Domestic?

I have been feeling quite domestic lately. I said this to Corbett earlier and he just laughed at me. My mom is out of town for teacher conferences and has left me in charge to man the fort. It is only 3:10 today and already I have taken Liam to school, had my car serviced (hoorah for operational windshield wipers), and picked up Emily from Episcopal. I am sitting at her orthodontist office waiting for her right now and people watching.

In the next few days I will be packing lunches, carpooling, watching basketball practices, cleaning, doing dishes and leading sleepovers. This will be entertaining. My mom thinks that Liam and I hate each other, but we are actually quite civil when left alone. Whenever I watch him or we do something together we get along great and we actually have interesting conversations. Well, as interesting as it can be with a nine year old. On the other hand, when we are with my mom we bicker and argue, leading our mother to believe we hate each other. I think that in actuality it's just a problem of age difference. I was raised as an only child and even after nine years I have not been able to adjust to sharing my mother. And he is basically an only child eight months out of the year, which leads to us competing for attention when I am home. It makes me feel like I am also nine years old, but it is not intentional. It's just how we are.

So the next few days should be fun, spending a good amount of time with Liam. I am saying this after only 8 hours of being temporary head of the house. We will see how I feel on Saturday.

Lack O'Blogging

So I am sitting in the Five Points Theater right now, seeing Sherlock Holmes for the third time and i feel like any second now Rob is going to slap me upside the head and tell me to pay attention or to drink my beer. When the beer next to me is horrid and I'd like to pretend it's not sitting there. This post is going to have a slew of typos as I am sitting in the theater and typing fast and barely looking at the keyboard.

Anyways, since I last posted I have come home and been home for about a week. My drive home was horrid. I left on Friday right after an exam instead of leaving Saturday and staying at Britt's for a night or so. I ended up driving through my blizzard on my way to South Carolina. Driving through it was a horrible idea. I wish I would be exaggerating when I say that I am shocked I made it alive. First, there was the weather. Snow and ice everywhere, and all of the cars. It was a nightmare. Second, I hadn't slept on three days. I was not only falling asleep at the wheel, but hallucinating. I spent a good twenty miles convinced the car in front of me was Frankenstein running away from me.

I got home last Saturday and just slept, I think. I can't really remember what I did in the next dew days besides Christmas shopping out the wazoo.

Jenn came home on Wednesday I think and that night we went to Square One, where I think I met my future husband. Although I didn't get his name or anything. He was an art dealer and an iPhone app developer. So he said. Jenn and I had a jolly time at Square One and hung out for a while after.

Thursday was Christmas Eve. I went to my dads and met Kathleen's entire family. My new step sister is like 40. The whole night was horrible. No one would talk to me. Every time I got settled in a room everyone would leave. My step sister's husband was a dick. And I got the ugliest Christmas gifts ever. My dad and Kathleen got everyone PJs to wear for Christmas and mine were hot pink with frogs. Seriously?! My dad and uncle Tim got blue plaid PJs. I want those. It was nice to have Tim and Peg there, since I haven't seen them in about eight years. Tim is hilarious and we have the same sense of humor so we get along well. It was fun to see him interact with the new family because they didn't know how to react to anything he would say. And he's always drunk, in a non-alcoholic way, so that's a plus.

Christmas day was very good, after I left my dads and got home. I got lots of clothes and books and gift arcs for Saks, Neiman Marcus, and Bloomingdales worth $1500 so I can do some damage with those. That night Corbett and I went to see Sherlock Holmes, my first time. It was amazing. And now, watching it for the third time, it's still amazing.

The day after Christmas we thought it would be a good idea to go shopping at the town center, and we were wrong. It was swamped. Worse than black Friday. I saw a bunch of people from EHS and just ran off and avoided talking to any of them, aside from Kristin Otterson.

That night Jenn and I went to Kickbacks and the old man that's always there came over and gave us out menus and it was hilarious and adorable. After Kickbacks we got ready to go to TSI, then went to Adams for a bit. We hung out around TSI, I peed in a alley behind a dumpster then we went inside. This was Saturday and it was dead. We were in the front dancing for a bit when Jenn got on stage to explore and found an ice cold, unopened 20oz PBR. Naturally I slipped it under my super stylish sweatshirt I was wearing an boogied off and we drank it in the bathroom. Good god I can't wait until I'm 21. We left TSI and went to the Casbah with Corbett for a bit, then to Shanty Town where not much was going on since it was about these in the morning.

