion for this person either.  I won't feel sorry for him when they lock him up.  I won't feel bad about him missing his family. I don't feel bad about the fact that he will spend the rest of his life in jail and miss out on the joys of getting married, having children and celebrating Holiday with his family.  Because a face that I looked forward to seeing at my dinner table this year will not be there all because he thought it was ok to get behind the wheel of a car after drinking all night.  This beautiful face, that beautiful smile in this beautiful picture that I took with my own camera last Easter out our "karaoke" party will never sing with her sweet voice on this Earth again.

I am as heartbroken and heartbroken gets.  But come hell or high water I will be at her service next to my nephew and try not to ask God why this had to happen.  And beg Him everyday for the ability to forgive her murderer.  Because that's what he did when he got in that car drunk.  He committed murder.


Our Mai was a kindred spirit- an artist and a curious book worm who always wanted to poke through my art supplies and my books when she came to my house.  I was planning to buy her one of my favorite field guides for Christmas.  The last time I saw her, the 3 of us took a walk on the beach at dusk and  watched the sky turn colors and laughing in the dark.  She danced in my living room and we practiced speaking French because she wanted to visit France one day, like me. Not only did she speak French but English and Tagalog, the home language of my mother's giving her extra brownie points.   I always saved my make up to give her whenever I got a buy one/get one or if I changed my mind and thought it looked better on her. I sent her a facebook message just the other day telling her I wanted her to record a video with me for my youtube channel.    She would come to my house full of stories about how it was to be raised in by Filipino parents who didn't recognize their American daughter because she knew I had been there done that.  We would laugh together about it and I would imitate my mom for her.  They brought her here so that she would have a better education and a better life not so that they could bury her.  I loved her not only because she loved a boy who is as dear to me as if I had given birth to him myself but also because of who she was and what I saw in her heart.  I want the world to know how sweet she was and how much we all loved her.   I want the world to know that a piece of goodness and beauty is gone from it.

Daylight Savings Crime and the Joy of Fall in Florida

When it's time to "fall back" people always relish in the extra hour of sleep they'll get.  I dread it not just because I wish it could be daylight savings time all year round but because no one ever seems to tell Peanut it's not 8:30am.  He'll wake up at at 7:30 and stare at my face until telepathically I hear his mental whining and have no choice but to get up and stagger out the door.  How this is possible I don't know but he's always been able to wake me up that way.  Of course once we get outside he has no interest in quickly  peeing in the bushes and going back to bed like a dog who LOVES ME would, but instead prefers to pull me across the street to look for snakes and chase bunnies.  I feel sorry for anyone who happens to look out the window at us or dare walk by and say hello because I'm a bitch in the morning.  Yes I said it, I'll say it again, I'm a bitch in the morning.  This will go on until we "spring ahead" and I can finally wake up at a decent hour.


MrPea's dog walk shift starts at night time so at dusk I'm usually the one to take Peanut out, usually to the beach.  I'm a little freaked out ever since a couple weeks ago, at dusk we saw a bobcat looking at us through our back window.  I wish I had had the time to grab my camera because she was beautiful.  I'm not sure why I think it's a female, I just do. We live just a few feet from the marsh and there's an empty wooded lot right next to our building so there's plenty of room for a varmint such as that to sneak around in.  At first we thought she was just a big house cat until we looked closer and saw her big paws.  She looked at us with glamorous and cold eyes for a few seconds and then nonchalantly sauntered away down the marsh path towards the water, I'm guessing to catch snakes. I saw those eyes hiding in some bushes the next evening watching me and Peanut cross the street to the beach path. I got a little scared because, well, it's a wild bobcat big enough to eat Peanut and maybe my leg but I know I shouldn't be.  I haven't seen her since then so I wonder if she was afraid  of me.  I hope the alligators don't get her, I'd love to see her again next fall.  I've read that people can live in Florida all their lives and never see one so I feel privileged that Mother Nature gave us a glimpse.


