All you want is a beauty queen,
Not a superstar but everybody's dream machine
All you want is a place to lay your head.
You go to sleep dreaming how you would
Be a different kind if you thought you could
But you come awake the way you are instead
Ah, what a quiet Christmas Eve it was for us without the kids around. I like to call us "Christmas Orphans", people that don't have any family around to celebrate the holiday. With family in San Francisco and Boston, we can't very well drive to see them. And buying 5 round trip tickets every holiday gets to be too much. So, we sent the kids to my parent's in California this year.
I snuggled on the couch by the Christmas Tree reading Brisingr. Brian grilled us some steaks for dinner and picked out a nice Cabernet for us. While we ate, we signed into Yahoo! Messenger and chatted with Hunter in San Francisco. He turned on his webcam so we could watch and hear everyone open their presents. It was just like being there.
The neighbors brought over a yummy home baked danish last night. So, I'm enjoying that with my coffee this morning. I'll probably do my five mile run in the rain after breakfast.
Tonight, our good friends invited all "Christmas Orphans" over to their house for dessert, drinks and games. Their family is in Michigan. It'll be nice to celebrate and enjoy the company of friends this evening.
I hope all of you have a wonderful Holiday and are able to celebrate and be surrounded by your loved ones this season. With that, I leave you with this gem from the beautiful people of Failblog.org.
The Style Network's Clean House is looking for the messiest home.
Are you surrounded by stuff? Is the clutter closing in? Send them a photo of your awful abode and it may be chosen to receive a mega-makeover—and you could appear on a special episode of Clean House!
The Clean House team is searching for the messiest home in the country. We're looking for mountains of clothes and piles of junk, oddball collections, outdated or hideous furniture, and tons of plain ol' foolishness.
Think you (or someone you know) fits the bill? Submit a photo of your horrifying house and you could receive a dramatic home makeover and the opportunity to be featured on a special episode of Clean House.
A representative from CBS came to our neighborhood on Friday last week to meet with some of the Grayhawk homeowners that might be interested in participating in a new reality series they are currently calling "Block Party". She was presenting to a packed house held in the small Grayhawk Community Office. It was standing room only.
Here's basically what they're looking for:
This audition is not exclusive to our neighborhood, so if you and 7 of your neighbors want to do this feel free to send in an audition tape. The sooner the better! The tape should be about 9 minutes long, 1 minute to introduce your neighborhood and 1 minute for each of the 8 households. Introduce yourself and have each member of the family introduce themselves, so they can see and hear even the kids. They want a little background of what you do and or how you would describe your family. They're looking for varied backgrounds...a psychologist, a zoo keeper, a cocktail waitress. Is your family like the Osmonds? or the Osbournes?
They are planning to film for 3 weeks in the summer and all 8 families will need to take time off of work, so they're offering each family a $5,000 stipend if they're chosen.
They didn't mention what the competitions would entail, but CBS is also home of the Amazing Race and Survivor, so you can kinda get a good idea of the extent of challenges you could face. Food Challenge, Bungee jumping, etc. Prizes would also be offered for each challenge, too. Maybe a remodel of a room in the house, or a car, or landscaping -- you get the idea.
My friend has the perfect neighborhood to apply to this. They have block parties all the time and would have no problem finding 8 households close together. The main issue is they're worried what it would do to the relationships with their neighbors. I mean, who wants to know what the neighbors really feel about you? After the cameras are all gone, you've still got to live with these people. So, I'm not sure if they'll be applying.
It'd be great to have it somewhere within Grayhawk, though. It'd be nice to showcase the neighborhood to a national audience. Even though Scottsdale gets such a bad rap!
I'm home sick today. I only dragged myself off of the couch because the phone rang. I heard BT leave a message saying he was stopping by Extreme Pita for lunch and he wanted to see if I needed anything. What a sweetie.
I remember when I first moved here, I saw the small Extreme Pita store in the 101/Scottsdale Mall. But the font confused me from the parking lot. To me, from several yards away it looked "Extreme Pho". The 'i' and 't' blended in to make an 'H' and the 'a' looked like an 'O'.
See the picture above? If you look at it from far away, squint and kinda tilt your head, doesn't it look like Extreme Pho? I'm not saying I drive with my head tilted and squinting, only sometimes...
I thought "Wow! How very multicultural of Scottsdale to have a little noodle house in the mall. Imagine my extreme disappointment when subsequent visits to the mall revealed that it was a Pita place instead. All I know, with the aches and pains I've been having all day, I would kill for a good Chicken Pho!!!!
And for those of you who don't know what pho even is (pronounced F-uh), you are missing out on some good ol' Vietnamese noodle soup in all it's yummy heartwarming, soul cleansing goodness. The soup comes with different garnishes that you can add as you see fit like, onions, cilantro, thai basil, bean sprouts, lemon or lime wedges. You can also throw some hoisin sauce, soy sauce, fish sauce or Thai hot sauce, Sriracha. I usually order mine with chicken and throw in the sprouts, cilantro, a couple squeezes of lime and some Sriracha. Yep, I feel my sinuses opening up already.
Oh well, time to finish my pita and get back to the cozy spot on the couch. Feel free to comment if you know any good Pho places near Scottsdale!
I just got an email from our Community Association that CBS is looking at our neighborhood for a new reality competition series. How exciting!
They didn't give us much information except that "The network is looking for spirited and entertaining families that live in the same neighborhood to participate in a competition for substantial cash and prizes. Network representatives have specifically selected Grayhawk as their first choice in Arizona because they believe the community is perfectly fit to this series."
The community has invited families of the neighborhood to an informational video conference with the casting producers in LA on Friday.
I better make sure that my daughter takes some video footage of Dad and I during our Mad Mud Run this Saturday for the casting tapes.
