My slippers...

have leather soles Maria! :) Don't worry....

Happy Sunday!

Hello to Stockholm, Sweeden! I'm pretty sure that is Rebecka my crewmate from the delivery from hell, M/Y Francine, and S/V Wanderlust. Wow! We worked together a lot last year! This is Rebecka in Savannah, GA last year.

Hello Ft. Lauderdale! That could be Courtney! Is that you?

Hi to Fremont, California! I have quite a few folks in that neck of the woods reading. Thanks!

And a big warm hello to Selkirk, Manitoba, Canada! North of Winnipeg. Stay warm up there y'all!

On to today's news:

I have been exploring the world through Google Earth. I love it. I put little yellow push pins in all the places where my friends live all over the world. I have one in San Carlos, Mexico stuck in a boat that I am sure is Arigato Jack. (probably isn't but i don't care) I have one in La Paz that's probably stuck in the wrong marina, stuck ones in my roof and my aunt's roof and my Grandparents roof in Texas too. In addition to sticking push pins in places I know of I have put them in places I would like to visit.

I have on on the islands of the Maldives in the Indian Ocean. I would love to see them before they are gone. These islands are only a few feet above sea level as it is... they will be gone soon if the ocean level rises much.

I have one on this blue pond I found in Colorado. Its a small, round, perfectly blue pond. In the middle of nowhere, surrounded by trees.

I also have one on this island called Tristan da Cunha. It's the remotest island on the planet. There is a settlement of people on that island that are all direct descendants of the original european settlers from the 1800's. I would love to see how they live so isolated. The website is interesting. Click HERE to go to it. You can only get there by boat.

Another place I push pinned is Los Angeles, because I wanna go. New York City as well. And Paris.

I also found a perfect uninhabited (possibly uninhibited) beach in the Bahamas. I'm not telling you where though...

Anyway, I hope to eventually get to these places. I think I will. In the mean time I have been busy designing my Tiny House, floor plans and all. Trying to stay focused on a goal.

Tomorrow is Monday. The day when the yachting industry comes back to life. I have a plane ticket to Ft. Lauderdale on Saturday if things don't sound promising by then...

I will get a job soon! I will!

Oh! And hello to Sao Paulo, Brazil! Hola! Como esta? Muchas gracias por leandos! (I think they speak portugese there but all I have is some spanish. Hope that's ok! :) )

I'm so full.

Dinner was good, we went to Texas Land & Cattle Co. it's a steak house. Did you guess that? :) I rode in the tiny back seat with a guitar on top of me. Good thing we only had to to 15 mins up the road instead of all the way to Corsicana. It was nice to see Dave and Carol, nice folks.

I'm lying on a blankie under the christmas tree because it's my favorite thing to do this time of year.

Oh, a quick hello to Portsmouth and Providence, Rhode Island! Which one are you Tillerman!?
Stephanie I think you are Portsmouth, right next to Newport right?

And... Hi Costa Rica! Who are ya and how are ya?

Yall have a good night!

Goodmorning America!

Morning Los Angeles, Sunnyvale and San Francisco, California! Also... good morning middle of nowhere Kansas! I can't even find a name of a town you live NEAR yet alone IN! :) I would really like to know who you are and how you get "the internet" out there in the boonies. LOL I'm kiddin! Hope you folks all have a wonderful Saturday!

I'm guessing my L.A. visitor is Brian, but the others I don't know! Hello you guys!

Today I am off on a road trip with Mom and Dad, though I don't know how...
Mom and Dad are heading about an hour and a half south of Dallas to meet up with a friend of Dad's who plays guitars and mandolins with dad, Dave. They are going to his place in Corsicana. Mom asked me to go so I said sure... then I got to thinking about it. Mom drives a miata, so that's out. Dad drives a Ford Ranger... uh? Both of these cars are 2 seaters. Where the hell do they expect me to sit?! In the back of the truck?! Oh wait, there are small seats in the mini back seat of the truck... hahahah!
You see that?!?!? LOL! And you know there's gonna be a huge guitar and like three mandolins back there too.
When Jeff and I left they got rid of cars that we could fit in. Is that a hint?
Mom says I can fit, Dad says I'm not invited. Nice to see his sense of humor is still intact.

