My Birthday Trip to the Sun...Er I Mean Phoenix

Months ago I saw that Idina Menzel, the fabulous performer who originated the role of Elphaba in Wicked on Broadway, was going to be in Phoenix. I quickly asked my best girl friend Amy if she wanted to make a weekend of it. She said yes and treated me to a fabulous weekend in Phoenix.

 It was never my intention for her to take care of it, but I have to say she sure did a good job. One funny aside before I share the trip details - a few days before I figured it'd be a good idea if she had my itinerary and vice versa. At that point we realized she was booked to come home Sunday, and I was booked to come home Monday. Oops. Thank goodness for Southwest and how easy they make it to change flights.

 I saw during the days leading up to the trip that the low would be about 105. I guess I shgould have known that before, considering it was Phoenix in June. But you just don't realize how icky hot that is until you're sitting in it. Amy travels for work. A lot. So she got us hooked up with a suite at the W Scottsdale. They told us at the counter we'd been upgraded, but I don't think I expected this level of hook up. We were in one of their best suites. The living room - yep. It had a living room.



 The view from our huge patio. Notice how empty the pool is. That'll be important later.



 While we explored the room, we quickly realized it was rather warm in there. We donned our swmisuits and made our way to the pool, stopping by the front desk to alert them to the heat level in the room and the fact that even though it said 65 on the thermostat, it was probably about 80 or 85 in the room. It's a good thing all the cool people out there had sunglasses on or the sight of my white skin might have blinded them. I'm also extremely thankful I'd bought a new suit and left my big grandma, skirt-dress suits at home because I would have been a very white fish out of water.

 

After a few fruity cocktails and some pool time, we wanted some lunch. More than an hour later (apparently the fact that the kitchen wasn't receiving food tickets for over 25 minutes when the hotel was sold out and the pool was packed didn't raise any flags in said kitchen), we went back to our chairs. At this point it was 2 p.m. and it was beyond blazing hot. Anyone who knows me knows I'm not a big pool "scene" person and I have a history of skin cancer, so at this point I was about to melt into a puddle. I went back up to the room, and noticed it was hotter than before. While the a/c guys were there apparently for the second time (we still can't figure out what they did the first time), I snapped a picture of the pool several hours after our initial arrival. See why it wasn't my "scene" anymore (and this was before it got really crowded)?

 

Amy also returned soon with what resulted in one of my favorite pics of the trip. Yummy champagne in a Coors Light bucket.


 Once the a/c guys left again, assuring us they'd fixed whatever was wrong, we decided a nap was in order. We let the champagne chill and we quickly nodded off after lots of sun and cocktails. When it was time to get up we realized that whatever they'd done had helped a little but not as much as you'd expect. If you ever want to see two women get dressed as fast as they can, boost the temp in their room. I think we were both showered, prettied up and dressed in an hour. We left for dinner and the show, and notified the front desk again that the a/c was performing at a less-than-optimal level. Amy asked what I wanted for dinner, and I was pretty much no help. And this is one reason I love her - the ability to find the perfect place to eat. How did she find it? She used yelp and found that bunches of people raved about the bacon-fat heirloom popcorn at Citizen Public House. Think it sounds weird? You're very very wrong. It's salty heaven in a bowl.

 

After dinner, we were off to the show. And words really can't describe how amazing it was. Idina Menzel is talented, funny, humble, bawdy and simply unbelievable. She sang songs from Wicked and other shows as well as some of her albums. She had developed a very close relationship with Marvin Hamlisch, and you could tell she was still affected by his passing last year. The show was even better than I thought it would be, and I even teared up a few times - especially when she sang "For Good" from Wicked. A cappella. Without a microphone. And with so much clarity and beauty that everyone in that theater was stunned into total and complete silence. Not a sound was uttered until the crowd roared up in unaminous applause. I wish I could say the a/c situation had improved but it hadn't. Another tech came up and made some adjustments that helped us through the night, but we quickly got up and out and enjoyed a little more of Scottsdale before making our sad goodbyes at the airport.


