Month of November, 2005

Thanksgiving

I spent Thanksgiving in Phoenix. It was warm and beautiful here. Matt invited me to celebrate with him, his family, and some friends. Matt's friends, Jason and Heather, were nice enough to host all of us at their house. Everyone brought food so we had way too much of it. I think there were enough desserts for everyone to have one all to themselves. I cooked mashed sweet potatoes with maple syrup and green bean casserole. Lots of food makes for a very thankful Thanksgiving. After the meal, we watched The Ref, which was quite funny but made me dream about fighting later that night.

Friday I got up early and went shopping. Yep, I am one of those people. Ironically though, I didn't do any Christmas shopping. I simply took advantage of some of the good sales. It was really nice to get ahead of all the crowds and by noon, I was home away from all the crazy people.

Saturday I had a visit from Phil, from San Antonio. He was in Mesa visiting his grandparents for Thanksgiving. When I picked him up from his grandparents' house, I was pulled into a game of Pegs and Jokers. It's a board/card game that apparently mostly retired people play on homemade boards and was supposedly invented in an RV park in Texas. It was a really fun game even though Phil's mother beat us all horribly. Phil got to see my house for the first time and we ate a fantastic sushi dinner (with a lot of sake). It was really nice to have Phil around as he's a good friend and you simply can't see enough of your good friends. Even Bentley loved having Phil around - he tried to sleep with his head on Phil's chest!

All in all, the Thanksgiving holiday was very laid back and exactly what I needed.

Holiday Spirit

The weather turned chilly here. For the first time I'm actually considering turning on my heater. I suppose it's nice for it to feel like winter. It's definitely right in time to get me in the holiday spirit. It will also help that Kii is taking me to the Las Noches de las Luminarias at the Desert botanical Garden on Wednesday. It will be wonderful to look at Christmas lights in a desert setting. I'm so excited!

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Sedona with Kii

Kii took me away on a surprise vacation during the early part of this week. We planned it over a month ago, but he wanted to keep it a surprise. Turns out it was a wonderful surprise! He did an amazing job of planning everything and completely exceeded all my expectations.

Kii and I met back in August via a dating website. We've been seeing each other on a regular basis since then. The time has just flown by! We have a lot in common and get along extremely well. I hadn't mentioned him, because I didn't really know where things were heading. I can't say I have a clear idea of where things are heading, but I'm comfortable enough to write about him and know it's not going to screw things up.

Late last week, I got instructions from Kii on what to pack, but no detail as to where we were going. So on Sunday, he picked me up and finally gave me the details of our trip. We drove up to Sedona, a resort town known for its amazing scenery. Kii planned everything so well. We had a suite at the Hilton Resort and Spa, which was absolutely lovely. The trip started out with a sunset jeep tour. Our guide was a bit quirky, but we quickly learned that everyone that lives in Sedona is a bit quirky. The views on our jeep tour were beautiful and my pictures just don't do them justice. The two stops during the tour were at the Apache's Seven Pools and Devil's Kitchen. Sunday night consisted of a fantastic dinner at Cucina Rustica, a Mediterranean restaurant.

On Monday, Kii and I spent a couple hours hiking around Bell Rock and Courthouse Butte. The day started off a little chilly, but quickly warmed up which made for perfect hiking weather. I thoroughly enjoyed laying on top of Bell Rock and relaxing. When we got back to the hotel, we had a bite to eat then we headed off to the spa. Kii arranged for us to have massages! I had a hot stone massage, which was heavenly. I really enjoyed having the stones placed on my stomach and between my toes! Needless to say, after the massages, we did very little else that night.

On Tuesday, we ate breakfast at The Hitching Post, which was one of the most enjoyable places we visited (much to our surprise). We did a little bit of wandering around art galleries before heading out of town. Our goal was to have lunch at an old hospital turned hotel in Jerome, Arizona. On the way, we impulsively stopped at the Tuzigoot National Monument, which is a site of Native American ruins. Then we headed up to Jerome. It's a funny little town perched on the side of a mountain. Most of the buildings are frame houses, which hang precariously on the side of the mountain. We decided to explore a bit and found ourselves at the Jerome State Historic Park. It was there we learned that Jerome was once a billion dollar mining town. At it's peak in the 20's, 15,000 people lived in Jerome. The mines closed in the 50's and the town now relies on tourism by calling itself the nation's largest ghost town. Arizona owes much of its success to copper mining so it was fascinating to learn so much about the town where much of the mining took place. We ended the day with lunch at The Asylum, a restaurant in The Jerome Grand Hotel. The hotel was previously a hospital (at one time the biggest in the state) though not a mental hospital. It's known for being haunted, which is where the restaurant gets its name. Our time in Jerome was cut short by the need to head home and prepare for the holidays.

Kii headed off to California today to spend the holiday with his family. I'm staying in Phoenix and celebrating the holiday with a Texan friend, Matt, his family and friends. Friday I'll probably join the masses and do some shopping. On Saturday, I get a visit from Phil who is in town to celebrate the holiday with his grandfather. It's a little sad not to be with my family for the holiday, but having just seen them a couple weeks ago for the wedding, it's OK. I'm happy to be at home after being gone so much lately. The time away with Kii was exactly what I needed to feel relaxed and truly enjoy the rest of the Thanksgiving holiday. I have much to be thankful for.

View all the pictures.

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Ky

Pictures from Kristen's Wedding

Go see the albumn.

Paintings

I bought these paintings at an art festival in Scottsdale yesterday. Turns out the artist lives two blocks from me. I'm going to hang them in the living room over the couch.

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Ky, Ky, & Greta

Milwaukee

Milwaukee must love me. My rental car is a new Mustang and my hotel has a hot tub next to the bed. I feel special!

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Kristen is married!

Congratulations to Kristen and Chris who were married on Saturday. It was a beautiful and very special wedding. I'm so glad I got to be a part of it! I love them both so dearly.

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Tuesday in Tucson

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Salvage Business

My father is awesome. He just called to let me know he successfully got rid of the old edger and dishwasher by putting it on the curb. He didn't know who took them but he was pleased they were gone. We started discussing who was picking the stuff up. Afterall, his street gets very little traffic. He theorized that the garbage men get finders fees for calling people to let them know items they can salvage. The best part was that Dad suggested this as a business opportunity to me. That's my dad, always keeping an eye out for my next career move!

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Baby Pictures

View the set.

Ok, I know those of you without kids most of you are probably a little tired of seeing pictures of Ky. But I'm not going to stop. Because, my dear friends, this site is about me and I love this child!

Last weekend in Dallas, I got to see Autumn, Ky, and Ky. It was wonderful to spend time with them and to hold Ky! He even fell asleep in my arms. Precious. Then we dressed him up in his Halloween costume - a lobster. Hilarious.

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Happy 25th Birthday, Kristen!

Happy birthday to my sister who I love very, very much. Happy birthday to a beautiful, intelligent, and loving woman. Happy birthday to the little sis who grew up really fast and will be married (to a wonderful man) in less than 10 days. Happy birthday to the person who makes me laugh harder than anyone on the planet. Happy birthday to my car singing partner. Happy birthday to the person I miss so badly I'm crying as I post this.

Happy 25th birthday, Kristen. I love you.

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Change

The only constant is that things change. And at work that's certainly the rule.

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