Whisked away…

If you read my last post, you know that my husband is getting ready to embark on a pretty extensive European tour with his band mates. His departure date is fast approaching..he flies out this coming Tuesday..September 3rd.

With all of the preparations entailed in putting this tour together, it’s been a tough couple of months for us both.

Making sure all the travel arrangements have been made, hotels overseas booked, merchandise..designed, printed, purchased and shipped, venues booked (of course venues and hotels being setup by their booking agent overseas), videos produced, interviews completed…you get the picture. On top of that..Jason and his electrical contracting partner had to complete jobs, hire an apprentice and make sure all is good on that front.

Amidst all of this..my sweet..thoughtful guy..took the time to book a romantical night for just him and me.

He had told me, a week or so ago, to make sure I kept my night open for Saturday the 31st. I tried to get the secret out of my daughter but she stood her ground and wouldn’t give in to the pressures of my prying.

Around 1600 hours on Saturday, Jason says, “O.K., let’s go..pack a bag. Throw in a swimsuit, maybe a long sleeve shirt and what you’re wearing is perfect.”

I followed instructions and soon enough we were en-route on our secret field trip!

A few miles from home Jason says, “It’s nothing too extravagant but I booked a room for us at The Pointe Hilton at Tapatio Cliffs. I wanted to spend time with you before I leave. We could have done so at home but this takes us out of our element and I thought this would be nice.”

How sad is it that my second thought ~ of which I voiced aloud ~ was, “OH!! The room will have air conditioning!”

We have a leak in the refrigerant line of our central air conditioning unit at the house and have been having to turn it off and on periodically because it keeps freezing up. It’s a bit miserable, especially..in the middle of summer in Arizona.

Someone was set to come look at it on Sunday, finally!

Notice I said “second thought”..my first thought was, “How awesomely sweet is he”!

The drive was quick ~ the hotel is only about a fifteen minute drive from home, bonus! An escape from reality so close to home!

Surprisingly…I did not take but three pictures and those three pictures are on my cell phone and I don’t feel like connecting the phone to the laptop to export them and post.

Yes, I am that lazy today. 😀

You will have to make do with the photos I snagged off the internet.

Even such a short distance from home, you can see how this getaway spot is nestled all snug like in the mountains of the Phoenician desert.

Driving through the resort to get to the registration office was a little challenging. The hills are pretty steep and there were so many people walking and so many cars parked off to the side of the narrow roads. We managed, we checked in and were off to our quiet spot higher up on the hill.

I cannot even imagine driving a stick shift through this hotel road set up! Being the hotel was packed ~ most likely booked to capacity ~ there were not many spaces left for parking but we lucked out and found a spot right below our third floor room!

As soon as we opened the door a burst of ice cold air was the first thing we noticed. The thermostat read 69 degrees! Coming in from the 30% humidity of 110 degree temps outside we were more than happy to be greeted this way. 😀

After getting settled we changed and took a super short walk to the secluded Sunset Pool area.

This was a tiny little pool area equipped with a tiny little pool and a tiny little hot tub.

Perfect! We had the place to ourselves! I am not sure how many pools this establishment has but I am certain it is more than six. The main pool, after our many stays here, I have never been to. I hear the pools are huge, surrounded by man made waterfalls and packed with people.

A lot of locals make a day trip to the pool, I think you can pay at hotel registration for day passes. I bet it makes for a perfect family funday on the weekends. For us? Not so much, we like to stay in the rooms close to the smaller less crowded pool areas.

The water was luke warm..not very refreshing..but after a few minutes..it was better than nothing and when I stood up there was just enough of a breeze to genuinely cool me off. We floated around and talked for about an hour or so then decided it was time to go to dinner.

The draw back of this was..we both wanted sushi which meant we would have to go back into the car and drive about two miles and yes…lose are prime parking space.

It was so worth it though, we found a little hole in the wall sushi restaurant called “Wild Tuna”. The place is a small, family owned business with deep blue walls decorated appropriately with fish paintings and accented in my favorite shade of green.

