Happy Valentine's Day

We had a cold spell on Tuesday of last week...even some snow on Pusch Ridge! Ok, well, maybe it was only a dusting, but it was the white stuff!! This is a view from our back yard. It was a bleary day, and it was cold. Alisha and I walked Sabino, it was maybe 47F...perfect walking weather!! By Thursday it was back up in the 60's. Today was sunny, blue skies, and upper 60's with a slight cool breeze! Gorgeous!

Glen and I don't exchange gifts, not for Christmas, birthdays, Valentine's Day, etc. We just don't. Early in our relationship, we agreed that we would just exchange cards. We pick out a card that best expresses our sentiments. This year, the cards we got each other had the same theme...best friends. We are truly best friends by every definition of the word. There is nothing I cannot tell him, my deepest dreams, hopes, desires, along with my troubles. He doesn't judge me, and doesn't tell me what to do. He expresses his opinion, because I ask him, and then leaves it to me to decide what to do. Because I value his opinion, we usually decide together. If I decide to go against his opinion, he is ok with that too...I explain my position, and though he may not understand, he accepts it. He never says, "I told you so"...even when he's had the opportunity to do so. He has never ridiculed me, called me names, belittled me; he is selfless, always putting me first. When I get home each day, he comes out to meet me to carry my bags in. I could go on and on, but suffice it to say, he is my soul mate, my true love, and I could not imagine my life without him. I truly try not to take him for granted.



When we started dating in December of 2000, we did exchange gifts...I gave him a poetry book (corny, I know), and he gave me some sapphire and diamond earrings. Our first Valentine's Day, he gave me a gold diamond heart pendant, I gave him a wallet. It was then we chose by mutual agreement not to exchange gifts because we just decided that if we wanted something for ourselves, we got it. We truly want for nothing. Neither of us is materialistic, and we work hard for the things we do have. It also takes the pressure off shopping for each other!! The most pressing decision we made for today was deciding where to have dinner! We opted for Miguel's, a local restaurant specializing in Southwest cuisine. We've eaten there before and it was a little pricey, but the food, service, ambience were impeccable - we decided to go back. I made the reservation 2 weeks ago, after trying to get into The Melting Pot, but they were already booked solid. Anyway, Miguel's called me on Wednesday confirming the time, and to tell me they would have a set menu. They called me twice but didn't make contact with me, so they called me again on Thursday, this time they talked to me personally. They were offering a 4-course menu: soup (tomato, mussels, with a cilantro topping), salad (asparagus, beets with a citrus vinagrette), I had Chilean Sea Bass cooked just right, Glen had the prime rib, which he said was very good! Dessert was creme brulee. Neither of us is a huge fan of the dessert, but it was on the menu...OMG...it was soooooo good! It had a salsa of diced strawberries on top, a very light topping, and the custard was airy, light and not too sweet at all. Overall, dinner was exceptional!! There was a party of 4 seated behind us that seemed surprised that there was a set menu for the evening. The waiter informed them that they should have been told when the reservation was confirmed. They said no one told them. Glen and I were talking that someone in that party had to know and just failed to tell everyone else. As I said, they called me several times, and made contact with me...I can't imagine that they missed them - possible, but highly improbable. Maybe they just didn't like the menu :)

We had DirecTV installed today. Now we have 3 dishes on the roof. One is for Glen's current internet, the other is for Glen's old internet, and now we have the TV dish. When the guy was on the roof, he happened to look down from the roof because he had seen a "large cat" on our front porch and thought, "thats a big cat". It was our neighborhood bobcat lounging near our front door. The tech took a picture of it with his cell phone. The cat eventually took off for the desert vegetation area between us and the neighbor. My SIL was telling Glen that there was a family, 2 adults and 2 babies, in their backyard a couple of weeks ago; they live behind us on the next street. They are certainly not afraid of humans thats for sure...yikes!

I hope everyone had a great day, whether you spent it with yourself (YOU are special), or with someone, or perhaps your loved one is no longer physically here - he/she lives on in your heart. You are never alone! Talk soon...