Here's Teak after his 1.5 mile run this morning. This guy has got tons of energy so I wanted to make sure he burns it off early. I love the way he lies like a rug! I think Sparty might've been a little jealous, so we'll take her out later after Trenton gets home from school.
Our friends are off to San Francisco this weekend (and yes, I'm jealous) so we're dog sitting for them. In preparation, my son wanted to make sure the dogs stayed downstairs so he cordoned off the landing with some orange cones. He said the dogs will think it's too dangerous if they pass it.
When Sparty and Teak were dropped off, their owner said there's no way that's going to keep the dogs back. But I had to give Trenton an "A" for effort.
Surprisingly enough, it worked! We all went to bed upstairs and they didn't follow! I couldn't believe it.
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) - A Malaysian welder had to have a nut removed from around his penis after an attempt to lengthen it before he gets engaged next week went embarrassingly wrong, a news report said Sunday.
After checking out, we had a few hours to kill and drove around the North part of the Big Island. It was a gorgeous day and we could even see the top of Mauna Kea peaking out of the clouds. It was a beautiful drive. We got to the airport about an hour early for our flight. We stopped in the airport restaurant for a drink. At first there were a few Marines in their camouflage in the bar. And after we ordered our second drink, it seemed the place was full of them. When we left the bar and headed toward the gate, there were even more of them out in the courtyard.
I teased my husband. Knowing that there were only about 30 seats on our little island hopper plane, I said "What if all these Marines are on our flight and we're the only civilians? This could get interesting, yes?" He rolled his eyes.
We got on our plane, and it was all civilians. As I buckled my seatbelt, I leaned over to him I said disappointedly "Hmmm...I was picturing this flight with a little more camouflage." He just shook his head.
Our last night in Kona provided us a beautiful sunset.
We had a room on the top floor with a beach front view. The next day, although I didn't want to, I ran 3 miles. It was my husband that motivated me. He said he would run with me, too, and promised he would run at my pace. It was nice having a running partner for a change. Here was our run from that morning, Thursday, July 31st:
The sushi restaurant was a short walk through the Waikoloa Village mall back to our resort. A family was walking along the mall close by, when their daughter spied a crazy little orange thing squirming along the sidewalk. It looked like a centipede.
Good eye, little girl! I walked right by the thing without seeing it. I don't know how I missed it. It had to be 5 inches long and bright orange, but it was nighttime. The girl had to be just four years old. The family gathered around to look at it. As I walked away, I overheard the daughter ask her daddy if she could pick it up.
The father said "No." which of course was followed by the little girls question, "Why not?"
On his response, I had to ask my husband if I heard him right. The father said (and this is confirmed by my husband), "Because it will bite you and sting like a Mother F&*%#er."
Nice way to explain it, Daddy! Can't wait to hear the girl tell her kindergarten class about her summer..."Yeah, we saw a centipede, but I couldn't touch it because it would bite me and sting like a Mother F&*%#er."
I love it. That was our new punchline for the rest of our trip.
I should get back to my travel journal blog about Hawaii before I forget everything. I had to insert that "Minor Annoyance" blog because it was really bugging me and blogging is so therapeutic.
But it's the perfect segue to our Wednesday evening. After Kona Village we had a night at the Waikoloa Beach Marriott Resort. After checking in, we went down to the bar for our complimentary "Welcome Mai Tai". It was an open air bar, and the little chickadee birds made themselves at home, helping themselves to the snack bowl they put in front of us.
We had an older couple to our left, a single guy to my right, and another older couple to his right. We all got to talking and found out we were all from the Phoenix area, probably all living within 40 miles of each other. What a small world.
Unfortunately, the one single guy to my right just kept talking...and talking...and talking! As soon as we'd bring up one subject, sure enough he'd have a story to tell about himself on the topic. We couldn't get a word in edgewise. We quickly tired of this "minor annoyance" and excused ourselves to get ready for dinner.
Knowing that this guy was going to the same Sushi restaurant, Sansei, we took our sweet time getting ready. When we arrived, we saw him sitting at the sushi bar talking to the man sitting next to him (surprise, surprise!). The hostess then proceeded to sit us down at the sushi bar next to them. Lucky for us, chatterbox had just paid his bill and was taking off. Whew!
A few minutes after he left, I asked the guy he was talking to if he had talked his ear off. The guy rolled his eyes. He couldn't shut him up! We laughed! Yup, that's why we're having a late dinner.
Anyway, the sushi was absolutely delicious! I twittered that I would NEVER enjoy sushi from a land-locked state again. It was amazingly fresh, and tasty. Yum-Yum-Yummy-Yum-Yum
Didn't think this would annoy me but it does - People who have to announce the call they're receiving and explain the ringtone.
Overheard at a party...
Billy Joel starts playing on his phone. "Oh, that's my parents. 'Go ahead with your own life, leave me alone.'" He repeats the lyrics and laughs then proceeds to have a very loud conversation with his mom. Of course any person that does this would be the type to have a loud conversation.
About a half an hour later, I hear Carly Simon. "Ah! That's my friend Chris. He's so vain!" And he laughs at his own wittiness.
I can think of a few ringtones I would use for him, but I'd never give a person like this my number anyway: "Scottsdale Bars" by the Blobots comes to mind.
We drove up a lonely road to an equally lonely gate and security kiosk. We told the guard that we wanted to visit the public access beach. He handed us a laminated parking pass that listed all the rules for the public. Most of them designed to assure that the guests of the resort were not disturbed and warned us that we could be asked to leave at their discretion.
The guard took out his little clipboard and had us sign in. Only 13 cars from the public were allowed at one time. He turned over the clipboard and showed us a map to tell us where to drive, where to park, which path to take. It was like a scavenger hunt. We would need to walk about 10 minutes to actually get to the beach.
