Happenings (viii)

1. I turned 27 back on May 9. Similar to last year, part of my birthday weekend was spent in St. Louis, where I had the chance to spend some time with my Grandma Gige. We attended an early afternoon showing of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, which was really good. I watched Ace Young’s season of American Idol but had no idea he played Joseph – he did an amazing job! Diana DeGarmo was wonderful as the narrator, too.

We also had the chance to hang out with my Aunt Diane, Auntie Barbara and cousins Lisa and David, as well as their daughter, Morgan! She has grown into such a fun and smart little lady. We had a blast reading springtime books, singing “Let It Go” and going on a play picnic.

Another STL highlight: the beer (Fitz’s Root Beer, that is) and barbecue from Pappy’s Smokehouse.

We flew back to Arizona for Mother’s Day. Papa Bender made his famous fajitas for dinner, while the rest of us handled breakfast for Mama B. On the menu: Dutch baby pancakes!

2. We had our May meeting of Reading Between the Wines a couple of weeks ago at Crystal’s house. She served up some yummy burgers alongside our side dishes of prosciutto-wrapped provolone, seasoned asparagus and Caprese salad, as well as chocolate cake for dessert.

Our book up for discussion this time was Legend by Marie Lu. It was a big hit! By this point it’s no secret that I read a lot of dystopian YA series. Plots and characters can sometimes blur together unless there is a strong enough story line to set them apart. Legend definitely had that distinction – I enjoyed the dual perspectives and thought both Day and June seemed authentic, interesting and different enough that I could tell who was talking without having to read the heading at the top of each chapter. I’m cautiously optimistic as I head into book two and will be sure to let you know what I think once the series is over.

3. This past weekend Bobby began to see the fruits of his labor – pun intended. 🙂 We have a small lemon tree in our backyard that up until this year, hadn’t been producing any lemons. We took the leaves to a garden store back in the fall and the staff told us to fertilize in February and give it a little more water than usual during the spring. So far, we have nearly two dozen growing buds and are hoping for even more! Can’t wait to make fresh-squeezed lemonade and limoncello. Does anyone have a recipe for either or both that they love?

4. Bobby and I saw The Amazing Spider-Man 2 with my family last week. I loved it – although I always tend to love these types of movies and honestly I can’t get enough of Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield as it is (well, mainly Emma Stone – I mean, did you see her lip sync battle with Jimmy Fallon?), so I’m probably biased. Still, I’d definitely recommend it.

Source

5. Lastly, here is my latest batch of gratuitous Arizona photos. Specifically, Tom’s Thumb.

I’m calling the second photo the Ladies View of Arizona to get in the mood for the real deal (soon!).

What’s happening in your life lately?

Abrazos,