 Our parting present from Arizona? A cheeseburger animal style with a chocolate shake.

 

I've heard it said 
That people come into our lives 
For a reason 
Bringing something we must learn 
And we are led 
To those who help us most to grow 
If we let them 
And we help them in return 
Well I don't know if I believe that's true 
But I know I'm who I am today 
Because I knew you... 

 So let me say before we part 
So much of me 
Is made of what I learned from you
 You'll be with me 
Like a handprint on my heart 
And now whatever way our stories end 
I know that you've rewritten mine 
By being my friend 

While these words reflect a friendship coming to a close, so much of what they say applies to my friend. We've known each other for about 12 years, and even though we'll go months and months without seeing each other, she's taught me so much about being a good friend. We've both changed so much over the last 12 years, but as we've grown we've found new and better ways to be there for each other. I'm thankful each day that she's my friend, and I hope everyone out there has their own Amy.

 And to Amy - thank you for your friendship and this amazing trip. Like every trip with you, it was far too short but filled with more laughs, fun and memories than seem possible in a given amount of time. I love you honey.

Birthday Fun

I couldn't pick just a few for the post so here's the gallery from the combo first and 40th birthday fiesta. It was such an amazing day. Click on the birthday fun link at the bottom to see them all.

Birthday Fun, a set on Flickr.

White Strawberry Lemon Sangria

I have one word for this recipe - Yum! This was part of the big birthday fiesta, and it will definitely be on my party (or just fun weekend) list going forward.

2 lemons, thinly sliced
1 apple, cored and sliced (any kind - I used a Pink Lady because that's what I had on hand)
1 cup strawberries, hulled and sliced lengthwise
1 750 ml bottle white wine (I used the Trader Joes Sauvignon Blanc)
1/2 cup white rum
Sprite

Add lemon slices to a large pitcher, then the apples, then the strawberries.
Pour the wine and rum over the top.
Cover and place in the refrigerator for at least four hours. I steeped mine all night.
Remove from refrigerator and add the lemon lime soda (as little or as much as you'd like). Add a few pieces of the fruit to your glass and pour sangria over to serve.

Enjoy!

40 by 40 - Good Deed 40

With these four bags of clothes, I'm done.

I struggled with the idea that #40 should be something super amazing/significant/exciting.

Then I decided it just needed to be something meaningful. So after a garage sale and some resale to the baby shop, I took four stuffed bags of clothes to a donation site for victims of the Oklahoma tornadoes. I smile thinking of those clean, pretty outfits being worn by kids whose families may have lost everything or close to it.

I smile thinking of the good they'll do in mere days or weeks versus sitting in my closet waiting for me to get around to trying to sell them on ebay or craigslist.

At some point I'll sit down and write about this whole experience, but for now I'm going to sit back and enjoy the fact that I set what I thought was a pretty ambitious goal, and I met it with 8 days to spare.

40 by 40 -Good Deed 39

Am I really already at 39? I know what 40 is but also still have a few ideas so I may go over.

I found zumba when I was trying to lose my baby weight from Madeline. Today I saw a new girl that reminded me of me. She was a little quiet and shy and I heard her tell our fabulous instructor she'd been wanting to try this.

Then I heard her say her name is Melissa and good deed 39 presented itself.

I introduced myself and said I was paying for her class.

Yay for a new zumba family member.

Big plans for #40.

40 by 40 - Good Deed 38

Today's good deed is one I've been planning but just couldn't bring myself to actually do because of the memories that would come rushing up.

Today I gave to the American Lung Association in memory of my sister Elena.

My baby sister.

The one that should be here today to be an aunt to my girls.

The beautiful, vivacious girl who should be enjoying her life - maybe with a husband and kids of her own.

But it wasn't meant to be. She left us way too soon and far too suddenly.

