So Cal Story - Travelin' Thru

"I can't tell you where I'm goin
I'm not sure of where I've been
But I know I must keep travelin
'till my road comes to an end
I'm out here on my journey
tryin to make the most of it
I'm a puzzle I must figure out
where all my pieces fit..."

"Travelin' Thru" - Dolly Parton

So yeah, it's been a while and no, I don't have a good excuse - I have just been living and working. A few weeks ago I was checking out iTunes and I came across the song by Dolly Parton called "Travelin' Thru" from the movie "Transamerica" that was nominated for an Academy Award. I haven't seen the movie, but it is high on my list because I love Felicity and a woman playing a man wanting to become a woman seems interesting to me. Recently we got DVR and I have been recording Ellen daily - on Saturday's when he's with me Andrew & I lay in bed and get caught up. Dolly was on Ellen's show one day and performed the song live - I was so disappointed it didn't win the Oscar. Sure, I saw "Hustle & Flow" and that song was good, but Dolly was robbed - her simple song about trying to find your way through life was way better than the rap song about a pimp. Now I am all about the pimps & ho's, but even I can see that the Academy got it all wrong (and don't EVEN get me started about "Crash" winning Best Picture - that movie annoyed the Hell out of me). So I decided that this story would be about journey's.

I'll start with some traveling I've done lately. It seems as if I have been going places lately. As you know in January I went to Vegas for the Miss America pageant. I went to San Luis Obispo in February for a weekend to visit Allan's parents. I so love it there - if I could live anywhere it would be there or the Bay area. We went to the beach to see the sea lions and basically just hung out. One of my favorite things to do with Allan is road trips - we bring stuff to read to each other and basically just talk and listen to music. We stopped in Santa Barbara and had lunch at this Italian deli he has been going to with his family for years and it was awesome. We brought our dogs on that trip and they seem to like it too. I also went to San Francisco in February as well. I had received a gift certificate for Southwest airlines for X-mas and I decided to take a weekend and visit a few of my favorite people in the world in my favorite city in the world. Unfortunately my "Hoochie Mama" was sick, but I did get to spend some time with my girlfriends Jane & Dawn and also my friend and one-time roommate Drew. I was there for 2 days and made the most of it. After arriving on Friday I shopped at the Old Navy & Gap flagship stores, had lunch with Drew and my sister Gina and heard all about his trek through Annapurna - it sounded like the adventure of a lifetime and only made me think my friend is even more amazing than I already knew - he truly is one of the the most amazing people I know. Saturday I went to brunch with Jane & Dawn and it was another wonderful experience. Even though I haven't seen either of them in quite some time I immediately felt just like I used to when I would see them every day. We ate good food, had great conversation (I will never look at Tiffany jewelry the same way again now that I know what women do to get it :-p ), and had awesome bloody Mary's - it was a great way to spend a spectacular Saturday afternoon. I also spent time with my sister that lives in the Bay area and we had a good visit as well - we shopped for her wedding dress and shoes and it was a lot of fun. This past weekend Allan, Justin & I went to visit Allan's brother up in the high desert area. We only stayed for a few hours but it was a beautiful drive as it was snowing for part of it and it's been FOREVER since I have been in a snow storm.

In April I am going to go to the Bay area again to pick my kids up from visiting my mom (it's their spring break) and we are going to a Giants game. Hopefully I will be able to meet up with Renttecha and hear all about her travels through Australia and New Zealand (and sorry to disappoint - she was traveling with her man so there may not be any exciting sex stories to share, but knowing her there probably will be at least 5). In May I will be going to Tahoe for my sisters wedding and in June I will be going back to the Bay area to celebrate my 40th birthday (shudder to think) and watch my friend Dawn dance in her burlesque debut! It's been a lot of fun and I am sure the future trips will be great too.

I've also been on some emotional journey's lately too. I told the story of my uncle before and there has been some stuff going on with him lately. He apparently overdosed on pain medications (whether or not it was intentional depends on who you ask) and was hospitalized recently. It has been very difficult on my Grandmother as she lives with him and I have felt really bad for her. It must be difficult to watch your child go through something like this and even though I think he is a worthless piece of shit he is still her child. I hope that she is able to find some sort of peace but something tells me that as long as he is living there wont be any. What was interesting for me was that as soon as I heard he was doing bad and was in the hospital I felt this huge sense of relief. He has threatened to kill me and while I know logically that it probably wont happen it has always been in the back of my mind. When he dies the threat will die with him (at least to me) so I am actually looking forward to it. Sorry if that sounds morbid or bad, but it's how I feel. I FINALLY filed my divorce papers in February and am just waiting to get the final paperwork back with the judges signature on it so that I can close that chapter of my life as well. And while my Dad is still sick, he seems to be doing as good as can be expected - I went to lunch with him when I was visiting my sister in February and he looked really good. I am hoping that he will make it another couple years and that he will be able to get to know my kids better - I think they would like that too. Otherwise, things are plugging along. Allan & I are doing well, the boys are doing better in school, the dogs are spoiled rotten, and I am still hating my job. Oh well, you can't have everything - right? I hope you are all well and I will be posting photos from some of my recent trips on my blog - be sure to check them out.