Amok! Amok amok amok amok amok

What's a running wookie do when he gets hit with a shrink ray?
Ewoks. :-)

Men are like fine wine: They all start out as grapes, and it is your job to stomp on them and keep them in the dark until they mature into something you'd want to have with dinner
just kidding honey.

Where does the one-legged waitress work?
IHOP

I feel tired of making numbered paragraphs so I will take a break from it and see how I feel. This week was busy busy busy. Getting ready for our Trunk or Treat on friday was fun though, A lot of friends came over to my house and we ate bean dip and watched ONce Upon a Time while making lollipop ghosts and posters. Yay for friends! I was specifically in charge of what ended up being called "Musical Pumpkins"- sort of a cross between musical chairs and a cake walk.

When the night arrived, I was nervous about making sure I didn't forget anything but it worked! Kids had to dance and then when the music stopped they ran to a pumpkin on the sides of the dance floor. A number was drawn and if they were on the right pumpkin, they got a cupcake or a cookie.

I was dressed as luna lovegood- complete with SpectreSpecs. Adam was supposed to be Neville Longbottom but he did not show up to the party that way. He taped a greek letter Pi to his orange shirt and called it good. "Pumpkin Pi". ha ha.... ha.

The NEXT day I went to Mary W. 's piano party, where she taught her piano students basic conducting. She gave each student a harry potter wand and we all practiced conducting in 2/4, 4/4 and 3/4. 4/4 was fun because it was the IMPERIAL March from STAR WARS. Bum bum bum bum-ba bum, bum-ba bum!

yep and I wore my costume too.


later we went to TIff's party which was awesome because
1. I tried Navajo tacos for the first time and they were awesome
2. Because we couldn't find a pumpkin to buy Adam and I colored ours
3. A ton of friends were there
4. We watched Hocus Pocus.

I love that movie.





I love this


one time a guy tickled me and I scratched his face so hard he still has a scar. No joke.

THIS SONG GETS STUCK IN MY HEAD EVERY HALLOWEEN:

FALL BREAK, and BEYOND

1. I HAD A COOL FALL BREAK
and i meant to blog about it earlier. My mom came down for the first part of it and we had a blast. FIrst we went to Patagonia and hung out at their fall festival. We brought our friends Paige and Joe along too. There were ALPACAS and I decided I love them. It was a gorgeous day outside and we decided to check out Patagonia Lake as well. Then we drove back up to Tucson taking the Nogales route instead of the Sonoita route.



on monday my mom and I went to Sabino Canyon and I finally took the tram to the top. I have been there many times but never done that because it's 8 whole dollars and I have two legs. But i decided it was worth it. She and I walked almost the whole way back but not before stopping at anderson dam for a half hour or so to dip our feet in the pools.





we went to create cafe afterwards for lunch and it was awesome. I have eaten there before but it's even cooler now. They have their own gas station F'real milkshake bar installed! They also have some awesome nightly activites that I fully intend on taking advantage of in the weeks to come. http://www.createcafe.com/ > monday night is half off burgers, tuesday night is non alcoholic mixed drinks happy hour, and fridays are open mic. Totally have to drag my future band mate Mandy down for that.

I convinced two of my friends to go to Sabino with me the next day and we went to sabino dam. It was really stagnant water, but it was still beautiful. Then Tiff and I ate at Rocco's deep dish pizzza and it was deee-licious.

2. I CAN"T REMEMBER WHAT I DID BESIDES THAT
except that i worked a lot on Adam's occupational thereapy school application, and on Friday I went to my friend Meagan's house and we made harry potter wands and she introduced me to some awesome projects she's been doing. She even blogs about it: sew-what.blogspot.com she is so creative and a talented sewer. Much like my new friend Mary who also has a blog. http://butterflykissesx3.blogspot.com/

3. THIS WEEK HAS BEEN A BLUR
this week I have been back to work and my allergies have really hit me hard. But they seemed to go away on friday, oh well. We spent friday night and Saturday in Glendale with Adam's folks. We went to a really cool trampoline place called jumpstreet and jumped on wall to wall trampolines and played trampoline dodgeball for an hour. i wish there was one in tucson.

needless to say I am really sore
on Saturday we saw my brother in law's band play in an invitational and totally outshine everyone else, including my alma mater. But that was to be expected. Also we are anticipating the inlaws move to SLC in the coming months. That will be sad but I'm so happy that his dad got a promotion. YAY.

