Brainfreeze

I love this picture of my girls from a recent cousin sleepover we had at our house.

To me, it is so symbolic of the care-free innocence and enjoyment of childhood . . . Then again, I'm 25 and I still feel like this when I drink Slurpees.

Being Lazy in AZ

We still have some years to see where the good winds will take us to eventually settle. But if I controlled the winds, one of the places I’d have them blow us for good is Arizona.

We spent last week in Arizona for Niels’ spring break. I particularly enjoy Arizona because it seems to be a hybrid of all the good things I like about Las Vegas, Southern California and Utah.

We arrived just in time to smell the goodness of the annual orange blossoms blooming. Did I mention that I am still blown away by the fact that citrus thrives in such severe heat in the summer? Anyway, I wish I could have bottled the scent that was in the air and brought it home to release in my house. Amazing.

The oranges taste even better than they smell, so we made sure to pick about 50 of them straight from the tree to bring home.

There are about only two places I will eat hot dogs: 1) Costco 2)Baseball games. Baseball isn’t necessarily our big thing, but our friends are intense Angels fanatics so we thought we'd join them for a spring training game in Glendale.

We also hiked/rock climbed Camel back Mountain with Niels’ mom and step father, Dave. I hope I can still scale mountains in my 50s. They rock.

I still had to work while we there, but luckily Penny kept Niels company.

Ch, Ch, Chihuly

If you have been to the Bellagio in Las Vegas, you have seen the unmistakable work of Dale Chihuly.

He created the amazing glass flower ceiling that hangs in their main lobby:

Even though he looks kind of interesting/pirate-y . . .

The man makes amazing creations and is incredibly talented.
(Sidenote: did you know that many glassblowers eventually go blind because of the extreme heat their eyes are exposed to?)

Last week we visited his new traveling exhibit at the desert botanical gardens in Phoenix with Niels' mom and step-father. It was quite unique and impressive.

We were in awe and couldn’t stop commenting about what a challenge it would be to make all of these pieces, to transport them, to install them and to take them down and get them ready for the next city. I mean, look at this!

"The Sun"

"The Moon"

Our Favorite. Niels titled it, "The Marbles I Used to Play With"

Although impressive, I wouldn't necessarily hang this chandelier in our home in fear for our lives, or the lives of any of our future children.

"The Spanish Hat"

"Cattails" (being artsy with my camera)

If you're in Phoenix soon, include this on your things to see

You're the Weiner

Now you too can be a winner like me. Lucky you!

My crafty/creative sister-in-law posted this, so I thought I'd give it a whirl.

The first five people to respond to this post will receive something made by me for you. It will be my choice what I make, but it will be tailored just for you.

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2- What I create will be just for you.
3- It'll be done this year. (might be December 31st, but you WILL get something)
4- You have no clue what it's going to be. It may be a story. It may be poetry or an article on properly cleaning your face before a masque. I may draw or paint something. I may bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!
5- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange :)

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog.

The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment will receive a personal surprise made by me.

Happy commenting :)