Martini Cartwheels

Agh. What a bad blogger I have been this year. I've wanted to post. I've thought about posting. I didn't write much. And every year at this time I say "I will be better next year!" I got caught up with taking exercising classes, reading about photography, visiting my mother in the nursing home, working. Things that were important and sometimes time consuming but not always enjoyable. Blogging depends a lot on my mood too. I have to be in that funny, crazy, happy place in order to write something that has a chance of making folks chuckle. Seeing as it is December 29th, I'll say it once more. I will try to be a better blogger next year. Really.

I want to give a shout out to friend, fellow blogger and filmmaker, Laine, was interviewed Sunday evening on A World Of Progress Radio where she discussed her current project. I think this film is going to have it all - intrigue, drama, suspense. And it's based on lesbian characters. What more could a girl ask for? Please see Laine's website, Magnolia Bay Films , for additional details.

If you use Stat Counter or another analytics tool, you can find the most common search keywords that direct people to your blog. Here are my recent keywords as of today: porn actress roniqa: I have a friend with a similar name that I have mentioned once or twice on this blog. To the best of my knowledge, she is not a porn star. However, Blondie and I did go to a strip club with her once and had a most excellent time. mouse droppings in pool: I've referenced our pool, aka "The Wet Spot" and "That hole in the ground into which I pour water and money". Every now and again I have had to retrieve a mouse from the pool, who although shit scared, prefers to leave all his droppings in the shed prior to going for a swim. blondies teeth: Yes, I did blog about Blondie's teeth. Because she still has them, and I'm not taking about the ones in her head. She has her baby teeth along with some of the dog's puppy teeth tucked away. I plan to string them together o...

Some of you may know that the name of my blog was inspired by my Dad, a pretty quiet and shy guy who could be coaxed to do a cartwheel or two after having his Saturday afternoon martini. Here is a great video to inspire each of you to do your own cartwheels. I would try, but trust me, I would hurt myself. The video is by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and she has some very cool short films on her website. Mission Amy KR: Cartwheels! from WBEZ on Vimeo .

Ok, yes, I suck. I want to read your blogs. I LOVE your posts. But work is kicking my ass and so I have little time to do what I want to do which is making me crabby. Add that to my diet and I just want to scream. Please don't hate me. You all rock. PS I've decided that potty words are ok to post. Hope that doesn't offend anyone.

Hey I got a shout out from my buddy Solo who is the creator of one of my favorite blogs in the blogosphere , SoloHomo . Solo has a way of making people feel inspired and excited about life and the world around us. And her heart is as big as her home state of Texas. It's always such an honor to get a mention from one of you. I so appreciate all the wonderful friends I have made since I started this blog. You all hold a very special place in my heart and not a day goes by that I am not thankful for meeting you all. Everyone one of you has made me think, laugh, and/or cry at some point. My life is better because of you all. I want to pass this award onto Chewy at The Back Of My Headboard , another one of my favorites. Chewy was the first person to ever comment on my blog back in June of 2007. Her beautiful and creative art work has really opened up my eyes to the way a picture can make you feel and think. She too has been a great source of inspiration to keep on blogging. I want t...

I knew this would happen. I hung on as long as I could last night but the counter wouldn't budge from 19, 996. This morning it is at 20,003. From what I can gather from my stat counter, the 20,000 hit came from Richmond, VA. And I have an idea who that may be. I am going to contact them today to see if they popped by for a visit around 10:45 PM Eastern time last night. If it's not this person, I have a pretty good idea who visited around that time. I may just throw those names in a hat and pick one. Hopefully I will have some sort of confirmation by the end of the day today. Update to follow. ------------- Update: Looks like there were two hits fairly close together. So the winners are Mr. Moto and Lilli of http://lillianveronica.blogspot.com/ . Mr. Moto gets a Star Motorcycle t-shirt and Lilli gets a Northampton, MA t-shirt from the Pride and Joy store ( http://www.nohoprideandjoy.com/ ). Or if you prefer, an iTunes or Amazon gift certificate. Some people are not into t-shirt...