We ordered green mussels, a philly roll, tuna rolls, yellowtail sashimi and unagi. The prices were totally reasonable but the rolls could have been bigger 🙂

I will admit, it was all so good but the yellowtail stole the show. It was abolutely amazing!

Bellies full, we set off to the store to grab some Perrier, a bottle of wine and some chocolate.

We lucked out, yet again, and scored a parking spot close to our room. Again, I will remind you, the hills are so steep trying to get out the car with the car door smashing me in the face was a chore.

We both decided…we could never live in San Francisco 🙂

Back in the ice cold room, YAY, Jason said, “I’m going to the ice machine so we can put the wine on ice”.

I, having watched way to many scary movies, gave him a sideways glance of fear that he won’t come back simply said, “O.K”.

He came back safely within in two minutes, phew! He did say the area where the ice bin was located was really creepy – it was in a corner and dark and there was a hallway looking structure that went back about ten feet…and it was also dark.

Once the wine had chilled, we poured some into an empty can of Perrier (yes…I know..pretty classy, right?) In our defense..we wanted wine to sip while we were relaxing under the stars in the hot tub..so don’t judge. I thought it was pretty clever.

I turned the dial for the hot tub timer as far as it would turn. Fifteen minutes. I thought to myself, “Fifteen minutes? That’s really not very long”

We eased into the HOT tub and began to relax, sip wine and chat. Mid conversation I realize Jasons forehead is beginning to bead up with sweat and started to giggle at him..literally a minute later I started feeling drips of my own sweat coursing down my forehead. It was time to get out.

I told Jason my earlier thought of the fifteen minute timer not being very long and said, “What do you think? We’ve been in here maybe ten minutes?” He laughed and said, ” I think only five”. We got out and jumped into the much cooler pool ~ before I got in though, I checked the timer..sure enough, we were only in there for five minutes!

Fingers and toes all pruned up, we decided to get out and dry off. While we were drying..off in the distance we noticed a gorgeous display of fireworks ~ it was neat to see from high atop the mountainside. I think the event was for a local water park (which is about 13 miles away) ~ I am pretty sure this is the end of the water park season so they are to have fireworks through Labor Day.

The cycle of pool, shower, dinner, pool, hot tub, shower and snack was ideal for stress free evening.

Waking up in the cool, dark room to the smell of coffee brewing at 0830 was the icing on the cake. 🙂

We started packing up around 1030 and headed to a local diner for breakfast. I was actually surprised at the, Mel’s Diner feel of a, restaurants menu. I figured, our options to be eggs and bacon or eggs and bacon. I had a Spinach Feta Omelette and Jason had Eggs Benedict. Not superb but good enough.

After breakfast, Jason paid the lady and we were on our way…back to reality.

What I took away from this little staycation was that even after twenty-five years of each other ~ this guy is still so thoughtful and I hope I never take that for granted.

I will leave you with this quote,

“Love is the sum of our choices, the strength of our commitments, the ties that bind us together.”
― Emily Giffin

Keep on Rockin in the Free World!

Keep on Rockin in the Free World!.

Keep on Rockin in the Free World!

Only ten short days left before Jason packs up and flies a mere 5,747.62 miles from Phoenix, AZ to the Zurich International Airport…to start his rockin’ tour of Europe.

I cannot believe how fast this date has come. Just two weeks ago it felt like we had time to every thing in order. Yet, here we are scrambling to get the last minute details complete.

With the help of our awesome people at the booking agency and friends across the “pond” sure enough…everything is coming together nicely.

The guys, of Hogjaw, will arrive in Zurich on the 4th of September, meet with the tour manager and take an hour and a half jaunt to Berne, CH.

Here they will rest, have fun exploring the city and may even make some time to record a song or two in a local recording studio.

Hopefully, they will take advantage of the days in Bern because on the 6th they embark on their massive tour…and man alive..this is a serious journey of rock n roll!

