Making my way up the East Coast....

Last Thursday I woke up hungover. It might of had something to do with the girls night out...or quite possibly it had to do with the booty shaking contest I somehow got roped into recruiting guys for at Paddy Murphy's. Regardless, I woke up with a hangover. Brady and I spent a good part of the day running around and preparing to leave Naples. After the world's most frustrating oil change (apparently my drain plug was stripped), Brady and I left Naples for Miami around 4:00PM. Since one of the main highways in Florida was shut down due to a major fire, we were forced to take the slower more alligator infested route over to Miami. Yay! I finally got to see gators--and about 3 dozen more than I expected!
Once we arrived to Kirsten's we walked down to Cafe Versailles where I had my first empanada. A perfect ending to a perfectly stressful day. Ahhhhh...sleeeeeeep. Kind of.
We all arose bright and early--well dark and early really--so I could get Brady and Kirsten to the airport by 5:00AM. Yuck. When is a 6;30AM flight ever a good idea? Well at least it got me up and after a nice shower back at Kirsten's house I was on the road to North Carolina by 7:30. Boy was I tired. So tired in fact that I gave my body something it hadn't had in years--an energy drink. Bad idea. Although it did the job and got me to Greensboro, NC in time for a baseball game, by the time arrived I felt like I was coming down off of a hard drug (not that I would know what that feels like but I can imagine). After the game I checked into the scariest motel on my trip to date--and yes it beat Fort Stockton, TX due to the fact that I din't have Rose there with me. A broken dead bolt, a powerless phone and a toilet paper-jammed peephole--what kind of crap hole had I paid $41.75 for anyhow? Fortunately I eventually passed out and woke up breathing in the morning. After a load of laundry and a soggy waffle I was out of there--off to Virginia Beach to meet Danielle. I spent a night with Danielle and then stayed acouple more nights on my own in order to catch a front row spot at the Kings of Leon concert in Norfolk Monday night. I really couldn't have been more in the right spot at the right time. Seriously guys, I was front row--sweat-spray distance from Caleb Followill. Kind of a dream-come-true for this girl who's ga ga for lead singers. Anyhow, good show followed by a couple rounds of cut throat with new found friends at a nearby bar. I should probably mention also that my pool game is significantly improving--I beat Stevin and his brother. No big deal though.

The next day came in another wave of heat as I set off for Washington DC. I arrived around 4 o'clock, checked into my hostel and then drove down to Chinatown and the epicenter of my first experience with hockey fans. The level of enthusiasm over here when it comes to sports really is quite impressive--a lot different than West coast sports fans. I ended up in a familiar pub (Fado) watching the Capitols/Rangers game, eating chicken pot pie and washing it down with Smithwicks and Guiness. I made lots of friends that night, oddly enough all with the last name Ovechkin printed on their backs--apparently he is the Michael Jordan of hockey. When I arrived back at the hostel I spent some quality time with Rashad and Tom who were on duty that night. We swapped stories and youtube sensations as we laughed well into the night.

So that brings me to today when I oh so naively decided to drive into the city to do museums and sight seeing. Lets just say I saw more middle fingers than exhibits as I only made it to one museum after like 2 hours of driving through the most stressful traffic I've ever experienced. East coast sports fans have my vote, East coast drivers do not. RUUUUUUUDE!!! Once I got into the Sithsonian Museum of Portraiture and American Art I could finally breath deeply and relax a bit. I especially enjoyed the Alec Soth photography and found myself in front of his portrait of a young French rollerskater for more time than what a quarter would put on a DC meter. It was the most serene part of my day, for shortly after that I was back in the mess of traffic on my way to Georgetown to catch a movie. I went to see Duplicity but the projector was broken so I saw The Soloist instead. It was a good movie--intensely moving, but it left a little bit of conflict inside that I am still trying to sort out. Good though. I followed the movie with a bowl of Soupe de crab at Cafe Russe and then headed back to the hostel where I am now--typing away and hopefully not boring you all :)
Tomorrow I head to Boston to meet Conn and some of his friends in the city. Very excited to be on my way to a new place and a familiar face!

