Weekend Update: Birthday Fun!

I turned 30 this weekend and with the help of my friends and husband, happily said goodbye to my 20s.

Friday night I met up with Kelley and Sophia for dinner at one of my favorite restaurants in town Chino Bandito followed by a trip to the mall for some shopping. Later that night, Kelley and I met up with Jay and his buddies for a late night beer. Kelley & I toasted at midnight to celebrate the beginning of my 30s!

Kelley & Sophia

Saturday morning, Jay let me sleep in while he ran to Dunkin Donuts for my birthday coffee & donut. I was so happy to wake up to that Boston Creme & Maple Frosted deliciousness! We watched Nebraska beat Baylor before heading out to a surprise destination.

We ended up at Arcosanti - a place that we have been talking about visiting for 6 years now. It is hard to describe this unique place designed by Italian architect Paolo Soleri. Soleri's goal with the project is to be able to house and sustain 5,000 people on 15 acres of land. The average amount of land used for 5,000 people these days is 500 acres! He believes in building UP and not out and eliminating the need for the automobile by making everything you need (shopping, recreation, etc) in one easy to navigate place.

Currently, there are about 75 permanent residents (including 6 children) living at Arcosanti who work on site to contribute to the "city". Besides making their signature bells (out of either ceramic or bronze) to raise money for further construction, they also sell aloe plants, herbs, ceramic tiles, and baked goods that they make/grow on site.
Main Building

After checking out the main building which houses the cafe, bakery and gallery, we headed out for a hike on the visitors path. This hike offered us a great view of the project from a distance. As you can see, it's quite an expanse of unique buildings.

Arcosanti from a distance

After our hike, we checked in and dropped off our bags at the room. There are few guest rooms at Arcosanti and they are very minimal in all aspects. Ours had 2 twin beds (yes, I know, very romantic) and a cement floor. There was electricity and running water which was nice. The great part was the beautiful view (super dark at night so you can actually see stars!!) and the fact that it was so quiet!

Our room

After dinner, we went on the Haunted Hayride that the residents were putting on. They had been working on it for 2 months and you could tell. They did a great job and I did get a little freaked out. Jay and I indulged in a homemade candy apple (Jay had never had one before!?) and some natural soda afterwards. We had some fun with the camera too :)

Sunday morning, we took a tour and then headed back home. Here are some pics from the property:

Amphitheater with surrounding living areas

Vault - Covered recreation/work area - the first structure built here

View from the Sky Suite

Ceramics Apse - where the ceramic bells are made

We left around 11:30 only to hit traffic from an accident miles ahead. They closed the entire freeway down, so we just turned off the car, sat outside along the guard rails & chatted with other stranded travelers. After nearly 3 hours of waiting, the road opened back up and we made it back home.

I want to thank my amazing husband for planning yet another wonderful and very thoughtful birthday gift. I love you!!

Weekend Update

Jay and I had a nice & busy weekend!

Friday night, we went to dancing lessons. We liked the ones we took prior the wedding so much that we decided to take more! We worked on the Tango, Salsa, Swing, Rumba and Cha Cha. My favorites were the Tango & Swing. I think Jay liked the Salsa & Rumba the best. We are horrible about practicing at home, so hopefully keeping lessons close together will keep us progressing!

We started off Saturday with some Dunkin Donuts coffee and a donut each as we sat down to watch the Nebraska game. They won which was great, especially after the past 2 weeks of losses. After some errands and a short nap, we got ready & went out to dinner with Ryan and Kelley to start the celebrations of my birthday week! We went to Caffe Boa which is just down the street from us and was delicious!! Kelley made a yummy strawberry & creme cake that we just devoured when we came home.

Yesterday was Tara's birthday, so we headed back up north to celebrate with her and Jeff. No Alistair yet, but he is surely ready to come out! I got to see her belly move as he kicked!

And now we're back to work for another 5 days. This is going to be a busy week for us so stay tuned - I will do my best to remember to take pictures this time!!

From our Kitchen: Apple Crisp

The temperature has dipped into the 70s this weekend which to us Arizonans is quite chilly! Jay and I have the windows open and the cool breeze is blowing the chimes on our patio. It's the perfect day for my family's fall tradition: Apple Crisp. 

Here is the super secret family recipe:

4c sliced apples 

1T lemon juice

2/3c flour

2c oatmeal

1c brown sugar

1t salt

2t cinnamon

2/3c melted butter

Fill greased 8x8 pan with sliced apples. Sprinkle with lemon juice to keep from browning. Mix flour, oatmeal, brown sugar, salt and cinnamon in a separate bowl. Add melted butter and mix. Place mixture over apples. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes or until apples are tender. Serve warm (with vanilla ice cream) or cold (good for breakfast!).