The beach was nice, and not at all crowded. The thatch-roofed bungalows were really nice too. Each had their own little patio deck and hammock out front. For over $400 a night, for the smallest bungalow, it'd better be nice. Apparently, Mr. Bill Gates and his family were staying here this week. I looked at the people on the beach to see if I recognized any celebrities.
There was one guy with a hat laying under a palapa on a lounge chair next to a woman that looked a lot like Kevin Costner. (Editor's note: after re-reading this blog, I have to clarify that the guy looked like Kevin Costner, not the the woman sitting next to him. HA!) But what's he doing with a brunette? I thought his wife was blonde. When he got up and walked down the beach, he wasn't nearly as tall as I thought Kevin would be. It wasn't him. There was no sighting of Mr. Gates either.
We did get to do some more snorkeling and saw about 10 sea turtles near the shore. The path from the beach to the parking lot takes you right by the beautiful Hualalai Golf Course. I found a Hualalai Golf ball along the path that a golfer had abandoned to avoid trudging over the black lava - a cool souvenir for me. Apparently, the Volcano Goddess Pele, will curse anyone that takes or hurts anything on her island. I was tempted to take a piece of lava rock home, but decided against it. I knew she wouldn't punish me if I kept the golf ball as a souvenir. I wouldn't want Pele's wrath taken out on me the way she tormented the Brady Bunch.
On one hole we saw some wild goats. It was the strangest thing. As a group was teeing off, the herd of about 20 goats were just running around playing close to the green. I've seen ducks, geese, road runners, and rabbits on a course, but never have I seen wild goats. That's an all together different hazard.
We checked out the beach at the Sheraton. Apparently, their oceanside deck shine spotlights on the water below at night. Dive boats and tours come out right after sunset. The divers dive lights and the flood lights from the different boats in the water attract plankton to the site which is food for the huge manta rays.
Swimming with the Manta Rays is another amazing thing to do on the island. The night dive/snorkel is the best way to find them. I was lucky enough to spot one on one of my dives off Oahu's west coast several years ago. Mantas are pretty rare to spot during the day, and even less common around Oahu. It was on my ascent and during my safety stop. The surface was just 10 feet above me and about 30 yards to my left I could see the manta ray floating above. Amazing, elegant and incredible. It looked like the bat signal calling out to Bruce Wayne. It had to be 8 feet or more across.
When I got to the boat, the people above were scrambling from one side of the boat to the other, to try to find it. It had already swam away before I could grab my camera.
From the public access shore of the Sheraton, it looked like less than a quarter mile swim out to the spot where it all happens. We seriously considered doing this without the tour group that charged $90 each for a 5 minute ride out that included all snorkel gear, drinks and snacks. Seriously, the boat marina couldn't be more than a half mile away!! All we would have to do was buy some dive lights, snorkel out about 1/4 mile, then snorkel back.
It wouldn't be too dangerous, right? The swim out wouldn't be completely dark yet, plus we'd have our lights. The snorkel back would be more challenging because of the dark and we'd need to avoid the many boats already out there. Also, we'd need to put a white towel out on the beach where we entered so we can find our way back.
I know it sounds crazy, but it was adventurous and I can't justify spending $180 on a 1/2 mile boat ride (BUT you get snacks and drinks!! oooh!). Apparently, some of the locals do the exact same thing.
Well it turned out we never did get to do this. We didn't have time that night, and I'm not sure if that was too bad, or lucky for us. But now it's on our list of things to do when/if we ever get back to Kona.
After breakfast we did some snorkeling at the beach in our resort and then drove down to snorkel in Kahalu'u Bay as well. Unfortunately, we didn't read the warnings about this bay. Apparently, it's a dying reef and conservationists have been asking people of the island not to snorkel there. However, some tour groups haven't honored this request and we found the place was full of tour vans and tourists.
There was plenty of sea life, but the way that these people were treating the bay was appalling. Children were swimming after a puffer fish. Were they not told these are poisonous? Fathers were picking up large rocks to see what was underneath. It was sad to see how the reef was being treated. Who knows if that bay has any hope. Maybe it's only hope is that someday the bay can be used to educate tourists about the harm that can happen when the reef isn't respected.
We snorkeled out closer to the surfers where it was deeper. There was probably just 20 feet visibility, but out of the corner of my eye, I saw something large underwater. On second glance, there it was - my first sea turtle sighting of the trip. I turned and tapped on my husbands arm excitedly. LOOK!!! I wanted to yell, but the snorkel in my mouth made it just sound like "Oouk! Ururl!"
It was so cool!! I mean, I've done it before - swam with sea turtles. In fact I blogged about the incident where I had a little too much to drink the night before a dive and kinda spewed next to the sea turtles. But even if I've done it before, it's still pretty cool and just as exciting as the first time (That's what she said).
We had breakfast across the street from the hotel at a restaurant with a shaded outdoor patio. Of course I had to have the traditional Hawaiian breakfast, a plate of Loco Moco. Let's just say, my arteries began clogging as soon as I ordered it. I'm so glad I went on that run earlier. But who am I to break tradition?
It starts off with a heap of white rice, topped with a hamburger patty, topped with a fried egg, sunny-side up, and then all that smothered with gravy. No one knows who invented this delight, but it is believed to have originated from a cafe in Hilo, right here on the Big Island.
As we were eating breakfast and making plans for the day, the cars and tourists moved quickly up and down Ali'i Drive. One silver truck slowed down and gave a honk. The young man in the driver seat leaned over to the passenger-side window and yelled out. "HEY!" We looked up and found our new friend Paul, waving his "chaka" to us. Wow! Less than 24 hours in town and we already know people. We waved back.