Check out this schedule:

06/09/13 Steinen – Switzerland @ Aula
07/09/13 Kufstein – Austria @ Eventhalle
08/09/13 Bartenheim – France @ Caf’Conc
10/09/13 Arras – France @ Blue Devils
11/09/13 Verviers – Belgium @ Spirit of 66
12/09/13 Eindhoven – Holland @ The Rambler
14/09/13 Paris – France @ Nogent Country Festival
15/09/13 Paris – France @ Nogent Country Festival
17/09/13 Llodio – Spain @ Keska Taberna
18/09/13 Lierganes – Spain @ Los Picos
19/09/13 A Coruna – Spain @ Mardi Gras
20/09/13 Cangas – Spain @ Salason
21/09/13 Aviles – Spain @ Centro Niemeyer
22/09/13 Leon – Spain @ Gran Café
23/09/13 Cadiz – Spain @ Sala Supersonic
24/09/13 Estepona – Spain @ Louie Louie
25/09/13 Murcia – Spain @ Sala B
26/09/13 Madrid – Spain @ La Boite
27/09/13 Zaragoza – Spain @ La Ley Seca
28/09/13 Barcelona – Spain @ Rocksound
29/09/13 Torredembarra – Spain @ La Traviesa
30/09/13 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria – Spain @ 3X1
01/10/13 Castellon – Spain @ Pub d’Leyend
02/10/13 Lleida – Spain @ Stones Pub
04/10/13 Weikersheim – Germany @ W71
05/10/13 Krefeld – Germany @ Kulturrampe
06/10/13 Norderstedt – Germany @ Musicstar
07/10/13 Bremen – Germany @ Meisenfrei
09/10/13 Olomouc – Czech Republic @ Bounty Rock
10/10/13 Prague – Czech Republic @ TBA
11/10/13 Isernhagen – Germany @ Bluesgarage
12/10/13 Berlin – Germany @ Wild At Heart

06/09/1

Keep in mind, Americans, the days and months are listed “backwards” 🙂

I hope hope some of you in the blogosphere have an opportunity to catch this great bunch of musicians in their travels.. believe me when I say it’s totally worth while. Not only are they great musically but they are a wonderful group of people!

If you like true, heartfelt rock n roll, southern rock, dirty music..you’ll love it!

Take a visit to their website to learn more about them and hear some of their music. http://www.hogjawmusic.com

Post a comment and let me know what you think!!

Best,

Kristi

Feeling Pretty Fortunate….

Last I wrote, I had big plans to win the lottery. That didn’t pan out so back to drawing board. Maybe next time, eh?

In the meantime, I am enjoying the life I have.

After an excruciating day at the office, I drove to my Aunts house to celebrate my grandmas 91st birthday.

Now over the years I have not proven to be the best granddaughter, it is most certainly not because I don’t love her or think about her on a daily basis. There are a few reasons – or excuses – whatever you want to call them..I call them unacceptable but they are what they are right?

I am going to take you into the way back machine for a few…

My dad was a military man – he served 20 years in the US Navy, which for our family of four (mom, dad, sister and me) meant living in San Diego for the first decade and a half of my life. The rest of our family (grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins) all lived in Arizona and we only were able to visit with them maybe once a year? Thinking about it now, I realize, growing up without extended family in my life from a very young age into teenage years is a sad thing. In the younger years, you really don’t understand the value of family and by the time you reach your teenage years…let’s face it..who really wants to hang out with the extended family when you could be hanging out with your friends?

I do have to say…I was never bored at Grandmas house, or my Aunts for that matter. There was always something to do..weather it be playing with Grandmas elaborate Barbie collection or smelling her vast collection of perfume bottles or playing with the neighborhood kids at the Aunts house. Ok, I am going to retract my statement…I loved going to Grandmas house…

It was only until my dad lost his harsh battle with lung cancer that I distanced myself again from Grandma. To be honest, I couldn’t bear to look into her eyes..all I saw was my dad. It was YEARS…about five years and a half years to be more precise…before I finally told myself..”enough is enough!! Call your Grandma…call your Aunt”! And I did. I invited them over for Christmas Eve and it was tough but I am so glad I did. We all enjoyed ourselves – catching up and eating and just being together..I felt good.

