Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Jamaica mon
Greetings from Jamaica!! As many of you are aware I'm in Jamaica for the week, and I must say so far it has been pretty luxurious here!! To add to the wonderful weather all access bar and great entertainment I have been informed that back home a massive snow storm is expected to hit. One of such magnitude that the hospital I work at had closed their clinic for the day tomorrow. What can I say clearly I have spectacular timing!!! So to give you a very brief run down on my activities so far they have included in no particular order, eating, drinking, laying by the pool, drinking, karaoke, drinking, going to the movies oh and drinking!!! So needless to say I am having a blast and will check in later this week when I have more to report for now just know that I am soaking up plenty of rays and communing with the native Jamaicans, have a good one mon!!!
Monday, January 3, 2011
New Years Eve 2010...Adventure in the Bayou
It's a new year which means there must have been a New Years eve and if you know me at all you know I don't mess around with new Years eves. This year New Orleans, 15 hours, no hotel. Many were concerned for my safety, many were concerned for the great city of New Orleans, but in the end it was a wonderful time complete with drinking a little dancing and of course some Mardi Gras beads.
My adventure began on December 31st at 12pm when I left for the airport a little nervous and a lot excited. Upon arrival at the airport we discovered our flight was delayed not one but two hours. We chose to fill our time by eating, wandering around, people watching and purchasing magazines that we were going to have to leave on the plane because we were traveling with no luggage whatsoever.
Here is where I would like to say the flight was uneventful and skip to talking about the actual time spent in New Orleans, however; as we barely made it to New Orleans alive I feel I must briefly mention this flight. The first half of which was very calm the second half of which the pilot chose to fly directly through a massive thunderstorm. With the plane shaking and bouncing all over the place I kept thinking to myself please please just get me to Bourbon Street. Finally we touched ground and there was a large sigh of relief from everyone on board we had made it, thank goodness for small miracles. We rushed out of the airport jumped in our GMC SUV taxi and headed to the French Quarter.
Dinner reservations were first on the agenda at Ralph and Kacoos where we were served by a very nice young girl who couldn't understand why we had come to New Orleans for just 13 hours, "Do you work for the airlines" she asked so perplexed by this notion. "No" we responded, "We just really like to have a good time." This restaurant was complete with a large stuffed tiger, a stuffed Alligator in a bayou scene behind the glass and a drink that was called Hurricane Katrina (no I am not joking actually the name of the drink). At dinner I received a free cup with my drink, and as the waitress wrapped my glass up I discussed this with my friend. I wasn't going to carry this around all night with me, so the logical choice was to hide this glass under the pier on the great Mississippi and retrieve it at the end of the night. Naturally my friend agreed and this is what we did.
Following our cup stashing it was time to hit up Bourbon street. Immediately we armed ourselves with drinks, myself with the Hand Grenade which was made with a secret ingredient. While this made me slightly suspect I figured hey when in New Orleans don't ask questions and proceeded to drink it anyway. Let me tell you this "Hand Grenade" was no joke it took me approximately 5 hours to drink this and was completely buzzed the entire time, secret ingredient I don't know what you are but it is possible it is illegal in many other states. Our time on Bourbon street was spent requesting beads and being booed when we refused to lift our shirts in exchange for beads, dancing, people watching and taking many pictures with random people (in exchange for beads of course).
As midnight grew closer we felt it was time to head to Jackson Square where the ball was being dropped from. There was some sort of dance show on stage involving the "Buzz Dancers" and a man dressed up in a hornets outfit. Not quite sure what that was all about we decided to abandon the stage and find a decent spot to view the fireworks and ball. Midnight got closer and closer and we were waiting for some sort of countdown and for the ball to raise, we kept waiting, and waiting and waiting. All of a sudden the ball started spinning with rockets and a sign lit up 2011, then fireworks began and my friend and I looked at each other confused both with the same thought did we just miss the new year?? That was it no countdown no signing that was it??? We determined we had in fact missed the new year, cheered and figured oh well and continued to watch the fireworks.
Post midnight many interesting things happened on Bourbon street. We danced with a gay man to Lady Gaga's Bad Romance on the street, gave a group of desperate people some gum in which my friend was rewarded with a big kiss from a lovely lady, witnessed multiple people getting kicked off Bourbon street and the balconies coincidentally by the same officer on a horse, and were nearly trampled by 6 police officers on horses riding through the street trying to control the crowd.. Following our near death experience we decided maybe it was time to get off Bourbon street and head to the Casino.
At the casino I had a very interesting experience that I have never had at a casino which was waiting in line to enter for over 30 minutes. Please let me wait in line so I can give you my money this is what I long for!!! Once inside the casino we did minimal gambling, witnessed a man get kicked out and utilized the cleanest bathroom we had seen all night to change contacts and wash up a little, as the Bayou had taken it's toll on us and we were looking a little rough.
