My March for Babies

This past Saturday, I participated in the March of Dimes walk, March for Babies. It took place on the beautiful grounds of Mt. St. Macrina. At first, I had a couple girls joining me... then one...
and then none! So, it was just me, but I didn't mind. The weather that weekend was beautiful! Nice and warm and sunny! I got a March of Dimes shirt and quickly changed before our 3 mile walk around Mt. St. Macrina. Everything about Mt. St. Macrina is gorgeous. In fact, if you look at some of my older posts from last year, we toured Mt. St. Macrina. The walk kicked my butt. I did nothing to prepare for it. Sure, I walk a lot... but I wasn't ready to be walking up and down hills! City girl that I am, I'm used to walking on very flat surfaces. haha! I took pictures of our route and the beautiful ornate objects on the grounds. Like many walks, there was food afterward, provided by donating companies. Has anyone ever seen a Subway mascot?! Now you have!


Thank you to everyone who donated and helped me go way beyond my goal! I'm so thankful and appreciate your generosity. There are mothers, like my cousin Kim, who thank you as well.

Eating, Shopping, and Cooking(?!) In AZ!

My wonderful visit to AZ was jam packed with stuff, so I'm going to break it up in a few posts =)

Straight off the plane, with a quick bite to eat, I volunteered to help make a pasta dinner at Sky Harbor Air National Guard. With Janelle in tow, we met Chef Carl who quickly put us to work in his huge kitchen! We were dressed inappropriately, so he fitted us with jackets, aprons and hats (though there wasn't much he could do about our open toed shoes). For the next four hours, we backed, cooked, washed, and served. Phew. By the end, I was a zombie. I had had only 3 hours of sleep and was still on medicine from being sick. So after Chef Carl brought us in front of everyone and made them believe we did all the cooking (we were really just helpers), we got to leave. We were making/serving food to those who were participating in the Pat Tillman Run. They got to have pasta, meatballs, lasagna, salad, garlic rolls, cookies and cheesescake. YUM.

This part is going to be especially for those of you who have not been to Arizona in a while.....

Shopping! Does anyone realize how nice it is to have all the stores you need in one place? Not to mention that this happens several times throughout the city! It was amazing. Of course I went to 5 malls during my visit! Here are a few new ones we went to...
link. Go check it out! They had these two huge fire pits with waterfalls. They were awesome. I looked up to see what they would do about shopping in the summer time and sure enough, Tempe Market Place- It's outside and reminds me of The Block at Orange (CA). Several people had already told me that before I finally went. We were there during the day, so we missed out on the Vegas lights! The "mall" like shops are all on the inside, while the bigger department stores, were on the outside, sort of surrounding the island of shops. It was very L.A. if you ask me. I have no clue how many shops there were total, but here's the there's a who sprinkler system. Even so, I wonder if they're busying during the summer? There were really neat looking restaurants, so I hope I will get a chance to eat down there next visit. Apparently, the Harkins Cine-Capri is there too.


SanTan Village- Another new outdoor shopping mall that looks, actually, a lot like the Waterfront here in Pittsburgh. Only larger, of course! We found ourselves at this Gilbert mall because we had been looking for the new Disney Store. That's right, we shop by Disney Store locations =p It was really weird to see a free standing Disney Store. There's also a Victorias Secret's Pink- totally separate. I hardly ever see that. There's a lot of window shaded protection for this outdoor mall, and a few sprinklers. There's store front parking and then a larger parking lot towards the back. There's another shopping villa close by incase you needed... oh... a Walmart! Lots of label stores too if you need a new Coach bag =p Here's there store listings. CLICK







Here are more pictures of that lovely new Disney Store, in case you were wondering =) Not only does it have a sparkly pixie dust floor, but it also has a fitting room with a Mickey chandelier.




