When Less is More

If you’re a gym person, or in fact a person who gets any physical activity at all, you know the gyms and walking trails are pretty lonely places to be in December.  But in January!  Your favorite machine is taken by some lumpy, grumpy stranger and the walking trails are full of people huffing along […]

Pamper Thyself

I recently saw a towel that said: “I either have my hair and makeup done, or I look homeless.  There is no in between.”  That is so true for me.  Really, the natural look doesn’t much work for me and it’s a quandary because I don’t know any of the “new” makeup techniques and I […]

Finding a Minute’s Peace and Quiet

What a week.  I literally pray for rain during the monsoons and then the week we get our roof replaced, we get a record-breaking rain that came from who knows where and really screwed things up.  We had buckets everywhere and I walked around with my Clorox wipes every day.  The noise and all the […]

The Getty

For years when visiting LA, I would see the white building at the top of the hill and think, “One day I’d like to visit the Getty.”  I had no expectations or thoughts about what it might be, other than a well-known museum.  Last week, we finally made that visit happen, and boy oh boy, […]

A Little History from the American West

Sometimes my little brain makes some crazy connections.  So, here we go, and please stick with me – I promise to wrap this all together at some point. I am taking a R.I.P.P.E.D. exercise class which is new at our gym (big shout out to Kelly, our fantastic instructor!)  RIPPED is a crazy acronym for […]

Oklahoma City Visit

September is probably the cruelest and least enjoyable month in Arizona.  While Fall is making itself felt in other parts of the country, it’s still consistently over 100 degrees in Phoenix and Tucson, and the nights are not cooling down.  To add to that, the chances for monsoon rains and their cooling breezes are starting […]

Getting Back on Track

We are just back from a two-week road trip, and I cannot lie, we spent a lot of downtime over the weekend recovering.  We had such a wonderful time seeing family and friends and enjoying beautiful scenery.  My usual routine of halfway-healthy eating and exercising regularly was severely compromised.  Excuse #1 on eating: One thing […]

Thoughts on Travel

I recently did an informal count of the trips we have been on in the past 12 months.  Many of the trips were pleasure combined with business, and the rest were pure pleasure, but in either case, I made the most out of being away from home.  Not every place is an exotic vacation destination, […]

Exploring Arizona High Country

Many people find their happy place near the ocean or forest, and while I do not question that, my happy place is the mountains.  Arizona was such an easy choice when we decided to move to warmer weather because not only is the Sonoran desert spectacular most of the year, the mountains call my name […]