Merry Christmas One and All

Pakistani Bling Envy

I was invited to a Mehndi party for a friend who is getting married this weekend. My friend is Pakistani-American. I felt so honored to attend this event.

I was amazed at the beautiful beautiful traditional outfits the women wore and how handsome the men were.

I would love to wear clothes like that every day. Most of the dresses were handmade and hand beaded in Pakistan. So exquisite, so blingy.

Even the shoes were blingy and sexy.

There was a woman at the party who was applying henna to the hands of the women guests. She was very talented. I had some applied to my palm on my left hand. One of the women at the party told us that the darker the henna stains this represents the more your mother-in-law loves you. Yikes - my mother-in-law really loves me! (But I already knew that).

What a beautiful experience. Thanks N. for inviting me.

Goodbye Cruel Uterus

I come from a large family. A very large extended family. My Mom had eight siblings. Technically thirteen but that's another story. Many of my Aunts had over eight children and I come from a family of six children. Breeding comes naturally to those born into our family.... and then.... there's me.

My husband and I did not have children. I am one of the few in my family that did not procreate. At one time I thought I would but at the moment I'm OK with not having children.

The thing is that my uterus has complained. "What the hell", my uterus says to me. "If you aren't going to use me I'm going to remind you constantly that I am here and unused."

I've had some crazy female issues for a while now. I won't go into too much detail but I've recently been advised to have a hysterectomy. I'm so ready.

I met with the surgeon who seems very nice and experienced. I just can't picture the actual operation and someone actually removing it from my body. I've googled a few photos and it looks sort of gross.

When I had my visit with my OBGYN and then my surgeon they both said "Has anyone ever told you that you have a huge uterus?" I'm like, "No, just a big ass."

So anyways I keep thinking about it's largeness. I sort of would like to see it but then again maybe not. I joked with my husband that I would ask them to put it in a jar and then I could maybe sell it on e-bay. Oh yeah, that would be a hot item. I also wonder if anyone has ever asked the doctor to take a photo of it once it was removed. No! I'm not going to do that, but it did cross my mind. I am a curious person.

So, this is how I am celebrating 2010 - uterus free!

Christmas Already!?

It beginning to look a lot like Christmas around Phoenix. The stores already have their holiday decorations and goodies out. Their strategies work. I am totally thinking about Christmas already (but on the cheap).

I don't think I have had a Christmas cocktail party for over 10 years but I like the idea of it. In my mind I am Martha Stewart and my beautiful guests will be arriving any moment for my artfully arranged food and drink.

I love a little Baileys Irish Creme during the holidays but now I am thinking about peppermint schnapps. I saw these adorable little candy shot glasses online and thought they would be fantastic for a party. Nazdrowie!

I found these shot glasses here.

From Crack House to Mayer

I have been following a blog from Ohio for a while called This Old Crackhouse. It featured the adventures of a guy named Gary who was fixing up an old homestead int he city that was once a stately mansion and gradually was reduced to a crackhouse over the years.

Gary lives in an older neighborhood in Dayton Ohio and had written about his struggles in the neighborhood. He had had enough dealing with he city and at one point just decided to run for mayor.

Gary ran for Mayor and today he won! I just love this story. I don't know what this will mean for his blog but if you haven't visited it before click here for the link.

Congratulations mayor Gary!

Another link to a nice video of his acceptance speech.

Ghosts of Halloween Past

My sister and I back in the day when plastic masks were the rage.

I have always loved Halloween. My mother used to make us some pretty cute costumes when we were children. As my sisters and I became young adults we would really get into the costume spirit. The tradition continued when I got married and my husband and I used to throw an annual bash.

My hubby back in the day. Yes, I sewed this fabulous costume myself.

Me and hubby. Not sure what my costume was but it was comfortable.

My Sister B from Maine - you guessed it.

My sisters and I as women riding circus elephants. I'm on the right. (old photos)

Our lives have calmed down and we no longer hold the Halloween parties. In fact we don't seem to know enough adults that enjoy getting dressed up for a party.

I leave my efforts to the trick or treaters. This year we had 105 trick or treaters at our home this year.

I miss the old excitement of the holiday. Regrettably I bought too much candy this year and have a ton left over. What am I going to do with it all?

