Driving to the Beach and Finding Fun along The Way

Well, not only is Spring in the air, it's in my toes and my bicycle basket.  I can't help it- in this warm weather I can't help but to just walk out the door and find the first toy to play with.  It reminds me of being a kid again, honestly, because I remember just walking outside to stir up trouble too.  So, today the only way I could convince myself to get out of my cozy Sunday Morning Bed (Comfortable, but not quite like Monday Morning bed...that bed is vicious...) was to throw on my bathing suit and hop on the bike.  I hit the road for the beach.  My goal? pancakes.  My intentions?  genuine.  My outcome? No pancakes and a whole lot of fascinating side-stops.

In an effort to keep you, my loyal audience, interested- I'm going to cut right to the chase.  Here is a series of photos I took of my journey to the beach today.  And keep in mind- I never got my pancakes.  I had to settle for a Subway turkey club....insert dagger into my skull, please.

Just kidding, that was probably over the top.  Like when Garth Algar started talking about what he wanted to do to Benjamin.

Seth got me this awesome little quick-take-a-pic camera that isn't quite as direct to posting on FB as my phone, but it has a higher quality image and it's a lot faster to the fight, so to speak.  My phone lags a lot...does that happen to anyone else with a year old iPhone 4G?  Don't ask me what other numbers there are...In other news....Here's a bunch of my pictures- and at the end there's an "easter egg" of a video that is of this AMAZING spider I found....and keep in mind- I REALLY don't care for spiders.

I thought I could find some wildlife nearby....

Experimenting with my zoom focus...

My Rig....so I leave it out sometimes....

I found some more flowers!  This is at the Gypsy Bridge- near our house.

My view from the beach pier....Getting very busy with tourists.  I figured I'd jet.

I am NOT a photographer....

This guy was towing this huge inflatable pool with a Baja.  Photo-Op!

Ended my adventures with a swing by Johnny Jackplate's house- sure enough!  He was just coming home from San Antonio!!  

Here's my fabulous video capturing this giant spider I found.  He was moving a huge ball of CRAP by rolling it with it's rear end.  Strictly for the Discovery Channel....I expect a prime time slot by the Fall!

Conversations in My Head

I actually apologized to a man in the grocery store yesterday because I was speaking to myself quite audibly. I am a pretty "aware" person- I knew I was doing it. I know exactly what we were talking about- which bottle of wine to buy. I frequently find myself weighing strange pros and cons for what wine to buy. Usually price and creativity of label become the trump-cards. Anyway, sure enough, I look up and there's a normal human carrying on right beside me. I guess it doesn't really matter- people do worse things than talk to themselves in public. However, I'd like to think I was raised better than letting my crazy show. Meh, I'm not really crazy...Lazy? Maybe...but crazy, I'd argue it's mostly just unjustifiably analytical. In other news, I've seen a lot of ads for iced coffee lately. www.thepioneerwoman.com= A great website to graze through. I like this recipe to make iced coffee because it is fool proof and totally caters to people who like to set it up and use it on an as-needed basis.

Shout Outs to My Service Industry Peeps...

Alright...I may not be a waitress currently. And I may not have been a "good" waitress when I was employed by a restaurant employer [Ruby Tuesdays] [when I was maybe 18] [and I only worked there because I couldn't handle another season of working at the YMCA]. However, let me just use my time here to say- DAMN waiting tables is hard work. I have a hard time getting everything I need for my own dinner, let alone 8 other tables with ridiculous orders...and a mad dad.

Well, that's really all I have to say about that. I mean- I have plenty more to SAY, however- nothing too original.

I'd like to put in a request that friends send me 1 minute videos with updates on their current lives. I'd just like a 60 second clip of where you are - whether you're driving or cooking - and what you're up to. Video blog format. (what else?) and of course, let me know what you're creating right now. Whether it's a fight in a grocery store parking lot or giving a stranger a hug.

ENough of my fragmented sentences and incomplete thoughts.

Friday nights are meant to be enjoyed..........

Top ten Things to Remind me that LIFE DOESN'T Suck

You know what? Everyone is wrong. Life is actually pretty cool. Today, for instance, this chick at the DMV was all like "Don't worry if they don't accept a copy of your Birth Certificate. Atleast you're up off the couch, doin' somethin'"

I looked at her while she was speaking to her [assumed] brother, and said, "Can I put you in my pocket and carry you around with me?"

...I mean, was that too forward? Do you think it was a little much, a little early? Who cares, she didn't have time to over analyze my appropriateness. Which brings me to my number 10 reason life doesn't suck:

10- People's reactions to off the wall comments in public are worth about $37.00/unit.

Pezzi and I were at the gas station getting gas to carry back to the boat that broke down in the canal ...I'll come to that another time.
PEZZI: "So, what are y'alls plans for tonight?"
RANDOM DUDE ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE PUMP, (without any hesitation): AWWW, man....not to much, probably just going to hang out with some friends.

