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Phoenix summers are hot. Even if it is a dry heat, 112 degrees is just not a fun temperature to exist in and you really need to get away from it all.

And that is what Hubs and I did. We booked a room (pet friendly so I got in my puppy fix) in the Embarcadero and a cheap flight into San Francisco for a quick three day holiday. I prefer staying in the Embarcadero because it is quiet and I love being near The Ferry Building (and the Saturday Farmers Market).

We ate at Chez Panisse (I am pretty sure the tall bespectacled man in a blazer and jeans that I passed in the stairway was Michael Pollan – geeking out) and rocked out at The Greek Theatre to Pavement. I am so glad we got to do this as my Husband has been a life-long Pavement fan and he had never seen them perform live before. I thank my Husband for introducing me to this amazing band. They were phenomenal. Berkeley is beautiful and kudos to all the nice people we encountered there.

We met up with some friends at an Irish bar to cheer on Team USA against Ghana (ugh, what an emotionally exhausting game) before cheering on the Giants against the Red Sox at At&T Park. Hubs and I even slid down The Guzzler — we joked that I barely made the height requirement to get on the ride! Even with double losses to the day, we all had a great time. P and J were great hosts. They definitely made our trip fun and memorable!

I have seriously neglected this place. I was trying for a couple times a month, but it seems I cannot even do once a month. I will try to get back on track.

A few weeks ago, my friend’s newest grandchild and first grandson was born! I went to her son’s house and took some photos of Baby J. I have a new admiration for baby photographers! I spent about 2 hours and took over 300 photos and I think I had only 20 that I really felt were good enough to print and frame. That was some hard work!

But, isn’t Baby J the cutest? Yes, he is.

I just had the most amazing experience ever!

My Husband and I spent the past few days volunteering at Best Friends, an animal sanctuary in Kanab, Utah. We volunteered at Dog Town, primarily walking the dogs, taking them out on “outings” into town and just hanging out with them in their runs. After seeing how BFAS operates, I am even much more impressed. Taking care of the animals are their number one priority and it shows in everything they do.

I would like to spotlight several dogs we met while at the sanctuary: Screech (top left photo, below), Aries, Annie, Theresa (bottom left photo, below), Bijou, Pinky Bear, Sweetie Pie, Jingles, Reggie Boy, Hopee, Borg (right photo, below), Tigger, Tramp, Scrappy, Mugesi, Doodle, Beefcake and Rufie-O.

You can also get more details of the dogs on my flickr page.

We also saw Dr. Patti Iampietro, Pat Whitacre, John Garcia (and his wife McKenzie), Jeff Popowich, Michelle Besmehn, Ann Alums, and Kristy Littrell. Hubs and I even had lunch with one of the Founders, Faith Maloney – she is very nice and lovely. Speaking of lunch, BFAS offers a vegetarian/vegan buffet meal for everyone for only $5 — and everything was dee-licious! I would love to get their recipe for their “meatless” meatballs.

I cannot wait to go back! Best Friends rules!

We had a busy day yesterday hosting a baby shower for our friend who is due in six weeks. There were some fun activities like scrapbooking and making cute iron-on onesies and eating lots of good food and drinking lots of good beverages! Here are some photos:

It was a very fun day for everyone — although, my neighbors probably think Hubs and I are the ones expecting! Hee!

I’ve had this old IKEA rug in my kitchen for just over a year now. I liked the colors, the stripes and for less than $25, it was dirt cheap. And with it being in such a high traffic area, it was definitely beginning to show its age now.

I have been flipping through those FLOR catalogs for years and have always wondered about them. I love that the tiles are interchangeable, appears to clean easily and are eco-friendly. When the latest catalog arrived (with free shipping code), I decided to stop wondering about them and bit the bullet. I placed an order for the Straight & Narrow in Lime.

The box arrived yesterday and I decided to assemble them this evening while The Husband was away with the boys.

I love the color and the randomness of lines. It definitely brightens up my (very dark) kitchen. I am hoping they are easy to clean (as so famously advertised) — I guess I will have to remember to do a follow up in a couple months!

I’m with Coco.

I hope everyone is having a good New Year!

Getting organized is such a cliche this time of year I know…but it is a new year and I am kind of obligated to have that on my Resolutions list, right?

This is what my office looks like (visualize orange walls) — or will look like once this rug gets delivered.