Last night Jenn and I had dinner at Kickbacks where we saw MC and ge bought us dinner. Our dear Ron Burgundy rubbed my back lovingly while taking our orders, making me feel loved and safe with his adorable father-like presence. After we left Kickbacks we rode our bikes around Riverside and saw Sherlock Holmes. After getting coffee and bile lights and sitting at Starbucks for a while we went back to Kickbacks for dessert, then home.

Today I just ran errands, and had dinner with Rob at the Loop. Then we went to O'Brothers for some drinks before coming to the theater.

Time to actually watch the movie and drink this heinous beer. Woo.

Friday, November 27 - Black Friday

I spent Black Friday siting on my couch, in my PJs, with my mom, watching real Housewives of New Jersey. Horribly lazy day, but it was nice. Marsha and Granny brought us left overs for lunch. Yum.

I went to Lillian's with Jarrett tonight. Every time I see him he is different. He is all muscle now, its crazy. He and Heather have been together for almost 6 months, and that is the longest I have ever known him to be in a relationship. My little youngin Jayriot is growing up.

I asked him how is THanksgiving was ans he said it was horrible. I pointed out it couldn't have been worse than Thanksgiving two years ago, when he spent Thanksgiving in jail... Apparently he would have traded going to jail for a day again than relive yesterday. Lots of family drama there. Family drama was all over today. Talked to Corbett when I woke up. Apparently his parents were fighting first thing this morning. No good.

I went from Lillians to Kickbacks with Emma and John. Emma was having some horrible back pain so we left and I went to get her some heating pads from Walgreens. We hung out at John's for a bit until se felt better and I came home.

David Horvitz had a new tumblr post, to make a video of yourself sitting with your eyes closed for 1:22. I did it, uploaded it, took a shower, and when I came back, he had made a video himself and posted it as a video response to my own video. I am thrilled. My video posted at KateListens and I will post his as well tomorrow.

Sleepysleepysleepy Kate. Possibly seeing Kevin tomorrow. Hopefully.

Thursday, November 26 - Thanksgiving, Pearl

This morning Liam and I woke up early and went to go pick up our mom from Mandarin, where she ran a half marathon with Traci and Josie. We didn't get to watch her finish, but it was packed. I wouldn't think there would be so many people willing to wake up at the crack of dawn on Thanksgiving to run 13 miles.

we went over to Marsha's house and spent the day cooking and entertaining. Met some family members I didn't know about as well. One was named Lenny, and he reminded me of Lennie from Of Mice and Men. I won him over by showing him how to proberly open a handle of scotch.

After we ate I went to lay down for a few minutes, and woke up about 4 hours later and everyone was gone. Eeeh.

Corbett and AJ and I went to the Pearl tonight. I have never gone without Jenn, and it was weird but nice to just go with a bunch of guys. It was more laid back and I was able to just hang out and people watch. Going to an all girls school I have forgotten how nice it is to just be with guys. There were a bunch of random people there, including Jaclynn (joy).

After we left the Pearl we went to WaHo for some late night/early morning hashbrowns. That was possible the high light of my Thanksgiving, food-wise. We dropped off AJ then went to Target to scope out the Black Friday lines. It was about 3 and already there were a bunch of people sitting outside.

Day 85 - Mall, Ugly Truth

This morning we woke up and my mom had laid out breakfast for us. Cereal and fruit and whatnot. Yummy. Then we got dressed and headed to the town center. Ashley unfortunately has no Anthropologie in Virginia Beach so we spent quite some time there. And Urban. Of course. We met up with my mom, Granny, and Marsha and had dinner at Maggiano’s. Then back to Anthropologie. Of course.

Tonight we saw the movie The Ugly Truth. It was just one of those movies that made me hate my life. But it was really good.

Day 79 - Chamblins, Town Center, Kickbacks

This morning I got a hair cut. The End.

Then after being incapacitated by the worst back pain known to man for a few hours, I went to Chamblins. I love going there. I sat in the art history section for almost two hours, reading the I Ching. Perfection.

I met up with my mom, Liam, Granny and Marsha at the town center and we went to dinner at Mitchells. I went back to Urban and I may or may not have bought even more clothing. Hint: I did.

I went to Kickbacks tonight with Emma, Corbett and John. I have hung out with John only a few times but tonight I finally felt like he was opening up a bit, and I am glad that he was. Emma was always saying hes a really funny guy... but I just didn't see it.

We hung out there for a few hours then I came home and kept reading.

