Some candid shots from KW

Cardenas Chrismas Pig

Me and Dennis reliving old times through a glass of beer at Finnigan's Wake

Me and Lilly on Christmas playing with the parasail boys and fake teeth.

Me driving the parasail boat, note Davey's face in the background, he is such a goofball!

Lilly poppin open a bottle of Champagne for Christmas Day mimosas at the marina.


Me and Zach on Christmas Eve.

Me and Lilly, with Zac on Chrismas Eve with our fake teeth in.

Me and "Man Meat" Chris.

Greg and Kris are on Island!!!

Just ran over to the Schooner Wharf to say hi to them before I get ready to go to work!!! So cool! They are coming sailing with me tonight if my boat doesn't fill up.

I got the care package from mom! Thanks for getting the contacts! Also, I love the chapsticks! :)

Mr. Ongiri....

I will post more when I get a chance.

Went sailing!

I worked tonight on the Jolly Rover and had a blast! This boat has more sails than any other boat I have worked on.

I am chillin on the couch watching Grey's Anatomy. Ate some yummy mexican food at my favorite place, Salsa Loca!

I am so tired.

Goodnight!

No sail tonight!

We got rained out. Blah. The radar showed it coming so we cancelled the sail. Charlie and David stopped by and invited me over to Charlie's girlfriend Alex's house (David's sister's house) (PS David and Alex are from Ft. Worth, small world.) So they left in the jeep and I said I would meet them there because I found Judy's bike finally today so I have wheels. I finished my beer and went to hop on the bike when..... crash!!! Rain and thunder!!!!! I ran back into the house. Now I am sittin here.... alone. But the radar shows that its just a band passing quickly so I should be able to get out of here pretty soon.

In other news, the M/Y Rena that was interested in me as a freelance stew pulled into the schooner wharf today so I went over and introduced myself. Apparently the stew they hired instead of me turned out to be a nut case and they fired her right away. They were nice. They will be here for a few days then back to West Palm Beach where they live. They can have West Palm. Bleh.

I went out with the Liberty Clipper crew last night and sang karaoke for the first time in forever. I hate karaoke but we had been drinking boat beers for some time before then and they convinced me to do it. They all just stood there like "where the hell did that come from" when I sang. LOL

Then I called it a night and stayed up late at my house alone emailing and reading. Charlie stayed at Alex's house for the first time in quite a few days. He said he never stays here but I guess he just likes to hang out with me now that I'm back. :)

So, I played Wii last night for the first time.... I am addicted. It's the most fun thing ever!!!!!
Charlie has a Wii and I had never even considered playing it but we played it at the Lazy Gecko last night and by the time we were all finished bowling and playing baseball we were all covered in sweat! I won every bowling match! I never win video games. It rocked.

Ok... looks like the rain is stopping. gotta go!

click HERE to see the boat I work on. :)

p.s. did I mention that Charlie and I always joke about being cousins because his name is Charlie Nelson and Nelson is my mom's maiden name and he is from Texas too? Well his parents came to visit last week and I got to talking to his Dad and guess what???? He went to Permian High School.... in Odessa.... Where my Mom and Dad are from....

so.... truly.... we probably are related.


Damn I am classy.

Still here!

I am still here! I just have been running around and haven't felt like sitting still long enough to blog, there's just too much to see and do here! The weather is so beautiful and I just can't stay inside!!! Boats and buddies all over the island, I go sailing almost every day. I love being back.

I can't wait to get the care package that my mom is sending me!!! I need to dye my roots bad.... :)

Whew! I am tired! Been up since Charlie left for work this morning at about 7. He actually slept here last night, he usually stays at his girlfriend's house but they were on the pull out couch when I got home last night. That's another funny thing, Charlie loves the pull out couch bed. I always sleep in his bed and he sleeps on the couch. I think it's because he likes to watch TV in his sleep. LOL.

I am going to head over to the Jolly Rover schooner this afternoon to see if I can pick up a sunset trip and make some cash. I am also on the catering staff now that I did that New Year's event with Richmond.

Things are good. :) I just can't believe I am here. I haven't settled in yet really. I still have my suitcases packed. Once I really feel stable I will unpack. Charlie wants me to stay forever so we will see what happens. It's working out just fine right now and I really like this apartment so it seems silly to move into my own place and pay 1000 bucks a month.

I need to get some pictures posted up from my first few weeks here. In the mean time here are some pics of my place....


