So wordy...

Shana was my first friend. Not friend friend. Not even Facebook friend. But friend in Words with Friends. Now I'm hooked. Her "name" is iwillwinheart, but it's spelled wrong, something like iwillwinherat (I just love a little irony). Since she had such a grandiose name, I went with

icandoanything

and I'm addicted. I've got several friends now and we just play, play, play, Scrabbling for days. I know it's a distraction from life, but I figure it's a good brain exercise. Alzheimer's prevention.

Wanna play?

Coop Flyer

The other day I pulled out some sandals from Shana's suitcase in an attempt to shut it. We had the same problem last year at this time, before a five month trip to Spain. Too much stuff. Not enough bag. This year it's a ten day trip to Boyfriendville, off to Cali to see this guy

so it's not as hard. But here I am again, left with discarded shoes that didn't make the cut, a dried out Christmas tree and an empty nest.

Circle of Life

We lost a patient on Saturday. Too young. Too soon. I keep seeing his wife's face.

Heading up in the elevator this afternoon with the OB from down the hall, just back from his across the street jog from the hospital, I asked, "Any new babies today?"

"Yep," he said, smiling, "just ten minutes ago."

Made me smile, too.

Voter Fraud

If you can't beat 'em, cheat 'em.

It's been a banner year for changing the laws to make voting more difficult. Here, read this. Here's one more example of how some people just don't want some of us to vote. Except for today. Today, Perry filed a lawsuit in Virginia since he didn't get enough signatures to make it on the primaries ballot. He wants to change the rules to make Virginia more like the other states, giving him a little more edge since he didn't follow the rules the first time around. So much for states rights. This, from a guy that a few months ago wanted Texas to secede.

Leapin' Lizards

Annie's coming to town!

Ho Ho Ho

Hope the holiday is full of sweet things.

Movie Madness - My Week WIth Marilyn

Took a little break from all the ho ho ho-ing for an extra credit movie madness with Shana - that's right, Christmas Day - do NOT tell Fox News!

Great trip into Marilyn's world...

Rock Around The Christmas Tree

Some holiday lights from Amy in Rockefeller Center.

I Got You, Babe

Shawn hacked the JibJab account and went crazy...

I Got You, Babe

Chippendale Shawn :)

Good in the Hood

God, it's like we're still in seventh grade with this crowd, hanging out at the Tavern for a bit of holiday cheer, it's never long before the conversation heads south, way down to the pink underwear.

Book Club Bonfire

You can't keep the good girls down. Not even the craziness of the holidays could stop the book club from the BYOB at the bonfire at Save The Day Leslie's backyard mountain preserve. Flames were flying, lasagna was bubbling and gifts for the ruleless white elephant ornament gift exchange

were calling as Little Baby Jesus came from above. Perhaps in celebration of his Jewishness, Jaye showed up in a menorah reindeer headband with some herring salad.

Yum.

Bag Ladies - Lucky Number 7 and the new rubber chicken for interviews

I traded the most stunning, spectacularly shiny Winter Solstice crystal I've ever seen for this,

while others walked away with a sexy leg lamp, a box of Joe Joes, a mini mini pink CAbi dress, a gold stiletto, a snowflake mug and more, more, more.

In our yearly tradition, we passed the savior, thanking the circle, stealing, plagiarizing, ditto, ditto, dittoing for the soft place to land during a hard year, the health, the happiness, the trees and the I love us-es.

We never got around to the book. Poor Wes Moore and the other Wes Moore, we may never read about you two.

But I'm absolutley sure a bunch of hot desert Divas snuggling around some flames beats a couple of guys from Baltimore any day.

Boots, beer and a bonfire...

Happy Holidays

2011 Holiday Card

Festival of Lights

Kicked off Hanukkah at Old Wildcat's, complete with candles and prayers and latkes and even the two square rule story, reminding us that we have a lot to be thankful for this year.