Day 78 - Kennedy Space Center

Today my mom and Liam and I took a day trip to go to Kennedy Space Center. That was exciting, actually. I dont think I have been there since elementary school. There was a rocket garden, with all of these ginormous rockets that were blasted into space, and we got to meet some astronauts and go on a flight simulation ride. Overall it was a very good day.

I watched Knowing tonight and it was amazing. Kind of. Okay not really. Some bits were really good but the ending was the dumbest thing ever.

Day 75 - Loop x2, Emma, IanBrannon, Milby

I babysat Liam all day again today. Awesome.... We met up with Ian and Brannon at the Loop for lunch. I haven't seen them in a long time, especially Brannon. Ever since she left for school in England she has rarely been home. That was nice to catch up with them and spend time together like we used to.

Liam and I hung out this afternoon, and we did a lot of cleaning. After everything I did today my room looks so different. I took down all of the Happening stuff I had on my walls, and everything on the back of my door. My room still looks like it belongs to a gender confused 10 year old, but I am working on that.

This evening my mom, Liam and I went over to Christy Milby's house for dinner. I have barely seen her since she and Brian moved from Churchwell years and years ago. Now she has teo adorable children. Skylar is 5 I suppose, and Hayden is about 3. Hayden is one of the most adorable children I have ever encountered. Along with Mary, I am going to steal them. He helped me make waffles, and I tried to teach him how to juggle. We had a delicious dinner of homemade waffles, bacon, and fruit. That is my third night in a row having breakfast for dinner. I am alright with this.

Tonight I went with Emma to the Loop and just sat with her while she ate. Then we came back to my house and sat around. Well, she sat around and I kept cleaning. My room is crazy different....

Colton's Words of Wisdom of the day: "Well Kate, you see sometimes you just have to push through that sleepiness so that you can hang out and have an awesome time."

Day 71 - St. Augustine

This morning I woke up far too early after going to the Pearl, and my mom and Liam and I went to St. Augustine. We went to Ripley's first, but I went there last summer. Corbett said it best: "Yeah that's a place you can only handle once a decade." I agree. I hate it there, especially since once you walk in, and you go to read the very first placard, there are so many typos. It frustrates me. Thank god Liam can be a little wuss sometimes, since we only made it half way through Ripley's when he got spooked and we had to just walk through the rest of it. Score.

From there we went to the Lightner museum. At first I thought it would be a fun place to bring Ashley when she comes down to visit, but I don't thank I am going to take her there, since that involves me having to go back. It was terribly boring. From there we had lunch at the Columbia, and got some delicious Kilwins sorbet. We tried to get over to the lighthouse before it closed, but by the time we got there the weather was too bad and they had shut it down. So no lighthouse today.

I got home and took another terrible nap, then Jenn and I went to get dinner. Of course our first choice was Kickbacks, but it was 10:00 on a Friday night and it was ridiculous. When we walked in we saw Rob and Clay, but didn't talk to them and tried to find a table. No such luck. So we ended up at Sonic, listening to the Grease Soundtrack, and me wearing my Mitchell Davis glasses. Seriously, I cannot take them off. Especially in public. I look so stupid, but that's the best part. Jenn leaves tomorrow for Colorado. Bestfriendless until the first. Ugh.

Day 31 - Mom, Liam, Loop, MOSH, I Love Jacksonville

Today was a very good day I slept in, then Mommy, Liam and I went to the Loop for lunch and MOSH. I haven’t been to MOSH in years, I think one of the last time I was there was my first date with James Poindexter in 9th grade. There were the same exhibits, like the whales and the Living Room, JEA, and the Dino skeleton, this time the main exhibit was one I remember seeing a few years back when I was babysitting Carlton and Colter. Okay well maybe that was one of the last times I went, not in 9th grade. Whatever. It was all animatronic dinosaurs, and the planetarium show was the history of the dinosaurs. After we left MOSH we walked around Friendship Fountain, and it was breathtaking. It was such a pretty day. Then I went to the Treaty Oak, which somehow I have never seen before.









I don't know why those are sort of blurry.

Now I am in the airport in Jacksonville, getting ready to fly back to Fort Lauderdale for another wonderful week of work. Whoo.

Day 22 - Shopping, Charlie Bartlett

My mom and I finished shopping for work clothes today. Well, we tried to. We went to the town center and braved the rain and got a few more things. I just have no shoes. I have plenty of sandals, just no flats or anything. But I cant wear flats because my feet are so messed up. So I need to figure out all of that. I went to Express today, and I usually just ignore that the store even exists. But today we went in just to look, and we had possibly the most annoying sales girl ever. I kept telling her I was looking for clothes for a job in a business setting, and she kept pulling out the sluttiest clothes. And her voice… oh my god it hurt to listen to her. Granted, she was very sweet, but it was really annoying.