I pooped my cherry......

My first blog.  I have been thinking about what to write for a long time.  I don't want to sound like an idiot, which is a given when I get out my soapbox and let er rip.  So I am choosing a topic that I am an expert about.  Marriage.   

I tell ya, this whole thing has been pretty damn easy, which makes me wonder why I didn't do this a long time ago.  My wife is great.  Always in a good mood, very loving, and happy to see me every day.  Now that we're on our "honeymoon", nothing could ever come between us. But that's the problem.  Before we got married, we had our ups and downs, our good times and bad.  There were days we needed to spend apart, either alone or with friends, just to unwind and appreciate the other person a little more than we had been.  

I know those days will come again.  Hopefully, later than sooner.  Until then, I am trying to make this "new and exciting" time together go on as long as possible.  And I'm trying.  Probably for the first time in my life, I am really trying.  When you first meet someone, doing the right and romantic thing is easy.  Part of the natural order of things, like any animal.  I consider myself a stallion if you will.  Not in the out to pasture ready to breed stallion (though my wife would like to think otherwise.  This is a topic that needs to be discussed later), but the longshot at the track.  See, I can bust out of the gate and lead most men around the first corner.  Even the backstretch doesn't look that daunting once it's in sight.  But I know that soon enough, I am going to bog down, and the race is going to get hard for me.  Not that I can't finish.  No, the problem will be keeping up the pace.

But I have an ace up my sleeve that most men don't have.  I know why I am an expert at marriage.  That's right.  I know the secret to marriage.  If you are a woman reading this, please, stop reading, and go retrieve your husbands or fiancees.  Have them read this next part.  They need to know the secret.  Ready?  Here it comes......

The secret to marriage is that I SUCK at it.  It's true.  I do.  I don't know what the hell I'm doing.  I love my wife.  I want to make her happy.  But as easy as marriage seems, there's a catch.  It isn't as easy as it seems.  That's the point, really.  The minute it seems easy, is the minute you stop trying.  The minute after you stop trying, is the minute your wife notices you stopped trying.  It is that simple.  

I know that no matter what we do, there are going to be days that are unbearable.  Excruciating really.  That is a fact of life.  Another fact is that I will be the cause of the majority of these days. But I am an expert on marriage.  As bad as I am at it, I will never stop trying.  That's why we WILL be happy.  That, and my wife always gives an A for effort. 

P.S  Yes, I meant to say pooped.  I love bathroom humor.

From our Kitchen: A Pumpkin Frame of Mind

As fall is descending upon Phoenix, my cravings are going "fall" as well. This weekend was all about Pumpkin. Last night, I made my own modification of this Pumpkin Bread recipe. I used 1/2 whole wheat flour instead of all white, and added a handful of chocolate chips before baking for sweetness. One of our two loaf pans was not looking too good, so instead of two loaves as I had planned, I made one loaf and a bunch of pumpkin muffins instead!

Tonight, we were craving pumpkin of a different form: Pumpkin ice cream. Thanks to my sister Tricia's post about this seasonal delight, Jay and I ran to the grocery store today to pick some up. It is quite tasty indeed!!
Coming up next (probably): Apples. Apple cider, apple crisp, apple pie...I just love this time of year!!

Weekend Update

Jay surprised me AGAIN. He and Jeff planned today's outing as a get-out-of-town day for Tara and I. What a treat!

We met at Deer Valley Airport (awwww...where Jay and I...and Jeff met!). After welcoming ourselves into Westwind for a quick self-guided tour of our old school we headed north on I-17. It was a cool & cloudy day which made it perfect for a car ride.

Here is where we ended up:

Page Springs Vineyard is located off a windy road in Cornville, Arizona. This quaint vineyard is actually owned by Maynard Keenan, lead singer of Tool. (We actually saw him today at an apparel store he owns in Jerome on the way back home). I digress...


When we arrived, Jay and I took part in a tasting of several delicious red wines before selecting a bottle for our picnic lunch. Before we headed out to the picnic area, we noticed that they had just harvested a bunch of grapes and watched as they put them through the "squisher" machine.
Look at all those grapes!!


The people there gave us this basket to carry down to the picnic area by Oak Creek which flows nearby.

Aren't the boys cute?

Here are some photos of the vineyard:





And us enjoying our picnic lunch:

(Doesn't Jay look so happy to pose with me for the picture?!)

Thanks Jeff and Tara for such a fun day!