2011/05/28

Mandatory Viewing – Coming Home

DaGoddess @ 13:44

Coming Home should be watched by everyone. Several episodes are available on as well as on Hulu.

Have tissues at the ready.

2011/05/27

Musical Interlude

DaGoddess @ 22:34

Just thought I’d share this link with you: Gallagher’s Notes From San Francisco…with the full track “Rue the Day” for your listening pleasure. Go forth and listen. It’s too good to pass up!

Memorial Weekend – Memory Lane

DaGoddess @ 22:05

I was thinking about once again not being back in San Diego with LD, doing our regular Memorial Weekend thing. This is the second year we’re not participating in the dressing of graves out at Ft. Rosecrans and it sits heavy on my heart.

Going through my archives, I found the from 2008 and it gave me pause. I was struck by the conversation I had graveside with a total stranger and how we were able to just start talking; how we both felt an overwhelming sense of needing to be there. It’s hard to be here instead of there and not be doing…something. So, since last year, I’ve found a place where I can go to honor America’s military. I’ll be heading down to Boulder City. I hope you are also able to take a moment to pay your respects to those who have and who do serve in our military, including their families.

Have a very safe Memorial weekend and feel free to share your stories in comments or with a link to your post. And if you happen to run across a veteran, please give thanks and/or a hug or handshake. I guarantee you’ll make someone’s day.

2011/05/23

Felicitations and Solicitations

DaGoddess @ 05:02

I started yesterday afternoon with a call from a dear friend announcing her engagement. I whooped it up on the phone with her for a while and couldn’t have been happier for her! Both she and her beloved are deserving of all the happiness they’ve worked so hard to bring into their lives.

Later, I watched a friend perform in a play. Wonderful performance and the audience was quite receptive. Both kids and adults alike were sufficiently awed by the costumes and songs and the story (about a girl, a witch, a dog, a tornado, and some ragtag friends the girl meets along the way). It was truly delightful. And I realized as I watched, I miss the theater. I miss plays.

Later later, I sat and waited for my favorite show on the Strip to begin and noticed a security guard walk past me, turn to look at me (I smiled at him and went back to reading my news on my cellphone), and then walk away. He came back about ten or fifteen minutes later and struck up a conversation with me. At first he complimented me on my smile and how it had brightened his day, to which I replied his kind words had brightened mine. Then we began talking about his job, etc. He asked what I did for a living. I said photography. He asked where I live. I replied, “Las Vegas”. Blah blah blah…he finally left. I thought it was a bit odd, but figured it was just one of those random things that happen in life: someone just saying something nice to you and that being that. Only later later later, as I was talking with my friend the guitarist, was it posed that perhaps the security guy was doing a soft interrogation to see if I was a hooker.

Hello? WHAT? Who? ME? Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! Damn, that cracked me up. At most, I thought I was being mildly flirted with. Never even dawned on me that it could be something like that. I mean, I was sitting there, not exactly dressed up, looking slightly disheveled from being out in the wind at the play and kind of sweaty. A hooker? ME? That’s too much.

But it’s Vegas and anyone can be anything here. That still makes me laugh, though.

Oy vey. What a silly day.

Here’s something that isn’t silly. Okay, it’s kind of silly in that someone has their all chapped over something that is a positive thing and has turned it into a major news story. I don’t understand how anyone can take doing something good for others and turn it into something bad, but there’s always one in every bunch, it seems.

Go forth and read. And no comments unless you’re really just flirting with me and not trying to see if I have any ulterior motives for sitting here all by my lonesome, tip tapping my keys at you.

2011/05/21

Fingers Crossed, Please!

DaGoddess @ 09:53

Portfolio currently under review.

Please keep your fingers crossed for me. Say a prayer. Sacrifice a chicken (even one from KFC). Anything. Everything. Please! I want this job!

2011/05/20

Big Love To You

DaGoddess @ 01:45

Thank you all for the sweet comments and birthday wishes. Obviously, I’ve been a bit busy celebrating. I’ve been making the most of my birthday week, er, month, um…however long this lasts.

Highlights:

1) Comments from all of you!
2) Calls from family and friends
3) High school friends showing up in town
4) Smokey Freakin’ Robinson. You read that right. Oh yeah. Mama’s happy.
5) Being tired. Means I’m alive and havin’ some fun.
6) Dancing with friends who let me lead (because I’m a horrible follower without practice)
7) Getting groped by a stranger in a bar…at age 45, that’s kind of a cool thing, even if the woman was drunk as hell. For whatever reason, she decided she liked me. I just kept trying to eat my cake, nodding, and pleading silently for one of my friends to help me out. Men. So predictable. They did nothing.

Off to bed early for a change.

Big hugs all around!

2011/05/16

9 Years Later

DaGoddess @ 03:20

I thought I was coming to terms with the fact that I will be 45 on Wednesday, but apparently I was wrong. I mostly don’t feel like I could even be anywhere near that age. I am, though. And I got here because I’m lucky enough to have wonderful friends and family who have kept me from falling apart.

Then there was the sudden realization that today marks my 9th year of blogging. Wow! Doesn’t even seem possible. And yet, nine years ago I started the first incarnation (technically it was the second incarnation since Hometown AOL sucked big donkey hoohas and was too complicated to update on a regular basis) of this blog…first, because of Zach Galifianakis, then because life was complicated, because I needed a creative outlet, and because…well, just because.

