Category Archives: portraits
joe’s new 300
You can see the rest of the set here.
the chandler girls
scooter ride to the top
Yesterday, Joe, Tim, and I rode our Vespas up to the top of South Mountain where the radio and television towers are located. I’ve never been up there before this ride, and there is an incredible view of a large portion of the valley. We took some pictures of our scooters, and then drove back down and ate lunch at Los Dos Molinos.
my first gift scarf
Early last year, I taught my mother-in-law’s good friend Marcia how to knit when she took a few of us to Carlsbad, California on a beach vacation. She’s been keeping it up, and knitting all kinds of things. She recently took a cruise to Alaska, and she visited a yarn shop there called Raven Frog Fiber Arts. She bought a handmade yarn and made a beautiful scarf for me! Wow! It’s really cool because David was born in Alaska, and she thought that would be meaningful. Awww…
Below is the picture of her first practicing at the beach house. She learned the hard way that knitting and drinking wine don’t mix when you are a beginner!
Below is a picture of me wearing the beautiful scarf that she made for me!
last weekend of festival
I love going to the Renaissance Festival. Probably a little more than most because I worked there for about four seasons. It’s like visiting an old friend who always has something new going on.
Below is Adam Crack, six time Guiness world record holder. Here he is cracking two 40 foot-ish long bull whips at the same time. They seemed to move so slowly, but gracefully, and cracked loudly. It seemed really hard. He said it took two (or was it four?) years with no girlfriend to learn how to do it.
Next is Adam Crack with two whips that were soaking in gasoline then lit on fire. I am actually surprised how many performers tricks involve gasoline.
On to one of my favorite part of faire, the Mother Goose booth. She lets you hold and pet her goose. Look at Wendi loving an animal. She usually doesn’t do this sort of thing.
This definitely isn’t a summary of everything we did that day, but these were some of my favorites. At some point we went to one of my favorite shows: Dextre Tripp. Below you will see him juggling a chainsaw, an apple, and a torch.
Then he put the apple in his mouth and cut it in half with the chainsaw. (BTW, I love the girl in the corner who has her hands clutched to the sides of her head the whole time.)
Then he duct taped 200 black cat firecrackers to his bare torso with the help of a marine in the audience. On each side of the stage, volunteers were positioned with water balloons to throw once the fuses were lit to help cool him off. Oh, and he was standing on a single ladder.
Crazy!
Later, we finally ran into my friend Ash with whom I went to high school and also worked the festival.
Good times. Can’t wait until next year.
nash
congrats to Michelle
birthday times three?
My brother’s birthday is the day before mine, so we met up at the Liberty Market for lunch today to celebrate. His girlfriend Kari surprised us with cake, and Holly thought it was her birthday too. She turns two next week, so perhaps this was good practice.
officially thirty
I turned thirty on Thursday. I know a lot of people have had a hard time with this number, but it didn’t really bother me. I suppose because it all feels the same to me. Except that what used to seem “old” doesn’t really seem old anymore. And I seem to be growing these new hairs that are white. I really hope they are silver. I have always wanted silver hair. Or silver hair with a white stripe, but I think you already have to have a streak to begin with.
I had a great doble quincenera. Shout out to Craig who hired a mariachi band. And Stephanie for all the preparations she did for the party. Steph is an amazing cook and baker/bakeress? And Jacy for stuffing the pinata. And Wendi for letting me have the party over there. And Joy for loaning me her wedding dress. And Carrie for the quincenera bouquet. And Brenda for the quincenera shoes. And eveyone’s really thoughtful gifts.  And the level of participation in the costumes! (Please send pictures to my email if you have them!)
On my actual birthday, I had a few free meals and tried to see a free movie, but I found out it’s only free popcorn now-boo! It was a really relaxing day spent with David. The picture above is from Yuptha’s Thai Kitchen which is one of my favorite restaurants. They brought me a coconut ice cream with a candle in it.
And speaking of David…he got me a bicycle! Yay! This is something about which I am really excited. My old bike is from the seventies and it’s hard to ride. It is so heavy that it makes my legs ache.  This new one is made for commuting, so I plan on riding to work. I’ll post pictures of it soon.