Spring in Arizona

Springtime in central Arizona in the desert region, is short! We enjoy pre-season baseball, Easter BBQ's and keep the windows and patio door open as long as we can, until it gets too hot outside. We couldn't take it anymore and last Sunday we used the air conditioner for the first time...but this morning I've got the house all opened up and am hoping for a breeze between the front door and the patio door. Here's what spring looks like where I live:
This is my Mom's yard.
Lavender in my backyard.

Wild poppies and wildflowers in Wikieup, Arizona.
Mom's rosebushes.

Lunch today

Everyone that knows me knows I do not like restaurant chains in general; I prefer to go try local fare and support small restaurants. I'm not big on fast food either. However, I have been wanting to try the In-N-Out burger, so I stopped by there today and Wow! What a great-tasting cheeseburger they have. I substituted the Thousand Island dressing for ketchup and mustard. I liked that the bun is slightly toasted.

In-N-Out is a California-based chain, and have been in Arizona for a few years already. I'm probably one of the only Arizonans who hadn't eaten there...Yum!

Motorcylin'

I wanted to write about our newest hobby, motorcycle riding, and also post a few pictures. I've been thinking about riding for a few years now and Ernesto's been wanting to ride forever. His regular mode of transportation is a Ford F250 4-wheel drive diesel truck with a lift kit! (Affectionately named "The Red Dragon.") Last year, when gas prices were really jacked up, he was paying over $4 a gallon for diesel, getting about 13 miles to the gallon and commuting 40 miles one way to work. Yikes!

So we went to the Honda dealer to look at bikes for him and I decided then, "Hey, I want my own bike, too!" So he got a beautiful blue Honda VTX1300 and mine is a grey/black Honda Aero Shadow 750. The bikes are "retro" style and average about 45 miles/gallon.

We immediately enrolled in a two-day motorcycle riding class, mostly because I had never drove a bike before. Taking the class enabled us to get our motorcycle licenses.

Next thing we did was join a motorcycle organization called Star Touring & Riding and we are in Chapter 393 in Chandler. We're met some interesting characters and have really enjoyed the group rides so far. They schedule about two per month, all over the State of Arizona, and we're going on the ride to Las Vegas in March!


Here is a picture of some of the Ladies of Star on our New Year's Day ride:

Here is our member photo for the Star website:


Recently we took a day trip to Superior, Globe, Miami, Roosevelt Lake and Fountain Hills with my friend Kathy and her husband Randy and a few of their buddies, fellow DPS officers. What great stories they told at breakfast.

Here's Kathy and I:


A few shots from the back of the bike (my vantage point):


We've got the leather jackets, vests, boots, and chaps and are now collecting patches for our vests. Although I love to ride my own bike, I am afraid to ride in a group and I need more practice and confidence as a rider! It's pretty easy to jump on the back of Nesto's bike and go. He's an excellent and safe driver.

But I think my goal is to be like her:

Happy Birthday to me

Happy New Year! I thought I'd do a little blogging because I'm inspired by the ones I'm following ~ several talented artists, a local Phoenix superstar crafter (CraftyChica), a couple living in Japan and sharing their adventures, one of my Ladies of Star motorcycle members (Pinky), and a gal named Jenny with an absolutely delightful blog who has her hands in a little bit of everything. Their pictures are detailed and awesome and help tell the stories of their lives. Not that my life is overly exciting, but it has its moments.

I just celebrated a birthday (45th), which falls nine days after Christmas (January 03). Even though there is a lot of stuff going on and the winding down after the holidays, my birthday is typically really good! I have always wanted to have a Redneck-White Trash-Tacky theme party, so why not do it on a birthday? The party was actually quite fun and a mix of my friends, family, Ernesto's family, and next-door neighbors. Not everyone came in costume, but the ones that did...well, let's just say it was "over the top, right on target, spot on excellent!"

Ernesto and I went for the cut-off flannel shirt, Larry-the-Cable Guy look. I sported curlers and a zany pink handkerchief thing that my mom had since the 70's and I KEPT IT to wear someday (granted, not in public). I wore a silver owl necklace with faux turquoise eyes (RIP, Aunt Naomi), camouflage shorts, a faux tattoo "sleeve," and leopard slippers.

My sister Wendi and friend Angie went with the Super Trashy-Tacky Look. They had outfits that should not be worn (ever), and both admitted to wearing dark chonies under their leggings (fashion faux-pas!). Gaudy jewelry, loud makeup and their heels were possibly designed by some 80-year old retiree in Boca!
My brother-n-law, Eric, was almost unrecognizable in his sideburns, too-tight football jersey, fake tattoo, very old pair of glasses that were wired at the temple to keep them together(!), camouflage pants and "faux" Crocs. Other friends went the Redneck route and Heidi wore a Muumuu! Check them out in the group photo:
Eric and I: I just have to share a FEW more party details -- my cake arrived with a huge chunk out of it, my name was misspelled to "Garsee," and it had a toy tractor, motorcycle and Barbie rings on top! In addition to hamburgers, hotdogs and pizza, we served Slim Jims, vienna sausages, lots of canned beer, an assortment of snack cakes (Ding Dongs, Twinkies), tuna casserole, pork rinds, nuts, sunflower seeds, cheetos, and my sis and brother-in-law brought a canape plate of bologna, spam, & cheese slices that were cut out in various shapes, including dinosaurs (ala Spamosauros!).

I had a laundry line hanging in the living room with various articles of clothing, some quite large (thanks, Savers!). The hall bathroom had the plastic Madonna nightlight on, a clothesline and a vanity full of tacky drug-store items that should reside in the medicine cabinet or under the counter! Hemorroidal cream, sanitary pads, douche, lubricating gel, AquaNet, Pepto Bismol, etc.

We gave out tacky prizes for the games, like Spam and scratch lottery tickets. The three prizes for best costume included gift certificates for the Dollar Store, Goodwill and WalMart! Everyone left the party with goodie bags, that had some specially selected White Trash items, like a lime green dish sponge, chocolate praying hands, romance novels, and fir tree air fresheners.

I was quite spoiled by friends and family: I received several Frida Kahlo items, a lovely fleur-di-lis pendant, Kohl's gift certificate, dragonfly pin, Vintage Elvis doll, Elvis books, a small purse featuring Marilyn Monroe, gift certificate to La Casa Blanca (AKA the White House) -- a local restaurant, some wooden elk carvings, vintage apertif glasses, a sterling/turquoise bear claw pendant, an electric wine bottle opener, candles, new martini shaker, picture frame, bath set, black leather chaps and vest, a leather passport holder, watch/earrings/gloves (from Kazuko in Japan)and eclectic monkey napkin holders. Omigosh I think that's it! Plus, some cute cards, ecards and phone calls from Colorado and Idaho!