Goodnight...

Nite nite Clearwater, Florida and Lexington, Kentucky.

I'm off to clean my room and go to bed. Which translates into:

I will be up for another 4 hours blogging and playing sudoku while checking in with all my yacht agency sites...

Thanks for stopping by! Now say hello!

pic: Lexington Kentucky.

Hello Corrinne and Family!!!

Well, I found out who my Hawaiian visitor is! Miss Corrinne from Seattle is vacationing in Hawaii with her entire family of 15 people! 15!!! God bless her! She says she found my blog a couple of months ago. What an amazing thing, thank you to Corrinne for following my pretty lame blog at the moment, but it will get better soon I promise!!!

Thanks for the encouragement! Have a wonderful vacation in Hawaii, I hear it's pretty chilly in Seattle now...

:)

pic: me and the boys in Seattle, Harvest moon over the city.

All I want for Christmas...

Is this... CLICK HERE!

Oh... and a job... :)

Da who doray wah who doray welcome Christmas come this way!!!

I put up the tree, decorated it, and got out the other christmas decor! I arranged our Nativity Scene on the mantle, I changed out Joseph with a black wise man so we have a interracial couple and a hybrid baby Jesus. I love it!

Merry Christmas Grinches and Cindy Lou Whos!

p.s. Hello New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Vancouver!!!

Seattle Heather? Is that you?

My map shows someone North of Seattle near Norman, WA. That you? :) I am so in love with my new google map. :)

I should have blogged more...

While I was in St. Thomas. But my work days wore me out so bad that when I got home from my 11-12 hour workday I had to go right off to sleep after eating a quick dinner so I could wake up at 5:30am. I am looking through my pics and here are some for your viewing pleasure. Hell, maybe nobody likes to look at other people's pictures but I know that I love seeing my blog buddie's photos and random ramblings. So here ya go, whether you like it or not. :)

If you click on the pic it gets real big so you can make fun of my facial expressions or clothing choices... lol!


Me in Savannah, GA. Churchill's Pub. They brought that entire wood bar and shelves from England!

My best bud Meg in the galley with the chef on the charter boat job from hell... Doesn't she look happy?

Oh and look how happy I am here??? Same boat. But damn my table looks great... except for the fact that I set my table wrong... lol. the forks go on the left, knives on the right... hey, I was learning. Me and Meg on the ferry from Tortola to St. Thomas when we quit that job together. "Free at last , free at last, thank god almighty we are free at last!" I can actually see the relief on our faces. Vern, Meg and Me at the famous snorkeling/diving spot The Indians off the coast of Norman Island, British Virgin Islands. We are getting ready to jump off the boat.

Me and Meg on Josiah's bay, Tortola. My favorite beach in the world.

Me chillin on a hammock. All I want is a hammock somewhere one of these days and I will be happy. Bolongo Bay, St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands.

One of my favorite pictures, Derek and Meg, in front of one of the frenchy cottages in Frenchtown, St. Thomas, USVI, my neighborhood.
Me. Contemplating. Megan's Bay, St. Thomas.
Old one from Savanna, GA. Me hanging out with the crew of M/Y Francine, the first megayacht I worked on, at Tubby's Bar in Thunderbolt.

Good Morning Port St. Lucie, Florida, Cypress, Texas, La Paz, Mexico

I know La Paz is Jim and Heather, HELLOOOOOOOO!

My aunt lives in Cypress but nowhere near where the little marker is, so I'm not sure if that's her or not.

I'm starving. Time for lunch.

p.s. this pic is somewhere in la paz... Heather... your mission, should you choose to accept it... find that pool and pillage it. :)

No wonder!

we live in allen... the storm is moving east.

Taking Billyblog's advice...

I WILL GET A JOB NEXT WEEK! I WILL I WILL I WILL! That phone call is coming... Monday or Tuesday... You better believe it.

