Words

I love words. So much so, I actually keep a list of my favorites. The list includes words such as beguiling, languidly, cacophony, sybarite and robust. They are more to me than just letters organized, they are feelings that envelope me when they are heard or spoken. They are especially powerful when used by someone I find attractive. In the right moment, they could be foreplay, sexually yes, but almost more powerfully, intellectually. It’s not that I find a “book worm” sexy, actually, it’s those moments when the least expecting of men use wicked smart words. If they take the time to learn and use language they will take the time to learn and use me. It shows inquisitiveness, patience, folly, and drive or dedication. For me, these are adjectives to describe men that I am drawn to. Tell me, what are some of your favorite words?

Stew instead of Soup

I want my life to be like stew instead of soup. This statement rolled across my mind recently and I thought how succinct this is. I’ve been going through a life review of sorts. Deciding what is important to me and what should be tossed to curb. And how much my life is wasted on the peripheral and how my time would be better spent on those things that matter. Really, just making thick rue instead of being satisfied with broth

I’m back from the best vacation ever. A birthday celebration that was just how I pictured. A week of family, friends, great food, amazing wine, and a town that calls to me, even now, a thousand miles away, I still hear it’s voice. It teases me with its ease and sensibility. The green rolling hills and cool nights. The smell of star jasmine and the sound of baby birds nesting outside my window. Acoustic guitar, the smell of morning coffee I didn’t fix, and fresh flowers everywhere. Not once thinking of work and instead focusing on long massages, fresh seafood, and smiling….all the time.

I realize vacation is not the benchmark by which we can measure everyday life, but it should be the menu of choices we try to incorporate into out daily schedule.

At what age do you become an adult?

When did I turn 40? When did it happen exactly? I mean it was just yesterday I was fresh out of college trying to find my way in the world. And although I don’t know if I have exactly found my way at 40, I do know that I have at least traveled along a road that resembles the directions I had in my mind. A path peppered with no regrets. But 40 – as a kid it sound so old and at 40 it still feels so young. It’s funny – sometimes I catch myself walking through the house, usually doing something a bit naughty, and think “I can’t believe I own my own home”. It almost feels I’m just hanging out at my parent’s house while they’re out of town. But oh, how I do love being an adult. Not having to answer to anyone (read single adult here), doing what I want, when I want and with no real consequences. I like the freedom of making my own decisions, of being able to choose almost anything and act upon it. It can almost make you drunk with power, don’t you think? It’s a real responsibility to be an adult and some days I choose wisely, others not so much, and still others do it and damn the consequences. Those moments usually make the best stories. Tell me, what do you love about being an adult?

Thump Thump

What is it I want to say as I type away here in the dark? The light of my computer screen filling the room and the music loud and filling my head. I love the way music feels. The bass or the thump thump that reverberates in my chest. I close my eyes and lean back into the chair and I hear the music around me, and it, and the memories and images it conjures up, float around in the vicinity of my ceiling. I shrug out of my sweater and take my hair down. I feel the dampness of when I put it up hours before and smell the freshness of my shampoo and imagine the sound he makes when he buries his face into my hair. I catch my fingers stroking my lips imagining him, his kisses, the smiles he makes when I take him into my mouth. I want to see in the dark with those senses that know best. I want to dance to the music around me, its rhythm and ours matching. But alas, I’m reduced to communicating my needs to him via text and unable to relish in the details flooding my mind and body.

Where to celebrate?

I turn 40 in April. I’m on a quest to find the perfect place to celebrate this momentous passing. I want to take 3 weeks, rent a house, and put down 3-week roots in my new home. I want all my family and friends to pay me a visit at some point during my stay. I want to become a short lived local. I want to love this place so much, I ponder quitting my job and working at the local flower stand. I want to relax, and reflect and ponder the next 40 years on this earth. And I want peace.

But I’m in a quandary on where this perfect place should be. I’ve researched Italy, Buenos Aries, the Outer Banks. I’ve considered Spain, Jackson Hole and Big Sur. And for a woman who usually has no problem making decisions, I can’t seem to come up with one here. My expectations are probably too high. And my consideration of the needs/wants of my family and friends I’m sure are making this more difficult. I just want a place to relax. A place me and my camera can be inspired. A place with vistas, where I look out over the land and see history.