In need of a little snack before heading back tot he airport we headed to Arbys which was clearly the hangout fro underage drinkers and cheerleaders from around the world. We witnessed many fights, and many tears shed by various people but it as all worth it for our delicious curly fries. Sufficiently drunk, tummy's full and it nearing dawn we decided it was time to head back to the airport, but not without stopping to retrieve my glass.
Getting a cab was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life multiple biatches kept stealing cabs i had hailed and I told them they were bitches, they didn't care and still got into my cabs. Once we finally got a cab and got in we instantly regretted having gotten this cab. Our driver needed some serious medication for her anxiety levels and clearly had some sort of fear of driving, I would think that cab driving would be the wrong profession for someone of this nature but hey what do I know. She took us to retrieve my cup which was right where we had left it then took us to the airport. She also couldn't understand why we had no luggage or what we were doing going to the airport at 4:30 am. we tried to explain it as best we could but it was clearly lost on her as she continued to ask 3 more times. She also felt a need to describe her driving technique as well as explain why she chose to go the way she did. I'm going to tell you as a frequent cab taker this is SO not necessary just get me where I need to go, and don't talk about it. We somehow managed to get to the airport alive and get to our gate where we promptly passed out on the floor of the airport for 2 hours until it was time for our flight to board.
All in all I would say this New Years rates right up there as one of the best!! Would I do it again?? Absolutely, I learned many lessons from my time in the Bayou including that you really don't need a hotel room to really experience all a city has to offer. So another new years another city down what will next year have to offer, who knows all I can be sure of is there will be drinking, there will be dancing and most likely there will be another adventure, until then I'll just have to do what I do for 2011, as the countdown til next new years continues, 364 days and counting!!!!
My adventure began on December 31st at 12pm when I left for the airport a little nervous and a lot excited. Upon arrival at the airport we discovered our flight was delayed not one but two hours. We chose to fill our time by eating, wandering around, people watching and purchasing magazines that we were going to have to leave on the plane because we were traveling with no luggage whatsoever.
Here is where I would like to say the flight was uneventful and skip to talking about the actual time spent in New Orleans, however; as we barely made it to New Orleans alive I feel I must briefly mention this flight. The first half of which was very calm the second half of which the pilot chose to fly directly through a massive thunderstorm. With the plane shaking and bouncing all over the place I kept thinking to myself please please just get me to Bourbon Street. Finally we touched ground and there was a large sigh of relief from everyone on board we had made it, thank goodness for small miracles. We rushed out of the airport jumped in our GMC SUV taxi and headed to the French Quarter.
Dinner reservations were first on the agenda at Ralph and Kacoos where we were served by a very nice young girl who couldn't understand why we had come to New Orleans for just 13 hours, "Do you work for the airlines" she asked so perplexed by this notion. "No" we responded, "We just really like to have a good time." This restaurant was complete with a large stuffed tiger, a stuffed Alligator in a bayou scene behind the glass and a drink that was called Hurricane Katrina (no I am not joking actually the name of the drink). At dinner I received a free cup with my drink, and as the waitress wrapped my glass up I discussed this with my friend. I wasn't going to carry this around all night with me, so the logical choice was to hide this glass under the pier on the great Mississippi and retrieve it at the end of the night. Naturally my friend agreed and this is what we did.
Following our cup stashing it was time to hit up Bourbon street. Immediately we armed ourselves with drinks, myself with the Hand Grenade which was made with a secret ingredient. While this made me slightly suspect I figured hey when in New Orleans don't ask questions and proceeded to drink it anyway. Let me tell you this "Hand Grenade" was no joke it took me approximately 5 hours to drink this and was completely buzzed the entire time, secret ingredient I don't know what you are but it is possible it is illegal in many other states. Our time on Bourbon street was spent requesting beads and being booed when we refused to lift our shirts in exchange for beads, dancing, people watching and taking many pictures with random people (in exchange for beads of course).
As midnight grew closer we felt it was time to head to Jackson Square where the ball was being dropped from. There was some sort of dance show on stage involving the "Buzz Dancers" and a man dressed up in a hornets outfit. Not quite sure what that was all about we decided to abandon the stage and find a decent spot to view the fireworks and ball. Midnight got closer and closer and we were waiting for some sort of countdown and for the ball to raise, we kept waiting, and waiting and waiting. All of a sudden the ball started spinning with rockets and a sign lit up 2011, then fireworks began and my friend and I looked at each other confused both with the same thought did we just miss the new year?? That was it no countdown no signing that was it??? We determined we had in fact missed the new year, cheered and figured oh well and continued to watch the fireworks.
