My dad passed away this morning. Arthur Lovell Rest in Peace

Death seems to be all around me. My dad has not eaten one bite in 3 weeks. Dying holds no dignity. The fables of aging gracefully and dying being peaceful are not always true. I have been reading a book called The Faults of our Stars. In the book the protagonist is a teenage cancer patient ( mandatory book reading for 8th graders). The main character reads this one book over and over. The ending of this book is a sentence that is not finished. You do not find out what happens to the various characters. That’s it. the book she loves ends with no real resolution. But that’s the truth. People die everyday and life goes on. Today the police searched my neighborhood for a gunman. Had he stopped at my house and shot me ( yes I would of died pissed) , life would of continued. The parents in pennsylvania that married for their dying son, held their son while he died today. I can’t truly understand their misery but life will continue. Daniel and I went to dinner tonight. We spoke about every bar in the system including bars we haven’t opened yet. Then of course we spoke about the upcoming triathlon. When I got home to face my next trip, I thought about my dad and how he went to the doctor . They told him how his cancer had spread and he literally went home to die. I feel great physically. Other then a few issues at work my life is outstanding. If I was told tomorrow that I was going to die. I think I would still do this triathlon. I know it might seem simplistic but I want to keep challenging myself. OK 3 wines with Daniel and I am getting mushy. Sorry. New topic.
Of course A Rod took steroids. He’s obviously off of them now that’s why he looks like shit. Save the money prosecuting him, this isn’t rocket science

Woke up today a little weepy because I accepted an offer for my house. Well weepiness is over the police just showed up looking for a gun man in my neighborhood. Oh brother . Now my thoughts are ” I better not die before I sell this fucking house.
My whole Key West anniversary party has collapsed . I need to scramble

The article entitled ” The other F word” has come back to bite me in the ass. All week I have been thinking to myself, ” maybe I call myself fat too much in front of Jackson.” ” Maybe his dad and I shouldn’t joke about being fat and lazy if he’s playing his playstation.” ( again Jackson is lean ). Today Jackson and I ran the Balboa Park 8 mile run. The first 4 miles Jackson struggled. At the water station I decided to take off and just meet up with him at the finish line. In my mind I was thinking ” I have to take this play station away if he is this out of shape.” I was a 1/4 mile away from the 8 mile finish line when my phone rings. ” Mom where are you?” Dude I am still running. OH NO. When I crossed the finish line Jackson said ” Who’s the slow fatass now!” Yup that would be me. lol. He must of passed me somewhere between mile 6-7. Damn . Oh god he’s is going to rub this in all day.
The phone just rang. ” Miss Lovell the tenant in your Pensacola condo left a pot on the stove. There was no interior damage to the condo but the fire department broke down the front door.” URGH
Haven’t read one manager’s log all week. Let’s hope it was a good week.

I saw the Light!!! I just read an article about The Miss Rodeo of America Pageant. I have got to be a part of this. These incredible women must look good in a dress with a full face of makeup and be asked to jump on a strangers horse and ride like a master horseman. OH MY GOD, I need to sponsor someone! I can see the Coyote Ugly leather chaps next to the Coyote Ugly ballroom gown. I wonder if any of our girls in Denver can ride? Deedee a woman who worked on the set of the Coyote Ugly tv show was a wrangler. She had training roping, riding , and wrangling. I need to call her.
Last night we picked our cover for the 2014 Coyote Ugly Calendar. It came down to two different girls . We went back and forth a million times. Finally I sent it out to 3 friends and they all unanimously picked one picture over the other. Bam 2014 calendar ready for production.

Yes I am again painfully trying to pretend I am on vacation. Well today has been a parent’s nightmare. The digital classes that Jackson signed up for have been horrible. In fact the classroom lost electricity most of Monday and part of Tuesday. So today I had him come to swim training in the Pacific with this coach. What a mistake.It was very cold today. About 65 and very overcast. The water temperature was 64 degrees which is fairly cold for swimming. We both wore wetsuits and the coach made us swim out to get used to rough, cold conditions because in his words ” a real triathlete” needs to be ready for anything. ( dude I am doing a triathlon in Destin, fl. Water temp today was 85). So it was really cold and the water was very rough. Jackson was miserable. Honestly it’s two sided. The coach is very serious, really no humor at all. And Jackson was a bit shy about getting in and out of his wetsuit in front of so many people. So when the kid’s unhappy it means the parent is unhappy. Urgh. Then I come home to relax and read the news when low and behold there is an article about another F word I am not supposed to be saying in front of my child and that word is “FAT”. I call myself a fatass all the time. HIs dad will joke with Jackson ” get your fat ass off the couch and do the treadmill.” Jackson will joke with me ” Mom your fat butt is more buoyant in the water then mine. Maybe if Jackson was chunky I would curb that word but he is lean with broad shoulders. He has been raised to be kind to people, I know he would never call anyone fat. In the article this woman talks about her various children being of different shapes and sizes. I know I will get hell for this but is the underlying problem not that getting called fat hurts their confidence but that as parents if we watch their diet and exercise they would not have weight issues? Hence not being put in a position to get called fat? Fine I will try and curb the word fat but that might mean the other F bomb comes out a bit more frequently .