♥ Yours Truly

There's so much to tell...

And unfortunately I don't have the patience right now so I'll have to take another go at it tomorrow...

♥ Yours Truly

I'd like to welcome Spontaneity back into my life.

I've been out of the technology loop lately and back into the partying loop. Oops. Last weekend Brady, Tara, Kirsten, Josh, Aaron and I went to Miami and I experienced the flavor of Cuban cuisine followed by the flava of South Beach. It was quite an excursion. We saw a Flo-Rida music vid being filmed on the beach and then on the way back to the car we spotted one of Americas favorite punch lines: Rosie O'Donnell. Wowa.
After a star-studded day in Miami we headed back to Naples and started taking shots. One shot led to two, two to three and three to a flight back to New Orleans. What? Yup. I got on a plane sauced and woke up three states away leaving my car and a brief note to Brady back in Florida. Whoa! It actually felt great to do something impulsive and completely irrational. Tom, my friend from California and his buddy Josh were on their way to the Louis Armstrong International Airport to pick me up by the time I landed at 9:55 the next morning. Ha ha...and then came the the world's greatest nap and once again, Bourbon Street. Hello 64oz beer. Hello Hand Grenade. Hello inebriation. I had to keep up with the boys though.

The next day--Easter Sunday--we ventured out for breakfast and mimosas before hopping on the street car to the famous cemetary off St Charles and Washington that is supposed to be haunted. Of course we never found out because it was locked up when we got there. We considered breaking and entering but decided that it would be unfortunate for our Mothers to hear that we were thrown in Nawlin's jail on such a holy day, so instead we set out in search of a different kind of spirit and ended up in a bar shooting pool all day.

After a solid night's sleep we arose Monday morning, toured the ninth ward again and then I set out for the second time in 2 weeks, back to Florida. We arrived in Orlando at the boys's friend's apartment around 10 and hung out for a bit before hittin the sheets. The next day it was once again stormy so we went looking for some indoor fun. We had an epic day of bowling, beer and billiards. Man by now I am really starting to like this game they call pool. I've never been a good player but I found out if you keep doing something you get better at it :) So after 6 hours I can honestly say that my game was definitely improving. I do owe a lot to the boys though for coaching me.

Another day down and one more to go in O-Town before we were to head south to Miami. We ventured to downtown Disney for lunch then came home and had a serious game of basketball (I literally ran circles around the boys), and then we ate burgers and watched Lost--which I am very behind on by the way. Miles hears dead people, what? Will he be able to talk to Charlie? Anyhow, it had been another good day.

The next couple days were spent in Miami exploring South Beach, Coconut Grove and the Hard Rock Casino near Fort Lauderdale. There was a lot of mimosas, good food, swimming in the ocean and playing pool. There was even some vomittong out of the car on the freeway but I'll never tell who. Fun fun fun with the boys but like all good things, it had to end. I hopped on a bus on Saturday and with a tear in my eye was on my way back to Naples. I'm not sure if it was a happy tear or a sad tear but it felt great to have a moment to myself to cry. It's been strange not having any alone time for the past month. I think it's time to venture out alone and get some thinking rather than drinking done. Where in the world shall I go?

♥ Yours Truly

The Sunshine State

Naples has been a blast so far! I've just been bumming around with Brady really--running around, going to the beach, the pool, enjoying the 90% humidity. Ha! You who all know me know that I do not fare well in the heat, but I have been doing pretty well--I just  carry around my Shamwow to towel off periodically :) 

It's been really great to see Mary as well. She's been working a lot but we got to go out last night and dance with old people at the local Irish Pub. Seriously, this fella named Skip came and asked Mary to dance and it wasn't long before we all three were "getting low." I am not joking, while I was complaining about my knees, this 80 year old man was twisting all the way to the floor! Wowa, it was pretty cute though.

So after a fun night out,  we are all preparing to go hop on a friend's boat for the day to do some snorkeling and just chill out. Aaaahhh. Sunshine, the ocean and good friends--what more could I ask for?

♥Yours Truly

Made it to Naples! Headed to the beach with Dartanyon the warrior, aka Brady :)