Week 25 - The Light Rail is Running!

Jose, Heidi, Traci, Amber and I rode the train from work down to eat at Alexis in downtown Phoenix and back. It only took three hours! We are hoping that the free fair and the novelty was the reason for the crowds. Everyone was very friendly, maybe too friendly, on board. (I met a nice guy who told me that my money was hanging out of my purse.) It was very crowded, but I am glad it is finally up and running. I think it will be good for Phoenix - I just don't want to take it to have lunch again!

Week 24 - True Foods

Lauren and I visited the new restaurant at the Biltmore Fashion Park called True Foods - http://www.foxrc.com/true_food_kitchen.html This restaurant was created by the Fox group here in Phoenix (Olive and Ivy, Bloom) and health guru Dr. Andrew Weil. In fact, he came in and had lunch while we were there. (He did not have to wait for a table - but we did!)

The food was really healthy and very good. I would highly recommend this place. I did not see any red meat on the menu, but there were lots of veggies, fish and some chicken. I had the Medicine Man juice drink and the salmon sandwich. Lauren had the Miso Sea Bass. Everything was delish!

Week 23 - Writing Workshop

My friend Vicki and I went to the Third Annual Fall Writers Workshop this past weekend at the Scottsdale Civic Library. I attended the following breakouts: How to structure a compelling novel; Villains Have Feelings Too - delving into the mind of diabolical killers; Terms of Engagement - engaging your reader with emotional intensity; and Plotting. The main speaker, Vicki Lewis Thompson, who is a NY Times best selling author, spoke on How to Become an Overnight Success in 25 Years or Less. What a great workshop - and all for free! It was sponsored by the Desert Rose Chapter of Romance Writers of America, but it was not romance writing oriented. I think I learned a lot in one day. We will have to see when my novel comes out!

Week 22 - Phoenix 5/10K

OK - so I only walked/ran the 5K of the Phoenix 10K - it still was a first for me! I walked it with my co-workers, Cynthia (pictured here with me), Adela, Jena, Ashley and her daughter (who cheated because she was in a stroller!). Hats off to my other co-workers Heidi and Jose who ran the 10K that day.

Week 21 - Pilates

My daughter and I have been taking a few Pilates sessions at the Village with Linda. We haven't done the move pictured here yet! Maybe next week. The workout feels really great and stretches out my back. Wish I had one of the reformers at home.

Week 20 - David Sedaris and House of Tricks

I went to see author David Sedaris who read from his very funny books and diary. He was quite entertaining. Another first was going to House of Tricks in Tempe before the show with my friends, Chris, Stephanie and Dana. It was a beautiful evening and we sat outside on the patio. I had the salmon and it was delicious. I would highly recommend House of Tricks! And I would also recommend reading any of David Sedaris's books - but be forewarned, he is very liberal and tells it like he sees it.

Week 19 - Sway Dance

My friend Nancy and I went to Sway dance company (owned by my friend Maggie Kline and her daughter Marissa). We took Marissa's Boogie Mix class. What fun - and a great workout too. I love to dance, it is so much fun it doesn't seem like your exercising. Although I bet we burned tons of calories. Visit Sway at http://www.swayaz.com/ for a listing of classes. They have Zumba classes there too.

Week 18 - Kinesis Wall

I took at intro class at the Village (my gym) on the Kinesis wall. It is a wall with pulleys and you do a workout in about 20 minutes that targets most of your body. It was different and will be a good way to add some variety to my workouts. I really felt it in my back. Next on the list is trying Pilates...

Week 17 - One more Mac Class

Week 17 - One more hour of Mac training and we were able to edit a video of a seminar at work. Now we need to post to our Web site for an RSS feed so we can make a podcast for our members. One step at a time....

Week 16

This week I went to a class at the Apple store and learned about iMovie with my friend and coworker Traci. Only she will get the reference to the Grouper picture - a similar guy was featured in our movie we created at the store. While I do not own a Mac, I will be able to use iMovie to create things on our Mac at work, so I am looking forward to that!

Week Fifteen - Eddie's House

I went to Eddie's House (Chef Eddie Matney's new restaurant) in Scottsdale this weekend. The food was great. I had the Sea Bass - it was wonderful! Here is the link for their Web site: http://www.azeats.com/eddieshouse/thanks.html We saw basketball star Grant Hill eating there with his family.