I went by the gallery today and picked up my very first commission check. $75. Whoo. Not very much, but it is still exciting to be paid for something I love to do. I worked on packing and everything tonight, since I leave on Sunday afternoon. I already have a flight home for next weekend. Thank god. I am excited to start work, but I am not ready to leave Jacksonville. I feel like my summer will be over.

Tonight Rob and I took part in National Doughnut day by going to Krispy Kreme, as always. We weather tonight was amazing. We drove with the windows down and good music playing. The moon was reflecting perfectly on the river. We sat on Robs back porch, listened to music, wrote in The Book and chucked it back and forth. I began the ngiht with it, and somehow I ended the night with it till in my possession. Not sure how the happened. We came back to my house and watched Charlie Bartlett, and I am still watching it. He has work super in the morning and bailed on me for the rest of it and High School throwback time with some Guitar Hero.

Tomorrow is going to be jam packed with packing and riding bikes to the art market and what not. Last full day at home.

(407): in the event that i am dead, my body is laying in the intersection of ... the pearl in springfield. it was my friend's 21st but i think i'm dead. wearing a black top. like i said, probably dead.

Day 17 - Bikes, Kickbacks, Colton, Jenn

Last night right after I posted Jenn came over and we hung out for a while and figured out who some people in her phonebook are. That was great fun. This morning my mom and I rode our bikes to the Brick for breakfast, and we sat next to the weird group of people. This girl was wearing a red beret with a bill on it, a white shirt with some sort of image on it with rhinestones, and a red short skirt. It was not very Ortega-ish, to say he least. And they were talking and I was listening of course, and she was saying how recently he got really drunk “at this place downtown. Like TSI? TIS? I don’t know.” She was talking about different forms of transportation when you are drunk, and how when she is drunk, she gets a tow tuck to take her and her car home, and its free. The guys that she was with were both like, “No I don’t think they do that” and she was dead set on it. It was hilarious. And then one of the guys kept saying how he knows one of the guys in Lynyrd Skynyrd and how “Lynryd comes into the store all the time.” No one’s name in that band is actually Lynryd, first off. Yet again they were like, “No, I don’t think you’re right.” It was funny to hear each person at the table do the same thing.

After a nap and a Target run, my mom and Jenn and I went to Timiquana and laid out for a bit. Jenn and I were swimming at one point and talking about apparently strippers at the Dollhouse make around $1000 a night. I don’t think that’s right, and I said, “Well its only $5 for them to get naked.” And Jenn said “Also its like $30 for a 3 minute lap dance.” And then we remembered that we were surrounded by children and there was this mother right next to us and it was very awkward. We just… swam away…

Tonight Jenn and I went to Kickbacks with Colton and Ben. That was fun, since I haven’t hung out with Colton in a really long time. It was nice to catch up and everything. I forgot how hilarious Colton can be. After Kickbacks we were sitting at their house, and it was 11:11 and everyone was like “make a wish!” None of us did, then Ben made us say what we would wish for if we wished on 11:11. Jenn and I both chose not to answer, since our wishes are probably similar. And Colton was like, “I just wish I could always be doing something sweet.” Which is such a Colton thing to say. He went on and described what his perfect life would be, where even flying wouldn’t top the sweetness of his day to day life. After he finished, both Jenn and I wished we had written it down. It was amazing.



I silently stressed about something for the past 2 days, and I think everything was resolved tonight, which I am excited about. Oh and I bought more wine. Woo!

Jenn is sitting next to me in my bed right now, stealing my music from my hard drive. I am falling asleep. There is a beer teetering dangerously on my dresser. Ironically, it is a beer from Colton’s, and it is sitting on top of my Pray for Jax painting. Funny.


“My days begin with a holla, end with a Creamsicle, and if there is time in between: Thunder Cats. Ho!”

Day 16 - Art Market, Outlets, Augusten Burroughs

My mom and I were going to ride our bikes to the art market in Riverside today, but my aunt and grandmother came over to go so we didn’t get a chance to do that today. I went to my dad’s though to get my bike back, and barely spoke to him while I was there. I am still livid with him. I don’t plan speaking to him for a while. But that probably wont work out. Marsha, my mom and I went to the art market, and I was really disappointed. I went once when I was home in March or early April, and it was the second week of the market being open. Then it had a lot of art, and little tents for a bunch of different local galleries. But today it was all food and clothes and regular vendors. There were a couple of cool artists though. There was one I fell in love with. His name was Schallenberg, I think. All his work was really textured and abstract, kind of like a really 3D Pollock.