My very diligent, process minded mind is considering everything with this decision. For instance:

- the dollar against the euro
- big occasion, I should go abroad and not stay in the US
- don’t repeat a location I’ve already been to
- love the waves, but do I have to have them
- finding a house everyone will love
- finding a location that has something to do/see
- weather/climate at that time

I think what I would like is if the place could somehow pick me. To try somewhere without research, serious consideration, major planning…all things I have a want to do, and yet without all that, still works out.

I’m open to ideas.

I want...more

I want to feel his skin beneath my fingernails. I want to feel his taut, tough muscles ripen against my touch. I want to hear his sighs in my ear, feel his moist lips graze along my neck and his weight along my body. I want to feel his desire on my hip, taste his mouth and breathe in his scent. I want to dance on fresh linen, I want to paint his body with my auburn hair and I want to exchange power. I want his teeth to graze over my alabaster skin and mark his territory. I want to lose time, I want to let go, I want to become his concubine. I want to call in sick and lay in bed all day and tell each other secrets again. I want to taste his hungry kisses and pull him into my mouth. I want to be preoccupied by the memories of him, I want to anticipate his next visit, and I want to plan for our next adventure.

Read "I want"

The Soundtrack of Life

“The music you can’t forget from the times you don’t remember” – This was a slogan on a local radio station I heard recently. However, it really resonated with me. It made me realize the role music plays in the important moments in my life. I can hear a song on the radio that will bring back a memory for me that I thought was long forgotten. As I listen to the melody and lyrics, the details of the memory begin to ripen, bringing me back to that moment and allowing me to relive it again. For example, and in no particular order:

1. The Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, especially Night Fever by the Bee Gees reminds me of watching my sister and her boyfriend practice disco dancing in the living room. I was the DJ and got to stop and start the record as they practiced. I remember my sister in YoYo’s – the wedge shoes with the hole in the heel, her powder blue polyester dress and matching blue eye shadow. She was 8 years my senior and I thought there couldn’t be anyone cooler than her. And of course, I had a huge crush on her boyfriend even if he did wear white bellbottoms!

2. Georgia on My Mind by Willie Nelson reminds me of watching my parents slow dancing in our house. They were younger than I am now, and will remain that age and that much in love in my mind forever.

3. How Soon is Now by The Smiths, I Touch Roses by Book of Love, Every Day is Halloween by Ministry, The Bottom Line by Big Audio Dynamite, She Sells Sanctuary by The Cult and White Lines by Grandmaster Flash and Melle Mel all remind me of dancing in clubs during college.

4. Say Goodbye by Dave Matthews Band reminds me of singing the song at the top of my lungs while riding around in a convertible with my best friend on a summer night as I cried about my broken heart after getting involved with a married man.

5. Lenny by Stevie Ray Vaughn reminds me of an incredibly good night of sex. Nuff said!

6. God Bless America by Lee Greenwood reminds me of July 4th , fighter planes, and how grateful I am to our military for the protection they provide us. It will always make me cry.

7. Van Morrison reminds me of a New Year’s Eve when I saw in him in Vegas. It was one of the most memorable NYE I have ever had.

8. Don’t Stop by Fleetwood Mac unfortunately always reminds me of the Clinton campaign.

9. Turn up the Radio by Autograph reminds me of driving my high school boyfriend’s midnight blue camero. I was fast off the line even then.

10. Have I Waited Too Long and The Highway from Brandon Rhyder remind me of drinking beers in a local dive bar with two of my favorite guy friends. That was a fun night.

11. And anything from the late 70s bring back memories of easier times, playing outdoors all summer, and just being a kid. Here are just a few for memory lane: Good Times by Chic, We are Family by Sister Sledge, Heart of Glass by Blondie, What a Fool Believes by The Doobie Brothers, Short People by Randy Newman.

So, can you imagine your life without a soundtrack?

Loss of a weekend

I’m sick. I hate it when I’m sick. I hate it even more when I’m by myself and sick. I feel no one, regardless of how independent you might be, should be home alone with they are sick. I think we all turn into the 10 year child we once were when we don’t feel our best and want to have soup brought up to us on a tray, and the cool hand of our mother laying over our forehead as she checks our temperature. I’ve been down most of the weekend suffering from a random fever. No other symptoms really – just a low grade fever that makes me dizzy, a little disorientated, gives me the chills, and the worst body aches ever. I’ve been sleeping most of the weekend and my dreams are something from a Lewis Carroll novel. But I think I’m most aggravated in that I lost a weekend both in production and relaxation. I had a host of things I wanted to accomplish this weekend and I don’t think one item was checked off. Ah well – maybe this is the body’s way of saying slow down.