4. I NEED HOCKEY
i remembered how fun IceCATs games are and I decided we're going to go to one soon. I looked up their schedule and come to find out that they have been replaced by a school sponsored team. I just hope it doesnt change what I love about hockey games in tucson- the crazy awesome fans that make up Lord of the RIngs inspired cheers and boo the refs and point at the goalie from the other team and chant "it's all your fault" when we score. Definitely going soon. definitely.

Chez Momo

1. Ahh Esss Ouu
last friday Adam and I headed up to phoenix for the weekend. We met up with my old roommate and her husband and ate at smashburger but not before I totally got lost on ASU campus. I totally thought I knew where I was going but ended up at old main. Oops. After eating, we went to a hip hop culture event- dance crews, graffiti, and emcee battles. It was like being in a Jon M. Chu movie.

one of the emcees used sun devil as an insult. it rocked. We spent the rest of the night at my friend's house jamming. it was the most fun I've had singing and playing piano in a long time.

2. PAINT FUMES
The rest of the weekend was cool too- listening to conference, helping my sister paint her house, chatting with another old friend, and basically just hanging out. At one point I realized that most of the time, we were all just watching my niece to see what face she would make next. Its so fun having a niece and nephew now.


3. MY UKELELE BROKE.
it was so humid that it just busted. I need a new one :(. I also want an autoharp and an accordion.

4. I REALLY, REALLY LIKE MY NEW JOB
it is seriously a lot of fun and I learn a lot. I don't know if the people i work FOR think working with me is fun but I'm just going to enjoy it while it lasts. IOn monday, I briefly lent out my D'Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths to one of my kids who is reading Oedipus Rex in his drama class. That is seriously one of the coolest books for kids and I can't wait to hear if he liked it. The next day, I heard a boy who has been struggling finally start to get it. On wednesday, I gave an impromptu guitar lesson to a 5th grader and got a 4 year old who doesn't ever say any words to say one at the very end of class. Today I got to go to the mall for WORK and cheer kids on as they faced some pretty big fears. It's really the best when you can genuinely praise a kid for something that's hard to do.

Ba BA BA Ba Barbara ANn

So sometimes I really really wish I was in a band. But the amount of work it takes is daunting.
So I like to imagine I'm part of a band that already exists.
Which band, you may ask, would I be in if I had the choice?

Grand Prize; Fleetwood Mac
yes there was plenty of drama and marriages and divorces and drug habits. but this is about the music people. Nothing quite compares to the timeless rock of the mac. Who doesn't love marching bands? Tusk is the greatest marching band rock song in history. I also love a band with multiple singers who harmonize with each other instead of just their own voices looped back. Its beautiful. And who does it the best? Christine McVie, Stevie Nicks, and Lindsey Buckingham. I dislike Glee but props to them for doing an episode based on the album "rumors". Bigger props to my little sister who got into my dad's fleetwood mac CDs and was definitely the original fan.



Runner up: The Beach Boys.
the sheer number of hits. The oozing positivity. tight harmonies. matching shirts. this choice is obvious.

Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah

1. I SPENT 4 BUCKS ON iTUNES
which is more than I've spent in a while. I have started listening to music more now that my commute is longer. I downloaded...
Half Moon by Blind Pilot- (their new cd came out last week!) they have an amazing sound. love love love
I Can see you shine by Gabe Dixon (his new cd came out a month ago) his lyrics and his voice are beautiful and unpretentious
Hello Muddah, (the camp grenada song) by Allan Sherman. yes. I like novelty songs. This one is hilarious and a classic.
Uprising by Muse. Because we've had that song stuck in our heads for a year and just needed to buy it finally.

2. I HAD A WEIRD DREAM
that adam and I hosted a dinner at a convenience store and a lot of people showed up from random moments in my life but didn't recognize me. It was not a success. Probably because it was at Circle K.

3. WE DROVE TO SAFFORD YESTERDAY
to visit family. My cousins live there. We left kind of late though and needed to be there by 2 so I averaged 95 MPH on the way up. YIKES. I will never do that again I promise! We had a lovely time and even though the drive is longer than going to phoenix, it feels shorter because I haven't completely memorized the landscape yet. When we got to a chapel there, I handed my cousin's daughter the camera and this is what she took:






,
I got to sing "He Sent His Son" at my cousins' twins' baptism. I love that song. It is so perfect in it's simplicity.- "have faith, have hope, live like his son, help others on their way. What does he ask? Live like his son." Later I played the piano by ear while two of my other little cousins once removed sang with me and I had the feeling I used to get with my grandpa at the cabin, singing with me while he played. It was lovely. I am so blessed to have music in my life. It's the frosting on the top.