Post midnight many interesting things happened on Bourbon street. We danced with a gay man to Lady Gaga's Bad Romance on the street, gave a group of desperate people some gum in which my friend was rewarded with a big kiss from a lovely lady, witnessed multiple people getting kicked off Bourbon street and the balconies coincidentally by the same officer on a horse, and were nearly trampled by 6 police officers on horses riding through the street trying to control the crowd.. Following our near death experience we decided maybe it was time to get off Bourbon street and head to the Casino.
At the casino I had a very interesting experience that I have never had at a casino which was waiting in line to enter for over 30 minutes. Please let me wait in line so I can give you my money this is what I long for!!! Once inside the casino we did minimal gambling, witnessed a man get kicked out and utilized the cleanest bathroom we had seen all night to change contacts and wash up a little, as the Bayou had taken it's toll on us and we were looking a little rough.
In need of a little snack before heading back tot he airport we headed to Arbys which was clearly the hangout fro underage drinkers and cheerleaders from around the world. We witnessed many fights, and many tears shed by various people but it as all worth it for our delicious curly fries. Sufficiently drunk, tummy's full and it nearing dawn we decided it was time to head back to the airport, but not without stopping to retrieve my glass.
Getting a cab was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life multiple biatches kept stealing cabs i had hailed and I told them they were bitches, they didn't care and still got into my cabs. Once we finally got a cab and got in we instantly regretted having gotten this cab. Our driver needed some serious medication for her anxiety levels and clearly had some sort of fear of driving, I would think that cab driving would be the wrong profession for someone of this nature but hey what do I know. She took us to retrieve my cup which was right where we had left it then took us to the airport. She also couldn't understand why we had no luggage or what we were doing going to the airport at 4:30 am. we tried to explain it as best we could but it was clearly lost on her as she continued to ask 3 more times. She also felt a need to describe her driving technique as well as explain why she chose to go the way she did. I'm going to tell you as a frequent cab taker this is SO not necessary just get me where I need to go, and don't talk about it. We somehow managed to get to the airport alive and get to our gate where we promptly passed out on the floor of the airport for 2 hours until it was time for our flight to board.
All in all I would say this New Years rates right up there as one of the best!! Would I do it again?? Absolutely, I learned many lessons from my time in the Bayou including that you really don't need a hotel room to really experience all a city has to offer. So another new years another city down what will next year have to offer, who knows all I can be sure of is there will be drinking, there will be dancing and most likely there will be another adventure, until then I'll just have to do what I do for 2011, as the countdown til next new years continues, 364 days and counting!!!!
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
2010 a year in review
My apologies blog followers (again all 3 of you) for not posting in quite a while, however; the holidays have kept me extremely busy and while I thought about posting many times just never got around to it.
While at home over Christmas (in the great state) I went out with my cousin who I had not seen since May and while chatting with him I began to reflect back on this past year. As 2010 comes to a close I decided to publish my reflection on my year which can only be summed up as "The best year of my life...so far"
The year 2010 was rung in with my very good friend at the Playboy party in Downtown Chicago, a wonderful night and a great way to start a great year (with good friends, good music and really good drinks)
I went on many many trips this year, some would call it the year of travel for me. I visited many friends and family all around the United States and went on numerous short weekend trips with friends and family. Each trip I enjoyed greatly and was very happy to get to not only see and spend time with my friends but also to see many new cities.
I also challenged myself quite a bit physically this year by completeling not only my first half marathon but my first full marathon as well. As many of you are aware neither of these were easy accomplishments especially when I attempted to give up alcohol for 12 weeks as part of a training regiment. This will not be attempted ever, ever again. Training for these races challenged me greatly and made me realize that if I can train for a marathon I can do absolutely ANYTHING!!!! This made me feel very completed in life at the ripe old age of 24.
My grandfathers estate that had been up in the air for quite some time was finally settled and my family and I were able to finally have some closure.
Lastly I celebrated my 1 year anniversary at work this year. Not only was this a celebration in that I didn't get fired in a whole year, but also in that I didn't have to move. As I have moved every year for the past 4 it was very nice to feel somewhat stable and not have to try to recruit my father to carry all my stuff up and down multiple flights of stairs.
I met a lot of people this year and made many new friends. I was able to pretty much do everything and anything I wanted to and for this I am very thankful. I was also able to learn a lot about myself as an adult this year and have been very happy with what I have learned.
As I prepare for 2011 I can only hope that it as nearly as wonderful a year as 2010 was, and I can safely say that if my New Years Eve plans have anything to do with what is in store for me next year, it is going to be one rocking spectacular year!!!