Chill in the air

I think it might finally be winter, or at least fall, in this southern state. I was traveling for several weeks and it moved in while I was away. The trees are now shining in new fall colors, their castaways swirling around my feet when I walk through the park. The house is cold as I refuse to put on the heat and instead bundle up in a variety of layers chosen purely for comfort and warmth instead of style. Hot chocolate is my dessert at night and the down comforter is required instead of just sitting at the end of the bed for show. I appreciate my car seat warmers as I drive into work, keeping off the chill as my sun roof remains open. At night on my return home, as I step out into the street to get the mail, I take a moment to enjoy the smells of the fireplaces warming the homes around me. And - soup becomes a consideration when eating out – where has that craving been during the spring and summer? I love fall in the south…tell me, what do you love about fall?

Once Upon a Time

I wonder if I’ve missed my happily ever after. Do you have just one? Did I scrounge mine away on a man, for over 10 years, took me for granted and stole bits and pieces of my identity until I turned into the woman he wanted me to be. And then I feel resentful for allowing this to happen to me and punish him for it in ways I didn’t even realize. Only to be completely betrayed, in the most humiliating way, with his admission of infidelity? The divorce is many years behind me now and I’m a better woman for it and don’t miss my past life at all. But what I wonder most often is, did I miss my fairy tale ending? I’m a complete closet romantic. You would never know it from the tough and independent exterior. But I do have a soft side, an emotional heart that wishes on shooting stars, and dares to hope, for my slice, at a life of love. So you see, even after this deep hurt, I still believe in my happy ending. I’ve had opportunities at love, but I was scared…scared of loving again, and losing control and letting go and allowing my heart to be at risk. So I kept up the guise of independent, single girl, out for fun and stories and no need for baggage and passed on good men who loved me. I wonder still, maybe even hope, that I wasn’t ready for love then, or they were not my happy ending after all…because I can’t bare the thought of having passed it by.

Star light
Star bright
First star I see tonight
I wish I may
I wish I might
Have the wish I wish tonight.

25 things

Did you know…

1. I love crown molding. Something about how it finishes off the wall.
2. I can’t eat and watch the news. The stories just make me lose my appetite.
3. Although I’m 39, I still feel like I’m about 28 on most days.
4. I’m afraid of lighting my gas fireplace.
5. I can usually fall asleep before the airplane even takes off
6. I’m personally passionate about my photography, yet very few people even know I like taking pictures
7. I often wonder if I don’t have a similar sex drive as a man
8. I have a great phone voice. I could easily be a phone sex operator and sometimes think about doing it full time.
9. I only own black shoes
10. I sometimes think someone is following me and will drive around until they turn off
11. I can be aroused just by music
12. The sound of waves can make any wrong, right.
13. I’m a sucker for a wicked smart man. Smarts trump looks every time. Confidence and smarts, oh my.
14. I want, but have yet to find, a dominant partner
15. I prefer to watch football and tennis on TV and baseball and hockey in person
16. I’m completely independent, self reliant woman, yet will cry at all hopelessly romantic stories.
17. “Georgia on my Mind” by Willie Nelson reminds me of my parents slow dancing in my childhood living room
18. I love the South, the people make up for any shortcomings of the place.
19. I love sex against floor to ceiling windows in hotels
20. My memory is more reliant on smells than any other sense
21. I’m impatient, stubborn, and with high expectations. But I find that I can see something good or beautiful in anyone.
22. A second date is completely dependant on the first kiss.
23. I love to eat Chinese straight from the take out box with chop sticks
24. I don’t like white wine – but love red.
25. If I had the time, I would visit an art museum every day.

