Elation, then Resignation. I hit my second weight goal (115-ish), but promptly put some weight back on. Le sigh. There are just too many carbs in the world.

Preparation. My best girl friend (actually, one of my only close girl friends) and I are taking a whirlwind 34-hour-ish vacation for her birthday this coming Tuesday/Wednesday. There will be lots of beach reading, lots of champagne, lots of cheese, and perhaps a speakeasy or pub crawl. I have never been on a vacation with a friend like this, so I am excited that hopefully it will become a regular annual thing, friend road trips!

We have the Rainbow Brite, The Strawberries and Cream, The Triple and Lemon with gold sprinkles. YUMZORS.

Cupcaktion. No, it’s not a word, but I have a theme going on here! Week Two of going to Sugar Daddy Cupcakery and I am totally in love. Forget Sprinkles, forget Lulu’s. These cupcakes are light (despite being HUGE!), beautiful and imaginative. The gentlemen who create them are a credit to baking.

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Inception. Oh my goodness. I could spend hours staring off into space thinking about this film. It furrows into your mind, much like the plot of the movie itself, until you think you have something figured out, then it turns on itself. And the memes make me giggle way too much.

I realized after writing this way it sounded familiar. Oh yeeeeaaaah.

1. Prescott/Flagstaff Area. I know this one was on my other list, I promise it’s the only repeat. Every time I go up there, it gets harder and harder to leave. The cost of living is higher, the houses are expensive, and after doing the house-renting thing there is no way I can live in an apartment again. But jeez, it has so many happy memories I don’t know why I haven’t moved up there already. Being there over Fourth of July weekend cemented the fact that if I move anywhere but stay in Arizona, it’s going to be one of these two towns. I’m a big sucker for college towns, too.

Oh hey look I could actually grow things in Washington!

2. Pullman, Washington. I can’t believe I’m choosing this one but the more research I do about it, the more I’m warming up (ha! temperature joke) to this city. Near the Idaho border, Pullman is a small town with a big heart: Washington State University. Eight miles east is the city of Moscow, Idaho, which is home to the university of Idaho. If I know anything about sports (I don’t) I know how uplifting a healthy rivalry can be for a town. Plus, I could become a crazy janitor at the University and solve writing problems (not math) in the night!

Penny is big, farthing is little. Credit

3. Austin, Texas. Okay, I lied about repeats. But really, the two are repeats for very good reasons: Family and Art. Most of my family lives in Prescott, and I love them dearly so moving to be nearer to them would be great. Austin, although I have never been there, is phenomenal when it comes to creativity and weirdness. It’s like Austin got a special shot of moxie that most towns don’t have the cojones to get. Plus, amazing music festivals, tons of dog-friendly spots around town, and ROLLER DERBY!

4. Santa Maria/San Luis Obispo, California. It’s small, it has a farmer’s market, it has a college town vibe, it doesn’t get too hot or too cold. It’s perfect! SLO is near Hearst Castle, and come on, just look at this picture:

Stunning.

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5. Boulder, Colorado. Home of the University of Colorado, and Naropa, one of only two Buddhism-inspired universities in the U.S. I can feel my inner calm surfacing just writing that. They also have their own impressive Film Festival, tons of awesome traditions (Naked Pumpkin Run, anyone?) A quick bus ride to Denver (if we ever had the need to go to the zoo, or do other “big-city” things), boulder seems like another winner I will be getting

I managed to pull myself together and make coffee and pack a lunch for myself (I haven’t done this in months. Momentous.)

Got to work, with good news emails all around, work-wise. I won’t bore you with them, just good news.

Get an email from a friend I haven’t talked to in a few years, apologizing for being “mean” to me in high school. The majority of people were mean, but who wasn’t in high school? You gotta pick on someone else, lest they try to do it to you first. Ah, self-esteem issues, the cornerstone of any high school existence.

Anyway, his email ended with “watch for sparkles.” What a glorious thing to say. As the day progressed, I was feeling more and more sparkly.

Had to do rounds and talk with merchants for work, and two of them remarked that I looked “beautiful” or “great,” which got me blushing big time.

Got home and The Beau had gotten the mail: CARE PACKAGE! From my lovely friends in DC, I got a care package that made me squeal, laugh, and become speechless with all the goodies it stored (Maker’s Mark lapel pin? How did they know my love of whisky-oh yeah, they read everything I write.)

Took the dog for a walk around the pool (contemplated jumping in) and it was, as The Beau proclaimed, “downright pleasant” outside. It takes a magnificent feat like water falling from the sky to cool down the scorched earth of the desert. I sincerely think The Universe felt bad about the aborted swim session yesterday.

Something was in the air today. Thank you Universe; I will have to work on pushing all this good karma back into the world.

