Who else could own an outfit like this?
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Monday, August 17, 2009
Weekend Recap
Phoenix was so much fun - even though I spent about 30 of my 62 hours in Phoenix sleeping. Michael had to work on Friday, but spent the morning at home which was nice knowing how incredibly busy he is. I sat at the pool and read/relaxed for the afternoon and then a friend from high school stopped by for a glass of wine after work. I haven't seen her in 11 years so it was great to catch up with her. I didn't bring my camera, but maybe I'll find a picture of her little girl who was a laugh riot to me. She was energetic and into everything! Alex was such an easy going baby who was content just cuddling with someone on a rocker - not this little girl!
Michael and I went for a 7-mile bike ride before my stupid tire blew which is wonderful when it's 108 degrees outside. I just parked my butt on a curb and Michael peddled home and brought his truck. Later than evening, we went to the Diamondbacks/Dodgers game which was F*U*N. There were around 42,000 fans at the game and I would say half of them were dodger fans. Phoenix is a weird city in that it's a transplant city and not many people grow up there or have strong ties to the city. Example - ever gone to a Twins game? Even in a looser season (like this one is turning out to be) you can still find 40,000 fans in the stands cheering. This isn't the case for the D-Backs. It's usually quiet and the fans applaud as opposed to scream and cheer. Saturday night, however, it was rocking! We had awesome seats in the VIP section right behind home plate. The crowd went crazy when Manny Ramirez walked waltzed up to bat - half cheering and half booing - it was great.
One not so great thing about Saturday nights game was this little unpleasant incident.
Kuroda, Dodgers pitcher, gets beamed by a line drive and the ball literally bounces off of his head and ends up in the foul territory. The sound that the baseball made when it hit Kuroda in the head was awful and everyone in the stadium gasped. You could cut the tension with a knife. Thankfully, he's okay and the found no bleeding. Seriously, how lucky is he? If that ball would have bounced off of his forehead, he would have been dead. I can't imagine that we'll see him on the mound anytime soon, but thankfully, he's alive.
I can't post a blog about the weekend and not mention the sad passing of Les Paul. Ever listen to a piece of music with an amazing guitar riff behind it - thank Les Paul. He invented the solid body guitar style that revolutionized rock music. He also invented multi track recording which enabled instruments to be recorded separately and fused together in the studio. Singers could record their voice and have it played as a background vocal. As if that wasn't enough, he later invented tape delay. Musicians like Jimmy Page, Pete Townshend, Eddie Van Halen, Slash made the les paul their signature guitar.
As the daughter of a guitar enthusiast, I was always making fun of the guys in the band because of the way in which they worshiped a solid guitar. Put a musician in a room with a naked woman in one corner and a solid electric guitar in another, I almost guarantee the musician (assuming it's a male musician) is going to go gaga over the guitar. However, I often find myself with the same googled eyes gazing at a custom guitar.
Thank you Les Paul for your ingenuity, your music, and your talent and may you rest in peace. God Bless
Michael and I went for a 7-mile bike ride before my stupid tire blew which is wonderful when it's 108 degrees outside. I just parked my butt on a curb and Michael peddled home and brought his truck. Later than evening, we went to the Diamondbacks/Dodgers game which was F*U*N. There were around 42,000 fans at the game and I would say half of them were dodger fans. Phoenix is a weird city in that it's a transplant city and not many people grow up there or have strong ties to the city. Example - ever gone to a Twins game? Even in a looser season (like this one is turning out to be) you can still find 40,000 fans in the stands cheering. This isn't the case for the D-Backs. It's usually quiet and the fans applaud as opposed to scream and cheer. Saturday night, however, it was rocking! We had awesome seats in the VIP section right behind home plate. The crowd went crazy when Manny Ramirez walked waltzed up to bat - half cheering and half booing - it was great.
One not so great thing about Saturday nights game was this little unpleasant incident.
Kuroda, Dodgers pitcher, gets beamed by a line drive and the ball literally bounces off of his head and ends up in the foul territory. The sound that the baseball made when it hit Kuroda in the head was awful and everyone in the stadium gasped. You could cut the tension with a knife. Thankfully, he's okay and the found no bleeding. Seriously, how lucky is he? If that ball would have bounced off of his forehead, he would have been dead. I can't imagine that we'll see him on the mound anytime soon, but thankfully, he's alive.
