There is so much fun to be had when you’re people watching.

Daniel and I were sitting outside a restaurant, eating sandwiches, when I noticed this woman walking up who had on a one piece dress. What’s the name? They look like nightgowns. Anyway, a strong breeze came along and pressed that dress right up against her. I could see every detail of her vagina, right down to the pubic hair, and I pointed it out to Daniel.

“Hey, look who’s rockin’ out the camel toe today!” I said to him. Then he looked over and we both had a giggle like school boys.

Just then, I looked over and saw this straight couple coming out of the restaurant. The man held the door open because he saw the woman in the “nightgown” strutting up the sidewalk. I turned to Daniel and said, “You know he’s going to check her out in front of his girlfriend, right?”

Sure enough, he did. His eyes went right for her ass and his girlfriend saw the whole thing. So then the girlfriend smacked him on the back of the head and we just burst out laughing. Daniel looked at the girlfriend and gave her the thumbs up as the boyfriend walked forward in shame.

Busted! I love watching human nature play out.


“The most powerful weapon in a relationship is having your boyfriend’s Mom on your side.”

That was a quote from one of Daniel’s friends, and I humbly agree.

So… Daniel sings in a gay/gay-friendly choir and their spring concert was this past weekend. I got to meet his parents and some of their closest family friends.

The checklist was constantly rotating in my head:

- Do not tell dick jokes
- Do not make Jesus jokes
- Do not swear
- Do not leave bite marks on Daniel’s neck

At first, I was quiet. I’m always quiet when I meet people. I’m not shy, I’m just observant. If I’m talking, that means they’re not. And if they’re not talking, how can I figure them out?

Figuring people out is a constant obsession of mine.

It all went smoothly, and once I’d warmed up, I had a good sense of them. I knew his Mother loves FarmVille on Facebook, so I made witty banter about cows and chickens, and how people get hardcore if you don’t harvest your crops daily. I noticed his Father was trying to figure out a new video camera he’d just purchased, so I listened as he showed off all the cool features and let him educate me on the different types of memory cards.

Little things… It’s all in the small details.

I think it’s safe to say they like me… And as Daniel’s friend pointed out, it’s all about winning over Mom. If Mom likes me, I’m golden. There is no stronger ally than your boyfriend’s Mother. :)


Nathan Exposed


As much as I hate them, it’s impossible to avoid them.

Accepting that we all have secrets is a difficult pill to swallow. I’m endlessly curious about everyone, and would like to believe that I know everything about the people I love.

When I find out someone has a secret, I get upset. I realize a person can’t possibly share all their secrets at once. Even if they have the honest intention to tell me everything, it can’t be done overnight.

But the unknown scares me. Getting to know a person takes awhile, and I’m still getting to know Daniel. He’s 43 and I’m 28. With a 15 year age gap between us, it’s just inevitable that he has more history than I do.

So I’m learning new things; some good, some bad. None of them deal breakers. We just have a past. We ALL have a past. We all have things we wish hadn’t happened, and wish they’d go away. But when these secrets get brought to the surface, they can be haunting.

I guess it’s my intense curiosity about human nature that keeps me entertained. But I’m often unprepared for what I’ll discover underneath.



“Oh, Kathleen…”

The month of May got off to a fun start with a weekend trip to Knoxville with Daniel. I’d never been to Knoxville but it was just a 3 hour trip from Nashville and I had bought tickets to see Kathy Griffin.

We got into town in late afternoon and I drove around by the theatre she would be performing at… Located on Gay St., of all places. I could already tell we were close because it looked like a pride parade! Gay men and big ol’ burly dykes were browsing the local downtown shops and restaurants next to the theatre. I found a place to park and we walked around, enjoying the weather and looking for a place to eat.

Dinner was amazing at a place called Cafe 4 at Market Square. Everything sounded so good on the menu. We sat outside and people watched until it was time for the show. It was being filmed for Kathy’s next Bravo special, called “Kathy Griffin Does the Bible Belt.” Be sure to watch it on June 6!

