Just Pay it Forward!

Sometimes a good Samaritan or even a guardian angel really does exist. While trying to get back to Boston last weekend I was waiting for the T in this little town. Though to be honest it wasn't a real station because it really wasn't a real town. Just a bunch of houses, a country club, and a gas station. Which of course wasn't open on the weekends! So there I was- lost and trying to buy a ticket from a broken machine. When the train finally came I was told that they don't have change, so my only option was to give the driver a 20 dollar bill for my 3 dollar ticket or I could walk into the town to find change. I tried explaining to the driver that I was from out of town and had already walked around and I couldn't find change anywhere. To which the "extremely" helpful driver responded with- oh there is a parking lot "somewhere" down the road and that I could "probably" walk to it and find change! Left without much of an option I was about to hand over the 20 dollars when the guy in front of my turned around and handed him 3 dollars for my ticket. As I started to say thanks, he just smiled, waved and walked to the back of the car. So I thank that nameless guy on the train and all the other people out there that have reached out and helped me throughout my life… hopefully someday I will show that I deserved that help.

The Dancing Queens

"Maybe there won't be marriage,
Maybe there won't be sex,
But by God there'll be dancing! "
My Best Friend’s Wedding

Over the years I have tried every conceivable way to mend my broken hearts:
-I've tried staying at home and moping- turns out you can only watch The Notebook so many times before you want to slit your wrists!
-I've tried falling into bed with the first guy I see. Hint for you- if he doesn't speak English and you don’t speak Portuguese, no matter how hot he is, it's just not going to work out!
-I've tried calling up one of the numerous exs- If you want to try this one you need an ex like Mr. X- he's always either single or willing to cheat on his current girl for a good shag!
-I've tried working out like crazy- but we all know the first time we run into our ex it doesn’t matter how hot our body may look. Because without fail we will not have brushed our hair in days, our face will look have more potholes in it that the 405, and we will be wearing our last clean shirt- usually that one we bought on our last day in Cancun on spring break in 1987! Come on, you know you have that shirt.

So this time I thought I would do something a little different. So off I went to Vegas with the girls! Turns out I may have found the perfect remedy for a broken heart- 3 single girls friends, one road trip, 2 days laying in the sun at the Mandalay Bay pool, 1 night dancing at Rain, 1 bachelor party, multiple electric lemonades, some champagne, a little vodka, a few slot machines, and enough laughter to make me forget that there ever was a Mr. Baby R! All thanks to my girls- Jen, Alissa, and Laura. I may not have been my usually happy self at the beginning (or Saturday night!) but slowly my smile has returned! Watch out LA, I’m back...
 

Planes...Trains...and Traffic!

After a week of 15 hour works days while trying to come down from a 3-day bender from the weekend before, I was looking forward to 3 days in Arizona with the family. Sleeping. Laying in the Sun. Hiking. Drinking Margaritas all day long Basically just putting the past 7 days behind me and refresh. It was a great idea, the only problem was making it out there.

I began my journey at 11 am on Friday morning It was a gray dismal rainy day in Southern California- I couldn't wait to make it to the warmth of the desert! After managing to find a great parking space at the airport, I got there with enough time to grab my usual at Starbucks- Iced Vanilla Sugar Free Latte w/ Extra Shot and made my way to the gate And then the adventure really began!

I started talking to the girl next to me while waiting for them to clear the standby seats. She could have been me- Blonde, 28, Lives a block away from me, Mom works for America West. I luckily managed to get the last seat on the plane, said my goodbyes to my new friend and boarded the play. Yay, I was finally on my way. As soon as I got on the plane and was putting my bags into the overhead compartment the stewardess came running after me! Turns out one of the paying passengers showed up at the last minute and in the blink of an eye I was back in the airport. As the gate agent checked the outgoing flights it became apparent that we weren’t getting out today. In addition to the girl that I was talking to earlier, we had been joined by a guy our age- 26. Helicopter Pilot living in Chandler, Arizona. No flights out of LA we tried Long Beach. Orange County and then, wait there is one with seats going out of Burbank in 2 hours! YAY! With plenty of time too!!! Or so we thought.

