Lovely Desert Pics (and Self Portrait...and Dave w/ Drink)

Olive Oil and Frank Lloyd Wright

Took a trip down to Queen Creek Olive Mill for lunch and to pick up some Arizona olive oil and other tasty snacks.  It was a great lunch.  Can't wait to try the oils and vinegars when we get home!

After that we drove through the Arizona Biltmore.  Simply beautiful and deck out in all its FLW style.  Pics below.

Tonight - back out to dinner in Scottsdale, tomorrow Jerome!

Tea-jacked

Well we went shopping and I got fucking tea-jacked at Teavana.  I thought, "Oh!  Let's stop in here since I've been wanting to try to cut down on the diet pop I drink, and I would really like to find a tea I like."

They had samples outside...good samples...samples that draw you into the goddamn tea web.  That's when they strike and then start to wrap you up just to devour you later.

Oh sure, you think you're just going to get a little tea, they talk super fast and tell you all about how medicinal it is, and wave the lid of the tea tin at you so you get all suckered in by smelling how lovely it is, then they get you to agree to what you think is the right amount, but you don't know...because you don't drink fucking tea.

So...$79, one pound of two different teas, and a half a pound of rock sugar (FOR CHRIST'S SAKE), I am now a proud tea drinker.

WTF???  At least they didn't sucker me into the $169 cast iron tea pot.  Barely...

Spa Day

Went to Copperwynd Spa today with Mom, got a Citrine Body Wrap.  Basically, she scrubbed me with a loofah, then rubbed exfoliating scrub on me, wiped it off, rubbed this citrusy lotion on me, then wrapped me up like a baked potato.  After baking for about 15 minutes, I then got a hot stone massage.

She was quite fierce - this was no total relaxation massage, and all I could think about was the story my friend CD told me about when she was studying abroad in Greece and went to a "spa" in Turkey - she got a massage, and it started by a woman naked from the waist up dumping water over her head and then scrubbed her hair with a bar of soap.  

It definitely wasn't that bad, but it did make me chuckle during my treatment.  

My skin feels great - all soft and uber-moisturized.  We than had lunch as the resort - tasty.

Off to shopping.

Lazy Day 3...

We have literally done almost nothing today.  Got up...ate breakfast...Chris drove Dave into town to drop off the car to get fixed...Mom had a meeting...I spent a glorious hour all alone.

Chris and I went down to the club and had a vigorous and intense weight workout.  I'm fairly certain I won't be able to raise my arms tomorrow.

Then we...sat around.  Did some laundry.  Read my book.  Watched some TV.  Showered.  Did some more laundry.  Had some guacamole and chips and a beer.

Now we are going to go outside and sit and read...and likely fall asleep.

Heading out tonight to do a liquor store run (buying more bottles of that fantastic 2007 Sineann Pinot), stopping at Best Buy (printer died so Dave needs to get a new one), and out to dinner at Pinnacle Grille.

Good day.

Mogollon Rim Excursion...

Yesterday we went for a day trip up to Payson and a drive up to the Mogollon Rim.  After nearly running out of gas (thankfully we stopped at a desert outpost known as Jake's - home to many bikers), we made our way up the rim.  It was a beautiful drive, though in typical "we don't really have a plan let's just wing it" style, we never got out of the car.  We just kept driving and saying, "Is this it?"

Finally we just turned around and headed back.  On the way back we stopped at the Tonto Fish Hatchery, where they raise trout and then release them.  While there, a woman noticed this guy perched on top of the hatchery roof over the trout pens.  He then flew down and just hung out on the fence.  We were able to get within about 50 feet of him.  Then he flew off and preened for a while in a tree.  AMAZING.

Read this if you love good beer...

This has nothing to do with our trip, but I read it and laughed out loud a few times.  It's an article about a lawsuit filed against Anheuser-Busch InBev claiming hey watered down their beers.

Favorite quote: "Would anyone notice if their Budweiser, Bud Light, Michelob, Etc, was actually watered down?  Would it really affect the taste of the beer?

My answer is a loud "no."

http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2013/03/01/berrong-on-beer-why-i-drink-good-beer/?hpt=hp_bn11