I can't post a blog about the weekend and not mention the sad passing of Les Paul. Ever listen to a piece of music with an amazing guitar riff behind it - thank Les Paul. He invented the solid body guitar style that revolutionized rock music. He also invented multi track recording which enabled instruments to be recorded separately and fused together in the studio. Singers could record their voice and have it played as a background vocal. As if that wasn't enough, he later invented tape delay. Musicians like Jimmy Page, Pete Townshend, Eddie Van Halen, Slash made the les paul their signature guitar.
As the daughter of a guitar enthusiast, I was always making fun of the guys in the band because of the way in which they worshiped a solid guitar. Put a musician in a room with a naked woman in one corner and a solid electric guitar in another, I almost guarantee the musician (assuming it's a male musician) is going to go gaga over the guitar. However, I often find myself with the same googled eyes gazing at a custom guitar.
Thank you Les Paul for your ingenuity, your music, and your talent and may you rest in peace. God Bless
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Weekend...fun?
I think I’m in for a long weekend. It was Michael’s birthday on Monday and he had a really difficult day as he just lost his father a few months ago. The first holiday…first birthday…first mother/father’s days are the worst when you’ve just lost someone you love. Although I’ve been there, I seem to be lacking the right words to say to provide any comfort because he is on edge and lashed out at me last night. I am flying to Phoenix tonight to be with him and am so nervous that my stomach is in knots leaving me nauseous and jittery. I’m not canceling the trip because I don’t want to leave him alone for the weekend, but I will defiantly need strength, prayers, and patience for the next few days.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Viva Vegas
On our way back to the 605, I thought it would be fun to stop in Vegas for the 4th of July. We arrived in town around 8:00, which was later than I wanted to but there are so many great outlet malls outside of Vegas, we had to detour. We stayed at the Golden Nugget which is one of my favorite hotels in Vegas! You can almost hear ole blue eyes and Dean Martin singing and laughing in the ballroom. It’s actually rumored to be haunted, but I can’t remember the story right now….go ahead and Google it. We were really tired and Alex wanted to stay in the hotel and watch a movie, but I was determined to take him to the strip to see the fireworks and the dancing fountains. We parked in the PH ramp and I assumed we would just cross the street and be at the Bellagio; however, apparently the sidewalk in front of PH was under construction so I had to take Alex through the casino. Ugh – we had to walk right by the table with the dancing women in their little boy shorts and bra….nice memory for my eight year old.
We watched the fireworks and the dancing fountains and Alex was so tired, he just wanted to go back to the hotel room and wrap himself up in the blankets. On our walk back to the car, I asked Alex what he thought of Vegas so far and he replied “I think they should change the name to swearing town”.
Then next day we took in tons of touristy stuff in Vegas. Walked the strip, did some shopping, saw a show, went to M&M world, saw the shark aquarium and the lion habitat at MGM. We were going to see the Hoover Dam, but we were so exhausted, we just drove by and glanced out the window – still looks good everyone! Alex LOVED Vegas and even claimed that seeing Vegas was his favorite part of the trip - better than Disneyland! In fact, he informed me that he's going to attend college in Vegas - I replied that I was fine with that decision because I can rent an apartment near the UNLV campus.
Then we drove…..and drove…..and drove…..and drove until we arrived in Grand Junction CO which is the home of a very lucky hospital operated with LSS software – right Steph? I was really surprised to see how beautiful Utah was when driving through. I had a lay over in Salt Lake once, but other than that, have never been to Utah and really had zero desire (sorry Utahans). I had really wanted to make it farther than Grand Junction that night, but we hit some rain and the roads are so curvy, I just decided to get a full nights sleep and hit the road tomorrow - all 925 miles of it.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Tower of Terror
We drove by Disnelyand on the way to the hotel Thursday night and the FIRST RIDE that caught Alex’s eye was the Tower of Terror. He insisted that we make that our first ride
This isn’t my video, but I found it on youtube and it gives you a feel for the ride.
