Wednesday, September 28, 2005
The cutest grandson EVER...
I promise not to do this too often, but I just had to post this picture. You may have seen one or two pics of him before on my daughters blog. Ayman is almost 22 months old now, and what a sweetie. This picture was taken last week at lunch at California Pizza Kitchen. His mom, Uncle Alex and I were almost done with our meal when his uncle decided to start messing with him by putting rice noodles in the straw of his sippy cup. He was definitely not amused by any of it. You do not mess with that baby's food or beverages -- he takes them quite seriously. What is unusual about this picture is that he did not smile for the camera! It is so hard to get a candid shot of him, because the moment I aim the camera, he generally poses. He must have really been pissed off...I love you baby!
Monday, September 26, 2005
Okay...here's the no underwear part........
This is the part that gets fun. I belong to a sort of social club that meets monthly in this area, composed of many people who really know how to enjoy their lives. We get together to attend a dance held in a local hotel, where many of us also spend the night so that we don't have to worry about how much alcohol we consume before the evening is over. We get there early, hang out by the pool and visit, go to dinner together in our little cliques, and then to to the dance about seven o' clock. There is always a fun theme for these events, and you can choose to dress up for it, or not. It's always more fun if you do, and everyone seems to really get into the spirit of things and get a little crazy.
When I was in high school, I was extremely shy. But it's true, I was always the fat girl with glasses and frizzy short hair, wearing my insecurity like a big fat sign on my considerable chest. I also felt uncoordinated, and would only dance slow dances, if I was lucky enough to get asked. I skulked in corners, back to the walls, trying not to make a spectacle of myself. When this comes up in conversation with my new friends, they look at me incredulously and say, "Oh yeah, riiiiiiiiiiiight!!!!!, ha ha ha, tell us another one!" They probably say this because when I was almost 50, I went through one of those mid-life things. I know, I know, it's pretty predictable--I never thought it would happen to me. I always did what was expected of me, did the right thing...but instead of rushing out to buy a sports car, I got my right nipple pierced. I should interject here that I had a breast reduction a few years prior to that, so this was not as brave a deed as it may seem. My sensitivity was greatly reduced due to the fact that they had to remove, reduce and reposition said nipple (and I became "Frankennipple" to my dear daughter) so the piercing wasn't that traumatic. But I finally felt good about my new, improved breasts, and thought why not enjoy them a little more? When my son got wind of what I'd done, he was more than a little disgusted with me. Oh well. All my life I had been soooo conservative. I wouldn't even wear a sleeveless blouse in the most miserable heat because I have fat arms. What a mess! But thanks to the mid-life thing, I thought "What the heck am I waiting for?" Like the beer commercial used to say, you only go around once in life. So, pierce the boob, ditch the bra and panties, grow my hair a little longer, go to clothing optional hot spring resorts, and stop worrying about what everyone thought of me. Yes, Middle Age Crazy.
You're probably wondering what all this has to do with the dances? I do tend to digress, but it's my blog and I can do whatever I want to do with it, right?
The theme of this particular dance happened to be "High Heels, Short Skirts, and NO Panties". Yikes. My good friend confided in me that she did, in fact, wear panties to the dance because she had a bit of a cold, and peed everytime she had a coughing spell. That sounded valid to me--not to mention the fact that the extra draft probably wouldn't have done her cold any good either. The no panty part didn't really bother me, since I rarely wear them anyway. I did, however, wear my skirt a bit longer than usual to compensate for the higher heels. I'm also quite good at crossing my legs demurely due to my early Catholic school upbringing. So I've got that going for me.
