I miss Peg Leg

Waaaahhhhh!!!!

Sammies for Megan

Since I've come home to Asheville, I haven't had much exciting news to post like Megan has. And then it hit me. Megan needs to make some Sammies at her new home.

Let's start from the beginning. Since Megan and I spent aboot (a few of you will get that) 7 days in a car together, we talked about everything from grass growing to what kind of tick medicine works best for dogs. (well not really, but you get my point) So, one day, I mention to Megan, Mags, Peg Leg or however you know her that we need to make some sammies. She gave me this look like, "anna, you've been in the car WAYYY toooo long cuz you ain't making sense now. You be speakin' nonsense.' I interpreted the look as being crazy, so I had to explain...

I watch the Food Network ALL the time. LOVE IT. EXCEPT for Rachel Ray. I figured out why she can host a show called 30 minute meals, because they have no FLAVA FLAV (WUAAATTTT)!!!! I mean seriously, what kind of flavorful, yummy recipe only takes a 1/2 hour? (besides chix wings, mozz stix and stuff) I've tried making numerous recipes of hers and they all were terrible. I'm not afraid to associate it with me being a bad cook, but I don't think that is the reason. Here is why. Giada is my fave cook on Food NW. She is an Italian cook. EVERY recipe I've made of hers has been super delicious and flavorful. So that leads me to belive that Rachel just aint that great.

So back to the Sammies. Mags, Peg Leg or wutever said she never watched Rachel Ray. So I filled her in on the sammie, EVOO, eye ball it, if you come home from work and are too tired, blah blah blah that RR says every episode.. Megan said "I'm already annoyed!!!" I said, I know!! This girl doesn't STOP talking!!!!

So we finally get to Megan's house. She stops by the grocery store and picks some stuff up. The next morn, we go to eat some bagels, but she could only find plain cream cheese, but she bought fresh chives to chop and put in the cream cheese. So I decide to play RR and I start chopping the chives and I'm like, "so i was so tired when I came home, but you just need to add some EVOO, but you can eyeball it and then your sammies will be great!!" Megan is like, "shut up, I'm am so super annoyed by her already!!!!!"

Long story short now. When I returned home from Tucson, I turned on the TV. Rachel Ray was making some Po' Boy Sammies. It was all I could do to stop myself from calling Megan and telling her to turn on Food Network. Considering all the stress she was under, I let it go. Megan, make some sammies so they quit haunting me. Pass them onto Ricker...

Arizona Wildlife

So there's tons of cool birds here, lots of different kinds of humingbirds, partridges running around with little squiggly things on top of their heads (i can't get keith's songs out of my head), I have only seen a couple road runners so far, cardinals, etc. Miraval is like a bunny safe-haven or something, there's a gazillion always hopping around, I have seen them around my townhouse, too. Though a guest told me she saw a snake eating one once, poor guy. It's rattlesnake season too, where they're coming out to sun and guests have reported seeing them lately, too. That's a 1013 security call.

So yeterday I was checking about 50 rooms for a piece of lost luggage and someone who works at the resort saw me scoping out a hummingbird and told me that one year, a bobcat had babies up on the roof of one of the villas and raised them up there til they were big enough to be on their own. They used to climb up this mesquite tree right next to the building and lived on the roof. Momma would stick the babies in the drain for safety when she went out a'roaming. I want to see a bobcat!!


baby


so freakin' cute!!

Oh my god, I want one. Miraval is really cool in that they truly respect the environment and actually practice sustainability measures (they dont just preach them). There's even a sustainability DEPARTMENT. And a horiculturalist. He transplanted a ton of cacti yesterday from one part of the property where they're developing new buildings, to the resort, to save the plants and beautify the property naturally. I think that's awesome. Quite a difference from NH. You'd think in the Live Free or Die state we'd be more conscious, but there's no mandatory recycling laws AND I know a bunch of y'all remember when the Meredith cops shot & killed a baby bear right behind the Chase House. Ridiculous. So it's nice to be somewhere where they are serious & committed to the environment, to educating their employees on how to practice sustainability, to lead by example, to not be hypocritical about things and to take their beliefs and follow up on them to make them reality.