Last night, he told us that most beaches in Hawaii are public access. He worked at a very exclusive resort where the rooms are all bungalows. The least expensive probably goes for $455/night. Even though the resort is exclusive and the entry is gated with a security guard, they still have to allow the public to access the beach. We decided to put this on our "to do" list for the day.
Wednesday morning, July 30th I stepped out onto Ali'i Drive and just started heading North - past the rock wall that Brian and I sat on smoking cigars and drinking mudslides the night before, past the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company Restaurant, and the Wyland Gallery. To my right, the tall mountainside, whose mountain top remained obscured by the gray fog. To my left, the Pacific Ocean and marina who this morning was host to one large Cruise ship.
It was 6 AM, listening to the rhythm of my running shoes on the ground when it dawned on me that I might be treading on the footsteps of greatness. Here I was in Kona, Hawaii home of the World Championships for the Ironman. The Super Bowl/World Series/World Cup of all Triathlons. This very street that I'm running on may actually be the same street others have suffered their last leg on, painfully searching for a way to get over "the wall".
Wow!
Sure enough, when I got home and checked the Ironman Kona Course Map, Ali'i drive is the home stretch of the marathon portion of the race. Just North of the Marina area was the finish line. I thought, this will probably be the closest I'll ever get to running the Kona Ironman, but it was still pretty cool.
The Royal Kona Resort is a nice hotel, right in "downtown", near the Marina and right on the water. After getting cleaned up from the traveling and our first of many snorkel adventures, we headed down to the hotel bar "Huggos on the Rocks". This place was highly recommended to us by a Big Island native we met in Arizona. She grew up on the East side of the Island in Hilo.
We found a tall table near the water. On stage a local played songs on his guitar, slurring the words in such a laid back manner that I could hardly make out if he was speaking English or Hawaiian. An older lady got up on stage and danced the Hula to his singing and we ordered a couple of beers, that were way over-priced.
After one beer, we knew this wasn't the place for us. We took a walk across the street, behind the sand volleyball court that seemed to have a lot of people watching the game for a Tuesday evening. We stepped into a local sports bar called Scores.
What a big contrast there was between the tourist trap of Huggo's on The Rocks and the local, laid back hang out of Scores. The place was crowded, but not too much to be annoying. The people looked like they were genuinely having a good time and not just a bunch of tourists trying to look like they're having fun because "we're on vacation, damn it!" Most of the patrons were probably young locals that worked at the many different hotels in the area.
It was Taco Tuesday's so we order two Taco's for two bucks and two Corona's that were just as reasonable. I think we were able to stuff ourselves and have a couple drinks for the same price we paid at Huggo's for one beer each.
We struck up conversations with a couple of locals, Transplants from all over; Seattle, St. Louis, Florida and even Ireland. Our new friend, Paul from Seattle gave us a few good travel tips and suggestions. We told him that we weren't the type of people to do group tours, so he gave us some good ideas.
Before crossing the street, we stopped at the good ol' ABC store and picked up a Kona coffee cigar, a mini bottle of wine and a mini bottle of mudslide. Then down the street from the Royal Kona Resort, we sat on the wall as the waves crashed on the black rocky shore below us, sharing a cigar and drinking toasts to a great vacation ahead.
We left Scottsdale on Tuesday, August 29th and hopped on a direct US Air flight to Kona. The flight wasn't full, so Brian and I had a row to ourselves. We were able to take a nap, or at least try. I was too excited. This was my first time visiting any other island besides Oahu.
After about 6 hours, we finally landed over the black lava fields of the Kona airport at just 2:30 P.M., Hawaii time. The airport gates looked like little thatched roofed bungalows. There was no jetway so had to walk down the rollaway stairs, onto the tarmac and into one of the bungalows.
The first thing we did was drive down and snorkel Two Step. Since, I've moved to Arizona, I don't do well with cold. I can't stand cold water and it takes me forever to get used to it. Remember "cold" is a relative word, here. In the summertime, our swimming pool water temperature is close to 94 degrees. Whereas, average ocean temperatures in Hawaii during summer ranges from 74 to 80. But this was vacation so I was not going to let the "cold" get in the way of things.
By the time we got to Two Step, it was raining. We didn't let that stop us. Instead, I went ahead and stripped down to my swimsuit and stood in the rain. I figured, if I get cold out here, I'll be more than happy to jump into the ocean which might even warm me up. Two Step was a good place to get "my feet wet". The place wasn't too busy, but that may be due to the rain. Also, the sea life was plentiful. It's been a long time since I've snorkeled, so it was great to see all the fish.
It was a great first day on The Big Island. The fog wasn't a big deal to me. Apparently, the fog around Kona is caused mostly by the volcano that is actively erupting on the island. It was dark, by the time we got back to our hotel, the Royal Kona Resort. We stopped at a roadside restaurant that served Chinese, Japanese and Hawaiian Food and ordered the Bento Box to share. I got to have my first taste of SPAM in a long, long time. Now, I know I'm in Hawaii!
Over a month ago, my husband got us those tickets to Hawaii using his frequent flyer miles. In return, I told him I was going to tone up and lose some weight. Nine pounds in 30 days was my goal. I called it Project Kona.
I decided to use the South Beach diet, since it had worked well with me before. Plus, it allows me to eat stuff I like and not feel like I'm depriving myself so much. I looked at this as a no-holds barred, all out war and equipped myself with any weapon possible. I shopped for my South Beach Phase I approved foods, downloaded a weight loss hypnosis tape from iTunes and set myself up on a free Health Tracker on Prevention.com. I also continued to run about 11 miles a week.
