Did you know...?

Two random items from Popbitch this week:

Paul Winchell, the voice of Tigger in the Disney movies and John Fiedler, who was the voice of Piglet, both died last week. Avocado gets its name from the Aztec word for testicle.

Or so they say...

Imitation is the Not the Highest Form of Flattery. Period. It's annoying when people can't think for themselves.

Ill Nana

If only Foxy could stop hitting sales clerks in Louis Vuitton and make another album like Ill Nana.

Things that make you go "AWWWWWWWWWWWW"

They are so darn cute when they are babies.

Amazing

My life is complete now that I have seen Vanilla Ice perform a rap rendition of Destiny's Child "Survivor". Are you kidding me? He Robo-copped across the stage, man.

Yum

Perfect end to a perfect weekend. I grilled chicken breasts that I marinated in Albertson's Essencia Adobo marinade. Then I made guacamole, and added fire roasted salsa verde from whole foods. YUM. As previous post mentions, I had a nice relaxing weekend and after this meal, it's been top notch.

Down Time

Wow, I can't believe that I have down time. This weekend I slept for about 9 hours each night and I have left my house let's see...maybe 4 times? We checked out the Surrealism USA exhibit at the Phoenix Art Museum today and I was actually impressed by the size (of the exhibit). First time at PAM, very modern, got some ideas for landscaping, made me love Phoenix even more - make no mistake that's Central Phoenix and my 'hood. We are not including the burbs. Whoa, okay, I'll get off my soapbox. Nagging headache today ALL DAY, but minor. I am really excited about the Pucci exhibit that is coming to PAM in July. OMG SOOOO EXCITED.

From the Plane to the Club

So Bianca and Allen finally came to PHX together. Shalamon was here to meet Mia and it was an overall great weekend. Now they just need to hurry and move here. From the plane to the club. My new tag line.

Amy Sohn Hits the Nail on the Head

Mating Diminishing Interest Why getting married kills your social life. By Amy Sohn Ever since I got married, my friends have treated me like I contracted a communicable disease. The dinner invites stopped, and the late-night phone calls, and then I started hearing of hot rooftop parties to which I hadn’t been invited. Of course, I changed a little, too. Without an incentive to man-hunt, I was less interested in going to parties and bars. Worse, I went from being an open book about my love life to one of those coy couple-people who always says, “Things are great.” It’s easy to spill about a lousy date when you know your friend will never meet the guy, but when you give a detailed account of a fight with your husband, she might tell you to leave him or say something inappropriate the next time the three of you are out to dinner. As I became more circumspect, my friends found other friends who drank more, still smoked, and never looked at their watches. There were nights I declined an invite so Jake and I could stay home and watch a video (put marriage and Brooklynhood together, and it’s hard not to be a hermit). But there were nights I wanted to do anything but stay home, and everyone else was already out. Though I understood my sudden isolation, I felt wounded. I had become something I had vowed never to be: a married person without any friends. I am not alone. Singles and parents have built-in communities, but the newly hitched exist in a social wasteland. Although there are bona fide smug marrieds who choose to check out of the social scene, many others do it only after being rejected by all their single friends. Janine, a 35-year-old married commercial producer, has felt the chill. “When your demographic changes,” she says, “your friends who aren’t in that demographic don’t necessarily adapt with you.” When she told her best friend, Daisy, she’d gotten engaged to her long-time boyfriend, “she looked at me and said, ‘What the fuck?’ She felt like I abandoned her. She wanted me to be that little old lady in Paris with her.” These days they see each other less, and when they do, Daisy makes jabs. “I’m starting to get into cooking,” says Janine, “and when I tell her what I made, she’ll say, ‘Isn’t that cute, Betty Crocker, that you’re making dinner for your husband?’” Sean, a 28-year-old grad student who moved to New York with his wife, Jennifer, last July, says they often stay in, even though they hate it. “There are a few times a month where we say, ‘We gotta get out of here.’ We wonder, Do we put an ad on ? Take up a sport together? We want to be included in other people’s lives because it enhances the value of our own.” Though he admits they are often too tired to make plans—alone or with others—he’s also noticed that his colleagues seldom reach out to him. “Married people are thought of as not any fun, even if they are. I have good friends at NYU, and there are times they’ll talk about going out and not invite me. There is something stigmatized about a younger married couple.” Those who find love later in life often get kudos from their friends who are relieved to see that they are happy, but young marrieds come off looking like Mormons, sexless drips who opted to end the partying for a settled life. “If you throw a birthday party, the married girls have to bring the husbands,” says Sarah, 26, an unmarried nonprofit programmer. “They only stay for dinner, because all the couples have curfews, and only the singles go to the bar. And no one smokes pot any more because, inevitably, they wind up with a partner who doesn’t.” Jennifer, 30, has noticed her status has made her a pariah. “Your friends sort of step aside,” she says. “They’re waiting for you to reject them. Even my sisters were that way. I had to say to them, ‘I still have time for you guys and I also value alone time.’ You don’t have as much time when you’re married, but it’s not like you’re dead.” Though singles are often very vocally unhappy when a friend decamps, Janine, the producer, says the most judgmental people are her unhappily married male friends. “They’ll say, ‘Gee, I sort of view you differently now. You were so young and available and hungry and you’d stay up all night working.’ I still do that! But they believe marriage is a trap, that you had your freedom and you gave it up. They put their feelings about their own wives onto you.” Some young marrieds are so afraid to be stigmatized that they go overboard to denigrate their own marriage as a way of bonding with their still-single friends—something I have tried with varying degrees of success. “I’ll downplay my marriage when I talk to my negative friends,” says Janine. “I’ll say, ‘We’ve both been working so hard that we haven’t been out in a while,’ or ‘We’ve had in-laws visiting up the wazoo. You’re so lucky you don’t have to deal with all that.’” But the false modesty can be even more offensive than bragging. “They’ll hear me complaining and they’ll say, ‘Stop it. You’re making your relationship sound awful. Your life is great.’ And it is.”