There's also a Red Shouldered Hawk who used to hang out on one of the dead palms behind us that I haven't seen since Spring.  I may have got a picture of him(yes obviously I think it's a male but I'm not sure) somewhere in my desk top but I'm too lazy to go upstairs (for reasons you'll understand in my next post).  I will get a good shot(with my cam of course) eventually but he's always so damn jumpy every time I've ever gone out back to take a closer look, he flies away! I so appreciate the pretty feathers he leaves me.  One day I'll have to take pictures of all my treasure and post them.

 I started this post to complain about Peanut and all his short comings and then somehow started thinking about winter coming and all the changes that take place outside.  People think that Florida has no seasons or that we just have 365  days of summer but unless you live in the Keys, after a couple years, you notice the seasons.   Of course our Falls and Winters are softer on us than the rest of unfortunate souls who are damned to not live in what is as close to heaven on Earth as I can imagine.  But trust me, we have 4 seasons and I am in awe at what I get to witness during all 4.  Fall brings the morning fog and flocks of millions of birds that would scare Alfred Hitchcock himself, slow snakes looking for a warm place to pass the winter, and a southern dolphin migration so vast you feel like you're in a Discovery channel documentary.  In the winter the sea looks angry but gives me the gift of shark teeth after a NorthEaster.  The birds around the feeder are greedy and loud and sometimes on a clear and flat day a Right Whale sighting will remind me of how small I am on this Earth.   So am I bummed that summer is over?  Of course.  But  when Autumn comes I get ready for my own "hibernation" and  "renewal".  Like everyone else I get out my blankets, buy the hot cocoa, light the candles, stock up on some books and we create a little cocoon for the 3 of us here in our home to wait for the Spring.  And keep my eyes open for the "show" whilst feeling sorry for anyone who doesn't live here.

Then and Now

This is one of my and Neenee's favorite pictures of us together when we were little so when I went up to visit we decided to re-enact.  You know how I love re-enactments. Of course we got it wrong.  That's me in the yellow and her in the red in the old pic and in the new one she is wearing my pink hoodie.


BTW I'm not sure why but my profile no longer shows up on my side bar, this was going on even before I changed the template.  What's up with that?  I tried to fix it but, I don't even know how.....

Just Some Random Pictures

I haven't really been looking for shark teeth much this year(and I'm suffering from withdrawal too!) because this summer I really wanted to make exercise my priority.  I don't really get any cardio from staggering around the beach inch by inch with my eyes to the ground.  When I got home from visiting my sister a month ago, made myself a promise that I was going to look for shark teeth everyday for a week.  But lucky me I caught a cold!  Then when I finally felt better two weeks ago I twisted my ankle.  It hurt so bad I really thought I was going to pass out.  It's two weeks later and it still hurts.  I know it's not broken so I've just been trying to stay off of it as much as I can but last night I re-twisted it, isn't that wonderful.  So i don't know when I'll be able to look for shark teeth or go jogging again.  Hopefully soon cuz I'm going crazy.  Anyway I found a few pictures that I wanted to post:

I took this one on Sanibel Island last year.  I just thought this tree looked interesting


because it was a Palmetto with a Ficus growing on it.






As much as I try MrPea hates having his picture taken but Peanut doesn't mind.  This is the beach near my house.


This was a cool rainbow in a cloud that I took a couple months ago.


I may have already posted this one before but I like finding these kinds of crab shells because these two colors are so pretty together.

And I think I forgot to show you guys this one.  Remember all those sea turtle nests I was crazy about over the summer.  This is one that hatched.  You can see the trails the baby turtles made as they crawled to the water!







There's a marsh behind our house and sometimes this bunny comes for a snack.  In the spring he came in the morning but at the end of the summer he started to come at dusk.  I like him because he has short ears.



And since it's an on going thing for me here's another dead cannon ball jelly.  Have to keep up with tradition!

