A little Phoenix action

I got shipped to Phoenix last week for work. It was 68 degrees and sunny with mountains and palm trees...rough life. Here's a little photo story with my always magical cell phone pictures.

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Arizona Center

A new TV studio that's set up like The Today Show...I was the only one who thought this was awesome

Free Gin Blossoms concert...Hey Jealousy!

The love of my life: FOOD...Phoenix Public Market / Urban Grocery and Wine Bar

The craziest looking potatoes I've ever seen

ASU (I think it's a branch)...cool art...check out that bright blue sky

Apparently it's Fall in Arizona...if you look closely, you can see a little grass!

Chase Field

Civic Space Park

Happiness and intelligent people

Someone I just met shared this quote by Ernest Hemingway with me:

"Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know."

It really clicked with me and kind of sums up how I feel at this point in my life. At first glance it may sound a little pessimistic, but I don't think it's meant to come across that way. Intelligent people are always trying to be and do so many things and they have a picture in their head about what they want or at least how they believe things should be. They are always working toward happiness (or certain goals that they believe will lead to happiness); it's part of their passion for life. They have goal/dream after goal/dream that they think will lead them to happiness. This is when the other quote about life being a journey and not a destination comes into play. The challenge is experiencing the happiness of the journey and celebrating the happiness of the destination. It can be challenging for a lot of people and it's something I know I need to work on.

I see the quote as a challenge:

I dare all you intelligent people out there to truly start experiencing happiness!
I dare you to follow your passion!
I dare you to reach your potential!
I dare you not the settle!

It was also a little thrown off that the person who shared the quote with me seemed to "get me" right from the start. (For those who have seen the move, I compare it to the Eat, Pray, Love scene where Elizabeth tells David  that it's disarming when a complete stranger sees you better than you see yourself.)

Emergency surgery

Don't worry, it's just surgery on the dinosaur Lizzy got for Christmas. She immediately tore out the inner contraption...it wasn't a squeaker...it was more like a plastic disk with a metal ball inside, which is much easier on the ears than a squeaker.

Look at those sutures! I miss my calling; I should have been a surgeon. Another stuffed animal rescued by Dr. Garcia.

Lizzy post vacation

We both felt like doing this when we got back from Virginia:

I got out of bed and she promptly took my spot. The look on her face says it all. I imagine she thinking "Tuck me in and turn out the light already!".

The drive (again)

Indy to Virginia and Virginia to Indy

I have mad cell phone camera skills...especially while driving. Safe? Not so much. But aside from the second picture, I try to only snap photos when no one is around me.

A blizzard...in Virginia

Due to the massive snow storm on the east coast, I was stuck in Virginia for an extra day. We got about 8-10 inches (with lots of drifting) in the middle of nowhere. Let's just say that people in Virginia don't deal well with snow (well, at least the people who live near the coast where my brother lives). They cancel school if there's a chance of snow. And they don't have enough resources to handle a big storm, so it causes a messy transportation situation.

The point is that it snowed a lot, we couldn't go anywhere, I was very close to the point of insanity and Lizzy loved it. The pictures are from the day after the snow storm.

Freedom (I always put her on a long leash and let her run while we are there):

I might be an ostrich:

Delicious snow:

On a mission:

Um, mom, this is deep:

My cousin, the Golden Retriever, always jumps in...even when it's freezing...should I join in?:

Nah, I'm smarter than that:

The wannabe pointer pose:

I saw commercial where people gathered up icicles and poured adult beverages over them...hmm:

Sunshine reflection:

Check out that snow drift (I cleaned off ALL the cars, thank you very much):

Adventures in sewing: The potholder reveal

I forgot to take pictures as I was making hundreds (more like 16, but still) of potholders as holiday presents. I was on a mission to get them done! Luckily I took a couple pictures with my cell phone:

For the ladies:

For my brothers:

I made sets of two for everyone. I tried to find a a potholder pattern I thought would be easy. This one was relatively easy after I amended it slightly, but they took forever to make! Either way, I'm proud of them and kept a set for myself. :) And everyone seemed to like them, so they were a success!