I bought a new camera a few weeks ago – it’s my first digital SLR and it’s great. I don’t have a clue what I’m doing with it, but I love the pictures it takes and how fast it takes them. I can finally catch the munchkin on film before she looses interest and runs away! I also am loooving the landscape shots. I’ve started to just snap a few and see what develops. Here are some of my favorites:
Today I am so excited to share with all of you an article I wrote for Scottsdale Moms Blog!
I met Joy (a co-creator of the site) a few weeks ago and noticed her email address was @scottsdalemomsblog. I asked her what the site was and if they took contributing writers. Several conversations, ideas and weeks later, my first article on nursery decorating is up! I’m hoping to write more kid related Do It Yourself articles for them too. Don’t worry, you can get your fill of snarky mommy stories in The Goon Room like always – this will just be for my creative, less sarcastic side!
If you are a local mom, be sure to subscribe to Scottsdale Moms Blog and also like them on FaceBook. They have amazing playdates, great giveaways and insightful articles, all new and fresh every day. Enjoy!
I hate CFL bulbs. There. I said it. I am not an environment hater, I just can’t stand the ugly, orange glow from CFL bulbs.
Don’t get me wrong, I see all the benefits of these ugly, little beasts; the cost savings, the lower use of energy, the saving of the planet, blah blah blah. All do not add up to pretty light. And yes, it does make a difference. I do not want to look like a drag queen all day because I couldn’t tell that I had too much blush on because it was drowned out by the orange light.
Not to mention that the opposite on the CFL color spectrum is so bright and sterile white, it gives me flash backs to the operating room when Baylor was born.
The solution? GE Reveal CFL bulbs. We have bought two forms of these now and I love the color. Yes, it still has a little of the orange glow when the bulb is warming up, but not so harsh as it’s offensive CFL friends. And we put a flood light version in the kitchen and it blends in seamlessly with it’s incandesent cousins.
See? Not to shabby:
So if you would like to save the environment and a few dollars without sacrificing your mental state to orange light, try a few of the GE Reveal versions of CFL bulbs. Your non-drag queen looking self will thank me.
I just finished The Help and absolutely loved it. It was so well written, you could almost hear the characters speaking (not to be confused with the normal voices in my head). The part I liked the best was that the there was still story after the climax – I hate when you get to the best part of the book and poof! It’s over.
I noted a favorite line from the book:
“…it was like something cracked open inside of me, not unlike a watermelon, cool and soothing and sweet. I always thought insanity would be a dark, bitter feeling, but it is drenching and delicious if you really roll around in it.”
I read it aloud to PW – which got me thinking. Why do I like this phrase so much? Is it because it’s so different and so beautifully written? Or because I feel it’s so true?
The more I thought about it, the more I realized that the answer? Is that it really just depends on the day 😉
Remember this post about trying to track down the guy with the parking tickets? Well apparently my attempt at a good deed paid off – at least for Peter any way. Oh, and a side note, the guy from the original post has A. missed a court date for the previous parking ticket and B. gotten two more tickets this past month. I’m waiting for the police to come knocking at my door looking for Dean Wray. If you know him, please tell him to update his address with the city.
So! Back to the subject at hand. And that subject is karma and how my attempt at tracking down the bad parker turned out well for PW. We used to live in DC while Peter was in law school. We rented a house in Maryland and in the last few months we lived there, the landlords sold the house. (Yeah, that was awesome. Nothing like being forced to leave your home for open houses and it’s not even your house! But that’s another blog). The new owners didn’t take ownership until after we had packed up the car and moving truck and headed west. We got our deposit back and we said adios to our jerk landlords.
Flash forward almost 5 years to about a month ago. Peter ordered a vintage belt buckle (again, another blog) on Ebay. We rarely use Ebay these days and unbeknownst to him, PW accidently shipped the buckle to our old address in Maryland.