Everything will be OK! I will get an AWESOME JOB next week! Just you wait and see!!!

How's that Billyblog? Is that how it works?

HOLY SHIT!!! It sounds like heaven just opened up and dropped a bucket of rocks on a hardwood floor!!!! That was scary thunder!!! I'd better get off of here and check the weather...

Hello Japan, Reading, Leicester, and Rochdale UK!

A.K.A, Maria, Lyvvie, BillyBlog and ????

Who are you ????

:)

Hello Houston Visitor!

At first I thought the visitor was my Aunt, but as I zoomed in I realized it was coming from (inside the house!! lol, j/k) inside the loop, near downtown... I wonder who that could be... Will? Is that you?

Pic: Houston skyline.

Hello Hawiian Visitor!

I want to say hello to my lovely reader over in the great state of Hawaii, in the town of Kailua. What's your story? Who are you? How's life on Oahu? If you wish to remain annonymous that's cool too...

I just got this great new blog visit tracker that lets you zoom in to street level to see where your viewers are coming from! Totally cool! So interesting.

So, from now on I will be addressing you all... :) Kailua just so happened to be the first person to visit since I installed it.

Thanks for reading y'all. I think you rock.

The pic is of the town of Kailua.

Ahhh...

A great meal, nice day with the fam.

And some old friends of Mom and Dad's came over for a visit. Trent and Sarah. We had a great time catching up with them.

I made cookies.

Jeff was hungover.

Hapy Thanksgiving!

Yaaaaaaaay! This is our third Thanksgiving this year! haha! The first one was done when I came home from St. Thomas on my way to Seattle because we thought I wouldn't be home for the big day this year... Well we all know how that job turned out! Then we had one last month because we thought I was going to Utah for the season, that one was great because 7 relatives ended up coming over! And now... the real day is finally here. Mom is cooking because A) I cooked both times before, and B) I just woke up and it's 11am. Yesssssssssss. I am taking full advantage of not having to wake up early because I know when I do get a job I will be waking up early every day... SO THERE!

Jeff should be coming over any minute now, I can't wait to find out what he did last night for his Birthday. I am such a boring loser right now that I didn't even attempt to go out with him and his buddies. Instead of being social I decided I was going to clean the garage, a.k.a. Dad's workshop. The whole effing thing is covered in a thick layer of sawdust. It's probably what made him sick. It's just toxic out there. It's so bad that I cleaned a 4ft by 4ft area in the corner and the shop vac died. I gave up after that. I may try to do some manual sweeping and such today but I really need a shop vac to get the dust off the surfaces and walls. I like to clean up that kind of stuff because it's instant gratification! Especially with the shop vac. The dust just magically disappears! Gee... I need to get a life.

And now on the job front. I am tired of keeping it to myself and I don't believe in jinxes. Thats ridiculous. Here we go...

You all know about S/Y Avalon
Well, Dad still thinks he will call me back because the Capt. said they didn't need anyone till the first part of December. I don't think so but we will keep it in the list just for miracles sake.

Then there is the 145' unknown Motor Yacht that Capt. Sean put me up for after informing me that my resume was completely effed up. Even if I don't get an offer for that boat at least I have my resume fixed.

Then there is this 112' M/Y White Star.

It's based in Ft. Lauderdale year round and the owners use it for parties and trips to the Bahamas every once in a while. It's a live aboard position and I would have my own cabin. Sounds good to me because at least when I got a day off I would be in Lauderdale where Courtney is and we could hang out! I really like the Idea of this yacht... My agent in Lauderdale said the Captain was very interested in speaking with me but he wouldn't be able to call me until Tuesday of next week because the owner decided spur of the moment to use the boat and they had to go to the Bahamas this week. So that is actually pretty promising.

Then there is this one... The one I was so excited about... This is the Bristolean...

