Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Excitement!


We got our basketball tickets! The U of A sells a package of tickets for the games during winter break (this year the Fiesta Classic, USC and UCLA) and Bob went down and got us a set again this year. It's so much fun to go to Wildcat games - having attended small, private schools my whole life I never really experienced a big college until I went to Arizona for law school. Now I, along with most of Tucson, am a huge Wildcat fan! We always have a great time - we get an Eegee (that's a frozen slushy drink for those of you not from Tucson) and burritos from a Mexican place in McHale at half time and cheer on the team. Can't wait to go - especially since we're looking better - our game against Virginia was great in the second half. Isn't it funny how you talk about your sports team as if you were a part of it? In some ways it really feels like you are - I guess that's the fun of sports!

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Last Minute Preparations!


In my usual "put it off until the last minute" fashion I am not ready for Thanksgiving. I love Thanksgiving - it's one of my favorite holidays in fact - probably due to the fact that it hasn't been totally commercialized! This year all I have to bring is whipped cream and green bean casserole and yet I haven't even gotten the ingredients yet. I'm a little scared of what the stores will be like tonight! I guess I'll find out - it can't be much worse than the day after Thanksgiving and I always go shopping then, so I think I can brave it! I haven't done much planning for Black Friday either yet - the ads come tomorrow, so I'll lay out the plan of action then and head out bright and early. I am a big fan of "day after" shopping - I do it at Christmas too! It gets a little crazy, but I love a good deal and there's some fun in the camaraderie of standing in line with people at 5am! I'm hoping to find a portable hard drive this year - it would be great to be able to take my scrapping with me! So, for now I will wish everyone a Blessed Thanksgiving and a great shopping day on Friday!

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

A Movie Date and other Fun Stuff

Bob and I went out for a movie date this weekend! Everytime we go to a movie, I quickly remember why we don't go more often - it is an expensive venture! But, we went to see the new Harry Potter movie and it was great! It was a lot scarier than the others, but very good - I really enjoyed it. I wonder if people are taking their kids to it though - I think it would have given me some nightmares. I don't envy parents the decisions they have to make these days - it certainly seems like a lot of things marketed for children are not very child appropriate.

Last night was also pretty exciting - the first official game of the season for our Arizona Wildcats! They beat Kansas, but it wasn't pretty - not nearly enough passing and way too much dribbling - looked a lot like last year's difficulties and to be honest I'm a little scared by that! Hopefully it was just the excitement of the first game and we'll settle in to a better rhythmn. On a good note though - Kirk Walters had a career high game! It's so fun to see him do well - he's from Michigan - went to the high school I would have attended if we hadn't moved.

Finally, I talked to my mom for a while last night about Christmas presents - got a few ideas for my niece and gave her a few more things for my list. It's funny - we started drawing names last year so we wouldn't have to buy for everyone, and this year about half of us have the same people as last year! Fortunately for me I got my dad and my next brother down again - both pretty easy to buy for!

So, while I'm on a Christmas note - I'll leave you with my first wintery layout of the year! I love these papers by Michelle Coleman at Scrapartist! And, Nancie just put up two more paper packs of Christmas stuff - just gorgeous, I can't wait to play with them!

Thursday, November 17, 2005

A Great Weekend!


In keeping with my grand procrastinating tradition - I'm going to blog about last weekend when this weekend is almost upon me! Being a state employee, I get Veteran's day off so my friend Marie and I headed up to Phoenix for a day of shopping and a lunch with Michelle (aka Rynonut Mom). The photo is Michelle and I at lunch - it was so much fun to meet her in person. I've made some wonderful friends on the internet and I really enjoy chatting with people and getting to know them through their artwork, but there's still nothing like sitting down with someone for a meal - live and in person. And, it's an interesting experience to meet someone in life who you've only known online. You know them quite well and yet you've never actually met them before. I was excited about it, but a little nervous too - turned out there was no need for nerves - we had a great time doing some scrapbook shopping and chatting. And, by the way, Phoenix does have some amazing scrapbook stores - Scrapbooks, Etc. was insane! I am now the proud owner of a bunch of Bazzill cardstock and mini-albums :)

I was also very excited to go to Ikea - this was my first time ever! I was completely amazed! It's like a whole city in there! They have MAPS for pete's sake! I didn't end up buying much - a set of funnels and a little kids dish set that looks like a frog - very cute! Definitely a place I'll have to go back to, but I think I'll go through the catalog first next time so I have a better idea of what I actually want to get - it's just a little overwhelming to browse.

And, I bought a great painting for my office wall - an abstract modern on stretched canvas - very cool. I've got a few other things in mind - a lamp, some altering of my cork board, and a few scrapping projects - so I'll post some new pictures when I get that done - hopefully by next week.

All in all - a great weekend - it was really great to have a girls' day out! I don't have a lot of close girlfriends and most of them live at least a few hours away - many across the country - so it was great to spend some time with new friends and get to know them better!

Thursday, November 10, 2005

My New Digs




It is such a joy to have windows! My judge moved into a new chambers, which meant a new office for me too! My office for the last year was about this size, but had no windows - kind of like working in a closet. I didn't mind it too much then, but it is such a joy to come to work in the morning with light streaming in! But, I need to do a little decorating in here. Below is my big white wall - I'm doing a little shopping this weekend for something to fill it - my diplomas just aren't cutting it. Any suggestions are welcome!

Friday, November 04, 2005

Fun Lunch!

What a fun lunch break today! We went up to the Fireman's Chili Contest that Tucson has each year - it's right downtown and they have tons of booths with all kinds of different chilis (along with some good old roasted corn and tamales of course). You buy tickets and then you can sample a whole bunch of different chilis - great idea! There was a ton of people, live music, great food and gorgeous weather to enjoy it all in! The weather here is just beautiful right now - a little warm for this time of year - but definitely beautiful! When fall and winter roll around here in Tucson I always remember why I love it so much!

Thursday, November 03, 2005

What is wrong with the media?

Our local paper ran a story yesterday about Republican allegations that one of the Democrats' leaders, who is also a state attorney, was violating a law prohibiting state employees from holding leadership in political parties. Now, I know that the paper is just reporting the Republicans' accusations, but would it kill them to do some research? I did. It took me a matter of minutes to determine that the law in question has a specific exemption for state employees who provide legal counsel. In other words - he's not violating the law at all. Why not point that out when you write the story - as it stands now, everyone who read that article thinks the guy violated the law - and he didn't!

In the interest of honesty here - I'm a self-described liberal on many issues, but I am an independent when it comes to political parties - I frankly don't care much for either party. I'm with Jim Wallis - the Right gets it wrong and the Left doesn't get it! The problem here, however, is not so much political inclination or "spin" as just a total lack of actual journalism. I mean are the days gone when you actually investigate a story before running it? Are we to go without an independent media? Must our media outlets simply accept what politicians feed them? I am a firm believer that democracy cannot survive without a strong, independent media. It's long past time for ours to start doing its homework!