“What do I do up here all day?” was the question I was posed by our Dr. Phil; my step-father-in-law. Well besides not having cats - and cat poop - to deal with, it is pretty much the same… NOT. See my Borat tribute there? =)

Dean works from 10am to 10pm Monday through Thursday, and 10-7 on Friday, so I am left with a lot of free time. Since it is two hours earlier here than in Texas, I get up no later than 9am. I usually start the day by checking the interwebs and perusing the TV for an hour or so (my equivalent to coffee) and then decide what I will do as my “thing” for the day.

I always have lunch with Dean, so at 12, I get dressed and head out of the door at 12:30 to get there by 1. Even though his work is only 5 miles away, there are A LOT of red lights. I think just about every block has one, and plus you are not only sharing the road with cars, but MANY bikes and pedestrians!

Most days we walk the strip by his work and find a place there. In about a 2 mile radius, there must be over 100 places to grub, so we get something new everyday. And we noticed the other day that there are NO big chain restaurants; most of them are mom and pop joints or local small chains.

After lunch, I head back and usually do some “homemaker” chore or another, and then dress for my choice activity of the day. Thus far there have been three: beach, pool, or walking. Well walking is every day (we walk more than drive), but some days I just go for a stroll lasting hours through the neighborhoods to see the houses and plants.

[At this time during my writing we had black-out for 20 min, so I left and took a shower in the glow of our gas fireplace.]

I must say that I never knew there were so many varieties of trees and plants! I just wish I could call it “shopping” and pull my handy shrink ray out and zap them to take them home. I also love looking at the houses, and I must say, I am compiling a pretty long list of ideas for our house!

When I am not out walking, one of my other activities is going to the beach or pool to tan and read. It really depends on the weather which I do because there is this thing here called the “June Gloom”, which is some type of fog that rolls in from the sea, but it higher than usual fog. It hangs out about 10 stories up blocking some of the sun and all of the view. It makes for a cold day (in the 60s).

On those days I go to the pool. If you get into an area where there is not any wind (and there is A LOT here) then even the smallest amount of sun will warm you up nicely. Our pool is in the center of a dozen or so 3 story buildings ;-)

I am usually out for 4-5 hours before I come back to the apartment where I shower and chill on the couch. This is the part of the day where the bed calls to me with its soft, downy embrace. About half the time I give in, but doing so means I do not get to go to bed with Dean.

[Another black-out just happened; as far as I know this is not a usual occurrence. I will turn the fireplace on so I can see more than just the glow of the currently battery-powered laptop!]

[It is now the next day; the power was out for an hour last night, so I read my book by firelight. I will now complete the post.]

It is getting warmer here, so I have been to the beach more and I must say I love the sounds of the large waves crashing on the beach! I have many pictures, but I cannot seem to find the cord that connects my camera to my computer. I think I might have left it at home, but I will get it next time I am down (the 26th).

I actually do a fair amount of work while I am up here too. I talk with my company and contact leads (people who call corporate and request a party) for parties. Just today I have received 5 leads and booked 2 parties. The other 3 did not answer their phones. As soon as I set up a party, I contact Terminal Reality and let them know the dates I need to fly. We get 4 round trip flights a month, but since Dean does not need to come down, I can use all 4 of them.

Speaking of flying, we get to keep all of the frequent flier miles we rack up, and I will be using some of them to get Molly, Holli, and Jeff up here in August. I am so excited because Holli has never seen the ocean - not even crappy Galveston - and Molly wants to go to all the designer resale stores!

Back to the typical day..

In the evening, say 7:30-ish I usually get some dinner. Lately it has been groceries we have here; one can actually get tired of eating out! Then I watch some TV and wait for Dean to get home about 10:30. At 11, we watch Daily Show and Colbert and then go to bed.

The schedule stays the same everyday except weekends. It makes it very easy because I do not have to think about what to do next!

And speaking of that, it is 12:20, so time for me to get dressed and go get Dean for lunch!

XOXO Kaston