Tomorrow we take off to Kona, and no, I didn't reach my goal. I'm short by two pounds. After 30 days, I lost 7 pounds. But you know what, I'm not bummed about that. How could I be disappointed?! I'm actually so proud of myself that I committed to lose weight and I did it. I've been trying to lose at least 5 lbs for the past two years, but I only ended up gaining three. I can't believe after two years, all I really needed was a little motivation, a lot of commitment and 30 days.
So, Project Kona is a success! Aloha Hawai'i! Can't wait to see you!
Yep, I swear those little flying bugs weren't there on my run yesterday. But this morning, bright and early, on the same exact trail, I ran into swarms of them.
It was only 79 degrees at 6:30 this morning, but with 60% humidity I was drenched. During the run, I looked down and found I had spots of little black flies that had died a merciless death on my sweaty skin. I think I probably swallowed one or two that might have flew in my mouth, too. Yuck! Oh well, it's all protein, right? So I haven't violated my South Beach diet.
You are in a relationship with running... a love hate relationship. Running kicks you out of a warm cozy bed And into a cold hard world. Running calls you at all hours of the night. Running gets you up at the crack of dawn And keeps you at practice Long after play has left the building.
Everyday with running is a question of your commitment that running's not afraid to ask. Yes, my friend it is a complex and torrid affair. It is a constant balance. A balance between joy and pain work and play. A balance between Love and hate.
No, I'm not a native, but I've seen my share of the "Dirty Scottsdale" that is portrayed in different media - the $30K millionaires and the cougars hopped up on restylane.
My friend was at a cougar hang out, Ely's, chatting with some older ladies when one of them talked about how she loves that she never gets mosquito bites in Arizona. He answered, nonchalantly, "Well, that's because they're allergic to botox." Ahh, I don't know why he didn't get slapped right there.
Really, you do see your shares of DBs in the club scene and it does get crazy out there. But c'mon, is it Scottsdale's fault? Half the people going to those clubs aren't even from Scottsdale.
Anyway, so what if people have a little more money out here?! So what if the way you can tell the difference between the student and teacher parking lot at the high school is by the number of Hummers, Beamers and Mercedes in the lot. We're not all like that. We have the same problems like everyone else in the valley. Like the traffic to drop of my kids at the elementary school. I still have to line up in that long trail of Range Rovers and wait...and wait...and wait...and I keep waiting, but that damn valet never comes.
We're not all raising "Scottsdale Brats" out here either. My kids work hard for their stuff. If they want an ipod or an x-box, they use their own hard earned money.
My answer, it doesn't. I love it out here. It's beautiful. It's laid back. It's safe. My neighbors are friendly. The schools are great. Even our freakin' new library is awesome! (How geeky am I? But really, it's awesome.) I think the real Scottsdale haters are the people who probably aren't from Scottsdale anyway and buy into the Scottsdale stereotype.
So, go ahead, listen to the Scottsdale stereotypes. I laugh at them, too. But that's just what it is, a stereotype. I know what type of "Scottsdale Mom" I am, and it's not the stereotype, nor are all the other "Scottsdale Mom's" I've come to know.
I gotta get going. My nanny has to leave and I've still got to call "Waiters on Wheels" for dinner before I head out to my friends Wine, Cheese, and Botox party.
How often do cities update their slogans? Maybe they can no longer afford the marketing dollars for people to come up with campaigns like, "San Diego: 365 Days of Ahhhhhhh!" But really, I'm sure you cities can come up with something as good as Colma's, a town where the dead outnumber the living, "It's Good to be Alive in Colma".
Not only a great movie, but also my Nike plus screen name. Funny, that Lola means "grandma" in filipino. I sometimes feel like one when I get up in the morning, drag myself out of bed, try to put my shoes on the right foot and stumble out of the house before the sun rises. Today, I felt exceptionally Lola-ish because my lower back has been bugging me for the past few weeks. 90 minutes of yoga yesterday didn't seem to help. In fact, all that stretching made me so sore this morning.
This morning, my ritual got me out there at 5:30 AM. It's insane, but it's either that or don't run at all. The temperature is already 86 degrees out side, and that's BEFORE the sun is up. As soon as Mr. Sunshine is over the McDowell's, you're toast(ing). Today we should hit 105 again. I have no other option. I either run or do some exercise video at home. I prefer the former. In order to cut corners, we've had to forgo our gym membership. Believe me, I'm still mourning that loss. But at least it's not as bad as these kids in this story: Angry Kids Protest Gas Prices After Losing Cable TV
Their signs said "All of my mom's monny goes to the gas tank!" and "Honk to Lower Gas Prices! My mom had to cut cabel" Nice comment by Eddypotrero..."Now they are going to be forced to read. learn to spell and probably exercise. They won't become fat, ignorant and a burden to tax payers, bring on $7 a gallon, looking better by the moment."
Anyway, now I'm just rambling. But guess what! This month, I've rambled enough to reach goal! Yay!
I'm actually at 42 miles now, with 5 more days left in the month. As long as it's still under 90 degrees at dawn and I can still drag myself out of bed at 5 AM , regardless of feeling like a Lola, I'm gonna still run. Run, Lola, Run.
We have 55,000 US Air miles expiring in the next month and need to book some travel before it expires. Really, where does 55K get you on US Air nowadays, with so many black out dates? Sure enough, first thing this morning just for sh*ts and giggles we checked out flights to Hawaii, and you know what? There were only a couple dates available in July and August, but it works out for us!! So Aloha, Kona and Maui!
Just got back from a short business trip. I checked in my luggage, since my travel partner was doing the same and we would be at baggage claim anyway. That was fine with me. Less stuff for me to take through security way.
When we got back to Phoenix a red bag came around in a black bin. We picked it up and quickly put it down. The thing was mauled. It couldn't have been mine!