It must be spring...

Our weather has been so beautiful that I have to wonder where did the winter go or did we ever have one? Usually by this time we've had a couple of cold snaps, and a few protect the plants, pets, pipes and people, but this season, maybe twice!! While hiking in Sabino Canyon yesterday, some of the ocotillos are already blooming - seems they are confused too. I wore shorts and a t-shirt at 6 pm! We are due for a cold spell this weekend, maybe 57F on Sunday. Right now, it is 70F, and its almost 10pm! I have never lived anywhere else but here, so I cannot imagine cold like the rest of the country experiences. Of course, the summers can get quite toasty ;)

My pay cut will be 5%, which is not bad, and I still have a job. Lots going on at work behind the scenes, but to our guest population it is business as usual. Although I have seen some guest surveys where they have cited cutbacks as areas where we need to improve. Our new phone list came out today, and I compared it to the last version, and quite a few people are gone. Even the parking lots have ample parking when just a few short months ago if you didn't get there by 8 am, you had to park on the road and risk a ticket from our security office. Three tickets to your manager and its a verbal warning...yikes!

Alisha and I have been walking in Sabino Canyon the last 3 days, except today. Last week we walked 3 days out of 7. Today I attended a lecture at one of the medical centers near my house. Topic: Eating Healthy on a Budget. It was a regurgitation of common sense guidelines...I don't know, maybe I just wasn't in the mood. I am doing a Get Well in 2009 series at work...12 weeks of tracking my physical activity (minimum 2.5 hours a week), attend 3 nutrition lectures (1 per month), and a stress reducing activity (it can be anything you do for you) per week. Because my employer is so health oriented, we get all this information at work. Not to say I know it all, but the key is to just do it...we all know what we need to do, we just don't. That goes for me too. I'll probably end up pitching the peach pie I made last Sunday!

Its way past my bedtime...talk soon!

It wasn't in the Cards...

Glen and I got up early Sunday morning, 6 am, stopped at a local breakfast in Catalina, Sunnyside Up, and headed out into the hills. Glen and his family used to do lots of 4 wheeling and camping, hiking and looking for old artifacts. This was way back in the late 60's, early 70's, when it was ok to remove stuff from sites (or at least it wasn't yet illegal). We have old horseshoes, bottles, rocks, pieces of metal shards, etc. Fascinating stuff! Actually, the little bottles are really cute. When I first moved in, I wanted to display them, but they're kind of dirty, muddy...so I was going to wash them. Glen said, NOOOOO!! Glen and his family would like to eventually turn over all this stuff to the historical society on behalf of his parents. Anyway, 30 years ago, behind Biosphere 2 (Google it), but the road ended at the gate. We tried a few other roads, but there is a lot of mining going on back there. According to our GPS, we were in the correct place, it just wasn't what Glen remembered. We turned back, stopped in Oracle at our nephew's TruValue hardware store for a bit, and headed back out toward Peppersauce Canyon. We found a couple of caves where Glen used to spelunk back in the day. Kind of scary...we didn't go in, but it clear that people go up there to party. Lots of graffiti on the walls, trash. We headed back around 1:30 pm. We used to do this a lot, before Glen started working OT, so it was good to spend time together. He/we both need the down time!

We grilled some steaks outside, it was about 70F today, beautiful day!! Baked some potatoes, had some baked beans, peach pie, and settled in for the game. No, the Cards didn't win, they actually beat themselves. You don't win football games with the amount of penalties they had. They gave a valiant effort in the end, but it was too little too late. Right after the Fitzgerald touchdown, Comcast aired 30 seconds of porn, then returned to the game!! OMG...it was a full frontal of the male. At first I thought it was a commercial in very poor taste, then it was there!!! No one knows what happened, and I believe it was a local issue, but can you imagine if kids were watching, which they probably were. You'd think there would be measures in place to prevent this type of thing!

Anyway...back to work today. Talk soon...