While at home over Christmas (in the great state) I went out with my cousin who I had not seen since May and while chatting with him I began to reflect back on this past year. As 2010 comes to a close I decided to publish my reflection on my year which can only be summed up as "The best year of my life...so far"
The year 2010 was rung in with my very good friend at the Playboy party in Downtown Chicago, a wonderful night and a great way to start a great year (with good friends, good music and really good drinks)
I went on many many trips this year, some would call it the year of travel for me. I visited many friends and family all around the United States and went on numerous short weekend trips with friends and family. Each trip I enjoyed greatly and was very happy to get to not only see and spend time with my friends but also to see many new cities.
I also challenged myself quite a bit physically this year by completeling not only my first half marathon but my first full marathon as well. As many of you are aware neither of these were easy accomplishments especially when I attempted to give up alcohol for 12 weeks as part of a training regiment. This will not be attempted ever, ever again. Training for these races challenged me greatly and made me realize that if I can train for a marathon I can do absolutely ANYTHING!!!! This made me feel very completed in life at the ripe old age of 24.
My grandfathers estate that had been up in the air for quite some time was finally settled and my family and I were able to finally have some closure.
Lastly I celebrated my 1 year anniversary at work this year. Not only was this a celebration in that I didn't get fired in a whole year, but also in that I didn't have to move. As I have moved every year for the past 4 it was very nice to feel somewhat stable and not have to try to recruit my father to carry all my stuff up and down multiple flights of stairs.
I met a lot of people this year and made many new friends. I was able to pretty much do everything and anything I wanted to and for this I am very thankful. I was also able to learn a lot about myself as an adult this year and have been very happy with what I have learned.
As I prepare for 2011 I can only hope that it as nearly as wonderful a year as 2010 was, and I can safely say that if my New Years Eve plans have anything to do with what is in store for me next year, it is going to be one rocking spectacular year!!!
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Florida!!!!
As you may or may not know I enjoy traveling as much as I possibly can. I'm not sure why this is exactly but perhaps it comes from the fact that the city i live in gets cold in October and doesn't warm up until typically June, just a possibility. I'm very fortunate that I have many friends around the country and therefore have somewhere to stay in many areas of the country. I choose to go to Florida on my latest trip to visit my very good friend Ashley from college. I have a rule that vacation begins as soon as you get to the airport therefore I can eat whatever I want and spend as much money as I want to. This was going to be a very quick trip Friday evening to Sunday evening because as I am now an adult and have a big girl job where they expect me to work Monday thru Friday (crazy I know I must find a way to turn these work weeks into 3 or 4 days rather than 5).
I began my trip at Midway airport where I proceeded to enjoy a tasty treat of combos before getting onto the plane. This plane had XM radio (my favorite) and I was able to listen to Dr. Laura Berman (another favorite) the entire way to Atlanta. Unfortunately the topic Dr. Laura decided to talk about was very close to home for me and I spent the majority of this flight fighting back tears for fear that my fellow passengers may think I was crazy or suicidal or both. Didn't stop listening to the show however because I feel a little punishment in life is necessary. Once I landed in Atlanta I attempted to find a McDonald's so I could enjoy some delicious french fries while I waited for my flight. However apparently terminal D in Atlanta's airport doesn't have McDonald's and I had to suffer through a medium Burger King Fries, they were very difficult to force down but somehow I managed. Landing in Tampa I was very excited to see Ashley so I rushed down to the pick up area thinking it's 10:30 at night no one will be here. Clearly i was wrong not only were there other people there I am pretty sure the entire city of Tampa had gone on vacation that week and was returning at this exact time. Ashley was traversing thru traffic that had to be made up of Florida's most moronic and I was climbing over people to try to get to her car. Having traversed what felt like the worst obstacle course of my life I finally got to Ashley and off we went to Bradenton.
As it was quite late we decided to go grab a casual drink and get some food. Ashley took me to the most happening place in Bradenton, the local Applebees. Interesting I thought that Applebee's in Chicago get very little patronage yet here in Bradenton it was clearly the place to be and be seen!!! We met up with a friend of Ashley's there who was very nice but clearly was a little taken aback by my choice of conversation topic and openness about my life, I believe he may have asked Ashley later if I was drunk. After enjoying quite a few Sangria's and checking out all the locals we headed back to Ashley's to go to bed and get ready for a fun filled weekend.
The rest of our weekend was made up with a lot of sleeping in, manicures and pedicures complete with wine, some sun worshiping by the pool complete with a canadian man friending us, checking out some yachts (at which point I told Ashley she is no longer allowed to date any man that doesn't own a yacht) and drinking bottles and bottles of wine. The peak of the weekend had to be our outing to The Lost Kangaroo bar where we did some great people watching including some folks that looked like they were straight off the Beverly Hillbillies set and a wedding party that had apparently chosen this wonderful establishment for their wedding reception.
