Meet..me!

My name is Azure. I'm 30 (although now closer to 31), have tattoos (9), body piercings (14), dye my hair unnaturally black and wear, at most times, unfashionable amounts of black. I love chocolate, champagne and music, think science is sexy and have a great love for the foreign and exotic.
I used to be quite the social creature until a couple of years ago, when I followed my boyfriend across the country and back, eventually settling in New Orleans. It has always been his ambition to build a boat. One large enough to live on. Finding a place for him to construct it has been a search that has spanned years, and lots of mileage on the car. Then, I got pregnant and the plan got put on hold. I joke sometimes and say there was something in the water here, because it was pretty amazing how fast we conceived once we moved to the "dirty South". It was either the water or the Bloody Marys. So, a difficult and laborous pregnancy later, we had a baby. He works, and I stay at home with her. There hasn't been much time for a social life in a while, and yet I have been craving it for a bit! Time to indulge, I guess?
I have been particularly inspired (and colored green with envy) by two girl friends of mine whom have both been blogging for a while and thus have beautiful pages that I read daily with enthusiasm. Were I half as interesting to read as either of them are, I'll be doing great.
So, I compiled a list, trying keep out as much of my pessimistic negativity as possible, of some of the good things about myself. Here's where I have gotten to thus far on my new journey of self-discovery: one- I am a trained florist. I went to school for design, for crying out loud. I have shop experience of a decade under my belt. I have worked in Arlington, Virginia and San Diego, California. two- I am a mother to a pretty, energetic little girl named Whitney. She's a year old (or, will be in two days, close enough!) and very excitable and clever, sometimes to a fault. She's awesome and I love her dearly. three- Despite my issues I have with him sometimes, I have a partner whom I adore. He's brilliant, attractive and a stellar father to our daughter. four- I once had a knack for writing, back in the days when I was able to devote more time to it and was in constant practice. I think I should get back into the practice of writing every day again, because I really did love it once and I think we should always make room in our lives for things we are passionate about. five- I once used to read as much as I wrote. I should really get back into the practice of doing that too. I found my vocabulary was better and I had more interesting things to talk about. Didn't write as many run-on sentences either.
So, there is my list for now. As my journey progresses, no doubt the list will get longer. I am happy about this and look forward to seeing how things turn out with this new writing venture.

*An update, in between finally getting the baby to take a nap and cleaning up the kitchen a little. I forgot to mention earlier my interest in theater. New Orleans is bursting at the seams with small, community theaters doing everything from stage plays to puppet shows to comedy acts. I feel it necessary to get in on some of this action. ...But, what's an already busy mom to do? Wonder if I can snag a small role or two and bring my kid with me to rehearsals? I wonder...
I am also thinking of cake. Not for me, of course, but for Whitney's birthday in two days. What kind of cake does one make for a one-year-old? Correction: What kind of cake does a mom on a pretty severe budget make for a one-year-old? There are only three of us that will be eating it, and food storage in our mini-fridge
is limited, at best. I have two tiny, square baking tins, so I'm thinking of using both. I'm sure she'd like chocolate cake, but the mess from that would be something else. Maybe I'll do that for her
second birthday.Vanilla cake would be a better mess to clean up. At least it's not going to stain. Cake query solved! ;)
So, to follow up the fattening paragraph, I give you the latest gym report. My weight loss seems to have stopped at 195. I am sad about this, as one day I should like very much to fit into my size 8 clothes again. But, I will make the best of it and continue to go to the gym as often as I can. I think it is also worth mentioning that since I started going to the gym I have gone from a size 24 (women's xxxl) to a size 16 (women's xl), and went from 245 leaving the hospital after the birth of my daughter to 195 for the
past few months. I'd like to get back to something like 140 or so and size 8-10. That would suit me just fine.
It also occurs to me that our very short winter in New Orleans is virtually gone and I need to hit the streets with Whitney to find us some shady, lush parks to visit before the weather gets any hotter. I think I will first start with Washington Square in the Marigny. It's a decent walk through a pretty neighborhood (albeit terrible sidewalks for baby strollers) and, last I looked, it was a pretty palm-lined walk, with a playground for kids. I hope they have the swings with the bucket seats so Whitney can play too! The walks
and parks should mean some more exercise for me, and perhaps some good photo-ops too. I have a camera, that I use seldomly because I am too lazy to pull the pictures off the memory card and
onto the laptop. Sounds pretty easy and straight-forward, right? Wrong! I somehow manage to mess it up every time. Shame on me for admitting defeat so easily, I should do better. I should do better, and I will.
The late afternoon sun is shining in through the door windows and hitting me right in the face, reminding me that I have not cleaned the kitchen as I had set out to do. I must run...