I bought it from smeeks in downtown Phoenix. I know I have mentioned smeeks before, but I could go on and on about it until I just dragged you down there. Everyone I take there thinks it’s magical. No one ever leaves empty handed. It has sodas in glass bottles (including Mexican Coke made with cane sugar-MUY DELICIOSO!), it has a photobooth that for $5 gives you 8 poses and doubles of your adventure! It also has toys, vintage candy, vegan chocolate/candy, ninja Matryoshka nesting dolls and even a section devoted to baconstuffs (belt, wallets, gummies)

But, I digresss. back to the licorice. I was expecting a Red Vine sort of flavor, so it really surprised me. Not overly sweet and preservative-y like Twizzlers, but a naturally sweet strawberry taste. I am not usually a big strawberry licorice fan, but this has an extra spice that I enjoy. At first bite, it’s like a big piece of Bubble Yum, without artificial flavor aftertaste.

If you’re looking for a different licorice or healthier alternative to too-sweet candy, KOOKABURRA!

Gorgeous green filtered light through the upper window,

An amazing veggie sandwich (with bacon!) at MacAlpine’s with HH,

celebrating Bastille Day with ma meilleure amie,

laughing way more than I probably should that Tortilla finally sat in the way of the frame I drew on the door with my window crayons,

and of course, SWIMMING. Any time of day, for 5 minutes or 50, I love it. I’m still working on night exposures with my camera, so it’s fun to test it out.

Other great things that happened this week: The Beau and I rode our bikes to the movies and saw Despicable Me. It was fantastic. I would say if you’re having trouble deciding what to see this weekend, see Inception and Despicable Me.

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Going for chocolate shakes with HH at MacAlpine’s. I am so excited!

This Friday, I would like to Take Five minutes to be grateful for this new and old music that puts me in a summery mood. This weekend there is a 30% chance of rain, which will make for some amazing photos, to say the least. But summers here and more than complaining about needing rain. Summer can be full of no pants (i.e. dresses, I suppose), floating in the pool, watching pine trees, early morning napping (I call it a gradual wake-up) on the hammock, an icebox full – no, really, FULL – of popsicles and bike rides through some beautifully colorful neighborhoods.

Bluesy blues perfect for a muggy, sweltering monsoon night, fanning myself on the hammock, eating a popsicle. Seriously, I should be doing everything with a popsicle in tow-the freezer is full!

If you click through on this video, it should play all the songs, as a playlist. If you don’t want to click through, it will just play Blondie’s “Heart of Glass” sung by the awe-inspiring Puppini Sisters. NOTE: “Thursday Night” by Honey Honey and “You Can’t Stop Me Now” by RZA are a tad NSFW, but the rest are all fine. 

Wow. My weekend lasted for 4.5 days. It was glorious while it lasted. I packed a lot into some seemingly relaxing days:

-went to the gym

-watched two amazing World Cup matches

-partied with family on Whiskey Row in Prescott

-got a fisheye lens and used it enough already for people to get sick of me behind the camera

-creating one of the better care packages I have made, complete with homemade Surprise Ball!

-getting to scour the internet for acrhitecture pictures for my brother. He is moving back to Chicago at the end of the summer and wants his room to be real classy. I am incredibly touched he asked me for help, but, in typical brother fashion he just said he wanted “black and white architectural pictures,” and left it up to me to find out what that meant.

-in the above search, finding this astounding book. MUST HAVE. 

-I also did a lot of bike riding, sleeping in my hammock, and losing a couple pounds, despite eating fry bread, multiple tecates, and a HUGE family breakfast.

Okay, everyone in my family who reads this blog. This is my top 5 list of things I would like to see this weekend:

5. water balloons. They may have shut down the water war cruises (I did that back in the early 90′s, before it got out of hand), but that doesn’t mean we as a family can’t get soaked.

4. Sparklers. Everyone bring their lighters, because we are spelling out some letters!!

3. BBQ. Since The Beau introduced me to Jack Daniels BBQ burgers (homemade), I have become obsessed with BBQ. Please someone, save me some BBQ.

2. Huge family breakfast. I don’t care if it’s at our favorite come-together restaurant, or at my na-na’s with people piled everywhere in chairs or sitting on stoops. I would prefer chorizo and waffles at na-na’s - I will even repay you by doing yardwork, nana!!!

Every family has an endless supply of spy glasses, right?

1. Just being together. Our family is finally in a 2-state radius again, so we can get together like this more often, with everyone truly being together. I feel very lucky that my family is so close, and we love each other so much we are willing to camp out it in each others back yards and under tables just to be able to spend as much time as possible with each other. Thanks, Fourth of July Weekend!

Unfortunately the only way I could work it in is if bad things are happening, so maybe it’s a good thing I had no idea what it meant.

“At Sixes and Sevens (“at 6′s and 7′s”) is an English phrase, describing a state of confusion or disarray. The origins of the word are a bit muddled, but the funniest one is the quarrel between the Merchant Taylors’ and the Skinners’ Livery companies. They have fought and been in a dissarray about who comes sixth in the order of precedence. I will give you a minute to click through that link, read all the awesome names in the order (HABERDASHERY FTW!)

Ahh, you’re back! Okay. So, as with quite a few crazy phrases, no one is for certained who coined the phrase as a phrase, but I like ridiculous quarrel stories.

p.s. Going back to the World Cup, haven’t the commentators been AMAZING? I want Ian Darke and Ally McCoist to commentate on everything!