Monsoon Season

A severe monsoon storm rolled through downtown Phoenix last Thursday evening. The wind reached 110 miles per hour and we received almost 2 inches of rain. This was the craziest storm I have seen. The temperature dropped about twenty degrees and the sky lit up with strobe light-like lightening. My dog was definitely freaked out. The next day traffic was nightmare. My typical drive to work is only ten minutes. Friday, it took me about twenty-five minutes to go about a mile. I actually didn't even make it to the office. Our building has lost power, the glass was broken and all the trees were blown down. Central Phoenix looked like a disaster area. There were hundred year old trees uprooted. It was quite the scene. Here's a picture of a tree down in my neighborhood.

Florida- Family Vacation

It has probably been over ten years since my entire immediate family has been on vacation together. Sure, we see each other at Christmas and other holidays, but this was the first time we have really vacationed together in a very long time. A few months ago we decided to visit my grandparents in Ft. Myers, Florida. We had a great time....There are so many sea shells and sand dollars along Ft. Myers Beach. There were so many sand dollars in the water you could take a step without finding one. They turned our feet yellow, it was sort of weird.

Being from Arizona, it's always a special treat to go to the beach. We have been going to Ft. Myer's beach for nearly twenty years. It's so nice to walk outside of the condo and be on the beautiful white sand beaches. The water is warm and perfect for swimming. Needless to say, I spent time every day of my vacation on the beach. Check out Andrew's scar from his collar bone surgery in April. Hopefully, his next ski season won't end so early.
We rented scooters one afternoon and cruised around the island. I made Mathew share with me. Poor Mat. We watched the most beautiful sunsets every night from our condo. The sky was especially pretty when the Sun was setting after a storm. Below is a picture of the Sun setting over Sanibel Island. On our last night in town we decided to check out the nightlife on the beach. My grandmother and aunt talked up the Lani Kai a whole lot. We decided we had to see this place for ourselves. We hit a few places along the way....including karaoke. This was a good night. We had too much fun. Thanks guys.
DFW; I hate that airport. All of our travel problems arose because of DFW. If I never travel through it again, I will be happy. We all traveled as far as Dallas together. There Andrew got on a plane for Denver. I miss you Andrew. It was such a great trip. It was completely relaxing and so much fun. I loved spending time with my parents and my brothers like we did when we were kids. Only this time there were no fights! It was also great to see my grandparents. I know I haven't posted any photos of them but they were main reason for our trip. Hopefully, I will be able to go back again soon.

John Mayer

About four months ago Tiffany asked if I was interested in seeing John Mayer when his tour stopped in Phoenix. Of course sitting outside sounds nice in April. The day of the show it was probably 110 degrees outside and pretty humid too. We couldn't really figure out why any artist would want to play in Phoenix, outside, in the summer time. It was so hot we stuck to our plastic seats. However, the show turned out to be fabulous. I would actually put it in my top five. John Mayer is pretty amazing live.

4th of July Quiz

Rachelle sent me this 4th of July quiz. I hate to admit I have a degree in history and only got 22 out of 30 correct. Ouch. However, I did pass the MSNBC citizenship quiz with 100%. I didn't know this but the new naturalization/citizenship is not multiple choice. That's tough! Have a happy and safe 4th of July!

San Diego

I spent the weekend in La Jolla with Lindsey and her family. The weather was perfect. Well, actually it seemed a little warm to the Californians but for us Phoenicians, 92 degrees was just perfect for the beach! I had such a great weekend relaxing by the sea. The water was so pretty- Caribbean like.

Baby Addie

She's finally here! Yesterday, Brooke gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. Addison Lauren Coty arrived yesterday morning weighing 6 lbs. 2 oz. and measuring 18 inches long! I went by the hospital to see them yesterday. Mom and baby are doing great. I was lucky enough to greet Addie in her first few hours of life! She is so adorable. I love her.

What's wrong with America?

No, that's not an open ended response question. That was my thought as I left the MINI dealership this afternoon. I love my MINI service advisor. Yes, I have a true love for the man who makes sure my car is always operating smoothly. Today, I took my precious car for new tires. I was sad to break down for the $866 expense (that was only two tires), but with summer in Arizona well underway I had no choice. When I arrived to retrieve my car, Justin, my service advisor, told me they found my arm bushings had "separated completely" (I can't explain it. All I know is they are expensive and my car is not under warranty). Thankfully, he called MINI HQ and talked them into covering the full cost of replacing the arm bushings. Amazing! He saved me nearly a thousand dollars. Now what does this have to do with America? Earlier this week I went to my doctors office. I made an appointment for my last injection of a series of three. I specifically made my appointment in 2008 so my health insurance would cover the injection. Last year I paid out of pocket for my second because the first one ate up the allotted amount for injections under my plan. So, this week I was informed that since I did not follow up the third injection in the specified four months I would have to pay out of pocket for the stupid thing. Seriously? I had to pay out of pocket for the second because the insurance wouldn't cover even though it was done in the appropriate time frame. I said "no thanks" to the $300 injection and made it clear something was amiss- "we'll get back to you." Right.