Eating- Oh my, I finally had Mexican food! I purposely ordered a tostada because nobody has any clue what that is out here. I wasn't that hungry, but man, Garica's food was just sooo good, I ate it up! Luckily, there's a new Garcias within walking distance from my Dad's house. For those of you who have been there and remember nothing but an alfalfa field, it's now Fulton's new beautiful community with lots of restaurants and stores. Isn't amazing how fast AZ grows? Janelle's sister, Justine, conveniently works at a restaurant we had never been to, which gave enough reason for us to go. It's called Heart Attack Grill. Jody, Summer, and Leah, quit reading now. OK, so it's sort of cute because it has this whole hospital theme. But lets not dance around it- it's sort of like a Hooters. The girls are nurses and the guys are doctors. You can not get anything heathly there. Infact, there isn't even any lettuce for the burgers. Each burger is called single bypass, double bypass, triple bypass, or quadruple bypass. If you eat the quadruple bypass, you get a free wheelchair ride to your car. Over 350 pounds? If you let them weigh you in the middle of the restaurant, you get to eat for free. Everything is dipped in lard. Everything is fattening! While you're there, you have to fill out patient cards, get an I.D. bracelet, and can wear a hospital gown if you choose. Janelle, her brother Kato, my Dad and his girlfriend Sue ate there for lunch. I'm pretty sure we weren't hungry for the rest of the day! Go to their site. Apparently there's talk about making a reality tv show there! I purposely did not put a picture of Justine up, for fear she might be embarrassed, so if you want to see her, you will have to go there yourself!

My AZ Family

Although I did not get to see everyone in my family, here are a few pictures of those I did see. Thanks for coming out to lunch!!! Isn't that the best part of visiting "home". Without family, who are you? I love my family and I love seeing them when I visit. Day 2 of my visit, we got up early to pick up my Grandma and Grandpa K. Grandma and I were matching in our purple outfits! How cute is that?! We went shopping at the crowded Farmers Market and I was able to buy some Mexican spices as souvenirs for my Mother-in-Law. Then we met up with my Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Grant, and my cousin Gail. We ate at Bill Johnson's Big Apple in Mesa and took pictures in front of the cactus outside!



Missed you Aunt Carrie and Grandma W!






My brother Kyle and I. I got to see him twice! Once at my birthday party and once at Kara's concert =) I'm happy I got to see your beautiful Mom too!


My Dad and my sister- although they travel and see me, it's still nice to be "home" with them. My sister is always super busy, so the fact that I got to see her 4 times is amazing! And always, staying with Dad makes me feel... younger! Thanks for driving me all over town! It was weird not seeing my Mom, brother CJ, and step-dad Charlie, as they just moved to Indiana last year, but we drove by our old neighborhood and I thought of them =) Here's a picture of my Dad, Kara and I at the airport. Little did we know that once they said goodbye, I would be stuck at the airport for an additional 2 hours!

Janelle is not my family by blood, but by choice. She flew from CA to AZ just to visit with me. Now that's love! Here we are in front of the Disney Store at Fiesta Mall, where by working there, we met and became BFFs!

Pixie Hollow Birthday BBQ

Day 2 of my visit, we had a huge belated birthday party for me =) It seemed the easiest way to get all my friends over to visit. I didn't have a car, so it would have been pretty hard to go all over the valley! Thank you everyone for coming! It was wonderful seeing all my favorite faces and visiting, even if it was for a short period of time. Wow, were there a lot of babies or what?! It's so fun to see how everyone's life has changed and is growing. Thank you to Domonique, Tiffany, Vanessa, Paul, Suzi, Greg, Mona, Beth, Janelle, Steven, Karin, Brian, Nicole, Kyle, Kara, Kurt and Michelle! Missed a few of you, especially those who live far away... um, like Australia! And those who had car troubles on the way from Philly to AZ! Maybe next time?!!! Love you guys!!

Weed Out the Weak

My sister is a rock star. It's true. She the lead singer and guitar player for her band, Wead Out the Weak. Over the past year, they have done some great venues and are becoming very popular. I never get to see their concerts, as I am always out of town. But, this time, I was there! They did a sort of "back to the beginning" concert at Cheba Hut on Monday, Day 4 of my trip. Their first concert was at Cheba Hut a year ago, so they decided that every year, on their anniversary, they will always play at Cheba Hut so long as it exists. In preparation for the concert, I decided to make t-shirts for Janelle and I to wear. Not just any sort of band t-shirt... pink ones that were bedazzled! Of course! Well, Janelle's didn't turn out to well. First of all, I was sleep deprived, second of all, I was sick. I ended up ironing on the image upside down... and then when I tried again, inside out. It was a lost cause. But I was able to make mine ok and she was really happy and surprised when I showed up! Yay a job well done! Thanks Steven, for helping me figure out how to do it! Anyway, they played for about half an hour and a lot of my friends/family came! Yay! So I got to see people again =) If you want to see Weed Out the Weak or at least hear some of their tracks, visit their webiste HERE.