The living room, Charlie's wake boards and kite board . I am going to learn to wake board next time he gets a day off.
Sitting on the couch looking out onto the deck, so glad he has guitars! :)This little frog stares at me while I pee.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Things are going well in Key West. I am extremely tired from all the excitement over the past week and have made the executive decision to call it a night early tonight and watch t.v. on the couch. I went on the sunset dinner sail on the Liberty Clipper which is a boat I used to work for. The food was amazing. But I guess anything would be amazing after living off ramen noodles for a week. I haven't started work yet but my good friend Richmond asked me if I would help him cater the biggest event on island tomorrow night, the dropping of the drag queen at 801 tomorrow night. I accepted. I need the money more than I need to run around like a maniac. Cool thing is, we will be on the balcony she drops from, it's like the best seat in the house. I only have to work from 8:30om to midnight and I will get paid 200 bucks, then I can go meet up with my friends! I am pretty sure I start the new job on Monday but they were really busy in the office earlier when I went by and she was really vague about it all but I will talk to them tomorrow. Also, my first Captain ever, Ryan, is in town and he is good friends with the Captain of the Jolly Rover and we all met up for drinks last night, Ryan talked me up so much that the J.R. Captain wants me to come work sunset sails whenever I can. That's basically on the weekends and when the time changes I could work every day. The new job is 8:30 to 5:30 and right now sunset sails start at 5. Oh well, at least working the sunset sails will put some cash in my pocket. I can't wait to work with Richmond tomorrow!

A wonderful Christmas Eve.

I had one. I was invited to the Cardenas family Christmas. Which was just amazing. Lilly and I met on Saturday and we just fell right into being best friends. Of course Judy introduced us LOL! Us girls have been terrorizing this town for the past week and It's been the best time. I feel so fortunate to have been invited to the Cardenas christmas eve. They are half cuban. I love cuban. The girls and I spent hours peeling hundreds of garlic cloves on Tuesday, so hungover that every once in a while one of us had to run to the bathroom and gag. It was for the pig marinade. I just want to tell you.... cuban christmas was amazing. We had pork, yellow rice, black beans, some kind of white rice bean mixture, plaintains, rolls, flan, rum cake, cafe cubano, mojitos and more rum....

Her whole family is so amazing. It made me miss mine so much!


Some really great things have been happening to me lately. I also had a horrible thing happen to me today.

I'm not going to talk about it in detail because I really don't want to relive it. Let's just say that someone who meant (means) so much to me lied flat out to me on my birthday about something you should never lie about. I am so sad about it. I tried to ride the bike down the street and see friends and forget about it but there was no one out. So I came home and called Charlie but he is with his girlfriend and can't listen to my crap right now.

pause. phone ringing

That was Charlie, he got my missed call and wanted to know what was wrong. I told him and he said "Ok Im coming home." but I told him I just wanted to go to sleep and chill out and not see anyone especially not a guy. He said he would see me tomorrow.

I have a big interview tomorrow.

Gotta hand wash some clothes.

It sucks that I only have one of my suitcases with me.

I have nothing to wear.

Judy just called. :)

Other than that, I had an amazing Christmas eve and day, saw people I hadn't seen in a long time and met folks I had never met.

Everything happens for a reason.








Colors

IM ALIVE AND WELL!

Sorry I dropped off the face of the earth for a bit! Being back in Key West is so awesome. When I got here and saw all my old friends and remembered just how cool it is to live here, I decided I didn't want to leave. :) I haven't heard anything from the lauderdale agents yet and when I got here someone said they heard the Jolly Rover needed crew. So, :) , I went right over and talked to the owner and he said the new captain would be there Friday and just wanted us to meet and then he said, "I think you can stop worrying about hunting for a job." :) So. I am back on the Schooners! I am a schooner bum!!!! LOL I am staying with my friend Charlie which is wonderful because he stays at his girlfriend's house every night!  So, today, along with running errands and returning random possessions to folks that lost them in Judy's car last night, I am cleaning Charlie's apartment.  He is pretty clean for a guy, for sure, but the bathroom needed some serious deep cleaning! He came home just a second ago in between parasail trips and I was on my hands and knees in the bathroom, he goes, "JOLES! WOW! It wasn't that bad was it???" haha, The guys here call me Joles for some reason. It's a South African thing that one SA guy called me 4 years ago and it stuck! I have to get back to sweeping and mopping, hardwoods in most of the place and his wakeboards need dusting. His parents are coming in to town tomorrow so I want to get it nice and clean. HAHA! "Who is Jolea? Oh she's my live-in maid"

I can't wait to get back to work. I have already lost some weight from all the walking around I have been doing! The new jeans I bought before I left Allen are already falling off of me. That's good because when I lived here before, I got fat. Not gonna go that route again. 