Apparently the very sweet couple that bought the house remembered being told by the land lord that the tenants living in the house went to Georgetown Law and were moving back to Arizona. So Mrs. Sweet Lady looked up lawyers in the Phoenix area who went to G-Town and found PW’s profile. She sent him an email explaining that she had received a package and would he like her to ship it to him. Amazing, right? I think its nice to know that there are kind and thoughtful people out there who would go to the lengths that this lady did all because it was a nice thing to do. Karma is lovely that way.
The buckle arrived last night and Peter sent a nice thank you along with the cost of shipping – plus a coffee for her trouble. Gotta make sure Karma knows we appreciate the gesture.
This past weekend was a “home project” weekend. I always have a list of things that need to be fixed, changed or cleaned. Some are big and some are small and this weekend we tackled them all. But that’s another post…
Saturday afternoon after a collective family nap (not all in the same room, but it was definitely the Napping House around here), we headed out to the Biltmore for some shopping and dinner. We hit the Mac store to get a new charger (there is so a housekeeper from Sedona Rouge Resort making a killing selling “found” phone chargers) and an arm band for the Iphone for running. Then we went to True Food Kitchen for dinner. It’s one of our favorite places; very relaxed, good and healthy food and most importantly, kid friendly.
We have finally entered the phase where we can dine out with our munchkin and there is a high probability that it will be an enjoyable experience. One that is marked with both of us getting to finish our meal, Baylor actually eating something and no one has to take her for a walk at any point. Now, she’s still 2 so there are several seat changes, standing on said seat and lots of urging her to sit on the seat and eat her dinner. But the tantrums are few and far between and Peter and I are able to have a conversation that lasts longer than 30 seconds and the dinner lasts from appetizers to dessert. It has been a long time since we’ve had this kind of dinner out – and an even longer (if ever) time since Ms.B has graced us with her presence. It was a beautiful Saturday evening as a family topped off with some additional window shopping along the mister lined side walks – and Baylor and I showing Peter how we break it down in the car to our favorite song.
PS – if you ever see a white SUV with a lady driving doing some funky dance moves while either looking in the back seat or rear view mirror, just assume A. it’s me B. my kid thinks I’m hilarious and C. we’re having a great time.
I can’t remember if I ever wrote about my t-shirt quilt before. I feel like I have? But I can’t find one in my archives? And there’s a strong possibility that I just wrote it in my head but never on the computer? So if you’re reading this and it’s old news – then happy Friday! If you’re reading it for the first time, enjoy!
About four years ago, my sister Ali informed me that the boxes of t-shirts that I had been storing in one of her many closets (“No no, Ali, it’s fine! You have TONS of closet space so I see where 2 boxes are totally cramping your storage style!”) were no longer welcome. Forced to bring my boxes to my house and find a home, I decided it was time to find a solution that did not involve making more room in the closet.
I searched around on-line and came across Conforta Quilts. The front page had a picture of a blanket made entirely of St. Mary’s shirts – Peter and my alma mater – so I figured this had to be the right place. If another Knight trusted them, then we should too.
It turns out my gut was right. I met with Mike a few weeks later and brought my boxes o’ tees. As instructed, I pulled out my favorites and those with special meaning. I also had organized the ones that I cared the least about. We discussed layouts, style of stitch, etc over coffee and then I loaded my shirts into her trunk. On the drive home, I called Peter in a panic – what if she just keeps all my shirts and never actually makes a quilt!? His response “what the hell would some lady want with a bunch of Alpha Phi shirts??”. Ouch. And point taken.
About six weeks later, Mike called and we met at the same coffee bar. She pulled the most beautiful quilt out of a bag and handed it over for my inspection. Now, I was planning on it being beautiful, but I wasn’t planning on it being totally functional and amazingly comfortable too! Mike’s creation is machine washable and also backed with flannel so it’s warm and snuggly. In a word? AMAZING.
So many great memories, all said in t-shirt.