Click HERE for more info.
This is the boat that the Captain wanted me to write the essay for... So I did. My Aussie agent says she is just waiting on my references to email her back and the Capt. is interested. They need someone ASAP but the thing is... They are in Thailand, and thats great and all, I would love that, but they are planning to be there for the next THREE YEARS! I can't do that. I don't WANT to do that. With all the drama over in Asia at the moment it would be nearly impossible to get a visa anyway. And besides, I don't really want to go over that direction right now if there are psychos looking for Americans and Brits so they can blow em up or take them hostage! No thanks. Not on my agenda.
BUT DAMN! WHAT A YACHT!!!!

So there ya go. That's whats going on in my world. After this holiday week is over things will start getting back to normal in the world of yachting. I hope I get 10 calls and emails on Monday! :) At least I'm an optimist.

The turkey is done! Mom did a WONDERFUL job! We went for the armless/legless bird. We tried it the first time I did Thanksgiving this year and realized that it was so juicy and flavorful and not such a pain in the ass as birds with limbs. So if you are thinking of trying one... do it.


Right, off to fold napkins and set the table "silver service" style, need to practice that crap.

:)

A song for you to love...

By Jose Gonzalez

Chillin....

Waiting on word from OZ. :)

Happy Birthday Jeff! The big 2-3!

Yep, my brother's b day is the day after dad's! It's easy to remember their b-days and Thanksgiving...

It's a happy day.

I have a great feeling that I have some good offers coming my way...

There has been an exponential increase in the number of job postings and resume interests in the past couple of days. I feel like the industry is about ready to ramp back up soon now that the election is over and people can concentrate on the important things like getting back to work and traveling... :)

I wish I could tell you about the amazing development in my job search as of today but I don't want to jinx it. I wish it was morning so I could tell Mom and Dad! I can't sleep I am so excited.

My newest agent in Sydney, Australia is just about the coolest one I have dealt with. I have a feeling that my decision to go abroad for crew agency help is a good one. The agencies in Ft. Lauderdale are overrun with crew looking for work, I read an article recently that said there are over 1500 crew members looking for work registered through Lauderdale agents. In Australia? Less than 300. Another reason I can tell that my new agent doesn't have 1000 girls vying for a job is that she replies to my emails within the hour I send them. I am lucky to get a response within the week IF AT ALL from my Lauderdale agent.

I have been emailing back and fourth with my Aussie Agent all evening. I finally told her that I had to get to bed because it was 2am in Texas, She replied telling me she was sending out emails to my references to confirm them then she would send my CV and "cover story" (more on that later) to the Captain, telling me to "rest easy" because she was so impressed with my cover story.

So yeah, the whole "cover story" thing. Last year I had a captain that asked me to write an "essay" of sorts about why I would be a good addition to the crew. Well, I wrote... and I wrote... and I wrote about how I came to be a deckhand and how much I loved being on the water. I got the job hands down no questions asked. That job ended up injuring me and the rest of the crew forcing me and Meg (my best friend in St. Thomas) to quit together and move to St. Thomas from Tortola. Thank god for that job because if it wasn't for that horrible experience I would not have Meg in my life and I dearly love her and miss her tons!
Me, Meg and Rebecka, St. Thomas 2007


So, this Captain wanted the same kind of thing which initially turned me off. It gave me flashbacks to last year's deal and I have no intention of getting in a situation like that again... but hey, it was a new agent and I had no info about the yacht so what the hell? I am jobless.

I emailed the agent and apologized for the confusion but I have applied to every boat I could the past month and for the life of me I couldn't remember which boat that I had applied for with her agency. She emailed me back and said she understood how it gets when you are looking for jobs.

When she read my essay and looked over my resume she went ahead and told me the boat's name and stuff which she said she couldn't tell me until I was considered for the job... Well, I'm not sayin nothin... but... OMG.

If I get the job I will post the essay...

p.s. mom made a great chocolate cake...it rocks.

Happy Birthday Dad!

LOL this is so cute.

I have decided...

what I will do if I don't get a job on a yacht soon...

I will become a roller derby chick.



The Assassination City Roller Derby organization is here in Dallas. And they are recruiting. Yep.