As glad as I was to have reconnected..over the years it still proves difficult but not because I am reminded of dad but more so because I just get caught up in MY daily life, you know…working and traveling and relaxing when I’m not running around.

I’m not sure what the right words are..becoming complacent? Maybe taking for granted the fact that I think they will always be there no matter what? Anyway, you get the idea…I am trying to be better. I am trying to keep the connection and I will continue to try!

This brings me to current day 🙂

Today…is my Grandmas 91st birthday. I am feeling so fortunate to have been able to have celebrated this amazing milestone with her. Not many people can say they were able to sit and have pizza, hot wings and cake with their Grandma on her NINETY FIRST BIRTHDAY.

Another bonus? My nineteen year old daughter met me there! Really? On a Friday evening..my thoughtful daughter chose to spend time with her great Grandma, her mom, her great Aunt and her second cousin.

I’ll say it again…I am feeling pretty fortunate tonight. 😀

A step away from reality…

I am going to step away from reality for a few. Bear with me because I am typing these thoughts and ideas as they come along – with the exception of a few ideas I have had in mind for many years.

Tonight is the night someone in the United States will become FOUR HUNDRED AND TWENTY FIVE MILLION DOLLARS richer…

I don’t typically play the lottery but let me tell you..I did a little homework yesterday and this afternoon and my goal was to pick those winning numbers!

I got online and asked Uncle Google what my lucky numbers (astrologically) are for the month of August. Of course I didn;t trust just one website so I perused through three of them – wrote down an ample amount of numbers I felt good with and moved on to the next plan of action….

To find out which zip codes around my town had sold the most winning numbers. At lunch time I stopped at a store in one of the three zip codes I jotted down and used some of the numbers astrology tells me are lucky this month. On my way home I stopped at another store in one of the zip codes, used more of the “lucky” numbers and started my drive to the last lottery retailer on my list.

Then it occurred to me…DUH… I picked all of these zip codes in which winning numbers were prevalent and chose my own numbers?? I think I was supposed to let the machine pick the numbers..I laughed at myself and continued on my way. 🙂

The last stop was at the grocery store right across the street from my home – I bought one ticket with numbers the stars chose for me and I let the computer pick the other numbers…

It takes me a little bit in life but I eventually catch on to things 😀

So, here I sit..planning my day tomorrow. I will wake up, have a cup of coffee look at the numbers from tonights drawing and call in to work to let them know I will not be coming to work…forever.

I will contact the Lottery and let them no, “I’m the lucky winner”! I’m not sure what happens next or how long it will take to receive my lump sum of doe – ray – me but what I will do with it as soon as I can is as follows:

I have a co-worker who is going through chemo and I would like to figure out how to, anonymously, deposit as much cash into her account as I can without her getting hit too hard with taxes so she doesn’t have to worry about bills while she is going through her own personal hell. Next on the list is my mom, I would pay her house off so she doesn’t have to work any more and put enough money in her account so she is more than comfortable. I’d like to see her be able to do whatever in the world she has always wanted to do.

Next up..all of our debt, which is actually not as much as a typical American but we have the typical stuff – mortgage would be the first to be gone!

The parent in-laws would be next in line and then the siblings, you know…gotta take care of those who have taken care of us!

After everyone has been taken care of…it’s time to plan an extensive tour of this glorious earth…In this moment I honestly don’t know where I would go first – I have so many destinations in mind. The logical thing to do may be to start here in the US – I have been to more places outside of the states than I have here and I do have a little list of places I need to experience right here in the good ole U S of A.

My ideas above are just the beginning…I see a lot of travel, volunteer work and taking care of society in my future being a multimillionaire. 😉

What would you do with your millions? I wanna know!