So we all took the shuttle to my car and started the trek up to Burbank.. Now I’ve been known to pick up a stranger while at a bar drinking but to do it at an airport, SOBER- now that was a first! But of course we weren’t strangers for long considering in traffic it took us 2 hours to get up to Burbank! We finally arrived at the airport and started to run as I threw my keys at the Valet Parker. You might be thinking what kind of ass Valets their car at the airport? The know of ass that only has 15 minutes to make their flight!!! So we talked our way to the front of the security line and without time to put back on our shoes literally ran barefoot through the airport to the gate and we got there just in time! They were just closing the doors! Looks like all those hours on that damn elliptical machine paid off :)

I finally made it to Phoenix an hour later. A little delayed. Tired from not eating anything but my Starbucks- although some wouldn’t consider coffee a meal! In Phoenix and with a few new friends to party with while I am in town. All in all, not a bad adventure to kick off my vacation- can’t wait to see what’s in store next!

The Curse of Baja

Meredith: My college campus has a magic statue. It’s a longstanding tradition for students to rub its nose for good luck. My freshman roommate really believed in the statue's power and insisted on visiting it to rub its nose before every exam. Studying might have been a better idea, she flunked out her sophomore year. The fact is, we all have little superstitious things we do. If it’s not believing in magic statues, it’s avoiding sidewalk cracks or always putting our left shoe on first. Knock on wood. Step on a crack, break your mothers back. The last thing we want to do is offend the gods.
Greys Anatomy

I should start by saying, yes I am superstitious. I believe in Karma. I wish on stars. I believe that the energy changes during the full moon. I don’t like to eat meat because I feel that everything has energy and once you kill something and eat it, that negative energy transfers to you. I stay away from black cats. I throw pennies into every fountain I come across. So it shouldn’t surprise you that I believe in curses. And more importantly that I found my own little curse yesterday down in Baja. But let me start at the beginning…

There is this tiny one room wooden church in Puerto Nuevo that has always fascinated me. So yesterday while passing through I decided to light a candle. Even though my faith lies more in Buddhism, my Old Catholic ways still creep in every now and then. As I went to the alter I noticed that there weren’t any matches or sticks to light the candle. I should have taken that as a sign to not light it!!! Instead I followed a friend’s advice and lit a piece of paper on fire and tried to light it that way. Now hers lit perfectly but when I came to do mine the entire paper went up in flames, I dropped it into the candle and proceeded to set the entire candle aflame! It would be bad enough that I tried to burn down a little wooden church but while this was going on I flipped out and said a few words you shouldn’t say in church- fuck and shit being among them!

And the curse began… From there we managed to get lost on the way back through Tijuana. And let me tell you there is nothing like an hour-long detour through the slums of Mexico with no idea where you are, how you got there, or how to get back to the border! By the time we finally found our way back I needed a nice cold margarita and to be in the US. But of course due to some forgotten produce (Those damn two lemons!) we got stopped at the border and had to go to the secondary inspection! While they were emptying out the car and looking for other hidden produce, my friend decided that the best way to get us out of there would be to pimp me! And no I didn’t agree to this. Shock of all shocks it worked- but he actually said: “No I don’t want her number but you guys can go now”, with a smirk on his face. At this point a red faced Hardt put her head down in shame and just prayed to be at home in her nice warm bed.