The Protester

Speak up. Time's Person of the Year is The Protester. People around the world have been shouting, "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!" And it's working. Some dictators are gone. Some governments are changing. The media are now focused on the 99% rather than the all-powerful 1%. There's now talk of income inequality. The billionaires are getting upset. Banks are even returning some of the loot. It's getting louder out there outside of the bubble. Can you hear it?

Stress Management

Cookies and Cocktails

The hottest ticket in town! Writers galore filling up on cookies, sangria and gossip, sharing the scoop on the latest public figure that's about to go down, or the coolest new restaurant in town or the latest and greatest book you must pick up, all while adorable kids run around and around, sweetly smiling up as they grab another amazing frosted star. Perfection.

Cat Fight

Zach The Wildcat

'

Yay!

Miss Smarty Pants did it again (I'm chalking up the missing apostrophe to one of life's funny ironies, or, according to Shana, speed texting).

Yay!

Do You Sees What I Sees?

The office in December - a dangerous, dangerous, chocolatey place...

Rockin' Ronnie's Rendevous

It's not about the horse, it's about Ronnie! 

Gathered the gang for a birthday celebration.

Pass the wine and cucumbers.

The CAbi and fur.

The wrap-around booth.

A petite ya ya even showed up.

The cards and presents fit for the princess she is.

Chocolate bomb for the blonde bombshell. Blow! I hope your wish comes true :)

Phoestivus Market

Celebrate the holidays and buy your gifts locally at the same time! Outdoor market is hosting Phoestivus, an expanded holiday market to fill your gift bags and boxes.

PHX Phoestivus Market

War and Peace

The war's over. Our amazing troops that worked so hard are coming home - well, 4,000 fewer of them that went. We went to "liberate" but ended up killing over 100,000 people and since that's not enough to win hearts and minds, we built a $750 million dollar embassy, just so everybody knows that we're never, ever leaving.

"Lisa, Line One"

It's always bad news. "Lisa, line one," means I'm in trouble. I'm about to get yelled at. I got a bill from the lab. You used the wrong code. My drugs aren't covered. My insurance sucks. Fix it. Fix it. Fix it. 
But today I picked up and I could hear the patient smiling. Hi Lisa! She wanted to tell me all about her new insurance plan. One of the Medicare Advantage plans. Zero premium. Zero copay. Good drug coverage. I kept waiting for the complaint, but it never came. I thought about how we've helped this lady over the years, spending hours hunting down deals on procedures and meds, just to get her through to the next month, weaving her though the health care maze and how hard it must have been for her to ask for help. On my way out tonight I ran into some more patients, an older couple handing over their new 2012 cards for us to scan. They were happy, too. Less expensive. More coverage. Smiling as they spoke about insurance. Unheard of for the past decade. Little by little, we're seeing some changes this year. I got a free Mammogram instead of dipping into my massive deductible. Seniors saved an average of $500 this year on medication costs. Patients got physicals without a copay. This week the Department of Health and Human Services ruled that insurance companies need to spend 80% of the premiums they bring in on actual patient care. Not on marketing. Not on lobbyists. Not on some twenty-year-old in Bangalore denying an MRI while playing Angry Birds. Actual patient care. Imagine that.

I may start answering the phone more often.

Need To No

I must be allergic to pine and cinnamon because it happens this time every year. The scrooge comes out. The bah hum bug. The no, no, nos. The decorating, the packed calendar, the shopping, the gimmie, gimmie, gimmies.  Someone needs a long winter's nap...

Movie Madness - New Year's Eve

Oohhh...so shiny!! I have to throw my Movie Madness peeps a little eye candy every now and then, right? The bar was oh so low to begin with and it just got worse from there. Cliche-filled, moronic, predictable attempt to separate a bunch of people from seven dollars. The gang cried tears of joy from laughing so hard at the absurdity and tried to remember all the sappy one-liners to throw at each other at a later date. Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one!

Birthday Boy

Carefree Christmas Festival

The Ho Ho Hos just couldn't seem to get through the holidays without a little touchy feely from Santa,

heading to the North Pole for our annual Carefree Celebration, where it's good to be Queen,

for a spot of holiday tea and scones and getting into a little trouble with the Big Guy himself.