Beerfest 9 – 2013

Another great weekend! Every year for the past six years, Jason, Kiah and I join our friends up on the Mogollon Rim (pronounced muggy on rim) for a few days of “getting off the grid”. This Backwoods beerfest occurs the first weekend every August. The guys who started it brought maybe fifteen people up, all close knit friends and they were all instructed to bring a six pack of off the wall beer for every one to sample. When Jason and I hooked up with our old high school friends we went along for the fun back in 2007 or 2008. Now I am not a camper per se..but I do enjoy my time when there. Dont get me wrong I love the outdoorsy stuff but I prefer to camp near a body of water..just my thing. I am never thrilled about going..not as thrilled as everyone else but when I get there it’s just so beautiful and I get such a great sense of freedom and “oneness” with the earth that I do genuinely love these get togethers.

Luckily, Jason is SUCH an organized and experienced outdoors man, he makes it easy for me. Occasionally he will give me a list of things I may need to pickup at the store but for the most part, I am told to get in the truck and we leave. 🙂 I know enough to pack the right clothing!

In the first part of August, here in Arizona, we sometimes have a monsoon season. Sometimes it rains the entire weekend, sometimes it’s dry and hot and other times (like this weekend) …it’s an absolute perfect mixture of the two!

On the way up the hill I was actually “allowed” — no allowed isn’t the word because Jason actually said, “You can play your ipod if you want”..what?? 🙂 Happy girl! It was a crappy drive getting out of the city but once on the road –smooth sailing!

Once we hit Payson we stopped at the Safeway to pickup some Advil — an definite necessity when going to BEERFEST..

On the road again, it started raining…a GOOD rain too. The weather cooled off pretty dramatically..We were coming up from the Phoenix area where we left behind a 106 degree day so when I say dramatically – I might be dramatizing just a little because it was maybe 70 degrees 🙂

The drive up was just beautiful…see for yourself!

We arrived to the camp site around three in the afternoon on Friday. There were already about thirty people there and everyone was pretty mellow – those that had arrived the previous night had whooped it up their first night. I was a little nervous because Jason set our camp up pretty close to the general population and I do not deal well with large crowds and loud shenanigans at night when I am ready to sleep. I rolled with it, didn’t complain and turns out…it was perfect!

After the camp was magically set up (AKA..Jason did everything 🙂 ) we made ourselves a couple of drinks and started making our rounds to say hello and talk to people. I don’t remember too much – I had three glasses of wine — but I do remember meeting some really cool people I had never met before. It’s not often I hit it off well with another female so I was so happy to have met Liz! We sat and talked for a couple of hours and our conversation just flowed so well..

Around 11:30, I looked up at Jason – as he was taking his last swig of MOONSHINE – his eyes glazed over and he said “I’m ready” so I helped him along to our camp and we fell fast fast asleep!

At first sunlight, I’m wide awake, took a hike to the woods for the morning nature call, came back made coffee and relaxed.

Relaxed under this gorgeous view:

I literally could have stayed there all day. It was under this tree I realized, I forgot my laptop…I had no paper..no pen..nothing to write with. This would have been a perfect spot to laze about and write a little something. Oh well, stuck with enjoying mother nature in her entirety. 🙂

Poor Jason was hurting and thankful we remembered to make that pit stop for Advil! He slept until about noon, ate then napped until 2! Around the time he woke up the rain started — thankful our tent and easy-up were in great condition and nothing got wet!! Usually 3pm the beer tables come out and we all bring our offerings – thankful the rain stopped just in time for the festivities!

I am not a huge beer drinker – in fact, I dont even know what kind of beer “we” brought to offer. I drank my wine and took pictures 🙂

Not the greatest shot but you get the gist…

With the amount of people who were there I am happy to say there was……NO DRAMA!

I spent the evening bouncing around from camp to camp talking, laughing and enjoying the neat people that were there. Just before dinner, Kiah’s boyfriend and his friends arrived so her and I walked down to where they were setting up camp to make sure they had everything they needed – they did so I went to bed…Yea..went to bed — I think it may have been 930, ha!

Groundhogs day…I woke up at day break again..took a nature hike, had coffee, visited with our camping neighbors and relaxed. Now I am sitting here thinking…I wonder how many times I have used the word relaxed? I’m thinking alot but I’m also thinking…that’s a good thing!