Augh

Why do people knock on my door when it is WIDE OPEN? Did I skip a chapter in Ms. Post's Etiquette in Society, in Business, in Politics and at Home?

Whoa

OKAY, it's time for an updated PPL (Pet Peeve List): Slackers who ask you to E-mail them the notes because you type them on your laptop. Once is fine, don't refer to me EVERY TIME you are absent. You are not my friend, I couldn't pick you out of a lineup. I am not being paid to sit here and take notes. Don't claim New York when you are really from Jersey. That's like me saying I am from Nevada or Oregon. DIFFERENT state people. Moreover, different state of mind. Oh, god JERSEY? Barf Barf Barf. New Subject: Highlight of My Day My grandfather threw out the drapes that my grandmother has been holding on to since I was like, 3. They are very "Dynasty" and I am so glad they finally kicked the bucket, much like the show. Go Papa! That's awesome....she just happens to be in the Phillipines. Hey maybe she'll forget about them...don't think so.

Deep

"I cannot ever be one of those people who moves into a neighborhood that many of the people who’ve lived there for years would leave if only they could" -Jonathan Van Meter, in NY Times article "I Hate Brooklyn"

MMMMM I finally made the mixed greens/cranberries/candied pecans/bleu cheese salad! It may also serve as inspiration for my bedroom...mixed greens and cranberry colored walls with spiced pecan stained furnishings...hmmmmm 

I finally got my hiking boots! Sunday I felt like I was galloping down the mountain. It felt soooo good to have proper support. The boots are great, I just need to add my own arch supports-my arches hurt a bit when I was walking on flat land. I saw a man climb to the top in flip flops. Holy cow, it was great. This other man spit like, every 3 breaths. It was nasty and he was above me so every time I heard him spit I flinched. The funny thing is that as I am typing this Destiny's Child's "Lose My Breath" is playing. I was talking to an avid hiker last week about how I feel such a sense of accomplishment once I get to the top of Piestewa. It sounds cliche but it's totally relevant to my life and work. The lesson for me is that no matter how long it takes, I will finish-perseverance is key. I think that's why I love hiking so much.  

Me at the top of Squaw Peak (or is it Piestewa Peak?) on my third trip up. Woo hoo! 

Deserted structure in the village.  

Awww, picturesque. This beach is where the Americans are building a new resort called Mango Bay. They haven't broken ground yet but are advertising that it will open in September. This resort site is directly next door to Namatakula. What a shame.

Low tide. That's me.  

Gorgeous Parrot fish. We read in our CDC pamphlet (after enjoying this fish) that it was highly advisable to avoid eating it. Oops. 

On the pathway to the beach from the house