Within a month I had a bunch of new friends and doors I hadn’t even noticed were suddenly opening for me. I joined Meetup to get together with other bloggers from San Diego. I went traipsing across the country for a vacation with a bronzed God of a Tall Dog. I met a woman who was very writerly and definitely not wanting to go down the mommy path who has now become one of the best mommy bloggers on the planet and is STILL a marvelous writer. I got involved in my community because of blogging. I became very vocal and more adamant about supporting our military. I got to write about the thrills and challenges of motherhood, came to better understand the depth of my love for my children in the process, and shared my joys and sorrows of mothering with people who also understood that particular journey. I got to regularly engage in dialogue with other people who had big ideas and who weren’t content with just sitting around doing nothing. I discovered I held the key to the chains that had bound me to the unhappiness in my life and I had people cheering me on as I set myself free.

I wrote and wrote and wrote, hoping that more answers would come my way. Surely, enough readers would come by and help me figure out all of life’s mysteries. Eh, well, that didn’t happen. Exactly. Yes, I did get answers, but I got a lot more questions, too. I stopped looking for answers and embraced the unknown, allowing the kind and loving encouragement from my blog friends to get me through the times when I was uncertain.

There have been a lot of changes to my life in the last nine years. The biggest, of course, was when I got hurt six and a half years ago. I was so lost and unsure about the future and damn if y’all didn’t come through again and help me through that. Not just financially, but emotionally. You kept my spirits up. You made me be strong when I just wanted to curl up and check out. You reminded me there was more to come…that there were still adventures awaiting me. And you were right.

When the time came for me to make my big move, once again, there you were. Keeping me focused on the reason I needed to move, the reason I had to leave my family behind. And you’ve kept me from losing my mind (kind of) when homesickness kicks into high gear.

I wish I could thank each and every person who has touched my life through this blog and from beyond, but it’s a very long list and there are many names I’m sorry to say I’ve forgotten over the years (the blogosphere isn’t exactly known for consistency and permanence). But please keep in mind: if you’re reading this, chances are you are one of the people whose name is on that imaginary list. And maybe just say hi in the comments and remind me so that I can actually create a real list. Hell, if I’d had any idea that I’d still be blogging after all this time, I would have kept better track of names and URLs and oh so much more!

Just so you know, within the last two months, I’ve been fortunate enough to renew a few of my early blog years’ friendships and it’s been wonderful! Catching up on kids and families and the funny turns our lives have taken is an amazing gift. And that’s why I’m glad my blogiversary and birthday are just two days apart — I get to celebrate friendships and this journey I thought I was on all alone, but instead have been fortunate enough to have you as companions.

If I could have just one birthday/blogiversary wish, I’d wish to bring all of us together for one day, for one big party. I’d want to hug each of you and thank you for all the love and laughter, ideas and dreams, thought and concern you’ve brought into my life. You’ve given me so much, some of which isn’t exactly tangible. It’s been an incredible journey and I look forward to wherever we end up in the next year…and the one after that…and the one after that one…etc.

Thank you for being here and for helping me retain whatever little grasp I still might have on reality.

This is a very sincere and profound thank you for nine years of friendship that has made my life much more interesting and exciting. I love you all!

my tree

silly clouds

2011/05/08

More Orange

DaGoddess @ 17:41

Happy Mother’s Day!

DaGoddess @ 04:53

Mother's Day

And a now for a song that’s one of my mom’s favorites; she always liked this song because it reminded her of her father and later of my daughter. It’s a now one of our things.

To all those who make dinner, soothe fevered brows, scrub stains from special shirts, tell stories, give hugs and kisses just for the heck of it, and who provide milk and cookies after school (and to those who don’t do thsoe particular things but who love their kids with all their heart), Happy Mother’s Day!

2011/05/03

Oh, Joy!

DaGoddess @ 16:40

It’s been difficult trying to post without internet. And my adventures in trying to get internet? Epic. Truly.

But that’s nothing compared to my latest epidural, which was last Thursday. I got a call earlier in the week for a last minute appointment and I took it. It’s been…not good. I had prolonged bleeding at the injection site. Fever. Then a lump, which was a beautiful hematoma (and some clots) that they drained today (OMFGTHBB!), sleeplessness, did I mention fever? And the bleeding? And the irritability?

I tried to get out of the house a couple times and I paid for it. The rules state it’ll take a week to feel better and I guess I have to play by the rules. I always play by the rules. I was bored! And I wanted to go hear some music, live and in person! I got great photos, but I’m still paying for my outings in more ways than one. I’ve learned. Oh, how I’ve learned.

Still working on a lot of different things. I have more going on than you can shake a stick at, but everything takes a long time to become fully fleshed out.

Had a shoot with a military family last week and tried to get photos out before my epi. Didn’t happen, though I’m working on them in fits and spurts as my back allows. Beautiful family. Kids were adorable. I’d bought these little wooden pull toys and even though it was windy and unexpectedly chilly, once the kids had the toys, they were happy.

As much as I like working with musicians, nothing beats working with kids. I like the magic they bring. Yeah, same can be said for the artists I’ve had the privilege of working with, but KIDS! You know how they shine and how they see the world as full of wondrous things. I like that.

Have much to finish up here at Starbucks so I can get home, get some ice on my tailbone, and maybe sleep. As God is my witness, I fully intend to be better by Thursday. I got stuff to do!

BTW, if the Gentleman Caller From Hell still reads: I thought of you when the news of Osama came in. You and I became friends the day they got Saddam. I couldn’t help but see the connection and…I hope you’re doing very well. You are missed!