I’m at the Aloft Hotel in Dallas. It’s part of the W Hotel chain so it’s funky and classy and has the Bliss toiletries that I think are swell. Not as great as the W in L.A. but I’ve got nothing to complain about. Wait, I do. They don’t have room service. What is that all about? I was hungry and all I could get was a lame, heated up pizza at the bar. And no breakfast in bed tomorrow?!?!?! The horror…

I really do meet funny characters sometimes. Jeff is a nice guy from Nashville who had the liquid courage to talk to me all night while trying desperately to tell me all he knew about bourbon in Tennessee and Kentucky because he assumed that’s what I wanted to chat about. His friend came down to say hello while he was yapping away with drunken eyes about something or other and she apologized to me on his behalf… I’ve must’ve given her that woman-to-woman defeated look that spelled out “save me” because she just said “I’m sorry. He’s harmless…”

C’mon girls, you know the look…

The bartender was a very cute boy who just moved to Texas from Michigan about two months ago after breaking off his engagement and wondering what to do with a five-thousand-dollar ring that’s no longer relevant. I told him to re-gift it. He can’t return it and pawning it would give him a third of the price… so, he might as well wait till he meets the next Mrs. Almost Perfect and give it her.

Is that horrible? I don’t know. Better than loosing all that cash! Plus, he just graduated college and is looking for a market analyst job and really, what IS he going to do with that ring? He’s a total cutey pattooty and oh my goodness I’m a cougar. I probably have at least five years on him. Ugh…

So I invited everyone to the whisky tasting I’ll be working tomorrow. It’s free and you’ll get to taste great Scotch and of course, hang out with me! Yeah… nobody cares: -->FREE BOOZE!!!!<-- Now we’re talking!

Tomorrow morning I’m going to the Legacy Shops down the street because I don’t feel like hanging out here till I have to work. Plus, the hotel has a free shuttle that’ll take me there. I’m mostly going because of the free shuttle. And because there’s no room service to spoil me...

That’s my update. I’m washing off my make up, brushing my teeth, slipping into comfy PJs, and reading Allende’s Paula till I drift off…

Good Night World!

Update From The Road

…But I’ve been to San Francisco about seven or eight years ago and although I knew I liked it, I wasn’t prepared to fall in love. It was the same elating feeling I had a few months back when I went to Sedona and made sure to wear all the long dresses I hadn’t worn back home. You see, no one there knew they were a new trend in my wardrobe.

Last time I visited San Francisco I was with my ex-fiancé. We were in love and everything was magical. It was also the first time I traveled with a boyfriend and San Francisco was our playground. The cable cars and the endless winding roads, the sea lions sunbathing and pushing each other in the water, the dark halls of Alcatraz and the moment they locked us in a dark cell and told us to look out the small window and see the city lights through the eyes of long-gone inmates; the old church that reminded me of one down the street growing up in Santiago, and the Japanese Tea Garden with its perfectly trimmed, exotic bushes and its miniature cascades of clear water.



So I walked and walked up and down Market Street on Friday morning thinking of how different my life is now. Eventually I got on a cable car and made it to Fisherman’s Wharf where the smell of freshly baked sour dough bread and the fish market down the street weren’t helping my sentimentality. The Ghirardelli Chocolate Factory was another ephemeral, lost memory and as I sat there sipping my hot cocoa with extra marshmallows I thought, I wish someone was here with me to share this day.

I was happy and I was sad and I was thankful and I was confused. I wasn’t expecting the fresh bread to take me back over twenty years when I used to pedal my way to the corner store to buy eighty pesos worth of bread although my parents had given me a shiny hundred pesos coin to spend. I thought it was clever to buy twenty pesos worth of candy and eat it very quickly on my way home. How would they know? My parents always wondered why I was seldom hungry, but I digress. The fresh fish smell and the folks cooking right along the street inviting you wholeheartedly to try their latest concoctions was all I needed to fly away to Valparaiso twenty-five years ago where my father and uncles ate ceviche out of a giant shell of some sort while drinking wine and telling funny stories I was probably too young to hear.

So I walked and walked and thought of so many things I hadn’t thought of in so long. Some were awful memories I wish weren’t part of me but hope to one day know why they are. Most were wonderful times in my life that I hope I never take for granted and find a way to share with as many as possible. I am surprised I didn’t overload on hot cocoa because I just sipped and sipped on it all day and remembered my grandfather using a long, thin spoon to swirl the chocolate milk in my cup so I would drink from the water spout! He would cheer me on too… go go go go it’s almost gone – you have to finish it! And I would… I’d drink it all probably faster than any five-year-old ever should.

