Spring Break!

I've been off from school all week (except for track practice most mornings) so Mom & Dad decided to come out this week for their annual visit. The weather was perfect and instead of traveling to other parts of AZ, we decided to take advantage of the Phoenix weather and stay in town. They arrived Monday night and Tuesday morning they came to practice with me and took Onyx hiking in Buffalo Ridge Park (park behind my school, where "Rattler Mountain" is and our home cross country course). Tuesday afternoon we went to a spring training game. We saw the Angels play the Brewers and although the game was pretty uneventful, we got some sunshine and enjoyed the afternoon with Keeper.On Wednesday morning, they came to practice (with Onyx) again. I ran hills, they hiked. We stopped for a 2nd breakfast at Einstein Brothers, dropped Onyx off at home and headed out to Camelback Mountain. We chose to summit the mountain via Cholla Trail. I thought this hike would be a lot easier than it actually was. I'd heard of so many people doing it, it was only about 3 miles round trip... it was TOUGH!!!. The desert was beautiful because of all the rain we've been getting all winter. The trail was tough and then (when we thought we must be getting near the end), Dad and I decided to go the rest of the way alone. Little did we know, we had to rock climb the last quarter of the hike to reach the summit! I'm not usually afraid when I hike, but I was definitely afraid of falling and we were right on the edge. We made it though and took some great pictures. My legs were shot from a hill workout earlier in the day so coming down was definitely a little painful on my quads. We decided a Culver's stop was necessary for some post-hiking milkshakes/root beer floats. Wednesday night, we went out to dinner at Gallo Blanco Cafe for some authentic Mexico City food. It was delicious.Thursday, Mom and I went shopping. We braved the insanity at Nordstrom's Last Chance and although I literally hit the shoe jackpot (I had four pairs in my arms), we saw the line snaking around the whole store to check out and we bailed. I will go back on week night when it's quieter. We just did not have the patience to wait in that line. We went to Marshall's instead and I got a cute dress for my upcoming VEGAS trip!!! Dad took the day to read and lounge with Onyx. We went for a long walk (easy run for me) in the late afternoon up Central Ave. Mom tried her hand (voice, I should say) at Beatles Rock Band. Then Keeper came home and made us burgers for dinner.

I am so glad they came out and visited for a few days...can't wait to fly home and see them again in June!!

It's Pool Season

The past 2 weekends the weather has been warm enough for sunbathing & swimming so Keeper and I ventured out to the condo complex pool. Normally perfectly quiet and empty, it has been VERY crowded on the weekends. I miss the days of being the only one out there during spring break and summer mornings (when everyone else is at work). I've noticed some real chooches coming out of the woodwork...

~greased up guys who definitely are checking EVERYONE out behind their mirrored sunglasses. This isn't Miami fellows, but I've got some killer vericose veins you can drool over.

~old lady who has a raft for herself and... her drink. Yep, a mini-flamingo inflatable beverage holder. She never goes anywhere without her flamingo + drink. This isn't your grandma's vodka tonic...oh wait, yes it is.

~ when lounge chairs are a premium, I would like to give a shout-out to the guy who uses one for his Tshirt and then looks all put out and pissed off when I ask if I can use that chair. Sheesh. Also, the guy who was sitting in a chair and felt the need to use a whole other lounge chair for his FEET. First of all, gross because it's right where other people put their heads, and second of all, really? we have footstools, use one.

~ to the family with the 3 kids who like to run around screaming and pelt everyone with nerf balls: thanks but no thanks. Instead of draping your kid in arm swimmies and screaming at them everytime they go near the edge of the pool "Stop! You can't swim!" how about actually getting in and swimming with them? Or invest in some swimming lessons.

~and to the winners who need to have that cigarette (or 10) out by the pool. Thanks. There's nothing I love more than inhaling second hand smoke to make me feel like I'm truly relaxed. Awesome.

Anyway, the water is great and so is the weather... so despite my rants, I'll be back :)

A weird alarm went off...

and we met some new neighbors! Last night around 9:15 pm a piercing alarm started going off in our apartment. We thought it was the smoke detector (which often goes off when we're cooking for no reason). I was sitting on the couch in my jammies, glass of wine in hand, having just gotten home from a track meet around 8:30pm. Keeper rips the smoke detector off the wall and realizes...it's not coming from the smoke detector. He finds the alarm that's going off from our bedroom. There is nothing we can do to turn it off. The dog was starting to freak out a little bit so Keeper told me to "put some big girl clothes on" and come outside. We evacuated to the courtyard to find everyone else out there too. Apparently alarms were going off in at least 3 of the buildings that make up our complex. No one smelled smoke, no one knew why. The clubhouse and pool had lights flashing and alarms too.