This trip concluded with my flights home, among which both were oversold and I witnessed one man throw a "Meet the Parents" esk fit in the aisle of the plane because his fiancee didn't have a seat. As I stood outside the airport in Chicago waiting for my cab I was deeply saddened to be back in Chicago where it was sleeting and feeling a little blue that my adventure was over. Then I got into my cab and listened the whole way home to the cab driver as he informed me that he had come up with a cure for diabetes and was currently working on a cure for cancer too, give him about 2 months and that would be done too.
This is when I realized even at home my life is full of daily adventures and interesting characters.
I began my trip at Midway airport where I proceeded to enjoy a tasty treat of combos before getting onto the plane. This plane had XM radio (my favorite) and I was able to listen to Dr. Laura Berman (another favorite) the entire way to Atlanta. Unfortunately the topic Dr. Laura decided to talk about was very close to home for me and I spent the majority of this flight fighting back tears for fear that my fellow passengers may think I was crazy or suicidal or both. Didn't stop listening to the show however because I feel a little punishment in life is necessary. Once I landed in Atlanta I attempted to find a McDonald's so I could enjoy some delicious french fries while I waited for my flight. However apparently terminal D in Atlanta's airport doesn't have McDonald's and I had to suffer through a medium Burger King Fries, they were very difficult to force down but somehow I managed. Landing in Tampa I was very excited to see Ashley so I rushed down to the pick up area thinking it's 10:30 at night no one will be here. Clearly i was wrong not only were there other people there I am pretty sure the entire city of Tampa had gone on vacation that week and was returning at this exact time. Ashley was traversing thru traffic that had to be made up of Florida's most moronic and I was climbing over people to try to get to her car. Having traversed what felt like the worst obstacle course of my life I finally got to Ashley and off we went to Bradenton.
As it was quite late we decided to go grab a casual drink and get some food. Ashley took me to the most happening place in Bradenton, the local Applebees. Interesting I thought that Applebee's in Chicago get very little patronage yet here in Bradenton it was clearly the place to be and be seen!!! We met up with a friend of Ashley's there who was very nice but clearly was a little taken aback by my choice of conversation topic and openness about my life, I believe he may have asked Ashley later if I was drunk. After enjoying quite a few Sangria's and checking out all the locals we headed back to Ashley's to go to bed and get ready for a fun filled weekend.
The rest of our weekend was made up with a lot of sleeping in, manicures and pedicures complete with wine, some sun worshiping by the pool complete with a canadian man friending us, checking out some yachts (at which point I told Ashley she is no longer allowed to date any man that doesn't own a yacht) and drinking bottles and bottles of wine. The peak of the weekend had to be our outing to The Lost Kangaroo bar where we did some great people watching including some folks that looked like they were straight off the Beverly Hillbillies set and a wedding party that had apparently chosen this wonderful establishment for their wedding reception.
This trip concluded with my flights home, among which both were oversold and I witnessed one man throw a "Meet the Parents" esk fit in the aisle of the plane because his fiancee didn't have a seat. As I stood outside the airport in Chicago waiting for my cab I was deeply saddened to be back in Chicago where it was sleeting and feeling a little blue that my adventure was over. Then I got into my cab and listened the whole way home to the cab driver as he informed me that he had come up with a cure for diabetes and was currently working on a cure for cancer too, give him about 2 months and that would be done too.
This is when I realized even at home my life is full of daily adventures and interesting characters.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Current Events (Camping, Dating, and Spinning)
For those of you who are loyal followers of my blog (which I believe there are exactly 3 of you, but I shall continue) I apologize that it has been a while since my last post but I have been quite a busy woman the past few weeks.