I miss her every day. Sometimes it's in expected ways - like glancing at her picture hanging in my stairwell. Other days it's something totally random - like a doctor's appointment. Monday when we were at Madeline's well-child exam, they asked her if she knew her full name. And in her cute, squeaky voice she said "Madeline Elena." I smiled and my heart kind of sank at the same time.

I gave to the American Lung Association because if Elena had pulled through, she would have most likely needed a lung transplant because her lungs were over 90% infected.

It was a hard deed to do but one I'm glad I did. And my donation will be matched by my work's matching donation program, helping it go a little farther in finding ways to give us all breath.

40 by 40 - Good Deed 37

This went to a friend at work who went above and beyond to help a friend who was having serious power issues at his office. The reason these issues are serious is because they are a cancer clinic, and the power issue required them to turn away patients coming in for radiation treatment.

This issue has gone on sporadically over the last few years, and I'd tried to get him in touch with someone who could help. As I'm sure everyone can relate to in their own professional lives, sometimes your company doesn't react in the way you would if you were in charge. I called a friend in our communications department because this issue was becoming so serious that my friend was thinking of calling the media. I knew that someone who would have to handle the calls from the media would find the right people to get results, and she did.

It wasn't much, but I wanted her to know her hard work was appreciated.

40 by 40 - Good Deed 36

I have been wanting to do something for the girls' teachers, and I got bit by the inspiration bug this morning and put these together. I'm so happy with how they came out, and I'm excited to give them to the teachers to thank them for the amazing way they care for our girls.

And to pull back the curtain a bit for those of you who think you can't do this, it's super easy. The cookies are from Sam's. The trays and wrap are from Dollar Tree. And I made the tags in powerpoint, printed them and cut them by hand - no fancy die cut machine here.

40 by 40 - Good Deed 35

This is another one of those meant-to-be type things. When pulling up the volunteer application, I saw that you could donate airline miles to help fulfill wishes. Then last night I got an email that I had 1500 dividend miles through US Air that were going to expire. I don't fly US Air by choice, so I had planned on letting these expire. But not anymore - they've been transferred to Make A Wish, and they will never expire.

40 by 40 - Good Deeds 33 & 34

As Madeline's third birthday festivities come to a close and we look toward Charlotte's first birthday at the end of the month, I started thinking about how blessed I am to have two happy, healthy kids. Somehow my mind wandered to those who aren't as lucky as I am, and I decided that Make a Wish would be the recipient of some of my good deeds.

Good Deed #33 is that I sent off my volunteer form. I am not sure what capacity I'll help in, but I want to do something. And typically marketing folks tend to be popular at non profits. We'll see what role I can play. It's obviously hard to do a lot when you have two little ones, but I know there's some way I can help.

Good Deed #34 is that I included a small donation with my form.

I did this in honor of my girls. They bring me more joy than I ever thought possible, and I wanted to do something for those families who haven't been as lucky as we are.

And I think as I draw closer to 40, my deeds will be more focused on things that honor the people I love.

40 by 40 -Good Deed 32

I have to think this good deed was meant to be because of several different things. I'm still crying as I write it.

Albuquerque has two Dillards stores. One is a womens store the other is everything else. Today I walked into the mens store with the intention of going into the womens. While walking back to my car, a young girl approached me and said she was cleaning windows for money. I say young, but she was probably in her mid twenties.

As I got in my car I started thinking about what had just happened. She clearly was not homeless as she was clean and well put together, but I realized in that minute that her voice was shaking and she was crying.

I drove over to her and asked what was wrong. In a shaky voice she explained she's on her own and has a six year old son. She said she just got a new job but she doesn't start for a few weeks and that she needed to take her son to the doctor. She said she has insurance but it is a $50 copay.  She explained she was trying to clean windows to earn money to pay his copay while she still had a few hours of daycare left.

Here's the second part of why I think this good deed was meant to be. I very rarely have cash - maybe a dollar or two but nothing really significant. Just a few hours earlier I had loaned a friend my camera for a business event she had to cover and she had paid me $100 in cash. I literally got money for doing nothing.