My declaration

I'm leaving in 2 minutes to go to the beach with Peanut but before I go I just have to say a couple things.  Since I hardly ever talk about Pop culture.  (Political rantings yes but I usually leave Pop culture alone)


-I don't care who or when or if Brett Favre(whose name everyone pronounces wrong even Brett Favre but that's another post for another day) sent or didn't send pictures of himself naked.  I couldn't care any less.  I don't care what image he had, didn't have, has now because of these pictures.  They are a non issue in my life. I don't need an apology since he didn't cheat/is not married to me.  This issue does not affect my wallet, my health or my self esteem.

-I still don't care who Tiger Woods slept with or didn't sleep with.  I'm not interested in whether or not his wife ran after him with a golf club or who crashed their car.   If I don't buy Nike products or if I do it has nothing to do with Tiger Woods.  I didn't need an apology because I still hate golf and whether or not another pro athlete(like everyone was so damned surprised that another pro-athlete cheats) cheats or doesn't cheat will ever change that.

-I didn't care when Brad left Jen for Angie.  I thought he was a good looking bad actor then.  I still think he's a good looking bad actor now.  I'm tired of hearing about how "great" Jen is doing now.  Of course she's doing great, she's a talented and beautiful woman who's moved on with her life just like millions of other women who married asshats who cheat.

-I'll admit I was a little freaked out by Mel Gibson's "demon-like" rant but only because I was in an abusive relationship in my teens so listening to it did traumatize me a little.


However, unless a person breaks a law(regarding violence), does something to affect my life, job or family, or harms a child or animal: I DON'T GIVE A RAT'S ASS and I don't understand why we're all supposed to.



BTW on a more fun note, I finally got my beauty blog up!  Go check it out I posted a video :o)
http://www.earthangelface.com/

Back from the Underworld

The Antihistamine/Decongestant Underworld I mean.  When I got home from visiting my sister last week I thought, "Wow I got plenty of rest, I took Zyrtec everyday and ate healthy!  I didn't catch a cold-woohoo I'm home free!"  I thought wrong.  Two days later I got that sore throat announcement.  I'm finally beginning to feel better but the pollen in the wind is giving my head a good pounding.  The funniest thing about it too is that  I should have caught a cold or flu on my last trip.  Because the whole time I was in San Diego I didn't sleep at all, I didn't eat as much as usual and I'm not used to dry air.  I was like a baby, too excited to fall asleep.  There was one night I stayed up staring at the wall the entire time wishing I could sleep.  This was after two Advil PMs and I still couldn't sleep. And instead of resting like an excancer patient should, I went to that Cleopatra spring spa all day and danced all night with my BFF that night.  And still couldn't sleep after that.  So on my way home I kept thing,"Oh NO!  I hope no germy person breathes a virus on me cuz my immune system is too exhausted to keep me healthy right now!"  And I didn't get sick.  But this time at my sister's home, I slept so good and ate so much and didn't go dancing(well ok maybe in the kitchen we busted some moves but that's it I swear!).....oh well anyway.  I had fun pinching cheeks, eating my sister's good home cooking, going make up shopping while the boys were at school and taking silly pictures.  I do feel some guilt about the fact that one night her 4 year old started rapping a line from Baby Got Back but in our defense, we didn't even listen to that song!  I freely admit that it was our fault.  I asked him later on during his bath what kind of songs they sing in his preschool and he said to me frankly,"Not our songs Auntie, because I think (insert teacher's name) wouldn't like our songs."  I said,"Yeah you're right it's probably not a good I idea to sing that at school or anywhere else........" oops.


My 4 year old GodSon is the only one who doesn't need to be coerced and bribed into taking photos. We posed:






We shushed each other.



    We played stop or I'll squirt



And then we feel asleep.

Ok we pretended to be asleep.  Can you tell?  I am in full make up and the little one is about to start laughing.

Her oldest back there is now a grown up and would rather watch Hawaii 5-0 than engage in our inappropriate behavior.  So we gave him an assignment as our photographer.  I'll post more pix later....Peanut is giving me "the look"



I miss them.  I cried on the way home.