Our seats were fairly decent. They were in the middle, and would have been close enough for a comedy show. But we were ambitious and wanted the front row view. So we hunted down two seats that were 6 rows from the stage, right in the center with a clear view of the microphone. Other people piled into the section, with every seat sold out. I got a little nervous, thinking at any minute, someone would show up and boot us out. But amazingly, nobody did!

Kathy was hilarious, as always. This was my third time at her show. I saw her in Nashville in 2006 and 2007. Unfortunately she skipped out 2008 and 2009, but when I found out she was going to be in Knoxville in 2010, I knew I had to go.

The cameras were very close to our seats, so maybe you’ll even see us there! I didn’t get any clear shots of Kathy because the stage lighting was so bright. But here’s one:


“With enough lube, I could take this whole thing…”


Sooo… cats don’t like water too much, do they?

It all started when I loaded up the cats to take them over to Daniel’s house. They usually travel fairly well. But on this particular night, one of my cats had a little accident on herself. As a result, she needed a bath.

Well, she just wasn’t having that. As soon as she got in the water, she turned my right arm into a scratching post and climbed up it. Yeeeouch!

Oh, but the fun didn’t stop there.

I put her back in the water, because apparently I didn’t learn my lesson the first time. Next came the razor sharp claws tearing through flesh, followed by the outpouring of blood from my hand.

But you know we still finished that bath. I’d already been torn to shreds; I sure as hell wasn’t having a cat running around with dried urine on her.

So that’s the story of my bad kitteh. :(


Did you hear the one about the city that got so much rain, it became an island?

So, um, yeah… The city of Nashville is flooded and we can’t blame poor levees like New Orleans did. One weekend, Mother Nature just decided to dump about 18 inches of rain on us. Oh, but wait, there’s more…

It started on Saturday morning, May 1st, when tornados ripped through 3 states. Scared the hell of out me, especially after last year, when a tornado demolished a neighborhood down the street from me. But that was just the appetizer. We had no idea what was coming next.

Rain. Lots and lots of rain. By late afternoon, they were shutting down parts of the interstate because they were flooded. By evening, people were forced to flee and by the time we went to bed, I had friends who had completely lost their homes and vehicles.

Sunday morning came and there was a brief break, but then the rain started again, and the flooding got worse. By that point, entire sections of the city were halfway underwater. The force was so strong that buildings were just floating off the foundation. The famous Opryland hotel evacuated 1,500 guests without electricity.

By Monday morning, the rain had finally stopped. The Cumberland River, which flows right through the famous downtown area of Nashville, was 51 feet high and water began spilling into the city streets, shutting everything down.

It’s been quite an adventure here in Tennessee! Thankfully I’m safe and dry in the suburbs. Whew.


I love my two cats.

They have outlasted every man and every relationship I’ve had in the last 10 years. And yes, I know they’re just animals, but they’re my little girls. I can always count on them to be there for me unconditionally.

My cats require a bit of work. They hiss at strangers, throw up hairballs on the carpet, and occasionally have “accidents.” They also get very clingy when I’m gone too much. If you don’t like clinginess, you probably wouldn’t like them.

With all that said, most of the men I’ve dated in the past haven’t been very loving towards them. This has always upset me because I naturally want someone who accepts them.

Daniel, the man I’m with now, the one I consider to be the love of my life, has a refreshingly different approach to my girls. He understands that they are shy at first and he’s been patient with them. He accepts them and believes with great optimism that someday they will warm up to him.

So yesterday, Daniel came home with two bowls and a mat with little hearts cut out of the sides. He set them out in a corner of the kitchen, looking quite proud of the mini-dining area he’d created for my girls. Then he said with a smile, “Now you have a place for the girls to eat when they come over.”

This tiny gesture means more than I can even express in words. Yeah, it’s just a bowl and a piece of fabric. I know that. But it symbolizes true acceptance. It’s his way of saying he wants to accomodate my babies if I bring them over to his house. He wants them to be part of our time together. That means so much to me.

Anyone can say they love you. That’s easy. But it’s the actions that really prove it. The small acts of kindness show the depth of it. Daniel constantly amazes me with his thoughtfulness and attention to detail. I’m so happy to have him.