If you have read any of my other posts you know the hubs, Jason, is in a rock band called
Hogjaw. They used our last day at camp to start video production of their music video for a song called “The Wolf” I can’t wait to see the final production because the scenery, their “costumes” and the song are awesome.

Here a few behind the scene photos:

After the video shots were done – we packed up and headed out. But wait! Flat tire..boooo..

One of the truck tires was about 20lbs light on air..Luck was on our side again and one of our camping buddies came better prepared than we and had a hand held air compressor. It took a little while but we were back in business soon enough.

The ride home was uneventful until one of the dogs threw up on Kiahs feet…then the other dog…oh good lord what did they eat???! It was grody – we cleaned up as best we could and tried to get home as fast as possible without getting pulled over 🙂

Until my next adventure or random thought of the day!

Best,

Kristi

It’s My Birthday…con’t :)

This past Friday made for a long long day! After getting to sleep late Thursday night and getting up early to see Jason off to the airport Friday morning, 03:15 to be more precise. I did get a little nap in before I had to be to leave for work at seven A.M..don’t worry, I stopped off at the local convenience store to pick up a GIANT Red Bull so I made it through the work day.

Being excited to go on a road trip to visit my friends the Snyders with my friends Amy, Danny and Brian also helped get me through the day!

After picking Danny up and dropping him off at Brians, I went home to shower and throw a few things in a bag and waited for Amy – poor girl had to work until four.

The drive from Weedville, AZ to San Diego, CA was pretty uneventful and not nearly fast enough, we rolled into town around ten P.M ~ we had to make a quick stop at the 7-Eleven though because Danny had to go to the bathroom so bad, especially after Brian and I busted out in our best Kareoke version of “Love Shack” by the B-52’s – he was laughing so hard he almost peed himself. 🙂 WIN!

Onward, I dropped Amy and Danny off at their friend Tracys house and off to Shane and Kims we went to start our fun-filled weekend!

Thankfully, Shane and Kim were both still awake 🙂

We hung out and talked for a while with some drinks and called it a night, the little one was sure to wake up early and we wanted to get a good start to the day anyway so all was good.

Sure enough! It was about five-thirty in the morning and I hear the lil one talking away, ready to get out and play. Thank goodness she wakes up in such a happy mood, her big smile makes the lack of sleep not seem so bad 🙂

Shane made us all coffee and Kim made us a delicious egg breakfast with toast covered in avocado. Talking and playing and relaxing before we left Shane with Kaili while Brian, Kim and I drove to Campland on the Bay for a little stand up paddle board action!

Brian went along for the ride and was nice enough to get some pictures of us on our adventure – thankfully we did not fall in! I was more than a little nervous getting in – I thought I was going to fall and crack my head open on the pier..that didn’t happen. 🙂

I did what exactly what the man told me to do, sit on the pier while he held the board and climb onto the board – hands and knees. Slowly got up and all is good, about five minutes go by and I was a little board of it – mostly because I was afraid and not really sure what to do but I was ready to go back. I hear Kim off in the distance say, ” Wow look at all the jelly fish”!!

I hadnt seen them and finally..OH MY GOODNESS..now I was really ready to go back..If I fall in on top of a jelly fish??? That would ruin a day.. Kim convinced me to stay out and I am so glad she did because once you get paddling at a faster pace…S.U.P is F.UN!!!

We ventured off to a little inlet in the bay away from the general population and it was so pretty. A couple of bridges off in the distance, big trees with roots exposed due to weather and water erosion, weathered white boat docks and river rocks with a small beach area. Next time I do this I am definitely bringing a small water proof pouch or something to take a camera. I am sad I did not get evidence!

A watch will be another item I put in the water proof pouch because we had no idea what time it was, we only rented for an hour and we ended up getting back too early. We lost twenty minutes of play time! Oh well..lessons learned and it was still a great time!