- A tarantula bite is about as painful as a bee sting. I want to see one!!

Tonight I Learned How to Chuck My Bit!!

I just had to share...how I am becoming the handiest girl EVER. So last week, when the movers dropped off my 88 boxes, Barry my totally awesome Moving Man, said he'd come back to help shove my tv into the entertainment center once I removed the back side of it. Basically, I have a 32" tv that's a flat screen, but it's still got the junk in the trunk, you know? It's a few years old, so it's not totally flat like the new ones today. It's got bedonkadonk.

So Barry said I'd need to cut the back out of the entertainment center to get the tv in b/c he couldn't do it for "liability reasons." So I went to some particular chain hardware-type store (I can't mention any names due to particular NASCAR affiliations, sponsors, drivers, and friends :-) and I bought a saw and a drill. Then I went home and sawed the back end out of this thing and got my tv into it, with Barry's assistance.

So I didn't get to use my drill til tonite. I was going to install this under-the-counter-mounted-radio thing in the kitchen, and I tried driling thru the bottom of my cabinets, and it wasn't working very well. I was convinced the guy at that chain store ripped me off with some cheap-ass drill, so I tried calling Pete (no answer), then I called Just Jenny. It was a Monday, so she was drunk. (Sorry, just jealous, Jenny!) She was like, "Meggggan, you know you're calling me about a drill, right? Hang on....PAAAAATIIICKKKK!" (I knew all along what I was doing ;-) So Jen's BF gets on the phone and he starts asking me questions, like, "Are you using a 14 or 18 volt drill?" um, 9.6. "WHAT? Is it cordless?" yes. This goes on for a bit til I realize what's wrong: I don't have the right bit inserted into the drill! OK, cool, so I will do this and that and blah blah, get the thing inserted and start drilling. Patrick puts Jen back on the line, but as soon as I start saying I need to talk to Patrick again, he's all, "Does she know how to chuck the bit?" I say, NO, that's what I was just gonna ask about......just maybe not in those exact words....So Patrick walks me thru chucking the bit, and I am so proud and ready to drill down my house now. But now Jen is jealous b/c she thinks we are talking dirty to each other (and she's drunk) so when I call her back to say, "It worked PISSA!!!" she just says she'll call me tomorrow and hangs up.

Jen, do you remember me calling?

Patrick, thanks for your help!!

Me, you go girl! Now I am ready to drill into the plaster in my bedroom to mount my tv. Whoo Hooooooo!!

The Naked Man

I came into work today to an email titled "The Naked Man." I had to do a double take as I had just experienced my own version of such a man on my day off yesterday! Let me explain...

So I had Sat & Sun off this week and spent Sat unpacking and running errands for things like a new vacuum and stuff. Sunday I wanted to do something fun. So I went to Google and looked up some hikes and decided upon one. I headed to Catalina State Park, to a trek up the Romero Pools trail, which ends in a stream and pools deep enough to go swimming in over your head. It was a typical, beautiful Tucson spring day and I really enjoyed my hike.







It's so different from New England...obviously...but so much more beautiful than I thought it would be. I have learned that Tucson exists in a micro-climate, which means that aside from it being a desert, there are these cool areas that result in the growth of Oak & Juniper trees & such. I love it!



So I get to a point on the trail where I'm about to pass out (it's about 2.7 miles up) and I hear waterfalls! YAY! So I get closer to the stream and I am trying to find a quiet place where I can hang for a bit. I hear hootin' & hollerin' upstream, and I imagine some people out there on a Sunday afternoon, drinking and pushing each other into the cold water, and I head south. I am up on the ridge a bit, walking along, looking for a spot to relax. I see a place that looks deserted...then a man's head appears, his back to me, he's walking away from me. I see as he walks further that he has no shirt on, whatever, then as he continues to walk downstream, I see his bare ass. I get all embarrassed and turn away, like, "Oh my gosh! I hope he didn't see that I saw him naked!" I am standing up there, these odd thoughts running thru my head, like, "Wow. Can you go nekkid in Arizona? Do state parks here think it's ok to be nude? Maybe it's like a Native American thing...?" Then I see out of the corner of my eye that he's stepping up the stones, heading upstream, right into my line of vision. I'm like, dude, I am trying to give you privacy. I thought maybe you'd see that I saw you and maybe you'd put some clothes on. Not walk right up to where I can see you! So I turn again and I'm trying to determine what's the lesser of 2 evils, hootin' partiers or Nekkid Man. If I go downstream and he's a freak. he'll know I'm there...if I head upsteam, I have to hear WOO HOO oh don't push me in the water, hee heeeee....then I am like, If Anna were here, she'd be OUTTA HERE ASAP. And then I see the Nekkid Man, he's totally fully exposed up on the rocks and he's WAVING at me. So I ........ wave back? I didn't know what to do!!! Then I high-tailed it about 30 minutes upstream.