Passing Time

Two weeks ago I took a little vacation from work and drove to New Mexico to visit friends and attend Balloon Fiesta. I drove during the day and it was about a seven hour drive from my home to Cedar Crest where my friends live.

I drove alone and my husband met me later in the week. Since I was alone and could do WHAT EVER I WANTED. I took the opportunity to stop and look around when the mood hit me. When I travel with my husband I don't get the luxury of stopping at overlooks and roadside plaques. He loves to get to his destination in record time. I LOVE to stop and gawk.

The scenery was beautiful the whole way there. I had not gone but an hour from my home when I drove by a little building. I was curious so I turned around and went back to take a look. I was in Superior Arizona and the building was a little roadside shrine.

This was the one year anniversary of my Aunt Cecelia's death. My cousins had already put out the call for drinking a cold one in her honor but I thought she would get a kick out of me lighting a candle for her at a roadside shrine.

Aunt Ceal and Uncle Bob

God bless you Aunt Ceal. I didn't hoist a beer but I hope a Margarita was satisfactory. I knew you wouldn't mind.

2 1/2 Weeks A Retrospect

Wow, I've been such a bad blogger. Have you ever been too tired to post? Well I'm blaming anemia. Of all of the exciting things I have done in the past few weeks one of them is being diagnosed as anemic.

Well, since I was too lazy to post for a few weeks I thought I would fill you in on my exciting life as seen by the camera on my phone. Here's what I have been up to and not necessarily in this order.

Attended an insurance seminar in Scottsdale. First night, happy hour mixer under the lights.

Breaking out for rabid discussions about the state of health insurance in the USA.

This was actually a very fun well run seminar.

Hung out with some cowboys on an excursion sponsored by the seminar.

More cowboys at a fun cowboy supper.

Lovin' it. Steak, Chicken & Arizona Strawberries (beans ya'll)
As my Grandpa used to say.... beans beans the magical fruit. The more you eat the more you toot. I wonder if that's where the expression rootin' tootin' cowboy comes from.

Cowboy bar. Hell yeah!

Drove a fellow seminar attendee to a high spot for a photo op. This is near Camelback mountain looking out towards central Phoenix.

Grocery shopping at Fry's marketplace. Saw this sign. Thought about buying it because my inlaws are visiting for Christmas. Still pinching pennies. Didn't buy it.

I may have to draw it in crayon and hang it in their room. I'M ON A BUDGET YA'LL!

OK. That's two ya'lls in one blog. Must stop now. Let's get classy now with some purse shopping.

OK. I'M ON A BUDGET! Didn't buy. Just caressed a little bit.

Cool imports shop on Indian School Rd in Phoenix. They used to sell furniture but it looks like they are getting heavy into purses and jewelry. Sweet.

A bunch of us went to lunch at Pro's Ranch Market in Phoenix off 16th street. What a hoot. A little stressfull because there is so much going on there. Once you get your food it is cool though.

Yum.

OK, This week also included other things that I have no photos of. Me delivering meat products to my co-workers. Me going hormonal at work. Me taking a thousand multivitamins a day to help combat my anemia..... more on that later.

I hope you enjoyed my retrospect. I'll try and be a better blogger.... and a better person - God willing.

Let's Hug it Out

Drama at the office this week has me analyzing myself and the people I work with. If you are like me and work in an office full of complicated people maybe the following prayer/mantra will help you too.

Words to Live By..

People are often unreasonable & self-centered.

Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives.

Be kind anyway.

If you are honest, people may cheat you.

Be honest anyway.

If you find happiness, people may be jealous.

Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, may be forgotten tomorrow.

Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough.

Give your best anyway.

For you see, in the end, it is between you and God.

It never was between, You and Them anyway.

Mother Teresa

Inglourious Basterds - Hell Yeah

The hubby and I went to an early showing of Inglourious Basterds today. It was very good. I love Tarantino and we own most of his movies. I had heard mixed reviews but if you are a fan then you will not be disappointed.

It's a world war 2 movie that would have been a perfect ending to world war 2.

Brad Pitt played a great character and I particularly enjoyed hearing him speak Italian.

Loved it!

