Extended Stay Central America

Thanks to everyone for the "welcome backs" but I'm not back yet. I extended my trip until tomorrow. God willing and the start align that I clear customs quickly and make my connection in Miami tomorrow, everyone say a little prayer.

xo

PS. I'm writing this on the floor of my bedroom as there is automatic gunfire going off somewhere over the wall.

Thank God for security guards.

ciao

Bienavidos a Costa Rica

Entra Bajo su propia responsabilidad!

(Welcome to Costa Rica...proceed at your own risk.)

This should be the slogan of Costa Rica. Everything attraction here, while amazingly beautiful, comes with some degree of risk to personal injury. I guess this is the norm in a country which has at lease three active volcanoes and a major fault line through the middle of the capital city (which I am about 1 km from and have to cross anytime we drive anywhere.)

My flight down here was thankfully uneventful and nice. I slept pretty much the whole way. Upon landing, my friend Jason picked my two friends and I up and drove us to his home in Escazu. Did I say home, I mean fabulous gated house atop the hill with a view of San Jose. We were all pretty tired from the trip, so we all retired to our seperate rooms and prepared for our 2 hour drive to
Tabacon the next morning.



Tabacon is an amazing resort. The drive there alone was worth the trip as we drove the the "Cloud forest" apart of the mountains so high you actually drive through the clouds. The tabacon resort and hot springs are at the base of the Arenal Volcano which is a very active volcano. At night you can see the lava flows glow red down the side of the mountain, and about ever half hour there was this thunderous BOOM as a minor eruption took place. It was beautiful and unsettling at the same time.


I honestly didn't feel like it was real. I guess Americans are so used to "Disney-esque" vacations that we don't comprehend that no that's really not a staged volcano, and no the monkeys and birds were not flown in and yes mother nature here is bold and dramatic yet also dangerous. It's hard to explain I guess, but yeah, I went to relax at a spa at the base of a volcano that could erupt and kill us at any moment surrounded by a jungle filled with deadly snakes, spiders and other things (the natives here are even afraid of the butterflies, they think the wings can make you ill, i'm taking their word for it.)

The spa, however, is very relaxing. I spent about 4 hours relaxing in the hot springs and then had a full body massage in an outdoor private spa room. Between that and the fresh Pina Coladas I'm not thinking about much else.

Ok, time for a siesta. I'll write more soon, tell you about the horseback riding, the La Fortuna falls, and the ginger kids from hell.

xo

ciao

kel

Off like a Prom Dress

Sorry it has been a while..i've been busy and a little under the weather.

Tomorrow at 6:30 am (gasp) I will by flying off to Costa Rica where I will spend a week with my fabulous friends at the beautiful Tabacon Resort a natural Hot Springs resort and spa. Hopefully by some miracle of American Airlines and God my luggage will not get lost and I will get over this miserable cold in time to enjoy myself.

Maybe I'll just grab a chicken as it runs by me on the asile and turn it into soup.

Seriously though, I'll post again in about a week and hopefully will have some amazing pictures to share with you.

Adios dear readers and Happy Turkey Day!

School Daze...again

I just saw this site http://www.getmortified.com/ and watched the featured video.. Brilliant.

I ALSO just got this email:
"Hey freakdaddies of 1992! I will need all the help I can get. I have spoke
to a few of you about having the reunion the weekend of Jubilee days (June, 2007), but nothing is set instone. (At this fairgrounds) there is a huge amphitheatre and
pavilion, plus camping sites!!! It would be awesome for our reunion!!!"

Yes yes, it is time for another Class reunion of the Class of '92 at RHS back in small town Texas. Now, I know that some of you like..ney, are obsessed with the new hit show Friday Night Lights but let me tell you not all Texas Teens live such rich and interesting lives. Some of us, like me, spent our time growing up DREAMING and PLOTTING our escape from said football inspired hell holes. The ONLY reasons I even go back to said reunions is because A: I'm still the same weight I was when I graduated and B: All of the people I hated in High School are now Fat, Divorced, Bald, or have some other sort of thing going on to which I feel superior.

Ok, - that and I really do like seeing some people.

The last reunion I attended was a big surprise to me. I ended up hanging out with two people I never even spoke to in HS and had the best time with them. The crowd I had always WANTED to hang out with, spent the whole evening reliving moments that I either found boring, or wasn't a part of. I also spent a good amount of time with the boy I always had a crush on who is of course straight and hot and one of the nicest guys in the world. And then he invited me back to his motel room to drink beer.....

and...

and...

I stupidly said no. Maybe I'll get a 2nd chance this time.

If I go.

The only reason I wouldn't go is because the said campground on which we might have our big ol' reunion is owned and operated by one of my classmates.

Said classmates was THE stud on campus. Most of my hometown girls lost their virginity to him, and he was I have to say, a very hot stud. Unfortunately, after graduation he never left, and he became a big alcoholic pot smoking drug addict that did nothing but screw everyone in town and talk about his high school glory days.

Sad I know, but it gets worse.

He found Jesus. Or should I say the Baptists found him.


Long story short he is now Born Again and while I'm glad he is not a big drunken mess anymore, now he hates "The Gays." Including me, which he expressed to me at a wedding I saw him at a few years back.. In fact, he threatened to Kick my Ass - I challenge I will admit I did NOT back down from, but other people stopped from happening.

So you can see, it might not be in my best interest to travel back to Small Town Texas, where A: his rich daddy has a lot of influence over the local law/courts and B: Go to a party out in the middle of the county on HIS land, where he has Lots of guns and a Bible to back up any threats of physical harm to me.