But after a few more rounds on the carousel, and my coworker had already picked up his bag, we decided to take another look at the red bag. Sure enough, it had my name on it. We took it to the US Air Baggage Resolution center and they were able to replace it with a new one. The agent said the bag most likely got caught in the belts, but it looks like some animal tried to claw it's way in (or out) of the bag.
Although, I didn't really like the new suitcase they gave me, it serves it's purpose well enough.
BT and I took this beautiful afternoon to celebrate Quatro de Mayo with some cerveza's at the Sandbar. A fun bar in North Scottsdale where the outdoor patio is covered in sand, complete with a little beach. I once asked the bouncer how often do people jump in the beach and he says at least one a night...more on the weekends.
Today, the place had even more sand trucked in and covered half the parking lot to set up for the annual dodge ball tournament. BT had met some people the night before at the new neighborhood Mexican restaurant, Pinatas. They were team "Money Shot" and invited us to watch them compete.
It was just like the movie. All the teams with their witty names and their cool uniforms...Dolls with Balls, Balls to the Wall, Average Joes, basically anything that had to do with balls. Although, I know the basic rules of dodge ball, competitive dodge ball has some extra little rules that I had no idea about.
Like, what's up with the one guy with the head band? Why is it that if there's one person left, after a while, the whole team gets to get back on the field? Why is the person slowly rolling the ball back to the other team and not trying to get any out?
Well after a few more coronas and a few more matches we finally figured things out. It helped that we were standing next to a team that played on a dodge ball league. The guy with the head band is the "dead man walking". If you get that guy out, you win the game automatically. There's also a time limit of how long the last person can stay on the court. If you can't get that last person out in a certain amount of time, then the whole team gets to get back on. This only happens once. Finally, rolling the ball back to the other team is usually because that person can't throw very well. It's safer to roll it back so that they don't catch the ball and get you out.
My husband is determined to get a team together for next year. A lot of the people there aren't on leagues, or haven't played dodge ball since third grade. Other teams don't play except once a year at this event, like Team Money Shot. One team had a professional basketball player playing on their team, Richard Jefferson of the New Jersey Nets, formerly Golden State Warriors. He graduated from U of A so is one of our local sport celebrities.
My secure connection to work was having issues last Friday morning, so I had to drive in to work. I was looking forward to sitting in my PJ's and working from home, but no luck. I IM'd a couple of coworkers to let them know that I'd be showing my sweet face in the office.
What a suprise when I walked in. For some reason everyone just hushed up and kinda prarie dogged from their cubes when I walked down my row. I had this look of surprise when I saw what they did to my cube. They turned it into a little fort made of foil! The "Entrance", a little square hole on the bottom, was clearly marked. Suddenly, Andrew's bald little head pops out of the entrance. "Why, Hello! Come on in!" He said.
It was so funny! I knew I had it coming, I just didn't know when. I guess my birthday week was the best time as any. They actually did it on Wednesday and were wondering when I would finally come in. What a classic gag!
I crawled into my little club house and created a little sunroof on the top so my head could poke out and I could still work. I kept the tin foil fort up until this morning when I finally (noisily) tore it down. I left the giant ball of foil on James' desk. I'm sure he was a part of the effort.
BT was scheduled to be at a conference during my birthday, so he thought he should go a day early and take me along to celebrate a day early. We made reservations at the Hard Rock and planned to hang out by their pool. Apparently, Sundays at the pool are a big party. They call the place "Rehab".
Well, that was our plan. We got to the parking lot and took a peek over the wall to check out the pool. And to our surprise, we saw nothing but dirt and diggers. The pool was a construction zone!! We couldn't believe it! We could always go to plan B and head over to the Palms. But I thought I saw some people in the cabanas behind the construction zone, so there was still hope. So, we checked it out and were happy to find that part of the pool was still open.
Checking in at the front desk, Andrea was very friendly and offered us a suite, since we were only there for one night. We told her it was my birthday, so she said, well, definitely you should get a suite. Andrea's birthday was later this month, too, so she had to look out for her fellow Arian (not Aryan :P). And yeah, I know it's cheesy, but upon walking into our Suite, I did feel like a rock star. We were on the 10th floor and had a great view of the pool. I know it was only 10:30 in the morning (Andrea totally hooked us up with the early check in, too!), but BT went down to the pool to reserve a couple of lounge chairs for us. I told him to call me and I could help guide him to some empty seats from my vantage point. He was able to find a couple of seats next to some friendly couples.
The weather was perfect, not too hot. We stayed at the pool until about 4:00. We chatted with our new friends, Mitch & Amy from Colorado and Simon & Nina from London. I have to hand the *Party Like a Rock Star* award to Simon. They were here for a wedding and have managed to be kicked out of their original Hotel AND banned from 4 OTHER hotels in Las Vegas! Brilliant Work, Simon. Brilliant! We decided to meet up with Mitch & Amy for dinner and drinks later that evening. We took a quick nap in the room and I woke up with a massive headache. I told my husband that all that sun really takes a toll on you. BT replied that it probably had nothing to do with the two $18.00 drinks I had at the pool. Of course not.
Dinner was at Tao in the Venetian. I have to recommend the Sashimi of Kobe Beef! Kanpeki! Oishii!
After dinner we danced to a live band in some outdoor patio. Then we walked over to the Mirage just in time to catch the Fountain Dance show. We didn't stay out too late, since my flight the next morning was at 6:05 AM. But it was a great way to celebrate my birthday.
My son's high school had their annual Mr. Pinnacle contest - a pageant of sorts to win Prom Tickets and Limousine service to the event. This year's theme, "The Best of the West" The 20 cowboy contestants came out and danced to 'Space Cowboy', 'Save a Horse. Ride a Cowboy', etc.