I reached into my purse and grabbed one of the fifty dollar bills, handed it to her and told her to go home and be with her son. She looked at me and said are you sure and I said yes. She then basically collapsed on the ground in the parking lot crying.

She stood up, collected herself and asked if she could give me a hug, and of course I said yes. By that point I was crying too.

Had I walked in the right store this never would have happened. And if I hadn't loaned my friend my camera I wouldn't have had the cash to make it possible.

There's no doubt in my mind this girl genuinely was just trying to do right by her son. I am so blessed to have a husband that loves me and our girls more than we can possibly imagine, and we have built a beautiful home and life together. I have a two fabulous parents and an amazing support system that if I needed help I have plenty of people to get it from. That money came to me for doing nothing and I feel happier about how I spent it then if I'd taken it into a store to buy something.

I think what I have learned from all of this and all of these good deeds is that life gives us opportunities everyday to make a difference.  We just have to have our eyes open to see them.

40 by 40 - Good Deed 31

Subway was the scene of another good deed. While buying my six-inch chicken sandwich, I told them to double my order and gave one to the homeless man outside. His bag also included a cookie :-)

40 by 40 - Good Deed 30

I'm in the home stretch. And I can't think of a better way to celebrate being 3/4 of the way done that to give to a woman who truly defines courage.

Several years ago, Carmen Tarleton's estranged husband doused her with industrial-strength lye. Here is her story. Doctors saved her life with a medically induced coma and more than 50 surgeries, but they could not do anything to save her face. The story talks about how children ran away from her and news stories always preceded any coverage of her with a warning about the disturbing images.

Her daughters were just 12 and 14 when the attack happened, and each day since then has been hard. But she recently became the recipient of a new face.

I was moved from the start by her story, but then when reading on her blog, the first thing she asked when she came out of the coma was what day it was because she was scared she'd missed her kids' birthdays.

I had to give. It wasn't much, but I wanted this amazing woman to know that others are thinking of her.

40 by 40 - Good Deeds 28 & 29

#28 
I was just thinking this morning that I needed to get back to my good deeds because we're just a little over a month away from 40. I didn't get a chance to pack my lunch last night, so today I walked over to Subway because I had a coupon. The thing is, my coupon was a buy one, get one free. And since I'm really watching what I eat, I didn't need two sandwiches. Enter opportunity for good deed 28. I ordered my sandwich,and then I let the guy behind me know that if he got a six inch sandwich too, it was on me. He said he'd been having a really tough day, and that this made his day. I told him just to pay it forward at some point, and he was on his way with his sandwich and I think I even saw a little bounce in his step.

#29 
I still had another coupon in my purse, and I was debating doing this again tomorrow. Then I saw a co-worker walk in with her daughter and granddaughters. I took the coupon over to her, and she was thrilled to save a little. Turns out her daughter had brought the girls up to have lunch with grandma. I was so happy I could help make their lunch a little more affordable.

40 by 40 - Good Deed 27

Knowing what my mom went through working in a call center, I have so much respect for people who work in what can always be a no-win situation. Whenever walking through ours, it's almost a guarantee that I'll hear someone saying, "please don't yell at me. I'm trying to help you" or something to that effect. So today I left several People magazines in their lounge because I figured if anyone needs some fun, light reading on a break, it's them.

40 by 40 - Good Deed 26

Today I bought someone a breakfast burrito. But it wasn't just anyone - it was for my amazing boss who is (sniff sniff) leaving us. His last day is the day I get back from vacation next week, so I'm going to miss the happy hours and such.

I can honestly say in my 20-something years of working, I haven't worked for a better person. He's supportive, encouraging, funny and an all-around great guy.So when he ordered breakfast this morning because he's stuck on back-to-back calls and in meetings all day every day until he leaves, I insisted on buying it as a bon voyage breakfast.