Here we are! Photograph courtesy of Brian Warner

Docking these boards was NOT easy! We both crashed and almost fell in and cracked out heads open..Almost…but we didn’t 🙂

Back to the house we went but on the way had to stop at Vons for wine, champagne and Bud Light (for Brian, smh, haha)

Enroute, we saw a mariachi band playing in front of a Del Taco, what? Yes, a mariachi band..playing..in front of a Del Taco..

It was at Vons, two miles from the house, Kim realized the guy at Campland forgot to give her ID back! Good thing Campland really wasn’t that far away AND on the way back Brian would be prepared and be able to take a better picture of the mariachi band – see everything does happen for a reason 🙂

Didn’t happen…mariachi band was on break by the time we rolled back around…boo!

Kaili was still napping when we returned, the grown ups had a DELICIOUS Vanilla/Coconut cake (that was HOMEMADE courtesy of Kim – she wasn’t impressed with herself but I..loved it! And with champagne..mmm mm delightful!

Mid bite of my delicious slice I realized…OH NO…we were supposed to wait for Kaili, she was so excited about the cake I wanted her to be there when we cut it but…oops! I made up for it by getting her out when she woke up from her nap and PROMPTLY…sat her down in front of a glass of milk and a slice of cake..who wouldn’t be happy to have a wake up like that?? 🙂

Soon thereafter, we all went to the train station into downtown San Diego…

I brought my camera BUT forgot to put the battery in it – I was more than a little disappointed. At least I had my phone to document some of this day.

When we stepped off the train there were so many people! Apparently Comic Con is a big deal – later we found out the event was sold out and they sold over 181,000 tickets! Carazy!

I would like to get tickets to next years – we could have sat there all day and walked around and people watched in awe..

We walked a ways, were all hungry so we went to Hodads..I had never been to the downtown Hodads – only in Ocean Beach in the past – this one is off the beaten path (perfect because anywhere else and we would have never been able to eat…sooooo many people) and we only had to wait five minutes! Score! AND I ran into more friends – unexpected, welcome surprise as our friend Martin usually works at the OB location.

There was a mini protest march regarding the Zimmerman trial that put me in a bad place for a minute or so but I won’t get into that for two reasons. 1) I am TIRED of hearing about this trial and 2) That issue is a WHOLE other blog..

All I need to tell you is the food was great, the service was great and we all enjoyed ourselves. OH, and Kim and I got Hodad tank tops (of which I either left at the wine bar, on the train or at the Snyders house…boo00…)

On the way back to the train Kim wanted to take us to a wine bar she likes but it was closed for a private event — we wondered if Alexander Skaarsgaard (sigghhhh) was in there!!

En route to the Fallbrook Winery, which most likely was the better spot anyway (so many crazies to watch!!) we found the Ghostbusters mobile!!

Next door to the winery..there was a whole set up for Sega mega nerds — it was awesome – the people playing looked like they were in HEAVEN!

I think we all pretty much agreed that we should buy tickets to next years event!!

Tomorrow..I’ll tell you about my Sunday! 🙂

Until then blogworld!

Kristi

Travel Preperations…

I sure wish I had taken some photos of this event. Tomorrow, Jason has flight out of Phoenix to Myrtle Beach, SC with band mates for what is being called the Southern Revival Concert. His band Hogjaw will be playing with another Phoenix local group called Sour Diesel Train Wreck.

They fly out Friday morning at 0530 — yes people 5:30 in the morning! We have a great friend, Mike, who has offered to take them to the airport (thank you baby Jesus!!) and he will be here at 0345 – six short hours away!

Jason and I spent about an hour packing T-shirts, CD’s, vinyl records, stickers and tour posters. He had ordered (and received at the VERY last minute) those plastic vacuum seal-able bags. Those were fun to try to figure out but we managed and they WORKED…like a charm!

In one suitcase we managed to pack 57 shirts, 45 CD’s, 6 vinyl records and the remaining little items being the tour posters and stickers and a couple of hangers. I sure hope he comes home with an empty suitcase!!

For those of your interested…. The show is at Suck Bang Blow in Myrtle Beach, SC

Take a short visit to http://www.hogjawmusic.com

Go, you’ll have fun!