I was taking my daughter and her two friends to watch the show. We arrived just a few minutes before it started and our seats were taken! Some lady with a crown, was sitting in one of our seats. She told us that the front seats at the end of the catwalk were too close, and they needed to sit back one row to get a better view. She offered the three empty seats meant for the judges to my girls. I sat next to Miss. Arizona and the girls took the front row.
Big mistake.
After the opening dance, each contestant was introduced in their Casual Wear Walk. They would strut their stuff down the runway, and not knowing that the little 11 year olds in the front were NOT the judges, they would do even more exaggerated "strutting" right in front of the girls! Yikes! The poor girls. They kept trying to look away. I'm sure they're traumatized for life. It was pretty funny, and I have to apologize to the girls parents. They're never going to let me take the girls out anymore :) One of the girls jokingly said on the drive home "I don't want to go to high school!" Oh great! Way to go, Jaina!
After the casual walk, the girls spied three seats, two rows behind me. So, they moved and were able to enjoy the remainder of the show, unharassed.
The next segment of the show was the Swimwear competition and Pick-Up line demonstrations. Ms. Pickering, my son's AP English teacher came out and sat on the hay bales in her black and red Saloon Girl dress as the boys once again came out in their swimwear and white "Mr. Pinnacle" tank tops. But, oh, the pick up lines!
"Hi Ms. Pickering. Are you a parking ticket? Because you've got "FINE" written all over you!"
"Ms. Pickering. Why don't you and I go out this weekend and we can do the same thing you did to my grades." And then in Flo Rida's lyrics the contestant said "We can get Low, low, low, low, low, low, low"
The school soccer star came out doing some tricks with the ball and said to her "Did you like my soccer playing? Well, maybe we can get together. I can show you how to dribble and kick. And then you can show me how to score"
My son's pick up line..."OK! I'm here. Now what's your next two wishes?"
Unfortunately, my son didn't make the cut down to 10. The 10 finalists get to perform their talent. And some of these boys are super talented!!
However, they did allow him to perform when the show needed some time to tabulate scores. Below is his performance:
It was a great night. Kyle Robot was crowned Mr. Pinnacle (Pinoy Power!!). And my daughter and her friends enjoyed the show. They were able to meet Miss. Arizona 2007, Nicole Turner, who signed my daughter's Mr. Pinnacle program.
I stayed late Monday afternoon to beadazzle my coworker's cube. He was finding sticky little rhinestone throughout the day as he went about work. Reaching for his stapler...a rhinestone. Pulling open a drawer...a rhinestone. Grabbing the phone...you get the idea. I added some tiger fabric to his chair and a "chalk" outline on the ground for more sh*ts and giggles. Heather helped me out. She even snapped this pic of the dirty work when we were done and sent it to me. The next day, James KNEW it was Heather. Just last month we collaborated to wrap her car in tin foil. She was obviously getting back at him. Later, someone who also stayed late (I won't mention any names, PETE!) ratted me out. I continued to play innocent and even showed him the picture mail I received last night, from Heather! Hahaha! Evidence against her, and proving my innocence, or so I thought. James decided it was a group effort and laid the blame on both Heather and I.
I finally figured out how to sync my runs to Nikeplus now that I got my new sensor working. ...and...I realized all my runs are saved as XML files. Yeah, I know I'm a big, bad, XML Account manager and can create these XML files in my sleep. But don't worry...I promise I won't cheat to get to this goal. Cross my heart.
I know, I know, the Coyotes season is pretty much over since they didn't make it into the play-offs this year. Thanks to the San Jose Sharks making that a certainty last night. But, BT finally got these pictures to me.
It was almost 4 weeks ago, Tuesday when he was able to get us 4 tickets (Thanks, Mike!!) to the Coyotes v. Ducks game. And 4 seems to be the number because we were in the 4th row!! A-Maz-Ing! I couldn't believe how close they were to us. We could even see the Great One, Wayne Gretzky himself right across the ice from us. The action was fast, loud and exciting. Spencer and Trenton came with us and they were instant fans. The players crashing against the plexiglass windows made us jump and laugh each time.
The game was awesome. The kids enjoyed the crowd chants and songs. Especially when players were put in the penalty box. "Bad Boys! Bad Boys! Whatcha gonna do?" Then the Coyote Cheerleaders performed after the 2nd period to Janet Jackson's Feedback. Too bad we had to leave our seats 5 minutes into the 3rd period, with the Ducks leading 2 to 1. After all, it was a school night and already way past 9 o'clock. The drive back would take at least a half hour, too.
But we even ran into some action in the hallway of the Jobing.com Arena as we were walking to the exits. We saw the SRP Water drop guy. He's the Salt River Project mascot named "Dewey", dressed in blue tights and shaped like a big blue water droplet. Trenton got to give Dewey a High Five.
Then, one guy walking by stopped us and handed me a box. "Here you go. This is for him." and he pointed at my 4 year old.
"What is it?" I asked.
"It's a bobble head." and he walked away after I thanked him.
It was the bobble head of the Coyotes Mascot Howler. Wow! Trenton was cleaning up.
Then, we heard the crowd go crazy! The Coyotes just scored another goal and tied it up! We stopped in front of one of the TV screens to watch the replay.
Spencer couldn't stop talking about how much fun she had! She was disappointed when I told her that it was almost the end of the season. She wanted to go to another game.
By the time we got home, the game finally ended. The Coyotes won in overtime in a shoot-out, 3 to 2!
I think I kinda like the visceral nervous excitement you feel right before an event like this. Your doubts, fears, and anxiety churning in your stomach like a protein shake in the blender. Even though this is as mini as a tri can get, you still get that feeling. I actually am thinking I should go ahead and finally register for the Tri-for-a cure next month.