Happy Birthday to me!

Tomorrow...
:)
It's going to be the best birthday ever!
I have exhausted myself this week visiting every crew agent in the world. There is nothing left for me to do besides wait.

Judy graduated from her class today and she is officially a Master of Oceans 200 Ton licensed Captain!!!! Oh my gosh do you guys understand how HUGE THAT IS?!?!?! I am so proud of her. I met up with her after she graduated today at this Crew bar called Waxy O'Shannons or something like that and we didn't spend any money at all because I walked in and announced to the bar that Judy had just passed her test and was now a Master of Oceans! We got some drinks and shots bought for us. :) Anyway, Judy was planning on going to Key West tomorrow and asked me to go with her. Courtney is going to a big fancy expensive party in South Beach so she wont be here tomorrow. So....

I am going to Key West for my birthday!!!! I am so excited!!! Judy is so excited to. We can't believe the two of us are back together in the same place at the same time and on my birthday too!!! I wish I could express to y'all how happy I am to see Judy. She and I were the best of friends the whole time we lived in KW and we have really been through a lot together. Just a true friend and I am so lucky to have her! We are busy putting together a road trip mix right now for the drive down the keys! Another great thing about this trip is that it will give me and Mandy a chance to reconcile. Mandy is my old roommate and she was so mad at me when I moved away and still hasn't forgiven me but Judy talked to her and she thinks it's about time we made up. I think so too. I can't wait to see all my old friends and co-workers! Judy is staying with Mandy and I am staying with my old buddy Charlie! Charlie Nelson! That's my mom's maiden name, Nelson, so we always joked that we weren't allowed to kiss each other because it's possible we are related, he's from Texas too. :) We put the word out to the KW clan and everyone is meeting up at the Conch Farm for our big welcome home/birthday bash!

I am really looking forward to this. I had the worst birthday last year in Australia and I just know this one will more than make up for the bad one last time.

Courtney and I got invited to a yacht crew party tonight so of course we have to make an appearance. It's a party at a crew house so I will ultimately meet alot of other crew and captains and maybe make a good connection for work.

I met a friend of Courtney's last night who needs his house cleaned and he is a firefighter, so I'm gonna clean his house and then hopefully I will get to clean the other guy's houses to make cash while I am out of work! There's no shame in my game! I will do it. The only problem is, I don't know what to charge! Help!

Ok. Gotta go.

BYEEEEEEE!

UH oh.

Courtney lost her job today. Yikes. I HATE GEORGE BUSH! WHAT AN ASSHOLE! HE RAN THIS COUNTRY INTO THE GROUND!!!!! AND ALL THE OTHER COUNTRIES AS WELL!

This is ridiculous. I'm off to visit another agency this afternoon. I sent my resume to a few more boats who need crew as well. I found out another friend of mine is in town and I think I am going to meet up with him sometime this week too. Maybe he will have some advice for me. Funny thing... He reads Maria's blog too. I didn't know that!

I just can't believe I don't have a job. I have never had trouble getting a job in my life! Never been without a job for more than a week!!!!

I can't even enjoy being in this beautiful town because I am so stressed out.

Courtney already has a lead on another personal trainer job so thats good. Judy wants me to go to Key West this weekend but I just can't afford that. Courtney wants me to go to some big fancy schmancy party in South Beach on Saturday night with her and Nichole but I don't have anything to wear and I don't know if I can handle going to a party where I weigh 40 pounds more than everyone else. Ugh.

Oh gee, another party invite, tonight... but it's a boat people party so I'd better go. You know, my agent at Crew Unlimited told me I should go hang out at Waxy's which is a crew hang out bar, she said it's all about who you know.

Judy wants to hang out tomorrow so maybe we will do that. I am so happy she is in town. Ok gotta go pick up Nichole from her hair appointment. Then its off to the agents.

Back to speaking english.

They decided to keep their current stew on instead of replacing her. And I am back to speaking english full time.