4. I HAD A GREAT TIME AT WORK
kids have a hard time getting what an adjective is and what it is not. But i had a good time trying to get it drilled in their brains! I also got a preschooler to talk who was being reallly passive agressive and not speaking above a whisper. My strategy? Act like a total crazy goofy person. Not hard for me. Well, it is hard to do in the presence of other adults.

5. I PULLED WEEDS AT THE BALLPARK
Who knew the Binghampton Family Park was host to these creepy crawlers- toads, bees, wasps, cockroaches, wood lice, termites, butteflies, a rat, etc etc etc. While pulling weeds we realized we need to hang out more with people. That would be nice. Also, ADam announced to everyone that he was a climate change skeptic until he married me hahaha. I remember that conversation, i think it went like this: "Adam, 10 out of 10 scientists agree; global warming is real" What we can do about it and how we go about doing it is another question, entirely and I have no solid opinion on that. LIke most things.

6. THIS BLOG ENTRY IS MAKING IT SOUND LIKE I AM VERY PRODUCTIVE
maybe. But I spent some hours watching Sherlock, the BBC update of Sherlock Holmes set in modernl London, some new show pilots, and the movie "loss of a teardrop diamond" which was deeee-pressing. It was written by Tennessee Williams so I should have expected that. Also, Adam finished reading me the Hobbit and I must confess, I feel slightly inspired by Bilbo. It was lovely. And um, I also found a youtube video of LEONARD NIMOY singing a song about Bilbo Baggins from the 1960's. HILARIOUS.

DO THIS NOW! Because I want to too!

Go see the bats!
park next to trader joes on campbell and limberlost, walk to the river walk and 15 min. after sunset they fly out like a giant cloud for 10 minutes. Its awesome. But you have to do it before october!

visit PATAGONIA. they have a festival coming up on oct. 9th. It is a gorgeous little town covered in trees and tall grasses.
http://www.patagoniafallfestival.com/

Make plans to go to the MEet YOurself festival. BRing cash for food because there is TONs of really really good stuff
http://www.tucsonmeetyourself.org

go to the gaslight theater. yes it can be pricey but it's worth it to go at least once in your life. and right now they're doing a spoof of lord of the rings!
http://www.thegaslighttheatre.com/currentshow.htm

Buy tickets to "The Secret Garden" musical that U of A is doing nov-dec. because it's the best musical ever written
http://www.cfa.arizona.edu/theatremarketing/2011-12-season

Go to U of A "Band Day" not just to see some crazy awesome high school bands but to see the PRiDE OF AZ perform all day nov. 12th at the stadium
http://music.arizona.edu/downloads/MusicOnCampus2011-2012web.pdf

It's campy but at least it's free. Go to pinnacle peak on weekends and watch the stunt show. Definitely visit the joke shop too because it's amazing
http://www.traildusttown.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=46&Itemid=62

Labor-Dabor Day plus SUPER Birthday Fun!

1. THE I-10 STINKETH
I hate the I-10. You know, if you go but a half a mile from it in any direction, the landscape is much more bareable. BUt somehow by the freeway, it is the most degraded, depressing dirt I've ever seen except on the way to California, because nothing is uglier than that. But I must add, despite my personal belief that all the dust storms in Phx originiate in the dustiness that is Casa Grande, I really am enjoying their new little shopping center on Florence Blvd. On our way up, we stopped at Culvers and had really bad for you food that was really really good. I had a chocolate custard shake and a sourdough melt and some onion rings. Man it was good. But so so bad.

2. ADAM's BIRTHDAY IS A DIFFICULT THING
He doesn't ever want anything for his birthday. He always gets a pineapple, per tradition, so that's one thing I guess. But I didn't know what to get him. So I DIY'ed it this time and made him an apron that he can eat in his Sunday clothes with and do dishes in. He is always spilling stuff on himself.



3. HUNGER GAMES
this book made me really grateful to have food. and shelter. and to not have people trying to kill me. I liked it, but it definitely felt like a guilty pleasure book. I mean, come on, another teenage love triangle where the heroine is choosing between someone she's comfortable with and a guy she feels is too good for her? Putting people on pedestals are SUCH a great way to start a relationship...whatever. now I gotta get the next one....!

4. ADAM's FAMILY IS RAD.
Seriously. I love them a lot. And it's so fun having two teenager-in-laws.

Now if only I could convince them to be WILDCATS! Then their path towards the RAD SIDE would be complete.