After all that, I did get to relax and enjoy the great outdoors before I headed back down.

And the thing at work...well, it was the usual hotel-mis-communication thing that resulted in housekeeping walkintg into a room to find a nekkid man, as the report stated, "laying on his back, sleeping."

Now I am just waiting for the 3rd nekkid man to appear, as you know, things happen in three's.........

Miraval Property Shots

Here's a few photos I took on my previous visits to Miraval, my new workplace:


There's 2 water/pond areas at the entrance


The pool and Santa Catalinas in January


Sunset, January


It had snowed the weekend before I visited


There's actually some dude practicing yoga on top of one of these poles. Crazy!


January, just after sunrise



Pool in January again


There's 5 different villages at the resort; this is where I first stayed


All but 14 rooms on property have patios


Not only are there trail rides, but also "challenge" courses involving horses. Cool!


The Zen Garden


Cactus in bloom

Face to Face

Day 2 at work they put me into this orientation class. They call it Immersion. We got to "experience the resort as a guest would" by taking part in some of the activities offered, like this challenge course...


You climb up a 30 ft. telephone pole, wait for your partner to make it up, then step out on these wires.


You have to lean against your parnter's hands for balance...


Then inch out across the wires together. Oh, and the wires get wider at the bottom the further you get from the pole.


Then you drop!


It's pretty crazy. One guy didn't have a partner, so I volunteered to go again. As soon as we got on the wire, he freaked and said he was done and dropped down. Two people opted not to even try to do it. This is only one of 6 of these sort of challenge courses offered at the resort (the ones where you climb up a pole and do crazy things). We get to take classes at any time. F U N!!!!

A New Chapter

It's official now. 100% of Megan's stuff is now moved. Cheers to Megan as she starts an awesome new chapter in her life!!
Before....


After...

Here we are...

This is right around the corner from my townhouse, in the same development. The Santa Catalina mountains are in the background.


POOL!


UH HUH!!


There's orange and grapefruit trees here. It seems more like southern Cali than Tucson...it's my own little oasis!


Here's my place


HOME


My new roomie


Fiona


Kitchen


Dining Room


Living Room


Oh yeah, my place is fully furnished with brand new stuff...


My backyard


Oleander in bloom!


I have sliders that open onto the back patio from the living room and my bedroom


The cacti are blooming! It's so pretty right now. Today is wicked windy! But beautiful. My place rocks. It's like the nicest place I have ever lived. It's friggin' HUGE, 1900 sq. feet! I am going to be lost when Anna leaves :-(
SO COME VISIT ME NOW!!!

"Drunk, drunk, drunk...You were right, I was wrong..."

Date: Friday the 13th of April, 2007
Location: TGI Friday's, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Scene: After driving through a blizzard from Colorado to New Mexico, Peg Leg Meg & Bandana Anna find themselves making new friends. And trying every flavor of Mojito on the menu...


We got to play games, like test the accuracy of your pours. I was surprised to find that I had a heavy hand. ??


Anna used some "one alligator" thing she muttered that apparently worked...


She was told she could be a bar-back any day.


Our (generous) bartenders, Brian and Matt!


Who would have thunk we'd meet a fellow pirate at the bar! Of course we did. This is Liz. She had a kick-ass skull bag that we bonded over. That and the white chocolate truffle shots...YAAARRRR!!!