Courtney took me out to eat last night and we ended up at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. Don't worry, I didn't spend any money at all. Some random dude gave me a hundred bucks to play Blackjack with which I lost in about 3 mins. I told him I wasn't having a very good run of luck but he insisted. I played, lost, and walked away from him. Bet he wasn't expecting me to do that. Whatever. I watched in horror as Courtney lost 800 dollars at the Baccarat table. I told her to stop but she just kept on playing. She said you have to play big to win big. I wanted to throw up. She didn't seem to mind it. Amazing.

The weather here is beautiful. I wish I had a job.

GREAT interview!

I just got back from my interview over at Sportable Crew! Suzanne was so sincere and nice and really asked me some good questions. Very specific questions. Then asked how comfortable I was with spanish. Hmmm.... I am very comfortable around spanish speaking people, most of my best friends in the past have been Mexican and their families have taken me in as their little white girl. I love it. Good food. Anyways, back on the subject, Suzanne thinks she has a boat for me. She is pitching me to the Captain tonight and I should know something tomorrow! Fingers crossed! No, wait, we have to start crossing something else because the fingers aren't working! Anyway, if it works out I will be flying to St. Martin by the end of the week. OMG PLEASE!!!!!!!

Not much else to say as I'm trying not to get my hopes up.

Oh hell I'm just gonna tell ya the info anyway... I have nothing else to do!
The boat does winter in the Carib. and Summer in the Med. 88 feet long. One stew. deck, chef, engineer and Capt. Thats all I really know. Except for the other stuff that I don't feel like typing because I have really bad cramps and I just wanna throw up.

They need someone by Christmas day because that's when the family comes to the boat. Obviously I would need to be there before then so time is of the essence. Everyone on board is Mexican and South American. I would be the only American. But, she says everyone speaks english but I bet you a thousand bucks they don't speak it if they don't have to. So basically I should be brushing up on my Spanish. I understand most everything but I just need to work on my speaking. But I told her I wouldn't feel uncomfortable in that situation. I won't.

Oh my, I really hope I get the job.

Morning dudes!

Personal assistant day in progress! Already got all the stuff moved around so the carpet guys can do their thing, now I have to go to the bank to deposit some money and then pay some bills for Courtney and call some of her clients to schedule some work outs! Woo hoo! I feel productive and she really did have too much on her plate this week. I am happy to help.

Woah! I forgot how completely INSANE South Floridians are. Two beheadings on the news this morning!!! One was a goose that lived on a golf course and the other was an 8 year old boy! And... a 4 year old broke into a convenience store. Not kidding.

I has a friend....This is Tiki. He is my buddy. I am also dog sitting and dog walking today. The other dog is a big dog named Dania. She is a bit shy but I will try to get a picture of her today.
Got one!

Ok. I think its about time to call some clients.

Yacht Spotting

Today I saw these yachts:

M/Y Copasetic
and
M/Y Mystique

Awake at 1:30am.

I fell asleep too early. I just woke up and I am red like a lobster. Which makes it uncomfortable to sleep. That ten mins in the tanning bed really kicked my ass. The parts of me that got sun in the islands didn't burn, just got tan but the parts that NEVER see the sun... well that's the problem. I would show you my burnt ass but that's inappropriate. I will get back to sleep but I feel like blogging a bit first. Tomorrow is a crazy day.

After I blogged last night I was lying in bed and Courtney came in to my room and said she had a favor to ask. She wanted to know if I would run some errands and pay some bills for her tomorrow while she is at work. I said sure. She had a list all made out and left me her credit cards and stuff to get everything taken care of. She is really busy now that she inherited 7 clients from a trainer that quit over the weekend. Basically I am her personal assistant tomorrow, and she's gonna pay me to do it! Cool huh? I do need the money. Also, the carpet guys are coming to replace the carpet upstairs and someone has to be here when they come and I am the only one who doesn't work around here so that is on my list too. And I am gonna start cleaning. That's only the morning agenda. In the afternoon I have the interview with Sportable Crew that I am really looking forward to. The guy I spoke to on the phone was really nice and said that Suzanne, the owner of the company, was really awesome, and that if I needed a ride someone at the agency could pick me up if I didn't have transportation. Nice huh?

I am starving. Must go back to sleep....

Long day.