I'll begin with camping. As many of you know my family has an annual camping trip that occurs in the fall. This camping trip consists of all my uncles and my cousins. I have a very large family so at times this group can make up anywhere from 10 - 20 people. This year one of my cousins decided that we should go camping for Friday and Saturday night rather than just Saturday night. I agreed because why not...so I packed up Thursday night and headed back to the great state immediately following work on Friday night. My cousin who lives about 90 minutes north west of me and I decided to car pool. After packing up her car stopping for a brief McDonald's dinner in which the idiot working the drive thru shorted us one order of french fries we were off. On the way we managed to open every single bag of snacks we had brought to eat for the weekend, stalk one of our uncles by calling all the numbers we had for him until we finally were able to sufficiently harass him and read through one entire issue of Cosmo magazine (very educational for those of you not familiar with it). Friday night out on "The Land" was very uneventful, we drank sat around a fire and retired to the very comfortable trailer inside which we slept on a sleep number bed, we were really roughing it. Around 4am I heard my cousin in a very panicky but trying not to panic voice say "Morgan, Morgan are you awake?" "Yeah I'm awake, what's up I reply?" "there is a lump under my sleeping bag that I am pretty sure is a mouse!!" With each word the steadiness of her voice got less and less. I agreed to investigate the "mouse" with my flashlight which revealed that there was not in fact a mouse and that my cousin was in fact hallucinating. Saturday was a fairly relaxing day which consumed of running to the local Wal-Mart 45+ minutes away and driving back with the top down on the convertible while blasting the heat, pretending to help the rest of my uncles and cousins unpack their vehicles when they arrived and eating and drinking a lot. That evening was actually one of the calmest evenings ever had out on the land minus my cousins presentation of I'm drunk and now am going to be mean and throw things at you midnight show. Best line of this show was "In the morning I am going to allow you to apologize to me" How gracious I thought as I not exactly being the poster child for sobriety passed out. That pretty much sums up my camping trip this year but as always it was quite a blast and can't wait to return next year as we never really know what to expect!!!
Since completing my marathon I have been contemplating what I might want my next physical challenge to be. I have fallen upon a half ironman triathalon following the logic that I used to be a competitive swimmer, and I just ran a marathon so really all I have to pick up is cycling. So I decided to begin attending spinning classes at my gym. I went to the second class last week Tuesday in which at one point I really thought I was starring death in the face. The class began innocently enough a little warm up a little standing run etc. Then as we got into the meat and potatoes of the class I realized the teacher had to be some sort of spawn of Satan's. Each time I thought we might be done with this set and back of the intensity she uttered these horrible words, "Increase resistance if you can please" and so politely too, please, please shut up I thought. So I continue spinning my legs wishing for the end, then suddenly eminem's "I'm not afraid" comes on and the music just speaks to me, I get a second wind I am flying I am EMINEM and I - am - not - afraid. Then the song ended and I was back in my own personal hell. By the end of the class I could not only wring out my clothese there was a little puddle of sweat on the floor, "thats hot" I thought as I walked out of the spinning studio.
Finally I had the enjoyment of going on a second date with a very nice gentleman in the past few weeks. I enjoyed the first date with this individual hence the second date but I had a few reservations among which was the fact that he was 13 years my senior. But I thought oh well just go have a good time see what happens. Well by the end of this date I had drank a pitcher and a half of margaritas discovered that he was divorced and had two adorable children that he sees daily. Not only is he divorced but has been divorced for less than 6 months. Oh well I figured this was a cue for me to drink more heavily and turn into "Amber" because who doesn't love Amber???
So as you can see I have been quite busy living life to the fullest, meeting as many new people as possible and making sure no drink out there goes undrunk!!!!
I'll begin with camping. As many of you know my family has an annual camping trip that occurs in the fall. This camping trip consists of all my uncles and my cousins. I have a very large family so at times this group can make up anywhere from 10 - 20 people. This year one of my cousins decided that we should go camping for Friday and Saturday night rather than just Saturday night. I agreed because why not...so I packed up Thursday night and headed back to the great state immediately following work on Friday night. My cousin who lives about 90 minutes north west of me and I decided to car pool. After packing up her car stopping for a brief McDonald's dinner in which the idiot working the drive thru shorted us one order of french fries we were off. On the way we managed to open every single bag of snacks we had brought to eat for the weekend, stalk one of our uncles by calling all the numbers we had for him until we finally were able to sufficiently harass him and read through one entire issue of Cosmo magazine (very educational for those of you not familiar with it). Friday night out on "The Land" was very uneventful, we drank sat around a fire and retired to the very comfortable trailer inside which we slept on a sleep number bed, we were really roughing it. Around 4am I heard my cousin in a very panicky but trying not to panic voice say "Morgan, Morgan are you awake?" "Yeah I'm awake, what's up I reply?" "there is a lump under my sleeping bag that I am pretty sure is a mouse!!" With each word the steadiness of her voice got less and less. I agreed to investigate the "mouse" with my flashlight which revealed that there was not in fact a mouse and that my cousin was in fact hallucinating. Saturday was a fairly relaxing day which consumed of running to the local Wal-Mart 45+ minutes away and driving back with the top down on the convertible while blasting the heat, pretending to help the rest of my uncles and cousins unpack their vehicles when they arrived and eating and drinking a lot. That evening was actually one of the calmest evenings ever had out on the land minus my cousins presentation of I'm drunk and now am going to be mean and throw things at you midnight show. Best line of this show was "In the morning I am going to allow you to apologize to me" How gracious I thought as I not exactly being the poster child for sobriety passed out. That pretty much sums up my camping trip this year but as always it was quite a blast and can't wait to return next year as we never really know what to expect!!!