3 Day Weekend!

I have no rockin' plans. I might get crazy, drink a glass of wine and read a book. Yee Haw!

Hump Day

I took a drive this week to visit my cousin in Prescott AZ. Here are a few photos around Prescott. I have a few more that I will post later this week when I have more time.

Lately it seems as if all I do is work. I need to have a little more fun. I hope to do a little more Arizona exploring once the weather cools down a bit. I'm thinking a little hiking might do me good. God knows I could use some exercise.

I'm trying to eat a bit healthier and have been adding more fish to my diet. I know I am not eating enough veggies and need to eliminate processed foods. These are things I have known all along but I think I am due for a change and need to get healthier. - Go me!

I'll try not to bore you with too many of the details or have posts that talk about what I ate today unless it's just too compelling not to share :)

Happy Hump Day!

Return to Sender - I wish.

Have you ever sent an e-mail to someone, talked about someone else and then sent it to the person you were talking about? I just did. I feel awful about it. I said a few truths that might sting. I hope we are still friends after this.

Just know that if you send an e-mail via AOL and the recipient is not on AOL - YOU CANNOT RETRIEVE THE E-MAIL!

Whaaaaaaaaa!

Hey Handsome

My cat Gary loves to look at himself in the mirror when he drinks water. I can see why. He's such a handsome devil. If you looked like this wouldn't you want to look at yourself all of the time too?

I love this photo.

Egg I.D.

This is my personal solution for hard boiled eggs. I am not happy when I go to the fridge and need fresh eggs, try to crack one open and realized - it's hard boiled. Arghhhhh!

I now draw faces on the eggs. Not only can I now i.d. the eggs I am also mildly entertained.

Twitter Tweaker

So, Twitter was down the past few days. I could not get to the site from my blackberry. I don't even post that much but it was annoying. I like to think of twitter as an outlet for Monkey Mind. I went to a seminar recently where the presenter used the term Monkey Mind for all of the junk that goes through your mind when your mind wanders.

Here are some of my Monkey Mind twitters that could not get posted because of the outage. Not necessarily in this order and with less typos.

wow, there's a lot of traffic today

school must be back in session

oh great that means the snow birds will be back soon and my traffic will increase again and everyone will drive slower

cotton tops beware, I'm going Rambo on the road this year

I wonder if Fighting Mad Mary will get the dress of her desires

I wonder what GloZell is gonna do with that whipped cream?

Bet she just eats it and pretends she is going to do something sexy with it.

Do you think she has some of that spreadable cheese in a can?

Bet she eats it and pretends she is going to do something sexy with it.

I wonder what the weather is in Maine.

Bet my sister is wearing long sleeves already

I wish I had a dog.

Cats just won't walk with you.

They are pretty snobby sometimes.

I need a pedicure.

Wish I had a maid.

I wish I had a personal chef.

I wish my personal chef was Ina Gartner.

Goat cheese is good.

I need to update my Shelfari

It looks like it takes me forever to read a book

It does

My feet are swollen

I hope it's not caused by some awful disease

I wonder if Jason Show is dancing to Britney right now

He's probably dancing to the Jonas brothers

Maybe with the Jonas brothers

Bet his husband would put a stop to that right now

Or join him

I need the very best bloody mary recipe

More cowbell

cheese makes everything taste good

where did this pile of laundry come from?

cat hair on my sink

I need a total makeover

I wish I'd hurry up and win the lottery

I already have the money spent

I miss Cancun

For every pound my husband loses it seems like I gain a pound - crap!

I think there is now a major flight path over my house

Fighter jets are noisy

I need a nap

incense is awesome

Why can't I find decospheres any more?

I love True Blood

I need to eat more fruit

Whew - I'm glad I got that off of my chest.

Cow Love

I must say I didn't know that I loved cows so much. I could photograph them endlessly.

Rez Cow 420

Portrait of a Rez Cow

This is a portrait I took on my trip near Moenkopi Arizona. I love the graffitti. This is proof that even cows love 420.

Arizona in Color

I thought I would share a few photos from my trip to Arizona. I boosted the color in photoshop. I know photography purists hate when people do this but I just can't help myself. I love looking at the world like this.

Moenkopi Arizona.

Moenkopi

Coal Mine Canyon