Notes to my High School Self

1. Show some skin, some cleavage, anything. Gravity is still your friend so start acting like it. When you get to be my age body parts shift and things are not always where they are supposed to be, so work it while you still can.

2. Make out with people. You have had a steady boyfriend for 2 years and you are much too young for that. I am not saying you should whore it up; I'm just saying you should explore a bit. (In a coupe of years when that boyfriend turns into a stalker you'll thank me.)

3. Be less anal about making curfew. Live a little.

4. Remember when you said that if your boobs ever got as large as Dolly Parton's you'd get a reduction? Yeah, you start saving up now.

5. Your mother is not as stupid as you think she is; listen to her advice every now and then. Not everything has to turn into dramatic production.

What I am reading: Embroideries - Marjane Sartapi
What I am listening to: Bruce Springsteen - We Shall Overcome. And yes, I am getting concert tickets. Springsteen puts on an awesome live show.

Inspiration!

About 18 months ago CV and I made a list of 101 things we wanted to accomplish in the next 1001 days. Number 24 on my list was to stop buying sensible shoes. After I had Mr. Little Man I just settled into sneakers, sweat pants and tank tops and I wanted to go back to the old me.

I had all these sexy shoes in my closet that were not living the life of scandal they were promised. I am not quite sure what has happened to me in the last 3 months, but I have been on a shoe buying kick. The criteria? Open toe, strappy, nothing less than a 3" heel with an occassional wedge thrown in for good measure. My inspiration came when I was sensible shoe shopping and a man asked me my opinion on a pair of shoes he wanted to buy for his wife. He wanted to know if I thought they were too sexy for a woman in her 50s. Something in my brain just clicked and everything is falling into place. If 50 year old women can walk around in sexy shoes, then so can a woman in her (early) 30s.

Life of scandal......as soon as I find the time, I am coming for a visit. I don't want to, you know, live there.

Sidebar: Item #52 on my 101 in 1001 was "Find a cure for cancer so I can start smoking again". I think its safe to say that that had no business on my list.

What I am reading: I think I am on the 5th chapter of The Black Dahlia. The weather has been so gorgeous lately we've spent every daylight hour at the park playing soccer or climbing the jungle gym at the playground.
What I am listening to: The Perishers - Sway. Love that song!

Feelin' Love

(And not the same kind as that Paula Cole song).

I've been a little depressed the last couple of days because of my birthday. Getting old in no way upsets me; its just the realization that a certain part of my life is over. Germany is 8 hours ahead of Eastern Time and my grandfather was not a patient man so he would wait as long as he could and then call you sometime around 5 am to wake you up and wish you Happy Birthday.

Its wierd because I came to look forward to that phone call and now, for the first time in my life it won't be happening. It is a little sad and really just hits home how much I miss my grandfather. Apparently my friends pay attention because it's 5 am and thus far I have received:

3 text messages (which is amazing because I just figured out how to text. I know.)
4 e-cards (I have no idea how to send these either)
1 phone call

So now I have gone from feeling a little sad to feeling blessed that I have alot of great people in my life. Sometimes it takes things like this to remind you that if you are constantly looking back, you can't look forward.

What I am Reading: I have not finished The Black Dahlia. My family has recently discovered that CT and his girlfriend are going to have a baby, so we have been on the phone nonstop. And in "I have to make everything about myself" news: having a child out of wedlock was old hat when I did it but now I can't help but feel like CT is trying to muscle in on my "black sheep" territory.
What I am listening to: Fall Out Boy. Those guys have some snappy song titles. Mr. Little Man and I jump and dance on the bed to this CD every morning. Its our before school ritual and we have fun with it.

The PR Post

I ate my way across Puerto Rico and all I got was a larger pant size. I asked some of my Puerto Rican friends what things I definetly needed to see on vacation and my friend Laly told me to stop at every roadside stand I passed, because they had the best food.

Well, of course, I was appalled because in my mind there was no way that a roadside stand was going to be sanitary. But OH, GOD DAMN, do they have awesome food (and most of them were sanitary). Plus, I am a big believer in getting the complete native experience when I visit a new country. I have fallen in love with alcapurria, bacalitos, tostones and plantain in any form.

Puerto Rico is an amazingly beautiful country with a rich history. I have visited the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, the Bahamas and Barbados. They are all beautiful, but as soon as you leave the resort/ tourist section of town and you see how poor the population is and how far apart the division of the classes is it’s just appalling. Puerto Rico was not like that at all. Besides being safe and clean it has a very large and very diverse middle class.

We do plan on going back because there were so many things that we wanted to see and do and 1 week wasn’t enough. I could honestly spend a week just hiking through the Carribean National Rain Forest.

On an unrelated note the downside of taking your brother on vacation with you is that afterward you tend to end all of your sentences with some derivative of the word bitch. Also, he is now describing his tan as “blackalicous”, my tan as “slightly tan-not-licious” and Mr. Little Man as “white” (hey, we used a lot of SPF 60).

What I am reading : The Black Dahlia – James Ellroy
What I am listening to: Eels - I Am Going To Stop Pretending That I Did Not Break Your Heart

Puerto Rico Post? Not So Much.

I had planned a whole long post about my trip to PR, but this picture just seemed so much funnier. And less time consuming?

What I am reading: Recaps of shows I missed whilst on vacay
What I am listening to: Panic! At the Disco - The Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide is Press Coverage.