In order to make up for my pumpkin guffaw, I'm thinking a prize is in order. I'm about 400 hits away from 20,000 and I want to award a prize to the visitor who hits that mark. I have a couple of ideas in mind, something representative of the area in which I live (and no, it won't be a pumpkin or me in a pumpkin costume). The rules are simple: 1) The 20,000 visitor must have visited and left a comment at least one time prior to that hit. 2) If the hit occurs at 3:00 AM I am mostly likely not going to catch it. If I can't narrow it down to the specific person, I will throw the names that hit around that time into a hat and pull one winner. If you happen to visit, and scroll down to the counter and see 20,000 please let me know. Otherwise, I will rely on on my stat counters to identify you. I'm guess-timating that the hit should come within the next month. Unless of course you are sick and tired of me. Then it will take a bit longer. Happy clicking.

Our buddy Rizzo from Vancouver and The 100 Day Season came for a visit this past weekend. Rizzo is cool, even if she did snap a picture of me in the stall. Here are some pics from our evening out. First stop, the Hu Ke Lau restaurant. After that, it was play time in Northampton. Love ya buddy! *I'm thinking this slideshow is probably not too exciting but I wanted to try playing around a bit with iPhoto. Some of the pics seem to be chopped a bit, but it was still fun playing around with app.

So I got this cool award and tag from Propane Amy . Thanks Amy - that was very sweet of you! Now the tough part - I am supposed to list 10 things about myself. I think I made one of these lists before - and I had a really hard time doing it. Can I do a list of five things twice instead? 1. I think I could win if I went on Big Brother. 2. I think I would get voted off first if I went on Survivor. 3. I think I would dislocate a knee and shoulder if I went on Wipe Out. 4. I think the judges ears would bleed if I tried out for American Idol. 5. I think my audition for So You Think You Can Dance would consist of doing the Bump. 6. Can you walk the cat walk on America's Next Top Model in Doc Martens? I could do that (maybe). Fierce. 7. I think Chef Ramsey would not be impressed with my signature meal which consists of crackers, cheese, and Pinot Grigio. I also do a wicked Chips and Dip. 8. I think I would suck on The Apprentice. I have nothing to wear. CJ, you're ...

Forgive me Blogger, for I have sinned. It has been 15 days since my last post. No, I have not abandoned Martini Cartwheels or my fellow bloggers. I have really missed posting and reading all your blogs. I want to blame work, but I know we all are busy and that is probably a wimpy excuse. But, in my defense, work has been very busy and very stressful and my brain is pretty much mush when I get home. See that picture of the smoking martini up there? Well, that took me over an hour to edit out the background, which of course left me quite frustrated and not feeling like posting. See, I thought that the Magic Lasso tool was something else entirely. I hope to be back to regular posting and reading this week. And I hope to maybe make the posts a little less cautious and sanitized. I'm not sure what that means exactly. I don't plan on dropping F bombs left and right but I would like to use this blog as an outlet for things I keep tucked away in my head. I hope to be visiting you all...

I've gotten two cool awards recently from a couple of very nice ladies. Thank you to Lesbo over at girls, girls, girls for A Perfect Blend Of Friendship Award and to LilliGirl at It's A Great Life... for the One Lovely Blog Award. I follow both of these great blogs and am very flattered to have gotten a shout out from Lesbo and LilliGirl.  Thank you both.  

I've seen posts on two of the cool blogs I follow ( Keep Calm And Carry On  and Pixie Flute ) that there is some new camera buying going on amongst my fellow bloggers. I just got a new Canon PowerShot SX200 and really have no idea what I am doing yet.  Below are a couple of pictures I took at the Mohegan Sun Casino. I had to use iPhoto to adjust them as they appeared a bit dark and not quite as sharp as I like. I see such great photos on the blogs that I visit. I'm wondering - do most people use their photos as is, out of the camera, or do the majority of photos need to be adjusted in some way with software? Sometimes I feel like I am 'cheating' a bit when I enhance photos before posting them. I'm curious as to what other's out there do and think.