Since completing my marathon I have been contemplating what I might want my next physical challenge to be. I have fallen upon a half ironman triathalon following the logic that I used to be a competitive swimmer, and I just ran a marathon so really all I have to pick up is cycling. So I decided to begin attending spinning classes at my gym. I went to the second class last week Tuesday in which at one point I really thought I was starring death in the face. The class began innocently enough a little warm up a little standing run etc. Then as we got into the meat and potatoes of the class I realized the teacher had to be some sort of spawn of Satan's. Each time I thought we might be done with this set and back of the intensity she uttered these horrible words, "Increase resistance if you can please" and so politely too, please, please shut up I thought. So I continue spinning my legs wishing for the end, then suddenly eminem's "I'm not afraid" comes on and the music just speaks to me, I get a second wind I am flying I am EMINEM and I - am - not - afraid. Then the song ended and I was back in my own personal hell. By the end of the class I could not only wring out my clothese there was a little puddle of sweat on the floor, "thats hot" I thought as I walked out of the spinning studio.
Finally I had the enjoyment of going on a second date with a very nice gentleman in the past few weeks. I enjoyed the first date with this individual hence the second date but I had a few reservations among which was the fact that he was 13 years my senior. But I thought oh well just go have a good time see what happens. Well by the end of this date I had drank a pitcher and a half of margaritas discovered that he was divorced and had two adorable children that he sees daily. Not only is he divorced but has been divorced for less than 6 months. Oh well I figured this was a cue for me to drink more heavily and turn into "Amber" because who doesn't love Amber???
So as you can see I have been quite busy living life to the fullest, meeting as many new people as possible and making sure no drink out there goes undrunk!!!!
Monday, October 18, 2010
What Does Age Really Mean????
So this week I decided to write about something that has been perplexing me for quite a while. What does age really mean when it comes to relationships? That being said I question people, what is the ideal age difference, what is too much of an age difference? This has come up in my life lately as a young single lady living in a city full of very eligible bachelors of quite varying ages. I have been dating quite a bit as of recently and this issue continues to come up time and time again.
I recently went out with someone who is 13 years difference in age from me. He was charming, nice, enjoyable and all around wonderful person. However at the end of the night in the back of my mind I know that there is a big elephant in the room (the elephant being our age difference in case you hadn't caught that). So even though I really enjoyed myself had a great time and would love to continue seeing this person is it irresponsible of me being that we are at very different places in our lives?
This forced me to think about this more and in the end the real question this presented me with is, where are all the decent young men? I am sure in writing this I am going to enrage any young men who read this (which I don't actually think there are any so I'm not too worried), so here is my disclaimer if you are a young man who is respectful, polite, charming and and all around gentlemen then you are not the one I am talking about...also if you are single drop me a line we should talk. For the rest of the world where is the man who will pay on the first date no question, who will drive 30 plus minutes to meet you, and who will gladly walk you to your car no matter how out of the way it is to make sure you get there safe and sound?
Now I am not saying that I think all male female gender roles should be kept up forever more, but I do believe a little chivalry is necessary. So is it true that to get these things I must only date men much older than me? Or is there hope that there is the young man out there who was raised properly and knows how to treat a lady?
Many many questions involved in all these issues and maybe there are no right or wrong answers, but for now I am going to continue to ponder these things, continue to date anyone no matter what their age and know that at the end of the day ageism is not a part of my life!!!
I recently went out with someone who is 13 years difference in age from me. He was charming, nice, enjoyable and all around wonderful person. However at the end of the night in the back of my mind I know that there is a big elephant in the room (the elephant being our age difference in case you hadn't caught that). So even though I really enjoyed myself had a great time and would love to continue seeing this person is it irresponsible of me being that we are at very different places in our lives?
This forced me to think about this more and in the end the real question this presented me with is, where are all the decent young men? I am sure in writing this I am going to enrage any young men who read this (which I don't actually think there are any so I'm not too worried), so here is my disclaimer if you are a young man who is respectful, polite, charming and and all around gentlemen then you are not the one I am talking about...also if you are single drop me a line we should talk. For the rest of the world where is the man who will pay on the first date no question, who will drive 30 plus minutes to meet you, and who will gladly walk you to your car no matter how out of the way it is to make sure you get there safe and sound?
Now I am not saying that I think all male female gender roles should be kept up forever more, but I do believe a little chivalry is necessary. So is it true that to get these things I must only date men much older than me? Or is there hope that there is the young man out there who was raised properly and knows how to treat a lady?