I had a ball at the San Antonio anniversary party. The whole staff was incredible. They had a Michael Jackson and a Dolly Parton impersonator. Fun. But I really enjoyed the dance off between one of the bouncers , Antwon, and one of the bartenders, Bounce. Antwon was good but Bounce schooled him. She may be one of the best dancers in the company . Outstanding. Marsha put her heart and soul into the anniversary. Chantel and Lauren , wow the girls rocked!
I am in La Jolla with Jackson. He’s enrolled in a digital media camp. Unfortunately they had no electricity for half the day which ruined his experience. God I hope they get their act together tomorrow . I already have that dread of ” we want a refund” talk bubbling. Also teenagers dwell on the negative things. Urgh. Well on a positive note I swam in the Pacific Ocean today with a triathlon coach. I had to wear a wetsuit because the water was freezing. Sea lions were swimming right next to me. When you get over the first bit of surprise it was so incredibly powerful. As I am writing , sitting in this warm condo, listening to music , I am realizing I may not be painting an accurate picture. I sucked! Really I sucked! Lol I swallowed so much salt water and had to keep stopping. The coach , he’s very nice but very serious. ” miss Lovell there is something very wrong with your breathe technique.” Could it be that I swallow water every time I try to take a breathe? Regardless, I may have sucked but I did it! I swam about 700 meters in the frigid Pacific Ocean! That’s a win in my book. I high fived him when we got out of the water. I could see his surprise ” why is this woman happy about sucking?” I said to him ” I didn’t drown and I swam near sea lions! Awesome”. I saw the switch turn in his eyes ” owe she just wants to finish but not be good. ” lol. Well tomorrow he wants to see me run since according to him , my run times are horrible. I will let him feel good by putting me through the ringer. On land I won’t die , hopefully.
Big decisions on the calendar cover. Tough call

Anna from the NY bar was on the Andy Cohen show last night. Awesome. I think it aires on Sunday evening.
My sister and I are scrambling to try and get things in place for my parents. I just erased the page long rant on the position they have left us in. This should be a time of peaceful reflection with my dying dad instead we are spending hours on calls with lawyers, collection agencies, and funeral homes. My dad did not specify anything so we were even argued about urns. My sister’s stance is “why spend so much money on an urn if it will eventually get buried?” My issue is ” I don’t feel good spending less money on my Dad’s urn then my Dog’s”.
Heading to San Antonio. Wine and steak with Chantel and Marsha.

Memories of being a floor manager. I just read some of Jess’s ( Austin AM) frustrations with the girls .lol

“1.Why are you standing still, and what are you starring at…or thinking
about? Are you thinking about how packed we are? Wondering how many people
need a drink and are starring back at you wondering if you even work here?
2.Are you a singer? Seriously though…do you think you are?
3.If you won’t shake it for Luke Bryant, who will you shake it for…will
you shake it for your job?
4.Might you be interested in letting me show you our merch selection
incase you would like to sell a t-shirt at some point?
5.Do you handle being overwhelmed by standing by your register and dancing
by yourself or humping the air? If so, might you bartend instead of me and
I can dance and hump the air?
6.When we are packed with ladies…why is nobody on the bar with you doing
the wobble, do they prefer the cupid shuffle? When we do get ladies on the
bar for wobble, why does 3 out of 6 coyotes feel the need to wobble all of
the sudden?
7.How many cups can you kick before you think to pick one up? Which leads
me to my next question…why are we low on cups? Anyone?
Things that will keep me up tonight, thought I’d share”

I added a few
1. Did we make a structural mistake building the back bar so you need to lean on it all night to hold it up?
2. When it took you 4 tries to button your jean shorts and your belly was hanging over the waistline of those shorts were you thinking ” damn I look good”
3. Is your memory so poor that you really can only take one drink order at a time?
I could go on all night. Lol

I went into my dad’s office and brought all of their bills home with me. What a disaster. They have nothing. I can’t imagine going into retirement with NOTHING! Bills upon bills unpaid. Married for 56 years and they have seperate checking accounts and all their bills are seperate. For god sakes , Jackson’s dad and I still have a joint account for Jackson’s school bills etc. They are a real life example of what NOT TO DO with your finances. I would like my dad to die knowing he is completely debt free. And I would like to make sure my mom is in a better financial position. Why do they keep giving her credit cards? It’s going to be hard for her. But my dad will pass away and I am going to have to cancel all of her credit cards because of her irresponsibilty with them. My sister is sickened by my mother’s spending but no lesson will be learned by my mother. They are so lucky that my sister and I have done alright in life. We both could of ended up in very different positions.
People do different things when they are stressed. I eat chocolate. I have been eating bags of chocalate morsels. I saw Jackson going into the pantry the other day eyeing the open chocolate bag. ” don’t even touch it !” Sorry but it’s my prefered method of coping right now.
San Antonio anniversary on Thursday. That’s always a crazy one.
Marsha has booked Chantel, myself, and herself massages on Wednesday. I can’t wait.