So we waited outside with our neighbors until the alarms stopped and...met some nice people! It's funny how we all live here and don't really interact with each other. Onyx loved all the people and dogs; she thought it was party time! I noticed one guy in jammie pants and a t-shirt with a wine glass...he was doing the same thing I was when the ruckus started! The alarms stopped and we went back inside...never found out what caused them. But we do know some more people here now!

Why do our upstairs neighbors....

continue to leave their bathroom fan on? And why can I hear it in my apartment? How many times a day do they poop up there? And how bad is it smelling if they need the fan on for hours at a time? Their fan was on Saturday night when I came home from the track meet and stayed on until Sunday night (24 hours). This morning it came on before my alarm went off and was on the entire time I was up and getting ready for school. Seriously? I want to say something to them (maybe it's broken and they don't realize how loud it is and that we can hear it through the ceiling) but Keeper doesn't think we should...

So This is Thirty...

On Saturday I hit the big 3-0. I kicked off the weekend by....going to bed at 10pm on Friday night. Yep, this old lady had to rest up for her track practice bright and early Saturday morning. We did a tough interval session that went great. After my chocolate milk and banana with my team, I headed home to hop in the shower. Keeper and I tried a new sandwich place for lunch that is really close to our old apartment. You know a place is good when 2 Fire Departments and some cops start filling the place up for lunch. Yum.

Then Keeper, ever the good sport, went shopping with me so I could find something to wear for my bday celebration. I bought some new jeans at Macy's (despite them NOT being on sale, and NOT being allowed to use my coupons on them...grrr). Then we went home and took a nap :)

We had a few close friends over for wine, beer, and appetizers and then decided to walk to the bar/restaurant across the street. We had fun night (ok, a little too much fun on my part). Oh well; you only turn 30 once, right?

5 Years

On Friday, Keeper and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. Time has flown by! It seems like just yesterday we were living in New Jersey I was stressed out over wedding planning. The past 5 years have been full of ups and downs and new adventures. My parents used to tell me as I struggled throughout college with unhealthy "relationships" (if you can call them that) that when you meet the right person, a) you'll know it's right and b) they will make you a better person then when you're by yourself. Both of these things ring loud and true with Keeper.

I am very impressed with the fine folks who write greeting cards these days. I seem to be able to find the "perfect" card and don't have to write anything extra except my name. Keep up the good writing, greeting card people.

Some exerts from the anniversary cards we got each other...

From me to Keeper....

"...everyday, I find a better reason to be thankful for having you in my life...you're always my constant... my best friend, my true love, my perfect companion.."

From Keeper to me....

"...Someday, many years from now, we'll look back on this crazy time in our life together and wonder how we did it all...I'll sit close beside you, you'll take my hand in yours and say: I'd do it all over again...and I wouldn't change a thing..."

I am so happy with us. Who would've thought a drunken make-out in a dirty fraternity bar-room could turn into something so wonderful?

Quick Visit!

This past weekend we had a great visit from J & A and the little BB. We did not make any big plans because who knew what kind of schedule BB would be on? We had a great visit that consisted of:

lunch at Pugzie's Friday afternoon
a trip to the farmer's market Saturday morning
a 5 hour nap for BB during most of Saturday!
lunch for the rest of us at 2 Hippies Beach Shack (mmm burritos...and tacos for me)
2 awesome dinners prepared by Chef Keeper
some lively sessions of Beatles Rock Band (with BB providing the dance entertainment)
a trip to the playgroud + duck pond at Granada Park Sunday morning
a lovely 6 mile run for me and A through north central Phoenix
dinner from Pei Wei Sunday night ( a slice of pizza from Pizza Heaven for BB)
quick trips to TJ's & World Market for Jen

BB is so comical; we had a great time just being silly and making him laugh (or having him make US laugh). I had friends loan me a pack-n-play and some toys/books/puzzles/and even a trike...but BB's favorite things to play with were: Onyx, my foam roller, and our Rock Band Guitar. Onyx was so good with the baby! She did knock him over a few times (she doesn't know her own strength) but most of the time (except when he was tired), BB thought it was funny. She did lick him excessively, but then again, she tries to lick EVERYONE excessively. They seemed to make fast friends and BB learned quickly to block his face if he didn't want to be licked (or knocked over). He also learned to feed Onyx whichever bits of meals he didn't want. Because of this, they will be buddies forever. She was very watchful (nosy) of BB and wanted to "supervise" wherever he was or whatever he was doing. I am so glad she did well with him on the visit. We knew she liked kids but she had never interacted with one for such an extended period of time and in such close proximity. Last night we had to take Onyx to a friend's for the night because Keeper and I both had such long days ahead of us today. BB certainly tried to ask (in his own way) where she was.

I am so thankful they made the effort to come see us for a quick 3 day weekend; we had a blast!