Weeks 13 & 14

I went back to Santa Monica to move Lauren home from her internship at MTV. We rode on a solar-powered ferris wheel at the Santa Monica Pier. We also ate at several restaurants including the Ivy, STK, the Coast and our favorite Urth Cafe. We are addicted to boba - if you see it you've got to try it.

Week Ten, Eleven and Twelve

I have been so busy doing things that I have not had time to put them all down in my blog. I will catch up a bit through the end of July and then do August next week. I figure I get credit for doing something new in that I dropped everything and planned to go the Grand Cayman in two weeks. I never do anything that compulsive. Cayman was great and I was able to do a few new things there, including trying conch shell fritters and swimming with the stingrays. And while I have snorkeled before, I am usually too claustrophobic to enjoy it much. I was able to overcome this and had an "ah ha" moment when swimming with a group of Blue Tangs. It seemed the more I tried to get close to them, the more they spooked, so I just floated on the current (much like they were doing) and they let me glide along with them no problem.

I also learned how to post some video to my other blog - so check out more Cayman photos and the video at http://www.arcadialiving.blogspot.com/

Week Nine- Getting Pumped

Went to Venice Beach last week with my sister. We happened upon a weight lifting contest sponsored by Gold's Gym there. That was definately a first for me - although we didn't stay to watch very long, I was able to snap a few pictures. The group of women we saw were in the over 40 age category - and one of them had to be at least 60. They were in awesome shape, although I don't like the orange fake tan all of them were using. Yuck!

Week Eight - InDesign Class

I took a one-on-one class this week to upgrade my skills in the InDesign program. Now I am all jazzed to do more with it! Thanks Dave at PrismaGraphics!

Week Seven - Using Craig's List

I actually used Craig's list twice in the past few weeks for the first time. Once to find a sublet apartment for Lauren for her MTV internship in California. And because she was gone, I sold the Kanye West tickets I purchased with the help of my friend Traci. Both transitions went smoothly, although I did see some very interesting and strange things on Craig's list. I suggest using it with caution.

I would have liked adding that I saw a Rap/Hip/Hop concert to the 52 New Things list, but didn't want to go without my homey Lauren to protect me. (It is too bad as Lauren's BFF Martha would have gone with me - but I already sold the tickets. I made $80 on the deal.)

Here is a picture of Kanye anyway! Go out and live the Good Life!

Week Six - New Restaurant

See my regular blog for a picture of the Birthday girls having lunch at HumblePie in Scottsdale.
Great restaurant with gourment salads and pizzas. The veggie chopped salad, butternut squash and pistachio pizza were great. (Good choice, Liz.)

Here is a link to the restaurants Web page: http://www.humblepieusa.com/

Week Five - Cooking Class

I took a cooking class this week and we prepared peppered steak, a vegetable relish (which I got to chop all the veggies) and a great dessert - a mousse between two delicate cookies. The class was at Sweet Basils in Scottsdale. They had wine pairings with all the different dishes. This was not a picture of our actual meal - I did not bring my camera!

Week Four - Garden Group

My friend Dawn started a Garden Club in Arcadia. I attended our first meeting - there seems to be a lot of people interested in gardening, but not too experienced at it (I am definately including myself in that group). Our first outing will be to a neighbors garden who was recently featured in Phoenix House and Gardens.

Here is a picture of my own garden out back.

Week Three - Guided Meditation

My daughter Lauren and I went to try an hour of guided meditation at the Emaho center in Scottsdale. The first time we went we sat on the pillows on the floor and discovered how hard it is to sit cross legged for an hour. The center's resident buddhist monk was on a book tour, so we listened to the apprentice, who has a beautiful chanting voice and a tape of the "regular" monk. We liked the tape so much we returned the next week for the real thing and will probably try to attend one of his seminars in the future. The two discussions before the meditatations were on together as sensient beings (not alone but all one) and on loving kindness.

I took this picture in Hawaii last summer. It was a very peaceful spot at our hotel.

Week Two - Yoga Class with Wayne Morrisette

On week two, I tried a new spirtual dance/yoga workshop at At One Yoga in Phoenix. The class was led by Canadian Wayne Morrisette (brother of singer Alanis Morrisette). My friend Nancy joined me and we participated in the class that incorporated yoga, music, dance and a bit of chanting. Overall it was an enjoyable experience. I do love to dance!

Week One - Blogging Class

I took a class from the wonderful Mike Putnam on how to blog at Mystic Paper in Mesa, Arizona. I started my own blog http://www.arcadialiving.blogspot.com/ and have been enjoying the world of blogging. Here is the header from my first blog.