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The Downside of a Sacramento Real Estate Year-End Celebration
Based on Trendgraphix reports, it looks as though there is only one agent out of the 1,000 or so agents at Lyon Real Estate who sold more homes in 2013 than this Sacramento real estate agent, and that agent works primarily in another county in the Foothills of Sacramento. This is what I do when I come back from my winter vacation — clean up my 2013 records and begin 2014, fresh, on the ground and running. I also look at my big fat belly and wonder how it got that way and why it’s in my way.
Almost 3 whole chickens have crept their way into my body while I lay sleeping, dreaming of carrots and celery. I was soooo good on vacation. While I watched my husband enjoy cheesy omelets for breakfast, I spooned nonfat yogurt with berries into my face. There was no “bacon fest” like one can enjoy in January at Ella Dining Room and Bar. Even for lunch I was somewhat restrained: salads and soups. We walked and explored Key West. At night I pounded on my computer to respond to all the emails I received about Sacramento real estate. That 10-finger action alone burned many calories, I’m certain.
Most of the dinner menus in the Florida Keys involved some sort of shellfish or seafood, generally grilled. OK, there was breeeaaaaad and the teensiest bit of butter. A few desserts. All right, maybe a dessert almost every night. A cocktail, maybe. A glass or two of wine. Perhaps a 20-year tawny after dinner. But it was a minuscule glass of tawny, barely two ounces. I really detest having to face the fact that when you live long enough to cross the 60-year mark, you’ve got to watch what you shove into your face.
I did — I watched the magnificent gastronomic creations with great delight. Night after night. Never took my eyes off the fabulous displays of culinary genius placed in my view and with both hands shoved into my pie hole. Snatched a few French fries off my husband’s plate, too. I even hauled carry-out containers back to our hotel and left the lobster-cheesy-macaroni in the mini bar to rot.
The beginning was so innocent. I started out by leaving half of my food on my plate. Yeah, that’s a good plan. By the end of our vacation, I couldn’t pass by a gelato sign without stopping inside for a taste and a two-scoop treat. I hang my head in shame. Now I must pay the price for such gluttony. Maybe I will wear a cardboard box to my Sacramento real estate office meeting, with a hole cut in the top for my head to poke through.
Or, maybe I will just get back on the elliptical and resume a sensible diet. My clients don’t care if I gain 10 pounds or lose 10 pounds as long as I get the job done.
The Morning of New Year’s Eve in Key West
Key West Hotel Pool on Oceanfront
Not surprisingly, Key West guidebooks don’t tell you that if you stay at an oceanfront resort near Mallory Square, you might very well wake up to a docked honkin’ huge cruise ship blocking your view of sunrises until evening sunsets. It’s not like these floating cities are indiscreet or small, they take up the space of 3 city blocks. Yet, the party goes on and on, just like Peter Gabriel’s ghost likes to travel. It’s a good time to celebrate New Year’s Eve in Key West.
White pelicans look so intelligent
This New Year’s Eve morning in Key West, the cruise ship is gone. Herring gulls are screeching, flying back and forth near our balconies; and I can only imagine that this behavior is due to some hotel guests either deliberately feeding them or thoughtlessly leaving food scraps where the birds can reach. It’s like gulls are yelling: get up, it’s 8:00 a.m.; where’s my bagel? The sounds of birds certainly beats that persnickety baby whining down below, and I’m so relieved his parents had the good sense to pick up their bottles of beer and chocolate doughnuts and wheel the kid off the pier.
Key West Pier Early Afternoon
If that doesn’t wake you up, Room Service will. We could leave a note on the door-hanger order that asks the deliverer to quietly open the door, deposit the cart and leave, like I have done on other occasions. There is no reason I need to meet face-to-face with a food-service cart pusher when my hair looks like it got caught in a blender on the way to the door, with one arm in my robe and the other sleeve over my leg dragging the tie.
Bougainvillea in hotel lobby at Key West
After one is up and retreats to her balcony to place laptop in lap because the table is too low to type, unless one wants to plant fat butt on hard cold ceramic floor, there is no going back to sleep. The hotel guys are busy pushing out all of the carts, grills, tables, folding chairs, cut-out palm tree stands and other important decorative accessories to the pier, clanging, jangling. Tonight, all of Key West will descend on this place to watch the Key Lime Ball drop and celebrate New Year’s Eve in Key West. Our bellman — who told us “we do not judge in Key West,” yet some fool pushed our tutu-wearing bellman off his bike and gave him a gash on his forehead — will be there, no doubt.
Pink Floyd Singer in Mallory Square
Elbow-to-elbow bodies, spilling drinks on each other, shrieking, hollering, dancing, bumping and grinding, singing at the top of their merry little COPD lungs and having a helluva good time, which they will not remember the following morning. I wish I could show you a photo of the Key Lime Ball drop, as I am in a good position to do so. But that would require staying up until midnight to enjoy a proper New Year’s Eve in Key West, and that just ain’t gonna happen.
Photos: Elizabeth Weintraub and Adam Weintraub