So, how is it that I get better treatment at my car dealership than my doctor's office? Isn't my doctor supposed to be my advocate? I wish my MINI service advisor was my doctor.

No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problem

Shortly after our return from Mexico, Lindsey, Shannon and I attended the Kenny Chesney Poets & Pirates concert. A Kenny Chesney concert is pretty much akin to a Jimmy Buffet concert, well for us anyway. Good times.

Oh, Mexico

James Taylor, Kenny Chesney, Roger Clyne, and so many others have penned songs about locales south of the border. There's just something about sitting on a beach in Mexico. Shannon, Lindsey and I enjoyed our trip so much two years ago we decided it was time for another. Sarah and Rachel joined us on this one. Jenn, lost her passport and became our first casualty. We thought we were going to lose Sarah too when she missed her flight Thursday morning! Luckily, she got another and found her way to the house. Jose let us use his home in Puerto Vallarta for the weekend. We had a fabulous time, even with karma's wicked sense of humor.

We kicked off Friday morning with a zipline canopy tour . This was fun. It was much better than the one I did few years ago in Vallarta. Rachel made more than a few boyfriends on the zipline. Being a group of five girls was not a bad thing! After resting up from our zipline adventure, i.e. laying in the pool all afternoon, we headed out for a night on the town. Some other friends were in P.V. for a wedding that weekend as well. We met up with them at La Bodeguita del Medio, a.k.a. the Cuban restaurant. Our zipline boyfriends were supposed to meet us there, but much to Rachel's disappointment, they never showed (or we were late?).

Um, yes, Lindsey, Shannon and I all wore the exact same color of orange. Weird.
After spending most of the morning not feeling so hot, we headed to Las Animas for an afternoon on the beach. You can only access Las Animas via water taxi. The water was a little rough and we had to load and unload on this, what I would call, dilapidated dock. I much preferred the beach loading technique. I think everyone just about lost some fingers or other body parts trying to get back in.
That day Lindsey made a new friend. Shannon and I got a real kick out of it! I swear, I think it's the same dog that befriended Lindsey two years ago! See:

After two nights of cooking we decided there was no way we were eating salmon and chicken again (I may never eat chicken again after my recent conversion to a vegetarian- we'll see how long it lasts). We headed for dinner at a local Italian restaurant on the malecon. Below is a picture of Shannon and Rachel "hugging" John Travolta. He was having dinner a few tables over from us. He's on Shannon's "list". I was going to say she "about" cried when she saw him, but no, she did. Sorry, Shan. We had the nerve to say hello but not to ask for a picture. He was about a foot away. Rumor was George Clooney was there. Too bad we didn't see him!
We spent Sunday at another beach, Yelapa. It was much more beautiful and calm. We had a good day until we got a visitor.
This guy, according to Rachel, was "...everything she hates about Texas plus some." He was rather ridiculous.
Sunday night was the last night we were all at the house. We had dinner at La Palapa on the beach in town. We decided to check out the night life one more time before we left. Just as we were settling in, the lights went out. I mean, all over town. There was no electricity. After sitting in the dark for thirty minutes we decided to call it a night. We went back home.

Monday was sort of crazy. We woke up to no running water in the house. Luckily we got the problem solved- I called the house keeper. Sadly, there was no running water before Rachel and Sarah had to leave to get on their planes. I think it was the warmest day of our trip too! Sorry girls, I hope it doesn't deter you from going next time!

Well, Linds headed back to the house with Sarah and Rachel, Shannon and I shopped and signed the three of us for a cruise on the Marigalante, a.k.a. the pirate ship. I must admit, I was not very excited to go. I had been a few years earlier. But begrudgingly I went. I had so much more fun than I anticipated. It was a really good time.
Tuesday was sad. We were most definitely not ready to leave. I easily could have finished out the week relaxing by the pool or on the beach.
We decided to have a little adventure on our way back to the airport. We took the bus with all of our luggage back to town instead of a taxi. It was quite the sight to see, three American girls with an ungodly amount of luggage on the $0.60 bus. We got a laugh out of it anyway. Thanks for coming girls. I had a great time!