I met a nice girl sitting at the bar later that night. I ordered a glass of wine and quickly decided a fourteen-dollar pomegranate martini was much more suitable. She was a highly successful woman with an air of naughtiness all wrapped up in complete put-togetherness. She was going to meet guy friend who was late – annoyingly late. She was thirty-eight, had dated plenty, but never managed to meet him. I thought how I’ll only be a couple of years younger than her when I finish school. Will I be wondering the same thing? I took a big gulp of my martini, smiled, and reminded myself that whatever will be will be. They'll be just fantasies for a while longer...

Maybe it was the cooler weather, maybe it was the sights, maybe it was just the energy, maybe it was the smells, maybe it was the young man who gave me his seat on the cable car… All I know is that last week while flying away on a routine business trip I found myself once again fully enchanted by this city, and the morning of my flight back I walked around downtown wrapped in my bright red scarf thinking in a rather foggy daze that I had truly and quite inevitably… left my sappy heart in San Francisco.

Enchanted

Hello cyber world… I’m so tired and I feel SO behind on EVERYTHING. I still have to tweak my grad school essays and I have to start filling out 30 applications. The flu really had me out of commission for way too long and I honestly feel “out of it.” I don’t even know what’s going on in your lives – did Barry’s cat ever attack him in the middle of the night (deservingly so…)? I haven’t stopped by Sandy’s page to say hello yet. Hi Sandy! I’m coming! Have the kids driven Zoe Rights insane yet? How’s Papa Shane doing today? Has Sweet Mango written another love story? Did Court fall crazy in love? And what shenanigans has LiLu gotten into these past few weeks?

I love you guys and I’ve missed you! Thanks for being my BBs. I truly enjoy reading your stories.

I just got back from San Francisco where I experienced a series of intense and totally unexpected feelings (God I LOVE that city). I also fell madly, deeply, crazy in love with a boy in the elevator at MIA. I wish I knew his name. Trip details coming soon.

The GRE Subject Test in English Literature came and went and it was just as horrifying as I suspected. I’ve never been happier to turn the page and read “April is the cruellest month…” while internally screaming in joy because of course Professor Marcus has practically tattooed T.S. Eliot’s The Wasteland on our foreheads. I was also trying not to cough and distract this room full of funny looking, nervous kids. We were the saddest group of nerds you ever saw at 8 AM in room 117 at The University of Miami. The guy in front of me was taking the Subject Test in Math *EEEEEEK!* and the kid in front of him was taking it in Physics *TRIPLE EEEEEEK!!!* . I’m thankful it’s over! General GRE coming up next month… one more to go.

I’m reading Paula from Isabel Allende. I forgot how amazing it is to read in Spanish. I forgot how long and complicated the sentences can be and just how different it flows. I was a bit taken back how "new" it felt and how language, no matter what it is and where it comes from, has often the inadvertent effect of making you feel things you may had forgotten to feel. It’s a wonderful story written to her daughter who is comatose and slowly dying. It’s the painfully true tale of Allende’s childhood, present, and unknown future. I highly recommend it, although I’m not sure you can translate such delicate rhetoric…

Well, the flu is gone and all I have is a stubborn lingering cough that’s just a nuisance more than anything. I’m back to work next week and ready to tackle all my deadlines. I’ll be going back to school and it’s now time for a little Emily Dickinson action. I’ve never read much of her poetry so I’m excited to learn a bit about her. All I know is that there are long dashes after every line, she never published while she was alive, and it’s rather morbid writing… we’ll see…

Not sure if there’s a lot of gratitude openly expressed here so just to recap: I’m thankful I’m finally healthy, I’m thankful for my blogging friends, I’m thankful for the opportunity to visit an amazing city and make some money along the way; I’m thankful I’m home safe and sound, I’m thankful for my new black boots and my checkered coat, I’m thankful it’s no longer over 90 degrees in Miami, I’m thankful for my DVR and coming home to my favorite shows, and I’m so very thankful that kid wasn’t in that balloon. Good heavens!