I am visiting my parents. My dad has terminal cancer and hospice has come in for his final months. These are excepts of our conversations.
Dad ” jackson looks more like you then Tony”
Mom ” but he has Tony’s eyelashes”
Dad ” but he still looks more like Liliana”
Mom” but thank god he’s got Tony’s lashes”
New topic
Dad ” why didn’t you bring your big marine boyfriend ?”
Me” we broke up almost a year ago.”
Dad ” I liked Trey. Wait , almost a year ago. So why didn’t you bring your new boyfriend.”
Me ” well I have gone on a million dates but no one long term.”
I then decided to lighten the mood by telling them about some of the funny dates I have been on.
Dad ” did the helicopter guy take you up in his helicopter?”
Me ” no dad”
Dad ” what’s the point of the story then?”
Mom ” how young was the super young guy you went out with.”
Me ” in his twenties”
Mom ” thank god you are exercising . You really need to wear more makeup if you are going to date that young.”
Me ” I will take that under advisement.”
Mom ” I want you to date a sugar daddy. You know I need a new knee replacement.”
OMG

Text from Jess. ( who by the way kicked ass at the Tough Mudder. Truly fearless)
“Lil I tripped over my flip flop and almost broke my face on the sidewalk because I can’t lift my own leg higher than 5 inches and my reflex is just not quick enough to save me, I screamed like a bitch lol my body is paying me back lol” when asked how she trained for the Tough Mudder her response was ” I cut down on Mountain Dews.” Well I am sure her body is aching today! Lol
Yesterday while running at the 8 mike mark, Jeremy and I were jogging and chatting. At this point we were exhausted and freezing to the core from all the cold water events. ” why can’t we do the Bahamas Tough Mudder or the Tough Mudder Turks and Caicos? ” ” where is the jog to the hot tub and get a delicious alcoholic beverage obstacle ?” Jeremy actually left his wife’s phone number with the film crew if anything happened to him. He rocked yesterday. Really went all out. Honestly the whole team did well. Proud of everyone .

2nd Tough Mudder accomplished! We started out with 22 people on our team but because of the Kiev opening and injuries only 17 people showed up yesterday . ( and Mac missed 2 planes. I won’t even speak about that ) completely different experience then the Las Vegas Tough Mudder. The terrain in Tahoe was brutal. The first 5 miles were up hill. We had to walk a lot of it because of how steep the inclines were. After about 3 miles I acclimated to the altitude but there was so much dust in the air. I swear I felt like a coal miner with black lung. Definitely a much rougher course. But the Las Vegas Tough Mudder had harder obstacles ( except electric eel). Wondering if lawsuits made them change some of the obstacles ? By the way ,getting shocked in the forehead while crawling in muddy water really hurts.
Really proud of our team! We came in almost last and we took almost 7 hours to complete the course but everyone did their best. It was so inspiring! I am proud of everyone .

Tough Mudder race day! Yesterday our team started filing in. We hired a film crew to document our Adventure. We did pre race interviews yesterday. Omg I am still laughing from Jess’ interview.
It is going to be a rough day. We received the list of obstacles and the course route. The first 5 miles are completely uphill. I just stepped outside. It’s freezing today. Urgh! I am now completely dreading the freezing water obstacles! Thank god our race time is at 11:40 am. Hopefully it will get warmer!
Kevin and Jackson have a new favorite you tube video. I think it should be our rally song. Just insert The name Kevin into the chorus , http://youtu.be/571BuZeeQjE

I woke up this morning to a text message from Daniel ” you are the best boss on the planet.” And a call from Kristina ( head bartender Key West) thanking me for choosing her to go to the Ukraine and telling me that she will see me at the Sandestin Triathlon. What a beautiful way to wake up. My new bar in Kiev rocked last night . And the beautiful words from Daniel and Kristina are heartwarming. Kristina took two weeks vacation . Daniel must of gotten on her about it and guilted her into a possible entry into the triathlon . Lol
Today Jackson and I are heading to Tahoe for the Tough Mudder. Lee and I got both his step daughter Daisy and Jackson spectator tickets to watch us compete. Jackson can’t wait to see us jump into the Arctic Enema.
Today I am going to work on bringing food into the Key West bar. Not my specialty .