Whew... I am exhausted. I woke up at 9am and got ready to drive around to crew agencies and learn my way around town. I dropped Courtney off at work because she had a seminar to go to and off I went, map in hand. Went to 2 agents and stopped for lunch then I cleaned her car and then I went back to her work. Courtney had a client to work out so she set me up on an elliptical machine and said, ok you just do that for a while, sweat it out! Uh.... yeah... I ran my ass off for 35 minutes!!! 35 MINUTES!!! Nonstop! I was sweating my ass off, thank god for the Killers on my iPod. I rocked out to my tunes and then Courtney came back and led me over to the other machines and I followed along with her client and did some reps on some leg and booty workers. Then it was off to weights and yoga! Oh my! After that we went to the tanning salon and Quiznos for a healthy sandwich and then home. Whew! It's 7:30pm and I can't wait to go to sleep. I have another interview with an agent at 3:30pm tomorrow so that's good.

It's beautiful here. The weather is just wonderful, the salt air feels so good! I rode around all day with the windows down and sun roof open. I got to see the ocean again! I was too busy to stop and play in the sand but I will put that on my agenda for tomorrow.

I have a good feeling about being here even though the captain who said he would call me today didn't. There are SO MANY yachts here! I drove down Las Olas Blvd. and was just amazed at the amount of boats docked behind people's houses.

Unfortunately I can't find my usb thingy that I put my camera card into that transfers my pics from my camera to my computer so there are no pictures to show you. I am bummed. Mom if you see it let me know. It might be on the coffee table.

Anyway I am excited about my interview tomorrow and feel like today's interview went well. I may even stop by a few of the marina's and boat yards to see if they need any day workers to supplement my income while I look. Courtney and the girls usually pay a housekeeper to come in once a week but I told them to cancel that and save the money, I will do it for free for letting me stay here. I think that's fair. They tried to pay me but I refused to take the money.

ok. gotta go. so sleepy.

YAY!

I'm up and running now! woo hoo! Stay tuned for pictures!

I'm here!

But, I am having trouble getting my computer connected to the internet so I am using Courtney's for a bit. Things are good! I got to see my old friend Judy last night and we danced like idiots all over town. It was awesome! I haven't laughed that hard in a long time! No calls or emails yet from anyone but I will be awake bright and early tomorrow ready to go! It was cloudy all day today but it is nice and WARM! I am so happy! I have a wicked headache. I need some advil. The fox is living with someone else now! Booo.... But there are two dogs here. A big one and a little one. I have been Dog Whispering the little one because he is crazy. I will post pics when I get online on my comp. Love ya! 

Leaving the house!

I will check in from the road! If I can get free wifi at Houston Hobby that is... If not you probably wont hear from me till tomorrow because Courtney is gonna drag me straight to the bars when I get there... :)

In other news:
I'm flying with one eye. I put one of my contacts in some solution last night (which I NEVER do) because I got something in my eye and wanted to give it a rest. When I went to put it in my eye... OOOOOOHHHHH AAAAAAAAAAAAKKKKK HOLY F-ING SHIT OHMYGOSH! IT BURNS LIKE FIRE!!! So I look at the solution and it says "do not put contact in eye after soaking in solution" uh..... what?? So now my eye is all red and fugly, maybe no one will sit by me because I have a creepy eye. sweet.

Ok talk to ya later!

xoxoxo

Key West is callin' me!

Today I had an influx of old KW buddies on facebook. One old roommate/coworker and one old manager and guess what? They were both married and had babies now! LOL. Suckers. Just kidding (not really) they are nice guys. Both have moved away from KW like all smart people do. That is my old roomie Samantha dancing with "Santa" the number one bum on Duval St. Afterwards the bartenders at the Flying Monkey dragged her into the bar and wiped her whole body down with Purell! LOL!

Courtney is planning a road trip to KW on my Birthday next Saturday if I'm not working. Oh my! I better be working. :)

Well I am so excited I can't sleep!!!

Talking to my old roommate tonight made me really thirsty for a White Russian. YUM! We used to drink a lot of those, while playing Power Hour, while watching the Guns n' Roses music videos DVD. :) Ahhhh the good ole days....
That's me doing a keg stand in a skirt....
I wouldn't relive it for anything.

Trying to get situated for sleep now. Had a good laugh while thinking of the crazy things we used to do in KW.

Lights off, under the covers, Craig Ferguson on TV, oh crap. Where's my phone?
It's probably in mom's room. Shit. Now I have to get out of my cozy position and get it so I can set my alarm! GRRRR...

Ok got it.

This is the most boring post in the history of posts. I will go back and insert some pictures to liven things up a bit...This is me spring break, South Padre Island, TX 2007 I LOVE the dunes.

Ok. Gotta go! Time to sleep. Really.