Not one shirt went to waste – even the logos were used and used on the reverse side too!
The square in the center of the picture is actually 3 shirts sewn together
This one has a special meaning – Peter gave it to me after I had decided I was going to UofA. He said it was one of his favorites from when he was a kid and that it didn’t fit him any more. I wore it to the UofA v ASU game where I met his parents for the first time. His mom, not knowing that her son had lied about the origin of the shirt, explained that Peter had bought it at SAVERS (for those not in the know, it’s like Good Will’s poor, bastard cousin – i.e. used clothes and not in a fun consignment store kind of way). I thought I had bed bugs crawling on me the rest of the game. What I really want to know is why they don’t make shirts with Wilbur the Wildcat trying to eat Sparky the Sun Devil any more?
So if you’ve got a similar issue with your college, high school or athletic shirts, I could not more highly recommend Mike at Conforta. I thought about doing this for Baylor and her baby clothes to some day. There are a million ideas!
This past weekend, I joined my friend Kristin and two of her friend (who I would now like to think of as our friends!) for a little mini weekend in Sedona.
Kristin found a great deal on TravelZoo.com back in January. It was for two people, two massages and breakfast for a ridiculously good rate. Kristin, Jen , Cheryl and myself headed out first thing Saturday morning. We arrived at the beautiful Sedona Rouge resort with plenty of time before our spa appointments to sneak in our Skinny Girl Margaritas and lay by the pool. We enjoyed the 90 degrees, sun, chilly pool and ice-cold drinks while catching up and chit chatting. It was lovely to just have the time to relax.
We gathered up our cocktails and gear and headed over to the spa for massages. An hour later, we all met up in the whirl pool to discuss everyone’s treatment and laugh about the conversations we had. My masseuse was a total hippie and very nice so we chatted the entire time. Cheryl fell asleep to the point where the masseuse had to wake her up and Kristin was rubbed down by every part of the masseuse’s arm and part of her hair as well. The consensus? Great massages and that we had to find out where they get their oils from – which when we finally found the store that supplies the oils to the spa, they couldn’t give us a straight answer on which brand they sold and which scents were most popular. But we did find the fudge store and got milkshakes for the drive home so our excursion goes down in the win column.
We capped off the day with Blood Orange Margaritas at a new restaurant called Elote. It’s kind of modern mexican food and was quite enjoyable. The remainder of the evening was spent answering salacious questions from a bachelorette party game left over from Kristin’s wedding. Despite the content, it felt very much like a teenage sleep over, complete with animal crackers and M&M’s – but with wine!
The thing that struck me more than once was that this group of ladies was the ideal group to travel with. First off, everyone brought snacks, wine AND an opener. All the ladies were easy-going, up for whatever and had no qualms about when and what we ate. The easy going-ness of the group made it so relaxing and fun.
The icing on the cake of the trip was the drive home. We were having a deep discussion about the chicks from Teen Mom and drew a blank on the name of Jayce’s mom. When Kristin looked it up we all heaved a collective “JANELLE!!”. This was followed by “Samsonite! I was way off” which opened up a stream of Dumb and Dumber quotes despite the fact that no one had mentioned the movie. Pure genius.
Thanks to Kristin for being our cruise director and to Jen and Cheryl for making the weekend so fun!
One of my favorite parts about our Montana trip every year is the Livingston Roundup. It’s a small town with a big rodeo. Most of the participants do this for a living and win big doing it. But the actual ridding, roping and racing are only part of the fun. It’s the other sides of the rodeo that make it such a hoot.
First, there’s the cocktails. You don’t purchase one beer, two or even three. You purchase by the six-pack. Mostly because they have a system where you have to first buy tokens, then go stand in another line and buy beer. Rodeo goers don’t want to miss any action so you buy all your beer at once. But how do you carry and or keep cold all this beer? Why with ice and a trash bag box:
Yes, much like Costco its self, there are a variety of empty boxes and bags to carry your cocktails back to your seats.