This is a people-watchers paradise. It's so fun to sit with a bunch of your best friends, get out the Meow Mix, and talk about everybody else. I'm sure there are other groups such as ours at the dance, talking about US, so it's all good. There were probably close to 150 people there of all ages, heavy on the aging Baby Boom class, of which I am a proud member, and some even older than that. Everyone dances their butts off with abandon. What a kick. It gets a little crazy, and let me tell you, some of these people really deserve credit for not giving a crap about what they do or how they look doing it...come to think of it, I deserve a fair amount of credit for that very thing myself, I guess! There are some women that really should wear panties, tho. I refer to one of the much older participants, probably around her late, verrry late, sixties, who wore not much more than a ruffle around her waist in lieu of a skirt. It was so wrong. Oh my god...and what is she doing now???? No, No, NO!!!!! NOT THE POLE! PLEASE!! In the name of all that is holy....NOT THE POLE!!!! But pole dance she did, while we all stared, dumbfounded, until one of us said, "God Bless her, look at her go!" and we all laughed, realizing that she probably had her own midlife crisis twenty or so years ago too. It was kind of gross though. Makes you think. LOL. The guys didn't care , they all cheered for her as though she was twenty. Thats why I love the age I am now. You can let it all hang out (literally) and there is always someone who appreciates you. It's still like high school, but everyone is much kinder, much friendlier, because we realize we are all in the same boat, so we may as well enjoy it before it sinks. Life is good.
When I was in high school, I was extremely shy. But it's true, I was always the fat girl with glasses and frizzy short hair, wearing my insecurity like a big fat sign on my considerable chest. I also felt uncoordinated, and would only dance slow dances, if I was lucky enough to get asked. I skulked in corners, back to the walls, trying not to make a spectacle of myself. When this comes up in conversation with my new friends, they look at me incredulously and say, "Oh yeah, riiiiiiiiiiiight!!!!!, ha ha ha, tell us another one!" They probably say this because when I was almost 50, I went through one of those mid-life things. I know, I know, it's pretty predictable--I never thought it would happen to me. I always did what was expected of me, did the right thing...but instead of rushing out to buy a sports car, I got my right nipple pierced. I should interject here that I had a breast reduction a few years prior to that, so this was not as brave a deed as it may seem. My sensitivity was greatly reduced due to the fact that they had to remove, reduce and reposition said nipple (and I became "Frankennipple" to my dear daughter) so the piercing wasn't that traumatic. But I finally felt good about my new, improved breasts, and thought why not enjoy them a little more? When my son got wind of what I'd done, he was more than a little disgusted with me. Oh well. All my life I had been soooo conservative. I wouldn't even wear a sleeveless blouse in the most miserable heat because I have fat arms. What a mess! But thanks to the mid-life thing, I thought "What the heck am I waiting for?" Like the beer commercial used to say, you only go around once in life. So, pierce the boob, ditch the bra and panties, grow my hair a little longer, go to clothing optional hot spring resorts, and stop worrying about what everyone thought of me. Yes, Middle Age Crazy.
You're probably wondering what all this has to do with the dances? I do tend to digress, but it's my blog and I can do whatever I want to do with it, right?
The theme of this particular dance happened to be "High Heels, Short Skirts, and NO Panties". Yikes. My good friend confided in me that she did, in fact, wear panties to the dance because she had a bit of a cold, and peed everytime she had a coughing spell. That sounded valid to me--not to mention the fact that the extra draft probably wouldn't have done her cold any good either. The no panty part didn't really bother me, since I rarely wear them anyway. I did, however, wear my skirt a bit longer than usual to compensate for the higher heels. I'm also quite good at crossing my legs demurely due to my early Catholic school upbringing. So I've got that going for me.