Dreams

I pay attention to my dreams. I think they are often the subconscious telling our conscience mind something…or at least hinting to an itch in our psyche. I dream a lot about work and find they remind me of things I have not anticipated or have completely forgotten. I also think they are a way to explore situations we might be too afraid to do in real life yet still wonder about. I think my most recent dream would fall into this last example. A few nights ago, I dreamt about being in bed with two men. It wasn’t an all out sex dream, but more of a moment of intimacy. The two men in the dream are men in my life. One I have a history with and one that I don’t but have been wondering about. The snippet of the dream, before it was so rudely interrupted by the alarm, was really just a snapshot of a moment. We were lying in a big bed in the middle of the afternoon. It was fall, the windows were open, and the cool breeze was blowing through the room, rustling the curtains. In the dream, I see 3 arms all toppled together. Mine, of fair skin, in between two others darker than my own. I was lying on my stomach, my face turned toward the older of the two, and the young man lying between my legs with his face upon my ass. It was innocent, we had our clothes on, but the anticipation swirling around the room was as real as if there was fog shrouding our bodies. I have not been able to get it out of my mind. The details are as fresh now as they were when I woke up. My minds eye photograph of this moment is something that I would want to capture with my camera in real life. The innocence, the possibility, the beauty of love and intimacy. Which, to most, would seem a contradiction between 3 people…and that contradiction, or breaking of the norm, I revel in.

My views of hotels

They are my second home. I love the feeling of anonymity they allow and a sort of “Howard Hughes” safe haven they provide me. I like the views they inspire and the possibilities of voyeurism and exhibitionism they provoke. The neighboring sounds are always distinct and personal. Over the years, I have heard moans, and sighs and pain. I love that they stimulate the ‘dirty girl’ in me and conversely make me want to be swaddled in fresh linen and be waited upon. I like the routine they provide…open blinds to see view, unpack suitcase, put out toiletries, hang up all clothes, check quality of pillows, unpack laptop and power charges for all electronic devices and set wake up calls. I laugh when checking out the attendant asks “What room number” and I have to think, and then really think, so as to not confuse it from the last trip. I am amazed that at times, I can be walking through the lobby and not remember what city I’m in. I enjoy the ease of conversation that can occur between other fellow travelers over cocktails at the lobby bar. I like striking out to find something distinct about the city I’m in, on my own, and with no direction. Whether it be the local tavern, sushi bar or family owned restaurant. I’ve tasted about 100 club sandwiches at 2 in the morning after a long night of drinking; I have consumed many $8.00 mini bar beers and have even dared eating the infamous $10 bag of cashews. As hotels are constantly vying for business, I am a loyal follower to the following:

- Please have an open plug next to the bed for my phone, because when I’m on the road, time zones don’t exist.
- Please have an open power source by the desk and an easy way to access the internet from my room. And, better yet, have internet access be free.
- Offer room service 24 hours 7 days a week. My schedule doesn’t revolve around yours. I actually sometimes work until well after midnight and haven’t eaten since breakfast.
- Give me enough hangers to actually use for a week’s worth of clothes. I don’t care if they are the ’little head hangers’, just give me enough
- Always have an iron and ironing board in the room
- Give me actual glass drinking glasses. If they are plastic cups in plastic sleeves, forgetaboutit. Besides, when I put my toothbrush in one, the plastic cups tip over.
- Provide me with a choice of pillows. Feather and other – I will find one out of 6 that will suit me.
- Give me something special about my stay. For example at the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Toronto, they provide all things Zen. Mats for meditation, choices of incense, soothing in room water fountains, and inspiration stones left on your pillow during turn down service.
- Have a spa. If there is a spa on site, you are likely to get my business. And, if you are open past 7pm, you are really likely to get my business.
- And finally, and maybe most importantly, give me a view. This might be the only time I see beyond hard walls the whole time I’m in your city. I will be grateful for it while I’m there and will remember when I leave.

It’s funny, my friends see my job as glamorous, in that I travel all over the world, and I’m in some new city every month. But I envy them and the ability to stay home, and not pull out the suitcase, and be able to have pets, keep plants alive, take night classes, and have weekends home for family, friends or just themselves.

Be True

His smile and this song make me…smile.

True to Myself – Ziggy Marley

life has come a long way since yesterday I say
and its not the same old thing over again I say
just do what you feel and don't you fool yourself I say
cause I can't make you happy unless I am I say I say I

got to be true to myself got to be true to myself

day in day out I've asked many questions I say
only to find the truth it never changes I say
if you don't deal with it it keeps killing you a little by little I say
call me selfish if you will my life I alone can live I say I say I

got to be true to myself got to be true to myself

I don't care if it hurts I'm tired of lies and all these games
I've reached a point in life no longer can I be this way
don't come crying to me I too have shed my share of tears
I'm moving on yes I'm grooving on well I'm finally free I've

got to be true to myself got to be true to myself
got to be true to myself got to be true to myself

Pairings

What is about the buttery softness of parmigiano reggiano that couples so beautifully with a big, robust red wine?