I bet I would be so good at it. I used to LIVE at the skating rink when I was in elementary school. I bet I could remember how to skate on 4 wheels. I used to love to skate.

Think I would fit in? I do.

Maybe I should have a hot toddy to put me to sleep...

Have some whiskey honeh, it'll make ya feel bettah.

We went to the Library to mentally travel.

This is a good one, It's called Nextville, by Barbara Corcoran. It's about the coolest places to retire!
Return to Treasure Island and the Search for Captain Kidd, by Barry Clifford. It's about Barry and his buddy searching for Capt. Kidd's ship Adventure Galley and they run into all sorts of trouble, find pirate ships and treasure and run into modern day pirates in the process... cant wait to dig into this one...
Living with Cannibals and Other Women's Adventures, by Michele Slung. A collection of stories by women travelers from the 18th to the 21st century. That pic on the cover is of a self taught mountineer named Fanny Bullock Workman atop a boulder in Pakistan in 1908. Can you imagine that???
Fly Solo: The 50 Best Places on Earth for a Girl to Travel Alone, by Teresa Rodriguez Williamson, the founder of TangoDiva.com and it's a lovely read. Has a little quiz at the beginning that suggests which places you should travel to by your answers. I took the quiz, my suggestions were:
Buenos Aires (Wanna go there because that's where Che Guavara is from)
Hong Kong
Beijing
Vienna
Brussels
Reykjavik, Iceland
Crested Butte, Colorado (I learned to snowboard there when I was 17)
Fairbanks, Alaska
Athens
San Diego
St. Moritz, Switzerland
Rio De Janiero (Been wanting to go thre forever)
San Francisco
Berlin
Dublin(Duh!!!)
Stockholm

(why arent there any island like places on my list?)

I haven't actually read any further than that so maybe there aren't any islands in the book... I'll let ya know.

A great book! I have checked it out before. Steady as She Goes: Women's Adventures at Sea, by Barbara Sjoholm. It's a collection of adventures from women at sea. :) True stories. Great read.
I read a few chapters today and it brings back hellish memories of the Delivery Job From Hell i did last year, which I have suppressed most of. I should remember that experience to keep me from ever putting myself in that situation ever again.

That's it! Can I tell you a few of my favorite books that I actually own in my collection? Thanks...

A Salty Piece of Land, by Jimmy Buffett.

Possibly my favorite book ever. (besides Werewolves Don't Go to Summer Camp and Where the Wild Things Are.)


A favorite of mine, since one of my dreams is to drive across the country on a great road trip, is Blue Highways, by William Least-Heat Moon. Yep that's his name.
It's such an awesome look at America and this man's decision to take the roads less traveled. "blue" highways refers to the ones that are blue on the map, the two lane ones. Red highways on the map are major interstates. Anyway, he travels in his van that he converted into a mini RV and sleeps at rest stops and on the side of mountain roads, where he runs into some interesting characters and even a few ghosts. It's really a great read. If you can find it pick it up.

Then there is the book, Flaming Iguanas, by Erika Lopez. This chick bought a motorcycle and convinced a friend to get one too, rode across the country getting into all sorts of trouble, losing her friend who turned back way too early in the journey, uses her street savvy skills to get her out of sticky situations, all while wearing this leather jacket that she stitched her "motorcycle gang" name onto the back of. The Flaming Iguanas. It's interesting for sure. Hell, I bought the book.

Oh speaking of road books, Anthem: An American Road Story. This book rocks. It's the account of 2 women who set out on a road trip/documentary making adventure. Stopping in cities across America and speaking to ground breaking and influential folks across the country. My favorite chapter is when they actually get invited to Hunter S. Thompson's Owl Farm (His home in Colorado) and they spend a few days with the late great Gonzo Journalist. A must read. P.S. you can get the Anthem DVD and see their journey if you don't feel like reading the rather large book.


Ok. Gotta go cook dinner! Honey Baked Ham with pan fried potatoes, mac and cheese and black eyed peas. :) YUM. I'm gonna drink some wine tonight.