Now on to catch up on your stories… XOXOXO

Gratitude Note...Or Something Like It

Today I had a meeting with a potential client. On the way there I decided to stop by the drugstore and pick up cough syrup for obvious reasons. Because I was rushing and clinically impatient, I quickly swallowed two big gulps when I got in my car while scanning through some of the directions. What’s the big deal anyway, kids drink this, right? I just need this contract signed and don’t want to cough all over this lady. I made a pit stop at Dunkin Donuts and grabbed me some cafesito and a bagel with a little bit of butter and jelly – I didn’t eat breakfast at home.

I got to South Beach in one piece, found a great parking stop and strolled along Lincoln Road till I found the Starbucks right by Washington Avenue. I felt a little funny, but nothing too bad considering I’ve been bed-ridden for seven days. *oooohhh’s and aaawwww’s please*

Whew... she's not here yet. I might as well order something.

And then it hit me -->I WAS DIZZY. One minute I was fine and the next I was dizzy like it was Friday night and I’ve been shooting a few tequila rounds while sipping on cheap wine and flirting with the bartender. I was so, incredibly dizzy, I could barely focus on reading the Starbucks drink menu. And why was I reading the menu anyway? I always end up ordering a boring iced passion tea anyway.

I held on to that Starbucks counter with a sad smirk on my face, eventually I got my tea, and sat down in complete disbelief wondering why I don't really think this is funny. I reached into my purse and pulled out the cough syrup (I didn’t want it boiling in my car): two teaspoons… it was only supposed to be two, very tiny teaspoons. I peeled the label off the bottle and realized my seemingly harmless gulps actually consumed HALF of the entire bottle. That’s on top of the antibiotic dosage and the cough pills I had taken in the middle of night. Definitely not funny.

Lady Client strolls in (late, thank goodness) and she’s babbling at ten thousand miles per hour sounding an awful like Charlie Brown’s teacher: whaa-whaa-whaa-whaa-whaa…Her storage unit flooded, her apartment was sold, she needs to move, she’s got so much to do, thank you for being here, I can’t believe my car is all wet with stuff but thank god is a rental and whaa-whaa-whaa-whaa…

Eventually we got down to business and I BARELY held it together. My eyes must’ve been googley, I'm blinking more than humanly possible, and I’m shaking my head up and down like “uhuh… uhuh” waaaay too much. I’m trying to concentrate on what she’s saying while wondering if I should confess I’m so high I’m about to float right up this seat. I opted for not saying much and agreeing with everything she said. Hey, at least I'm not coughing.

“Any questions?” She asked at the end.
"Yes. Do YOU lock up your medicine cabinet? This stuff is AWESOME!"

That… would NOT have been funny.

Okay maybe a little.

(Ugh. What a morning.)

{photos via weheartit}

Back to Work... In Style

I have cooties. Not just your average cooties. I mean top-of-the-line, hairy monster, clog-your-nose, kill-your-head, scratch-your-throat, hurt-you-everywhere cooties. The fever is back tonight and I think I should go see a doctor. My daddy is going to get off work tomorrow an hour early to take me... he's such a sweetie.

Let’s hope I wake up feeling a bit better. The past few days have been pretty awful and I promise never to take my health for granted again. Did I ever? I don’t know… I just want to stop coughing and to stop hurting. The GRE is Saturday and I can’t even focus long enough to read a few pages. I can't stare at the computer anymore.

C'est la vie...

Be back soon.

The Weather Is Above Me

I went to Walmart today. Why... why would I EVER do such a thing, you may ask? *sigh* I had a whole lot of toiletries to buy and it's close by and it would save me so cash so I did it alright. I did! And I regretted it as soon as I realized ALL the shopping carts were broken somehow.

Standing behind me while checking out was the absolute WORST and I mean the WORST type of people: vile, loud, mean, rude for no reason, and all in front of their toddlers who were of course screaming for attention. The cashier was an older woman whom you could tell was in physical pain trying to get through the day in one piece. Right before scanning my sutff, she turned off her light and put up her "register closed" sign.

These people behind me went INSANE screaming the most God-awful things never ONCE asking this nice old lady if she could check them out beause they've been standing in line for about 20 minutes behind me. I turned around and glared at them trying desperately to understand what would possess someone to do that before even asking for help.

I thought about telling these girls a thing or two and then quickly decided to talk to the cashier instead. I told her to be patient and to enjoy her break. I tried to send her all the good vibes and goodness that could possibly be sent to her. I figure giving her the love would be a whole lot more efficient that arguing with the chaos behind me.

That was draining. I don't EVER want to be the person that - even inadvertently - chooses hatred over kindness. What a sad life.


{pictures via weheartit}

I Can't Fix The World (and it upsets me)