This is a people-watchers paradise. It's so fun to sit with a bunch of your best friends, get out the Meow Mix, and talk about everybody else. I'm sure there are other groups such as ours at the dance, talking about US, so it's all good. There were probably close to 150 people there of all ages, heavy on the aging Baby Boom class, of which I am a proud member, and some even older than that. Everyone dances their butts off with abandon. What a kick. It gets a little crazy, and let me tell you, some of these people really deserve credit for not giving a crap about what they do or how they look doing it...come to think of it, I deserve a fair amount of credit for that very thing myself, I guess! There are some women that really should wear panties, tho. I refer to one of the much older participants, probably around her late, verrry late, sixties, who wore not much more than a ruffle around her waist in lieu of a skirt. It was so wrong. Oh my god...and what is she doing now???? No, No, NO!!!!! NOT THE POLE! PLEASE!! In the name of all that is holy....NOT THE POLE!!!! But pole dance she did, while we all stared, dumbfounded, until one of us said, "God Bless her, look at her go!" and we all laughed, realizing that she probably had her own midlife crisis twenty or so years ago too. It was kind of gross though. Makes you think. LOL. The guys didn't care , they all cheered for her as though she was twenty. Thats why I love the age I am now. You can let it all hang out (literally) and there is always someone who appreciates you. It's still like high school, but everyone is much kinder, much friendlier, because we realize we are all in the same boat, so we may as well enjoy it before it sinks. Life is good.
Monday, September 19, 2005
A little about Me...
Where should I start? Hmmmm.....oldest child (and only girl )in a family of five, raised in a rural farming community by two wonderful parents. I attended Catholic school for five years, which is a plus when I meet men. For some reason, they tend to get a gleam in their eyes when I tell them that. After graduating from high school, I went to work in a small real estate office as a secretary for a year, then got a job in a local bank. I got married when I was almost 20, and moved to Southern California where my husband grew up.
When I reached the tender age of 21 1/2, our daughter Cassandra was born. We moved back to Northern California at that point, and three years later, our son, Alexander, was born. During the child-bearing period, I stayed at home until Alex was three. At that point, I went back to work for Bank of America, and after about 7 years, opened a party store with my sister-in-law, Cindy. We had a great time with that--lots of hard work, lots of fun, but not much money. We sold the business, and I went to work in the office at our new Wal-Mart. I loved that job for six of the thirteen years I worked there, but I can't say that I would ever want to go back. Retail is hell, especially for a 24 hour operation. Office jobs are 7-4, weekends off, except for holidays and inventory time, but if you have a ladder-climbing store manager, they can give you grief. It's impossible to enjoy the holidays, they are so hectic. I was a good associate--never a write up or counseling, nothing but commendations in my file. But with the advent of our new SuperCenter came new management. I was one of the more highly-paid personnel, and I truly believe that is why I was terminated for my horrible crime of going to lunch ten minutes late. Not coming back ten minutes late--No, leaving! Oh well, I guess they did me a favor. This happened one week after my divorce was finalized after 34 years of marriage. So, as I said before, I decided to enjoy my six months of company-paid unemployment -- (take that in the shorts, Wal-Mart!) --and it has been great. I met a very sweet man who has taken me a lot of very nice places, and introduced me to some very fine wines. We've had a lot of fun together and just yesterday returned from a cruise to Catalina Island & Ensenada, Mexico. So that brings us up to date...now I have to think about rejoining the real world, and rejoining the ranks of the gainfully employed. That is my story, and I'm sticking to it......
La Cetto Winery, Ensenada
La Cetto first of two wineries on our winery tour in Ensenada. Beautiful scenery, the road leading into the vineyard lined with olive trees, loaded with fruit. I never imagined that it would be so picturesque. First we stopped at a bullring on the grounds, surrounded by flowers and of course, the vineyard. Gene got a picture of me on the way to the bathroom...no photo journal would be complete without that. After the brief tour, we were led into a rustic wine tasting room where we sampled five wines, along with olives, bread and cheese. Mmmmmmmm...it was very nice...followed up by a taste of brandy & also tequila! Unexpected, but fun...we had a bit of a buzz as we reboarded our bus.
Darla, Ernie, Cindy and Gene in Catalina
Marlin Bar, Catalina Island..After parasailing, we stopped in this little bar for a drink. It was a beautiful day, and we were all a little wind-blown. All except for Darla, who decided to do some quality shopping instead of the parasailing adventure. Anyone who knows me, knows how I am about my coffee. While everyone else was ordering drinks, I went down the street and found myself a nice espresso bar, where I found a steaming cup of some kind of exotic coffee. I was a happy camper when I came back to rejoin them.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)