Doesn’t it look so neat and organized? Well, I wish it looked like this because you have to factor in another desk (my actual work desk which I could not find online), two flat screen computer monitors (one work, one personal), docking station, cable modem, phone modem, router, a jumble of cords, phone, a large laser printer, an all-in-one fax/scanner/printer (used only for scanning hard copy files into PDF these days), a large shredder, two compact disc towers and two black steel vertical files (thankfully stored inside the closet so I do not have to see those monstrosities) and a couple stacks of folders, books and a ‘shred’ pile!

Whew! Yeah, not so nice and organized after all.

I am going through my paper files and scanning everything so that will free up some filing and storage space. The big problem is my mess of cords and wires. I have no less than 16 cords hooked up to three different power strips — looking at it physically repulses me. I would like to go wireless with my printer, keyboard and scanner, but I am dependent on what my work provides me in terms of computer equipment and that’s not an option right now.

I think this might work for me — this cablebox from bluelounge. So, I have gone ahead and ordered one to test it out. Hopefully, this small step will get me set for an organized (and tangle-free) year!

Wishing you and those you love all the good fortunes of life, health, happiness and peace throughout the New Year. XXOO.

Our last full day. Boo, hiss.

We both bundled up (in hindsight, we really lucked out at the beginning of the week — the weather was phenomenal) and leisurely walked through Central Park towards Park Avenue. It was a cold, brisk morning but the sun was out and so was the rest of the city. We grabbed a salted pretzel and walked hand in hand, enjoying watching everyone stroll by.

I spotted a Camper store on Madison Avenue, so we decided to pop in. The entire store was marked in red ink and we wanted to leave our own message too!

We didn’t come out with any shoes though.

I noticed the time so we walked over to the FedEx Office to check in and print our boarding passes and our tickets to the Tim Burton Exhibit at MoMA.

The tickets were timed for 1:00pm and since we had an hour to kill, we decided to grab a quick bite at The Modern Bar. Everything was so delicious! I had the Saffron Tagliatelle — perfectly cooked pasta and the hint of saffron was heavenly. The Husband had the Grilled Diver Scallops with roasted beets. One of the servers came by and he poured the beet puree around the scallops — it looked artwork — it was so beautiful!

Tim Burton Exhibit was really neat. It was a showcase of his drawings, sketches, notes and movie props from Beetlejuice, Batman and Edward Scissorhands. It is a must-see if you are a Tim Burton fan.

MoMA itself was fantastic. We explored all six floors. I loved all the modern art and abstract paintings and even the “WTF?” displays — a piece of string? I mean, really? But, yeah, I could have stayed for a couple more hours trying to decipher everything.

Afterwards, we headed towards the East Village and had drinks The Smith. We were enjoying an order of their Vidalia Onion Rings and admiring the white subway tiled walls, when a familiar figure quickly walked by our window. Wylie Dufresne of WD-50 fame!

For our “last supper”, we walked around the corner to Ssam Bar. We got there at opening time and I am glad we did, because by 5:30pm the restaurant was full. We were seated at the counter. We weren’t too terribly hungry (given our stint at The Smith), so we ordered the Steamed Pork Belly Buns and the Rice Sausage Cakes. And a year later, both were still oh so gooood. I hated that my stomach was full! If only they could move this restaurant to Phoenix.

Ah, New York! I heart you so! How I wish we could do this more often.

Maybe, next year? *throws a coin into the fountain*

Cheers!

This morning was our last day with Hubs’ family. We all walked through Central Park to The Boathouse for a casual lunch at their Express Cafe. What it sorely lacks presentation-wise (think cafeteria style ordering with paper/plastic-ware), it makes up in flavor and taste.

While the kids went to Times Square for M&M World and Nintendo World, we walked my in-laws back to grab their luggage and accompanied them to Penn Station. We made sure their train was still on schedule and once we got them settled in the waiting lounge, Hubs and I went back uptown to meet my sister-in-law at Rockefeller Center.

Apparently, Times Square was a madhouse — I am sure that was not an understatement. Honestly, I am not fond of that area. I think everyone should experience it once, just because it is Times Square. But, unless I have tickets to a show, it is one of the last places I would rather be.

My sister-in-law and her family still had a couple hours before they had to head back to Pennsylvania, so we grabbed a table at Brasserie Ruhlmann for drinks and appetizers.

We walked them back to their truck, parked along 71st St. Lots of hugs and kisses. I wish we lived closer. My in-laws are good people.

By this time, we were pretty pooped so we grabbed some pizza from City Pie and cupcakes from Buttercup Bake Shop (Red velvet and Lemon flavors) and brought it back to the apartment and watched the rest of the LSU v Arkansas football game (aka The Battle of the Boot). For what it’s worth, my Tigers won in overtime. The Boot comes back to Louisiana — yay!