40 by 40 - Good Deed 25

I'm creeping in on 40! I have a little less than two months to go for the last 15. Think I'll make it!

Today I once again utilized my company's matching donation program to support a friend's fundraising efforts for the March of Dimes. I like to give to organizations that have impacted my friends' lives, and this is no exception. Sara and I were roommates at FSU in 1992 and 1993, and we've kept in touch via Facebook. Here's her story and why I was so moved to donate:

As you know, we fundraise every year to support the March of Dimes and their efforts to make sure every baby has a healthy chance at life. This year, we are getting a late start, but still plan on walking.

As many of you know, this effort is a personal one as both Ethan and Maia are preemies. Ethan was born at 24 weeks gestation with less than a 20% chance of survival. His survival was made possible by extremely strong will on his part, dedicated doctors and nurses, lots of prayers, and surfactant, a drug that helped his tiny immature lungs inflate to breathe at birth. Surfactant research and drug trials were made possible by funding from the March of Dimes.

Knowing I had a high risk of repeating preterm labor, the doctors gave me a weekly injection of progesterone-17 shot while pregnant with Maia. That shot has been shown to decrease premature labor by about 30% for women in my risk group. I was able to keep Maia growing in my womb until nearly 36 weeks. While she is a preemie, she sure doesn't act like one. Research on the use of progesterone-17 for high risk pregnancies were also funded by the March of Dimes.

The March of Dimes is continuing to fund research projects to help improve the outcomes of babies born prematurely, to prevent premature births, to educate about signs and symptoms of premature labor, as well as to support families in the NICU. Without the generous support and donations from people like you, none of this would be possible.

Good luck Sara, Scott, Ethan and Maia!

40 by 40 - Good Deed 24

I have been wanting to do this one for a while, and I hadn't actually planned to do it today. But I'm hope with Madeline due to a late-season bout with the stomach flu/fever combo, and we just happened to have some stuff being delivered by UPS.

We love Amazon. We use it for quite a bit because of the fast delivery. As such, we keep our UPS guy fairly busy. In fact, he's the one that discovered when our house had been broken into and called the cops.

I don't have pictures because it all happened so fast, but I was finally able to give him a $5 Starbucks card that I'd had for a while for him. I just never wanted to leave it outside for fear it'd be stolen (and because he does occasionally take a day off and I wanted to make sure he got it).

He was very touched and said it's just his job. He was also very humble in the few seconds I could get him to stop since we're the end of his route and therefore his workday. But I'm glad I did it. And it actually didn't cost me anything because I cashed in some points from collecting stickers on the girls' diapers.

40 by 40 - Good Deed 23

Today's good deed involves one of the most amazing people I know - my wonderful friend Amy. Amy and I met in 2001 (holy crap - has it really been that long?!) We've never managed to live in the same city and as life has moved along, we may go weeks between talks, but she's always in my heart.

For the last few years she's trained and completed the Avon 3-Day breast cancer walk in Dallas and in other cities around the country. This year she's tackling the inaugural Nike Women's Half-Marathon in Washington, DC with Team in Training. Having done several TNT events - including my one and only marathon - I know how amazing the organization is and how much good they do.

So today I made a donation to her fundraising campaign. And what's even cooler is that my work will match it because the organization also has a local chapter, so it doubles the impact! I'm so proud of her and glad that my good deed for today will help her and an amazing organization reach their goals.

40 by 40 - Good Deed 22

This one is kind of small and silly, but I'm still glad I did it. Last week I had to travel to San Diego for work. Work travel isn't always fun, but it does give me a chance to catch up on my "me" reading (explanation: gossip and celebrity magazines).

Having had a mom who spent her whole career in the airline industry and therefore getting to travel a lot - and knowing several flight attendants - I decided that once I was done with them, I'd give them to the two flight attendants. I know on Southwest they probably only get a few minutes here and there to read, so I knew these would be very appreciated. The women were thrilled and said they'd pass them along to their friends when they were done.