Did I mention that I hate rides? I can tolerate flying and boating – other than that, I prefer for my feet to stay on the ground. Obviously, this entire day really was, on my part, a labor of love.
I thought about that death trap the night before our visit to the park and convinced myself that....maybe Alex would forget about the Tower of Terror. Yeah right…I didn’t convince myself of anything. Rather, I wrote my last will and prayed.
After we finished at Disneyland, we made our way to California Adventure Park where the Tower of Terror was located. Alex dashed across the park looking back at me grinning the entire way.
After a 15 minute wait, it was our turn. We are directed to a room where they shut the lights off and play a twilight zone video showing the haunted hotel. That was enough to spook Alex out.
Alex: Mom, I’m the only kid on this ride! Everyone else is a teenager.
Mom: Alex, you met the height requirements so I’m sure that it’s safe for you to ride.
Alex: I’ve changed my mind!! I don’t want to go on this ride. Lets turn around mom
Okay…here’s my out. I don’t have to go on this ride! However, I knew Alex would regret it so I forged ahead.
We were then moved to the elevator which brought us to our seats – the seats by the way looked like an oversized electrical chair.
Alex: Mom, look…there’s an exit door. We can just leave. I don’t want to go on this ride.
Mom: You’ll be fine. This is the ride you’ve been talking about all day. We’re here – we’re going to ride.
We get buckled in to the ride and Alex is literally gripping my arm so hard that I was sure little finger imprints would be engraved forever.
After the spooky ghost, the elevator drops and you feel like you're free falling! Then you feel yourself heading to the top of the hotel.
Alex: MOM PUSH A BUTTON – I WANT OFF OF THIS RIDE
Mom: Alex – open your eyes
We drop again
Alex: MOM!!!!! IS THAT THE ONLY TIME WE DROP
Mom: I think so
Nope…we’re going up again….and we’re dropping again
Alex: MOMMMMM – I CAN’T DO THIS!
Mom: You just did it! The ride is over
Alex opens his eyes…looks around and says
THAT WAS AWESOME!!!
This isn’t my video, but I found it on youtube and it gives you a feel for the ride.
Did I mention that I hate rides? I can tolerate flying and boating – other than that, I prefer for my feet to stay on the ground. Obviously, this entire day really was, on my part, a labor of love.
I thought about that death trap the night before our visit to the park and convinced myself that....maybe Alex would forget about the Tower of Terror. Yeah right…I didn’t convince myself of anything. Rather, I wrote my last will and prayed.
After we finished at Disneyland, we made our way to California Adventure Park where the Tower of Terror was located. Alex dashed across the park looking back at me grinning the entire way.
After a 15 minute wait, it was our turn. We are directed to a room where they shut the lights off and play a twilight zone video showing the haunted hotel. That was enough to spook Alex out.
Alex: Mom, I’m the only kid on this ride! Everyone else is a teenager.
Mom: Alex, you met the height requirements so I’m sure that it’s safe for you to ride.
Alex: I’ve changed my mind!! I don’t want to go on this ride. Lets turn around mom
Okay…here’s my out. I don’t have to go on this ride! However, I knew Alex would regret it so I forged ahead.
We were then moved to the elevator which brought us to our seats – the seats by the way looked like an oversized electrical chair.
Alex: Mom, look…there’s an exit door. We can just leave. I don’t want to go on this ride.
Mom: You’ll be fine. This is the ride you’ve been talking about all day. We’re here – we’re going to ride.
We get buckled in to the ride and Alex is literally gripping my arm so hard that I was sure little finger imprints would be engraved forever.
After the spooky ghost, the elevator drops and you feel like you're free falling! Then you feel yourself heading to the top of the hotel.
Alex: MOM PUSH A BUTTON – I WANT OFF OF THIS RIDE
Mom: Alex – open your eyes
We drop again
Alex: MOM!!!!! IS THAT THE ONLY TIME WE DROP
Mom: I think so
Nope…we’re going up again….and we’re dropping again
Alex: MOMMMMM – I CAN’T DO THIS!
Mom: You just did it! The ride is over
Alex opens his eyes…looks around and says
THAT WAS AWESOME!!!
Sunday, August 2, 2009
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