Classic moment in the series of "Great things complete strangers say....

Oh? What? Number 9-1 reason?

...What, do I look like David Letterman? I have other things to do. SEE YOUUUU!

Productivity at its Finest...

Today is Wednesday, January 25, 2012. It's also "The day the boat comes off the trailer, Babe!" as Seth just announced to me. Oh fantastic- we get to remove all the fittings to the boat because it's a great idea to paint it. TOP AND BOTTOM. "But, Lauren, the boat looks good, the paint is fine"....I hear that a lot. However, that doesn't mean we can't have a Daniel Family Boat Project. We do love doing those.

But that's not what I came here to talk about. I'd like to articulate "aloud" what I've been thinking in my head. I've always wanted to start a business, but my problem is actually making it happen. I'd like to generate my own revenue. I'd also like to write my own book. Blahhhh, but today I just managed to go to the DMV and then to the bank, which, honestly, is more than I expected to come from this day.

Great, another blog post with no point, no moral, and no life lesson. I'll just add that to my list of "almost there" objectives that I've created.

Monday Morning

I like the beginning of new weeks because they're full of possiblity. Today's possibilities could be several, but I keep thinking of all the things I should be doing with my life...but instead I'm doing google searches to try to make them happen. Today. I will produce tangible results towards my goals of aspiring to be....more than what I am right now.

Oh yeah, but I've got to get to the beach before 2:00 pm...or else the sun will go down before I've gotten rid of these tan lines!

Well, if it's running that Makes Me Shower- I should Run More...

Before I begin, I should share my judgements on "facebook status updates" in the "excercize" category. I don't think that sharing with everyone that you're excercising is really necessary. What I experience is a overwhelming whiff of going out of ones way to self define your self worth. ..."Sefl define your self worth?" Well, I know that's strange and long winded- but in our culture, it's still very difficult for us to tell others about how great we are. It's called "bragging" or just over stepping the "culturally acceptible humility" line that we have to subconsciously dance around in our self expression.

Who knows if that makes sense...but all of this jarbled thought process synthesized is to say that I make my best thought creations, ideas, or just great internal images while I'm running from my house to the beach. I should break that latter part of that sentence doesn. First off, I don't really run TOO much- because it's hot as crap, and my bones are approaching 30 and only need to be stressed SO much. Let's not overdo it here- I'm not getting any better. Second, from my house to the beach is just over half a milk away. It's a mile, round trip, and I think from my door to the kitchen is like .6 of a mile in itself. Okay- just kidding. My house is tiny (see prior paragraph on humble..)

At any rate, today I decided that I should probably figure out a way to make money. From any part of the country. I needed to do something that I loved instead of being a pusher for some pyramid scheme full of has-beens and never-weres. Again, mostly the latter. I would get a little more in to this, but then I'd just sound like a small business guru who had nothing else on their mind but making money. Money? I've got that. You know, like a coin jar with $28.00 in it and I know I saw $.75 in the drier this morning. My idea? It's there. Other ideas? I've got them too. But the crux- is selling the idea. I don't really think people like me or my ideas that much.

Let me end that paragraph where I did. This brings me to another thought I had today- again- while running...uh, walking and thinking about running:
If I did write a blog, and I did spill my heart out to anyone willing to read it, I would always try to have a motive, or a purpose. Always write with a purpose, right? Well, my purpose is ALWAYS to give meaningful, honest, criticizms and reactions to life's experiences. I'd like to make no excuses for naive, ignorant, or self serving thoughts I've imagined or even expressed. I know I'm not perfect. However, I know that I'm honest. That doesn't mean I don't think of others' feelings when I express my thoughts. However, if I wanted to write a blog, I would want to talk about my happiness as well as my sadness. I'm not depressed! I just think that happiness and sadness is a healthy part of the ups and downs of life. If I was happy all the time, I'd be, well, stupid. You know- ditzy, dumb, scatterbrained. But on the contrary, if I was always sad- oooh, she's depressed. She's like Olivier on Projectrunway Season 9. Never seeing the positive and taking forever to finish the tailoring on this week's jacket.

If I were to write my blog, though, I'd include my happiness as well as my sadness. However, I recognize how easy it is for an audience to say, "oh, what a dumb bitch. She's upset today because she didn't have any cereal in her refridgerator. Boo Hoo". You know? I get sad sometimes - but it's not like curl up in a ball in a dark room and sulk to myself sad. It's like driving-home-from-work and looking at all the people who have real jobs going to their home from their job. I'm very in touch with the down and outs of life- and I know that I don't even have it that bad. Like that Joe Walsh song...you know- I'm not even going to quote it because any redneck-rock radio station plays it on heavy rotation. And I'm not the only person who knows all the words to all those songs.

So, I guess this week's blog is about what I would write about if I had a blog. And it'd be sadness. But that's also because I"m happy! But not stupid.