So today I’ll be searching for four leaf clovers and forgotten pennies on the ground and try and switch up my luck a little!!! After all, how long can the curse of Baja last…

Gidget does Christmas

“Surfing is like making love. It always feels good,
No matter how many times you’ve done it”
Paul Strand

People ask me all the time why I love California so much. And you only have to look at a day like today to understand why. 80 degrees at the beach with a perfect swell coming in, 10-15 foot waves breaking perfectly. Now that might seem like a great summer day to you, but it in fact is a fantastic winter dream! It’s 33 in New York, 21 in Chicago and currently 79 in Malibu. This is why I live in California. I have traveled all over the globe. Seen many different climates, countries, people... and most elsewhere I would be bundled up in my winter warmest looking like Ralphie from A Christmas Story and instead I am taking out the Bikini and getting some sun.It’s 4 days till Christmas and instead of making a snowman I’m planning to head out of work early (gotta love those Hiatus weeks), grab my board, my wetsuit and my new man and heading up to County Line to enjoy the waves. Looks like Santa is bringing me just what I want for Christmas- Some warm weather, some breathtaking waves, and Mr. Brazil. What more could I ask for? I may not have the feelings for Mr. Brazil like I did for Mr. Arizona. I wonder if I ever will. Or if I will ever get over this feeling of emptiness that I seem to have since he left. But for now I’m enjoying uncomplicated. And a little uncomplicated and fun is just what I need right now. Looks like this is shaping up to be one hell of a winter break…

The end of another romance...

“There are plenty of good ways to break up with someone
and it doesn't include a Post-It.”
Sex and the City

Carrie Bradshaw might have gotten a post-it, but all I got was a text message. Which actually was fitting since Mr. Arizona and I spent more time text messaging than we did in person, that's what happens when you date someone in a different state. I’m not surprised the break up happened. I knew it was never going to work out. He lived a state away and neither of us wanted anything long distance. I always knew he would start to see someone else, after all he starting seeing me when he had a girlfriend. I always knew it was casual. I even spent Saturday night getting to know Mr. Brazil a little better. But surprisingly it still hurt. I always thought that if he and I ever got our shit together at the same time we would work out. Turns out we both were ready for a relationship at the same time, the only problem was I was ready for one with him and he was ready for one with someone else. We always did have bad timing.

As I sit here once again in the Phoenix airport and drowning my sorrows (and a few tears) in my beer I started to think about the men in my life. The one’s I’ve thrown away, the ones that have thrown me away, and those few that have stuck with me through all of them. I’ve met some amazing guys, and some not so amazing guys, but I’ve never met Mr. Right. I’ve meet Mr. Right now but the actual Mr. Right has alluded me. Normally a break-up would have me giving up hope that my true soul mate is out there, but I spent the weekend with two couples that showed me what it really means to be in love, my parents and my grandparents. I flew out to Ohio over the weekend to spend time with my family and to be there while my grandmother had surgery. It wasn’t a major surgery, but she’s been in bad health so any surgery turns into a major operation.

My grandfather refused to eat while my grandmother was in surgery. Even after she was in recovery he wouldn’t eat until she woke up. We sat there from 6 in the morning until she woke up at 2 that afternoon. Everyone coming and going to pass the time. But he wouldn’t budge. And you should have seen his face when she finally woke up. It was an expression of true love that I’ve never seen. And as soon as he got to her side, she grabbed him around the neck, pulled him towards her, and gave him a romantic only seen in the movies kiss. After 60 years they are just falling more and more in love with each other every day. And while she slept he just sat there staring at her face. One hand holding hers and the other rubbing her hair. The rest of us read, and talked, and watched TV. But he would just sit there and watch her. Her guardian angel.

That night I watched my parents leave the hospital holding hands. After 40 years they can’t go more than a few minutes without touching each other. Last weekend they had to sleep on couches since there weren’t enough beds for everyone. But they refused to sleep on separate couches. Instead they even slept head to foot on the couch so they can fit. I asked my mom, why not sleep apart. She responded, we don’t sleep apart. It’s amazing that after all those years they still crave each other’s touch.

After spending time with them I realized soul mates really do exist. Sometimes you find your soul mate when you are in kindergarten, sometimes you find them right next door, and sometimes they find you when you least expect it.