We'll See. It's a ways off anyway.

So go watch the aforemetioned Video. Laugh, reminisce, and remember those bullies that may or may not have picked on you when you were younger; and then revel in the fact that you are doing better than them now.

Remember as Elvira says, "Revenge is better than Christmas."

xo

Kel

Friends

So this whole past few days I've been spending time with lots of friends. I love my friends, friends are great. I have 3 friends in from Texas right now, whom I love spending time with. I also have 2 more friends from Texas that officially moved here this week, and I love spending time with them. Last night my old Texas friends that are visiting met and partied with my new San Francisco friends - save a few excpetions that flaked out (no suprise to any of us though.) We had a GREAT time, and it was so nice to stand back for a moment and realize how lucky I am to have such wonderful people in my life.

As some of you may know, I've been going through a rough few weeks. Fortunetly, I've been getting a lot of text messages, random quick phone calls and emails from friends all over the place"just checking in" and to say " just thinking about you."

You know, those little messages mean a lot. Right now, stop reading this blog, and take a moment to text or email or call someone you care about and say "Hi. We're friends and I just want to let you know I really care about you and your life." It will make that person's day..or even week.

Ready? Go.

(tick tock tick tock)

Did you do it? Ok now do it again with someone else...go ahead, I'll wait.

(do dee doo doo, doo de doo.)

Ok - see you just made one or two people in your life feel really really special.

Atari - I was having such a crappy morning when you called just to say Hi. Cyn, I was in a really, really bad mood until I got your txt message. Joel, can't wait to hang with you soon. Case, Mark and John, thank you for spending the time and money to come see me. Doc - I miss your emails, but the small ones we exchange really make my day.

Thank you.

So now that we have had all those warm and fuzzy moments, lets talk about something else. When a friend calls you to get together and you are "in the middle of somthing." or "too busy to talk, I'll call you back" and you don't - or even worse, you FLAKE OUT. I'ts really your loss, becuase that person - your friend- is going to go on and have a FABULOUS time with other people with out you and you are the one mising out. Or, YOUR FRIEND, may really be in a bad place and really need to talk to you about something going on in his or her life. Or maybe he or she really misses you and you are getting so wrapped up in your own business he or she is feeling neglected. Just think about that next time you blow your friend off. Becuase being a fair weather friend doesn't cut it with a lot of people and the next time YOU call your friend for some reassurance or a favor or to get together - you may just find that that person isn't your friend any more.

In other words, don't take people for granted and make sure you tell people how much they mean to you every day; becuase you never know when they may not be around any more.

What a beautiful DEMOCRATIC day..

The sky is BLUE, the water is BLUE, the house is BLUE, the Senate is...hopefully Blue.

Don't let us down Virginia. Don't pull a Florida.

You go Nancy Pelosi! (snap)

You go Middle Class voters! (double snap)

You go Donald Rumsfeld..you go all the way to the unemployment office. (two snaps and a twist).

Hey Tom Delay, sorry your seat went to a DEMOCRAT - (a shallow victory, but one none the less).

Hey president Bush...who's playground are you on now? Huh? Wanna kick some sand in our faces now? Glad you want to put partisan politics aside..now. Glad you admitted you lied...now. Glad you are trying to shuffle some of this off on Rove..now.

Laura - get a divorce attorney. Either that or another case of scotch and a carton of Virginia Slims ready.

All snarky remarks aside. I'm very happy at the results of this midterm election. Maybe this country can get back on track. I hope that the new congress will focus on very important issues, like pulling us out of Iraq, re-instating and actually upholding the constitution, and how about we have a REAL homeland security plan instead of just faking one. We are going to have to put some issues aside - I for one say we sacrifice the whole gay marriage debate for now and wait a few years on it. I'd much rather have, you know, THE PATRIOT ACT revoked and get back some of my Civil Liberties than have the right to say "I'm Married". It's going to a long hard road, I hope that the Dem's will take this opportunity to fix a few atrocities that have developed in the last few years.

Please DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE. GET OFF YOUR ASS!! Now is the time for STRONG LEADERSHIP. No more Howard Dean, No more putzing around. Lets get it together and SWEEP IN 2008!!!

You Go DNC!!



I once again am proud to fly this flag. I have been so ashamed, and fearful, of my country over the past SIX years. The war, the lies, the corruption, the lies about the corruption, Most of my fellow American People hiding their heads in the sand, or really truly beliving in Bush's messages of Hate and Fear.

Today though, reaffirms my faith in the Democratic Process. Voting Matters. Beliving in the System matters. Now I just hope and pray that things will get better. For all of us.

So to those of you that voted yesterday, regardless of how you cast your ballot. Thank you.

XO

Kel

Halloween with the Stars

So I finally have recieved my pictures back from Halloween. While the rest of you were out and about I'm sure, or staying home handing out candy to kiddies and hosing unruly drunken teenagers off your lawn, I was tra-la-la-ling about as personal photographer to the stars of my FAVORITE reality show Project Runway . Here are a few shots of the evening for your pleasue..and envy.



3rd place Larua Bennet finally gets her cumuppance from Season Three Winner Jeffrey Sebelia


Hosts Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn "Make it Work"


A crazed fan spots Fashion Forward Sexy Man.. Tim Gunn


Heidi, Tim and Jeffery celebrate at a swank house party.


Laura, Tim and Jeffrey in the Limo on the way home


Now, aren't you all just Jealous Bitches?

xo

Kel