My Tri Notes. The swim. We were required to wear the swim caps that were given to us at check in. I usually wear the lycra/spandex swim cap that's soft and easy to put on. They gave us those tight rubber caps that feel like your trying to slip a condom over your head. I did a warm up lap and felt like my head was being squeezed by the thing. Oh well, it's only a 10 minute swim. I did 14 25 m laps, 350 meters.
The bike. We were supposed to have a 10 minute transition, but our swim started 5 minutes late. I was still setting up my bike as my wave started. My hair wasn't as wet as I thought it would be and the drops of water from my hair helped keep me cool. The rubber swim cap actually kept it less wet than it does with the lycra cap.
We weren't allowed to touch the resistance on the bike. Apparently, I have been WAY too easy on myself during spin class because the resistance was about an 8 on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest I ever go in spin class. I was able to do 9.1 miles in 30 minutes.
The run. The 5 minute transition was plenty of time to change into running shoes and get to the treadmills. But again I wasn't ready for this. They made us set the incline at 2%. I was pretty tired from the earlier events so I ran it at a leisurely pace. Plus, I heard about this from many triathletes, that running right after the bike is a really funky feeling. The transition to using the muscles differently is kinda wierd. My legs were feeling wobbly for the first 5 minutes. I did only 1.76 miles in 20 minutes. Not at all my usual pace.
But I'm done!! I did it!! And I'm proud of myself, despite the pace. To treat myself, I headed to the cafe for a Strawberry Sunrise Smoothie. The guy at the counter saw my "Tri it Indoors" shirt and told me that it's free if we're a participant. Score!
My first Triathlon is this Sunday! Woohoo! I'm excited, nervous, anxious, scared, you name it. I don't know why. This one's going to be a piece of cake.
It's all indoors, in the Lifetime Fitness Gym. Unlike other triathlons, this one is based on time instead of distance. It measures the amount of distance you can cover in a given amount of time.
First, I hop in the pool and swim as many laps as I can in 10 minutes. I'm guessing 8 laps, 400 meters. Then, they give us 10 minutes to get ready for biking. I don't know how I'm going to dry my hair in 10 minutes!! Maybe I will just swim doggie paddle so I don't get my hair wet.
Once in the bike area, you're given 30 minutes to bike as much as you can. The bikes are outfitted with a computer to measure distance. After half an hour of biking, you're given 5 minutes to change shoes and head over to the treadmills. Once there, you run for 20 minutes as fast as you can.
After each discipline is completed, your distance is recorded. The top 3 in men's and women's win an award. HA! I'm not even thinking about that. I just want to do it, just to do it. To finally do a triathlon.
I checked out my "wave", the people scheduled to start out at the same time as I do. In total, there are 64 participants and 10 people in my wave, 3 men and 7 women. The oldest being 52 and the youngest is 31. None of the names look familiar. Maybe, I've seen them around in the gym. Anyway, by Sunday afternoon this will be all over.
After this...an outdoor triathlon sprint. I still need a bike though...
My husband and I went on a quick trip out to his home town last weekend for some family obligations. I don't know why I agreed to leave the 80 degree weather to hang out where the night time low was 8.
We did get some time away from the 'family obligations' to hangout in Boston on Friday night. We left Foxboro for the City around 7 o'clock and drove to the South End. We started our night off in The Beehive, a bar that was voted "Best of the New: Diversions" by Boston Globes Visitor's Guide.
The place used to be the old flower market, where flower wholesalers would sell their stuff. It was pretty cool, with the brick walls, the art hanging on the walls, the exposed beams and venting above and lots of place to hang your jackets. Hahah! You'd never find that in a Scottsdale bar.
After a cape cod and a couple raspberry madras (and bribing the bartender to let us bring the food away from the bar and to our counter - Thanks Greg ;) !), the rest of the crew that we were going to meet were finally allowed to go downstairs. I guess fire code only allowed a certain number of people below. It's so typical of Boston bars to be downstairs, sorta like the bar in Cheers.
We didn't stick around for the live jazz that was setting up on the stage next to us. We hopped into the car and headed to our next stop, the Union Bar and Grille. I ordered another Raspberry Madras from the bartender. My sister-in-law had to correct my pronunciation so the bartender could understand my thick Arizona accent. I guess it's pronounced 'mad', not 'maude'. What do I know?
Here, I got to talk to my brother-in-law's friends, Tom and Chris, some more. Tom swears he met me ten years ago in San Francisco when my husband let him stay at his place as he was on his way to Hawaii. I kept telling him it wasn't me!
"No, it had to be one of his exes," I said, " I don't remember meeting you."
"No, it was you!" Tom insisted.
Then I explained, "All my husbands exes are asian and we all look alike. Really. You know how girlfriends go through all the old pictures of their boyfriend's exes and rip 'em up? I don't have to do that. I look at 'em and say, 'Yeah, that looks like me.' even hang 'em on the wall if 'I' look good in it"
Yup, those Madras were getting to me...
We crawled next door to the BanQ Restaurant and Bar. The restaurant is housed in the old renovated Penny Savings Bank building. I loved the interesting design they created on the ceiling with these hanging sheets of maple colored wood. The food and beverage had an asian flair and I tried out one of the japanese side cars, a martini made with sake and an apricot liqueor.
As we left the BanQ that night, it was just beginning to snow outside. My first snow since I left California three years ago. Wow! We got a little camera happy outside the bar...
Well & Being and Willow Stream Spa
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I started a 90 day membership at the Willow Stream Spa. They're located in
the Fairmont Princess Hotel in North Scottsdale, so close by my home. Even
clo...
I snuggled on the couch by the Christmas Tree reading Brisingr. Brian grilled us some steaks for dinner and picked out a nice Cabernet for us. While we ate, we signed into Yahoo! Messenger and chatted with Hunter in San Francisco. He turned on his webcam so we could watch and hear everyone open their presents. It was just like being there.