Karin is very excited about all this.
When buying the beer, I asked the nice lady with the beer how many six packs I could purchase at one time. When she looked at me strange, I replied that we were there with a lot of people and was there a limit on how many six packs I could get? Her response? “Just where the hell are you from?? You can buy as many as you can carry darlin’!!”. Aaaand that’s why I love Montana.
Now, if you’re not armatures at rodeo drinking like we were, you do like the locals do:
Pretty purse, yes? And then you open it:
Aaaaand you see how the locals do it.
The best discovery at the rodeo this year was our friend Karin’s love of Rodeo Humor. RH is the banter between the miked up rodeo clown and the announcer between riders. They jaw back and forth and make dumb jokes, all of which Karin practically rolled on the floor she was laughing so hard. Which made it infinitely more funny to the rest of us. We’re not sure if it was really that funny, or if the combination of “beer in a box” and “kids are sleeping soundly with the sitter” giddiness were the real reason it was all so funny. Here’s an example of the fun:
I know it’s a little hard to see, but this is one guy. Yes, the guy in the middle, or the Indian in this version of the Village People, is controlling the other four dummies. Yes, he does have two dummies rigged up to pipes and pullies in front of him and two behind. The result? His YMCA dance is preformed in perfect time by all 5 of them. It was bizarre. It was strange. It was slightly disturbing and it was oh so funny.
The night ends with a gorgeous display of fireworks set to patriotic music that gives you goose bumps. It’s then a scramble and a fight to get back to the car together and in one piece to then wrestle through traffic to the one entrance to the highway. Start to finish, it’s a front runner for one of the best events of our year!
I don’t get indorsements from Macintosh. But for the post I’m about to write, I should because damn if I can’t help that I love the Iphone. (Topher, please let someone at Mac know I’m putting out the good vibes!).
I got an Iphone the day they became available on Verizon service and I saw from the beginning what I had been missing. Peter just got his and in one day, the number of apps I have on my phone has quintupled. Slightly annoyed by some of them (no, I don’t need the Orvis fishing app, Zillow, Monster.com, the need to know my exact elevation or Dragon dictation) many of the new apps are amazing.
My absolutely favorite new app is called Sky View. It is a map of the stars – you hold it up to the sky and it shows the names of the stars, constellations and planets. It. Is. Awesome. The funny thing is that I realized it doesn’t work solely with the camera so you can use it during the day too so that you can see where the stars are, the projected path of the sun. I can’t say enough how much fun I find this app. We used it every night on vacation because I think there are few places in the world where you can see as many stars as you can from the top of the mountain in Montana. It was so much fun to know what we were looking at. A side note: whoever came up with the constellations (Gemini, Ursa Major, etc) was either insane or drunk because none of them look like what they are supposed to be!
What do you do when you’re sharing a room with your sleeping kiddo and you have to find your way to the bathroom, or pajamas? You use the flashlight app. I thought this was really dumb until I tried it. So very useful – unless you’re trying to find your phone.
When entertaining a child in a doctor’s office, on a plane or anywhere else that requires them to sit still and be quiet for stretches of time, I’ve found that there are several apps that they love. First are books. The Miss Spider app is a video, a book and games all in one. Duck Duck Moose has really funny apps like Old MacDonald’s Farm , Word Wagon and The Wheels on the Bus. The kiddos need to swipe, tap and move objects around to keep the image moving. They can also record themselves or you singing which is Baylor’s favorite part (the one with her voice, not mine). It does require some supervision though as Bay has A. Friended people on Facebook B. Called random people out of the contact list and C. Sent random text messages. So if you ever get an odd voice mail or strange text, just know Baylor loves ya.
So that’s it. I’m addicted. I hate to admit it, but a smart phone just makes life cooler. Anonymity be damned! Track me and what I’m looking at and where I’m going all you want because I’ll be enjoying looking at the stars.
The Goon Room 