Time once again to see how people are finding me. Here are the top  search keys that lead to this blog. The following phrases were pulled from my site data on Stat Counter. martini cartwheels - Good to know folks are searching for me by name. ding dong martini - To me, a ding dong is a male organ. Have I used the term "ding dong" in any posts? I really hope not. Any martini that has had a ding dong in it is not going in my mouth.  how to make cartwheel sandwich - WTF is a cartwheel sandwich? Something you make on a hamburg bun? Maybe you stick fries in the sides of the sandwich for arms and legs and then spin it around on your plate. girls love stiffy's -  Sorry, but a lot of the girls that read this blog do not love stiffy's. Back to that male organ thing again I see. kahkeys the pants - Yes, that is how they pronounce khakis in Boston. Sad but true. eugene delgaudio - He doesn't like gay people and yes I have blogged about him because he is mean and he hurt my f...

I got some sort of virus the other day on my Windows laptop. Apparently there is this "go to google" Trojan that is making it's way across the internet . I'm pretty careful. I use anti-virus software and try to stay away from clicking on anything that looks suspicious. And I don't download a heck of a lot of stuff. I haven't been on any porno sites for months. (I'm just kidding - really - just wanted to see if you are paying attention). When this sucker hosed my laptop, which now refuses to even boot up, I got a little frustrated. This incident, combined with the problems my new desktop PC had right out of the box, got me to thinking that maybe all those Mac users were onto something. So I went out and bought a new MacBook . I still have a bit to learn. But so far I am really loving it. And I was able to get it going right out of the box which is nice for a change. So all you Mac users out there - OC , Chewy ,  Janet - any and all tips, tricks, and sugg...

I was tagged for a meme by J at Mid Life Clarity (a great read by the way). I've been thinking about this one. I may have posted a similar list like this at one time, but it's been while. So here goes: Link to your tagger and list these rules on your blog. * Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog - some random, some weird. * Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blog. * Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.1. 1. I spend a work day and a half (based on an 8 hour day) in the car commuting to work three days a week. I've pretty much decided that 4 hours a day in the car isn't worth the toll it is taking (and the tolls I'm paying) . 2. Watches are probably my favorite type of jewelery and I spend too much money on them. 3. I threw up cream of mushroom soup on the desk in kindergarten and have not been able to eat it since. 4. Northampton is one of my favorite towns in the United State...

I got this award last week from OC over at Bears Mountain . Thank you very much OC! Here are the rules that go with this award. 1. The winner can put the logo on their blog 2. Link the person you received your award from 3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs. 4. Put links of those blogs on yours. 5. Leave a message on the blogs you’ve nominated. Well, since it is at least 7 blogs, I decided to nominate all of the blogs on my blogroll. I've done this for two reasons. First off, I really do love all the blogs I have listed in my sidebar. Secondly, it is freaking 5:00 AM in the morning here in Massachusetts people. And to single out only 7 of you would hurt my brain thereby making my 77 mile commute more painful than it already is.

I want to thank Kelly over at The Lesbian Lifestyle for giving me a shout out. I was totally taken by surprise to see this write-up. Thank you so much Kelly! I am honored to be mentioned on such a great site!

My friend Stiffy sent me this link to a web site that will tell you the number one song on the day you were born: http://www.joshhosler.biz/NumberOneInHistory/SelectMonth.htm . Mine is "I Get Around" by the Beach Boys. Round, round, get around, I get a round waist from sitting in the car for 4 hours a day. Yes, that's my song.

While I wasn't looking my stat counter reached the 5000 mark. That's cool. I was hoping to catch the 5000 th hit however and offer the lucky person some sort of prize, like one of the state quarters my mother had given me. I think a lot of the people who land here do so by mistake. They Google something interesting and fun like porn star martini , puddin ' pants , it gets the hose again, or flesh colored dog worms and they end up here, disappointed that they really haven't found what they are looking for. Well, no matter how people get here, I do appreciate any and all visits. And if you think you were the 5000 th hit, drop me a line. There's a state quarter here with your name on it.