Happy and Sad

Things that Make me Sad:
1. People who speed along the highway in lanes that are closed ahead to pass the traffic that resulted from said lane being closed. In fact, I plan to someday publish a short story called "Everyone Has a Place to Go. Don't Think You're the Only One in a Rush, you Big Jerk". But it might be followed by the sequel "Sometimes I'm That Person Because I Don't Notice the Lane is Closing. Yes, I'm That Unobservant...Please Don't be Mad"

2. When people say that Diet Coke and Coke taste the same. That's just ridiculous

3. When people warn me for the hundredth time that Diet Coke causes cancer. Weirdly, I don't drink soda to be healthy. I drink it because it's good for my soul. Scientific Fact

Yes, the Diet Coke picture twice is purposeful. It's that good

4. When I realize that I've made assumptions that guided my spending habits and lost me money. Like - frozen Costco hamburger is actually significantly MORE expensive than fresh hamburger from regular grocery stores - WHAT? That lost me at least $20 over the past 2.5 years and an additional $5 opportunity cost in time spent defrosting hamburger bricks.

5. When you serve yourself food at a party only to discover it was masquerading as delicious food on the serving platter but actually tastes terrible. You now have two choices: choke it down or attempt a subtle napkin drop.

Things that Make me Happy:
1. Good Deals. These make me disproportionately happy. Free food is at least 3.33 (repeating, of course) times better than the same food when it costs money.
2. Desserts - especially new ones that I add to my list of recipes. Explains why I don't frequently eat the same dessert twice in a year.
3. The Fall. This is by far my favorite season of the year. Just thinking about leaves changing color, apple picking, and Halloween makes me tingly.

If you grew up with views like this near you, wouldn't you love the fall too? That's my house...jk

4. When I remember that I have money that I forgot about or find money that I didn't know I had. One thing that makes my forgetfulness a blessing.
5. Making spreadsheets or lists, but maybe you could have guessed that.

Sometimes We do Stuff

It’s surprising, but sometimes, Ben and I have nights that don’t involve eating Ramen noodles while watching Criminal Mind marathons on Ion Television (the only channel that seems to have decent shows in our incredibly small cable package). Here’s the proof I’ve compiled over the last 2 months:

1. Ben and I on a date to see Star Trek at a fancy theatre with leather seats (thank you Groupon!).

2. Ben and I, pictured separately of course, at a fancy restaurant for Ben’s birthday in June (Livingsocial this time! I like to mix it up!). We felt super out of place the whole time, especially taking pictures with Ben's iphone. I guess their regular customers don't take out their phone to take pictures of their food

3. Hanging out with John and Chelsie when they got back from Havasupai.

4. Going to the Jim Gaffigan performance (and eating beforehand). Thanks Mom and Dad! We loved my birthday present...er...I mean Ben’s birthday present. We got to meet Jim and get his signature. I was so giggly and weird, but he since he signed our book “Ben and Hillary, my best friends”  I think I made a good impression. He loved it when I said I was Ben and introduced my husband, Hillary.

Ben and I with the opening act, Tom Shillue. 

Ama Chely's Visit: July 5-7th

Ben’s mom, Chely, came down for the weekend, and we had a lot of fun.

First, we ate French food.

Second, we went horseback riding with Shiloh, Smokey, and Banjo.

Third, Chely got heat exhaustion.

Then, her car got heat exhaustion and her battery died. Luckily we were an hour away at the neighborhood Basha’s. So, we got to hang out for a few hours near/in the bakery deli floral section of the grocery store.

We spent the rest of the day in the pool. Next, we saw Superman. Super great, except for the fact that my whole body was itching because of the fiberglass from the pool.Seriously, that happened. Old fiberglass pools can do that. We used a lint roller and duck tape to remove all the fiberglas. Really, it worked.

The next day we had a barbeque. The salmon was delicious.

Then we went to the Phoenix Botanical Garden. Apparently it’s really pretty...in the spring or fall or winter. So, not summer. Oh well. After walking around it for about 20 minutes and pretending to enjoy ourselves, we owned up to the fact that we all wanted to leave.

The highlight of the botanical gardens

Despite the fact that Chely got heat exhaustion during horseback riding, that Chely and I both got fiberglass in our skin from the pool and enjoyed it during the movie, and that the botanical garden was essentially a collection of cacti, we did have fun. We ate some good food and had some great conversation, and I guess that's all you really need.

Sedona: June 29-30th

Ben and I finally invested in camping gear. About time! We’ve been talking about that since we got married. We decided our first camping stop would be Sedona, Arizona.

Musashi posing with our new tent

Our sweet $7 watershoes (SO worth it)

We left early Saturday morning and stopped by Montezuma’s Castle on the way. The ruins were cool (first American ones we'd ever seen), and we spotted some pretty sweet bee hives and swallows’ nests (thank you Rocky for telling us what they were).

We found out that all the camping sites were actually full despite the fact that we called beforehand to find out when we should get there to get a site and they gave us bad information. BOO HOO. But, we lucked out and Manzanita Campground was able to make a space for us. We were pretty pleased, because the campground is stunning.

There were actually trees there even though we were still in Arizona.

The creek by our campground

After setting up our stuff, we took a dip in the creek/watering hole that was right at the campsite.

Awkward picture of Ben and Musashi before we cooled off in the water

Next we took off on a hike around and up Bell Rock. It was a 3-4 mile hike and it was pretty hot (about 103 degrees). 

View of Bell Rock from the bottom

Ben and I and the view from Bell Rock

The views made it worth it and Ben and Musashi had fun jumping down/beween the red rocks.

Next we drove up to the Chapel of the Holy Cross. 

It had stunning views of Sedona and a really nice feeling in the chapel.

Then we hiked up Cathedral Rock. Again, beautiful.

We didn’t realize there was a fire ban in Arizona, because we’re newbs at camping in Arizona. So, we had to rent a camping stove to make our foil dinners. Unorthodox, but still delicious! However, I did mourn the loss of the s’mores. Eating the individual, uncooked components is not the same.

The next morning we got up and walked to Slide Rock National Park. It was quite beautiful with the greenery and red rock and water.

We did backflips...ok...I didn't.

We jumped off the rocks into the water

We slid down the natural water slides

We hiked through the water up the canyon.

Our final stop of the trip was the hike to Devil’s Bridge. Because we didn’t have four-wheel drive, we had to take the long way - aka 6-8 mile hike (it’s debatable; I say 6 and Ben says 8).

Almost there and enjoying the view

A cool rock formation on our hike

When we got to the top, the view was incredible. Ben and Musashi scared me half to death by jumping between the bridge and the main mountain. But I can appreciate the pictures, now that the threat of death is no longer imminent.