Many many questions involved in all these issues and maybe there are no right or wrong answers, but for now I am going to continue to ponder these things, continue to date anyone no matter what their age and know that at the end of the day ageism is not a part of my life!!!
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Speed Dating...
So last night I went to speed dating for the first time. This was quite an interesting experience and not just because of the variety of men I met. When I arrived I was informed that there were 20 men and 12 women, so clearly the odds were in my favor. They changed up the rules a little and rather than the men moving from table to table, the women had to. I was not happy about this moving from guy to guy as they sat back and relaxed like Kings. Oh well I decided to make the best of it and drink a little more than I have in a long time, seeing as I am done with the marathon. As I carried my long island from table to table I met quite a few interesting men.
There was the Russian immigrant who was 25 years older than me but kept telling me age doesn't matter and even though I am closer to his sons age than his love knows no age. The mechanic who I decided to spend the 3 minutes we were supposed to be "getting to know each other" asking him if he thought a sound my car was currently making was something I needed to get checked out and if it would be pricey (he told me yes and could be very expensive...balls). A UPS driver who showed me pictures on his phone of all sorts of different dishes he could cook for me, describing in detail how he would do all the preparation in front of me and that we could be something really great. A ripped Physical Therapist who lifted up his shirt so I could see and feel his amazing six pack, which was pretty impressive I must say. There were many more men, some noteworthy others not so much.
By the end of the speed dating I had enjoyed two long islands and was half way through my third. Things do start to get a little hazy at this point but the rest of the evening is too entertaining to not share. My ex, who was also in attendance at this speed dating, and I decided that this was a great time to have a very serious conversation, because when I have had 3 long islands it's always a great time to discuss serious things with me. After this serious conversation dancing sounded like a fabulous idea and a small group of us went to the dance floor and began to get our groove on. Very abruptly as tends to happen with me I decided it was time for the fun to end and for me to go. I left the bar to go sit in the backseat of my car and wait for my friend (whose house I was staying at) to get home from a concert she had gone to. I vaguely recall getting into my car and the next thing I know its 5:15am. I wake up in a full on panic, whose car am in, how did I get here where am I parked, was I abducted. Slowly I looked around oh this car has a bike rack in it, I have a bike rack in my car I think to myself. Hmm this car has a parking pass on it, my car has parking passes as well. After about 5 minutes of very critical thinking I am able to deduct that yes I am in fact in my car. I also as I am looking around notice that someone has puked all over the backseat of my car and all over the floor. At this point I call my friend and walk the 20 feet to her front door so she can let me in to sleep.
All in all a rather exciting and eventful night, while today is very unpleasant and will be spent on the couch it was almost worth it to meet a bunch of new people, celebrate the end of my marathon training and of course another chapter for the memoirs!!!
There was the Russian immigrant who was 25 years older than me but kept telling me age doesn't matter and even though I am closer to his sons age than his love knows no age. The mechanic who I decided to spend the 3 minutes we were supposed to be "getting to know each other" asking him if he thought a sound my car was currently making was something I needed to get checked out and if it would be pricey (he told me yes and could be very expensive...balls). A UPS driver who showed me pictures on his phone of all sorts of different dishes he could cook for me, describing in detail how he would do all the preparation in front of me and that we could be something really great. A ripped Physical Therapist who lifted up his shirt so I could see and feel his amazing six pack, which was pretty impressive I must say. There were many more men, some noteworthy others not so much.
By the end of the speed dating I had enjoyed two long islands and was half way through my third. Things do start to get a little hazy at this point but the rest of the evening is too entertaining to not share. My ex, who was also in attendance at this speed dating, and I decided that this was a great time to have a very serious conversation, because when I have had 3 long islands it's always a great time to discuss serious things with me. After this serious conversation dancing sounded like a fabulous idea and a small group of us went to the dance floor and began to get our groove on. Very abruptly as tends to happen with me I decided it was time for the fun to end and for me to go. I left the bar to go sit in the backseat of my car and wait for my friend (whose house I was staying at) to get home from a concert she had gone to. I vaguely recall getting into my car and the next thing I know its 5:15am. I wake up in a full on panic, whose car am in, how did I get here where am I parked, was I abducted. Slowly I looked around oh this car has a bike rack in it, I have a bike rack in my car I think to myself. Hmm this car has a parking pass on it, my car has parking passes as well. After about 5 minutes of very critical thinking I am able to deduct that yes I am in fact in my car. I also as I am looking around notice that someone has puked all over the backseat of my car and all over the floor. At this point I call my friend and walk the 20 feet to her front door so she can let me in to sleep.
All in all a rather exciting and eventful night, while today is very unpleasant and will be spent on the couch it was almost worth it to meet a bunch of new people, celebrate the end of my marathon training and of course another chapter for the memoirs!!!
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