Afterwards my mom and I went to the outlets to get work clothes. I am not too fond of this people work clothes and I just don’t mix. I don’t have a very feminine style and everything is skirts and blouses and slacks. I hate slacks more than anything. I cant even wear normal jeans. F I can feel fabric flapping around my ankles, even in the slightest, I cant stand it. I have been wearing skinny jeans for far too long to ever go back to normal pants. Also, the people that shop at the outlets are… interesting. You get such a range. While we were in J. Crew everyone was normal, and dressed cute. But then we walk outside and first thing I see is a woman in a huge grey shirt, red, ill fitting sweat pants, and carrying a child haphazardly on one hip and smoking a cigarette. Can we say classy?

Rob met us at Marsha’s house to fix up her internet and then went to dinner at Barbara Jean’s. every time I go there I think, “OK, lets be open about this, maybe I will like it this time.” Nope. I still don’t. The fries are delicious, but I don’t like anything else. The majority of their menu is sea food, and I don’t eat sea food so I am kind of screwed there.

Finally I am getting my iPod to work. It is too small for all of my music, so I have to pick and choose what I want on here. I went through and put everything on it that I would like to listen to driving up and down between Miami and Jacksonville, and it was only about 2,700 songs, which is about a third of my iTunes library. I miss my iPod, and I am excited to have it back.

I am riding my bike to the Fox tomorrow morning for breakfast with my Mom. I may die, for reals. I am so out of shape, which hopefully will change this summer. I haven’t ridden my bike in so long, aside from between my mom’s and dad’s today. And even that was kind of painful. My mom and I watched a bit of Running With Scissors tonight. Earlier we listened to some of an Augusten Burroughs audio book while driving out to St. Augustine and that got me in the mood to watch that movie. I forgot how weird it is, and now I just really want to watch the Royal Tenenbaums. I haven’t seen that in a really long time.

I am falling asleep while typing this and I have to be fairly soon to go to the Fox. Although this is a video from Davey Dance Blog, where he goes to historic locations, picks a song, and dances. The song he used in this video is one of my favorite songs, and it was the finale of the CollegeHumor all nighter this year.

DaveyDanceBlog -64- NYC Union Square from Pheasant Plucker on Vimeo.

I didn't talk to a certain someone at all today. Ugh "/ Going to Miami is bad luck, I swear.

Day 15 - Breakfast, Mom, Errands, TV

This morning Jenn came over and we made muffins. More like she watched me mix them and then burn them. And I burned my finger. St. Marks had their last day of school today, so my mom and I took Liam and Jack to the pool and had lunch. I saw some girls from high school which is always fun. People I care to just never see again. I am ready to get out of Ortega. Everyone is stuck up. I don’t get it. And today just confirmed it. I don’t get some people.

So apparently I give awesome advice when I am drunk. Last night I was talking to a bunch of different people and giving advice, and apparently it was amazing advice. Then this morning I was trying to help Jenn with something and I had no clue what to say. I can only give good advice when drunk. Not good.

This afternoon I went to Sports Authority to get Liam’s baseball coaches end of the season gifts. I took I-295 as usual to get to Blanding, although I was a little excited listening to Ratatat, and I missed my exit. Usually that’s no big deal. However this time I had to go 10 miles out of the way and a 10-minute drive ended up taking a half hour. O barely made it back to Ortega in time for an appointment with Denise. Turn out I didn’t have to be there at all, and I accidently fell asleep in the waiting room. That was awkward to wake up to the receptionist staring at me.

I took a nap this afternoon and had a serried of really weird dreams. The weirdest was a dream where I went skiing with Eddy Ospina. Why?

I saw my grades tonight, and I was really disappointed. I worked harder this semester than I had in past semesters at school. I got all A’s and B’s, but a D in Spanish. I hated Spanish with a passion, and I am not surprised I got a D. My GPA was only lowered a little bit, but it is so frustrating that all of the work I did basically just got erased by one class. Good thing is that I don’t have to deal with Spanish anymore. I wanted to go to the art show at Ocean Club with Jenn tonight but because of my grades I couldn’t go and I feel bad. “/

I have spent the evening watching TV, which is something I never do. Now I am watching Frasier. Odd. I think I am going to sleep in the TV room tonight. I’m cozy. Jenn sleeps on this couch a lot. I’m guessing it’s comfy. I guess I will find out.

This is my favorite song right now.