Dust Might

Steven Speilberg, was that you? I felt like I was Ben Affleck, standing in my front yard as a massive mountain of dust enveloped the neighborhood, waiting for someone to call "Cut!" as the slow-moving beast blacked out the sky and filled the air with dirt. Minutes earlier, sitting on the grass on some beach towels with Shana and the in from NY Amy, who's always on the lookout for a great desert sunset, even in 100 degree weather, we noticed something to the west. It looked like a cloud. Then smoke. Then lava or an avalanche. The brains weren't functioning in the required sci-fi mode. Then, looking to the east, we saw the same thing. The miles wide blob coming at us from both directions. Crunching on dirt in our mouths, scratching our eyes, we went inside, turned off the lights, checked online to make sure we weren't crazy (we weren't) and watched in awe as Dust Storm 2011 rolled over the house.  

Woke up to this.

A brown car.

The dust pile.

Movie Madness - Larry Crowne

Tried to pick a light, fun, funny holiday flick for a hot July 4th. All fluff, no fireworks.

AAHhhh

Pinetop - 67 degrees. That's more like it. Family weekend with the in-laws. Even the BF came along. Reading in the hammock, Monopoly for hours, food, food, food, boutique shopping, Corvette driving, rainy walks in the woods, sleeping with the windows opened.

Uncle

115 degrees
I give
Going to Pinetop

Bad Ass Bonding

OMG!!! Mother-daugther bonding gone wild!

To infinity and beyond!!

Triskaidekaphobia Fear Factor

Thirteen's always been a lucky number for me. I even look forward to Friday the 13ths. No superstitious fear here. I love black cats, stepping on cracks, walking under ladders and I never, ever forward chain emails no matter how many wrinkles or bad luck is promised. But today, standing in a very tall sans a thirteenth floor building, I wondered if any of those people on the floor above twelve are worried. Do they know that just because it says 14 on the elevator, they're taking their chances on a daily basis? Looking up at the Cityscape glassy wall from the safely positioned, hip new Arrogant Butcher (thanks for lunch, Mr. and Mrs. Old Wildcat), I thought about the at least 13 things I'm afraid of and how maybe I could write them all down right here.

But I don't want to jinx anything...

Ssshhhh

Heard on NPR today a speech given at West Point about leadership. It takes solitude to become a good leader. Think your own thoughts. Spend some time away from the media. Turn off the cell phone. Have one on one conversations. Get to know yourself.

Movie Madness - Bad Teacher

Summer's here - bring on the bad movies. Bad Teacher with the whole gang today - LOL.

Splendid Scottsdale

Happy Birthday to Scottsdale. Sixty years of splendid bliss. Started the party with some old (but way below 60) neighborhood friends at Kitchen 56, which looked like this back in the day,

but now it's a hip new gathering joint

 where we reminisced with some old photos of our own - trips to Disneyland, San Diego, Tijuana, prom shots, pool parties and keg parties in shag carpeted family rooms all over town. Even dug up this seems like 60 years ago wet-haired, bikini-clad gem.

We played the remember whens, the what's his names, the where are they nows and the ones that got aways. Analyzed the gay vs. straight dilemma right as NY was legalizing gay marriage (way to go NY!)

and tried to come up with some regrets - not many.
Kept the celebration going with a trip to SMOCA A Splendid Night at SMOCA and teamed-up to push through the packed partiers at the museum bar to ponder some pretty wild art.

Times are a changing, but hopefully some things never will.

86 cents

It's all about the cup. Circle K got rid of all their wimpy cups and added the "Froster" a few months ago. It's Styrofoam. It's a total environment killer and I whisper a little "I'm sorry" to Al Gore whenever I buy one. Which is often. Like several times a week. I'm addicted. The cup. The caffeine. The better tasting Diet Pepsi out of a fountain. The cool carbonation sounds. The good ice. The community. It costs 86 cents with tax and the thing lasts me all day. I take the change out of my change cup in the cupboard so I can minimize the addiction issue, dropping the coins in my new Circle K friends' hands and running out the door, sometimes cutting in front of others because I am now a regualr, as my car idles with my carpooler outside. I make sure to recycle the cup and have tried to step up my reduce global warming efforts in other areas. The other day I made Shana wait until after 9pm to start the washing machine. She said, "How much money could we possibly be saving?" I explained that it's not about the money, please, it's about being a good citizen of the earth. But then I thought, hopefully it's more than 86 cents.