The Princess Path

My final AZ post! After the concert, Paul, Suzi, Steven, Janelle, Cari, Kato and I went to Golfland! I was excited about going goofy golfing because miniature golf out here just isn't the same. Hello, golfing with castles is way more fun! We barley made it in time before they closed, so we were only able to golf for an hour. It was fun! Favorite moments- loosing my ball in a plant, Paul hitting his ball in the water, and Cari missing the stupid raising doors!

I'm Back!

Well, I'm back from my April trip to my home state, Arizona! If I saw you at any point during my trip, I probably took a picture of you and have already e-mailed you the link to download it =) I'm so happy I got to see so many of my friends and family! Sadly, I did not get to see everyone, but that just means I'll need to make another trip soon! It was nice to see sunshine all day, every day... although I only lasted 10 minutes in it before getting too hot. It was between 93-103 while I was there, which might as well have been 150 to me. I guess I have been gone too long! Now that I'm back in cold, rainy weather, I'd rather be in the heat! I went to 5 malls, 3 Disney Stores, 2 BBQ restaurants, 1 Mexican restaurant, 1 Lebanese market, 1 farmers market, 1 organic store, 5 coffee shops, 1 AZ themed store, ROSS, Golfland, Jack N the Box (there aren't any in PA), Harkins, and 1 trip to Heart Attack Grill. WHEW. I guess it sounds like I just did a bunch of eating and shopping!

For those who are wondering, yes the flights were painful. I do not recommend getting a cold before going on vacation. The pressure makes your ears want to burst.

Thanks to everyone who came to my birthday BBQ and my sister's rockin' concert!!

Easter Birthday

SO I've been sick for... a long time. I can't quite seem to get anything done. Not to mention, I've been out of town. Sorry, sorry, sorry! Here are our very late Easter pictures... finally!

Narlu and her brother Tommy came up once again with Rich to celebrate Easter with us. It was really fun because obviously the traditions for Easter in Venezuela are much different than our American traditions. For the first time ever, Tommy got to color eggs! We had dye, glitter, crayons, shrink wrap, stickers and even hats for the eggs.

Jan-Michael and I both had to work on Easter, but we were able to come home late in the afternoon. Everyone got Easter candy and now there is WAY TOO MUCH candy in this house! Not to mention, Jan-Michael and I made eachother baskets! Narlu's birthday just happened to fall on Easter this year, so we also had cake to eat! Happy birthday Narlu!

For the first time in a very long time, they decided to have Easter dinner at Grandma Betty's with Jan's Aunt Diane and her two daughters, Angie and Tiffany. Tiffany's husband Ron and Angie's kids were also there. It was fun and chaotic! We ate tons of food, talked eachother's ears off, and took lots of pictures. Plus we sang "Happy Birthday" to Narlu!



I hope everyone had a very blessed Easter!

April Snow Showers Bring... May Flowers?

Notice the lack of sun in these pictures? Ya, so don't laugh at me when I come to visit AZ and I'm so white that I glow =p

I'm 26?!

I think when you pass 25, you're not supposed to tell people your age... or at least be more discreet about it! Oh well! I'm 26, but I pretended like I was turning 20. OK, possibly 6. My theme this year was Pixie Hollow! The books, the movie, and the online world of Disney Fairies had captured my heart this year =)

When I was trying to think of what to do on my birthday, it was pretty difficult. We live in a small town, it's still "winter" so a lot of things are closed until Easter, and there just isn't much to do. When I thought about it, I decided that all I really wanted was a latte from Seattle's Best and a good book. So, we drove over an hour to the nearest Borders! It was rainy and chilly. Probably not the greatest day for a long car ride. But I was happy because I got a large Blackberry Creme latte and bought a few books. After our little Pittsburgh trip, we went out to dinner. There were about 14 of my friends and our family. I put Pixie Hollow decorations on the table and made all the girls wear Tinker Bell headbands. Even our waitress wanted one! We went to a place called Garfields and they even set up a "cake table"! Afterwards, we went back to the house to drink a bottle of Pink wine Summer sent me (thanks love!). Then we played this game-show game called Buzz and watched a movie.

Thank you to my Mom who sent a surprise bouquet of pink flowers, and Ellen, who managed to keep her coming home trip a secret and surprise us all! A huge thanks to everyone who braved the rain and came to dinner!



The following day, we celebrated Jan's brother's birthday. Rich and I were born the same day, 10 years apart. He came down from Pittsburgh with his fabulous girlfriend, Narlu and her brother, Tommy. We had dinner and cake and chatted for hours!

Here's my adorable fairy. I'm telling you guys, it's addicting! Go to pixiehollow.com and turn yourself in to a fairy =)