I sure wish I could be there BUT…I have my own exciting plans for the weekend of which I will tell you all about come Monday!

Until then — keep it classy people 😉

Kristi

Today is my Birthday!

WOW.. What a day. Today is my birthday and I took the day off work, after all…it is my very own personal holiday!

I was looking forward to sleeping in but alas — that did not happen. I actually woke up at 0530…45 minute before I normally wake up on a weekday.

All was good though, there was coffee waiting for me because the hubs had to get up early to go to work 🙂

I had coffee, made myself steak and eggs for breakfast, played around on the computer for a while and watched a movie.

I watched ” 6 Souls” – Julianne Moore is the the big star in this, what I thought to be, psychological thriller. It was good enough but turned out slightly different than I thought.

It was a little bit slow and was about a father daughter psychiatrist team BUT the daughter had faith in God but the father did not. Turns out the patient was killing and taking the souls of people who had lost their faith in God along their way. I liked the movie but again..I’m not that huge of a fan of God and Devil thriller stories and like I said…it was slow.

After the movie, I showered and changed and me and my favorite daughter, Kiah, went to lunch at the Pita Jungle. I had a Chicken Pesto pita pizza and she ordered the Curry Salad.

Bad move on her part.. the curry salad was grody! She took a bite and the look on her face said it all – I shouldn’t have tried it but for giggles I did and….her taste buds were accurate..I was disgusting. The thing is…we love us some curry BUT…we think of curry and of course we think Thai curry — we are not fans of Indian curry — and that is exactly what it was.

The waitress was good enough to allow Kiah to “trade” her meal in for something she liked better. 😉

After lunch, I went to the day spa where I received a wonderful Swedish massage and scalp treatment. My favorite parts of this pampering session were the foot/ankle massage and the scalp massage. Even though I had already showered..,made my hair pretty and she said, “OK, now I am going to drizzle coconut oil along your hairline”. That bummed me out for a split second because now I would most certainly have to go home and shower to wash my hair AGAIN…but it felt amazing so I allowed her to proceed. 🙂

By the time I got home it was already 15:00 – my mom came over for a short visit and the hubs and I watched the US BEAT COSTA RICA in the Concacaf match while having dinner. Dinner was simple but delicious. We had a homemade chef salad. Dessert was dark chocolate coconut paired with a 2000 Principe Alfonso Reservera Privada. I swear, that bottle of wine was so delightful. I literally wanted to jump in and sniff my way out!

I thought…the wine may be bad because the cork was so dark but I was happily proven wrong!

Tonight…the mega millions is to be drawn! My good friends bought me a few tickets for my birthday – how COOL would that be to win..the mega pot…on my birthday???

It’s been a great day – and I will continue the greatness come Friday as I head out to San Diego to visit with a couple of other AMAZING friends 😉

Until then!!

Kristilynk

Spring Ahead!!

I have the Spring Fever and it’s technically not even Spring yet! The weather, so far in 2013, has been crazy here in the southwest state of Arizona…Last week it snowed in the valley and this week it’s in the 90’s!!!!

I do prefer the warmness over the cold but anything over 80 makes me sweat…and I don’t really like to sweat. Unless I am in a sweaty hot yoga class, then it’s ok..it’s purposeful, ya know?

It’s the middle of March and I am so ready to take a few days off work, really a few months but who am I kidding…THAT’s not going to happen 😉

Next week is the hubs and my anniversary this year we will celebrate with friends and family..We will be taking a couple days off to take a drive to San Diego to visit with our good friends Shane and Kim and little miss Kaili ANDDDDDDD we get to visit with OUR baby girl Miss Kiah Bree!! I haven’t seen her stinkin’ face in almost two months and I can not wait to see her… I am so proud of her and her beautiful self !!

I hope to have great stories to write when we come home 🙂

In the meantime, this weekend will be spent doing yoga, pulling weeds, doing laundry and getting some much needed vitamin D..via the SUN! Saturday night will be filled with live music and photography..Sunday…I will let you know on Monday!!

Enjoy life everyone ~ it goes by too fast not too!!