So, there I was, crying in my doctor’s office in the spring of my junior year of college. The news wasn’t life threatening or requiring further tests. Nope, I was 19 years old and nearly 30 pounds overweight.

My day-timer runs from August to August. You see, every August, I meet with six of my childhood friends, and we lock ourselves into a house somewhere in LA for three days. While I love Christmas and the coming of Spring, I love Girls’ Weekend most of all.

Sometimes, you just need to be around people who just don’t give a damn about where you work or what you do. They have the unique ability to leave the day’s work behind and enjoy the little things in life. This is where my neighbor Daisy comes in (isn’t that just the nicest name for a neighbor?).

Have you ever taken the time to make note of all of the “firsts” you may have experienced in your life? Let’s go one step further and talk about the firsts we experience with our kids. First steps, first words, first birthday, first tooth, first day of school, first crush, and first dance. We have pictures of those events. We even frame the majority of them. We glory in our children’s early endeavors “She first walked at 8 months!” “She didn’t dance close with any boy at her first dance!” Those were easy.

It’s July in Arizona, and guess what? It’s hot. Today it is looking at 110 degrees in Phoenix. Of course, we live in that one spot in the Valley of the Sun that is always just a few degrees warmer than anywhere else, so we are talkin’ two steps from Dante’s inferno. That being the case, we need to escape and escape often. Luckily, Arizona has many ways to escape.  Over the years, we have discovered some awesome, local hotels along the way. I want to shout out a few cool spots that we have visited recently.

I love my country and proudly show my colors wherever I may roam.  It’s hard for me not to tear up when I remove my cap, put my hand over my heart and listen to the National Anthem.

Today is July 3^rd and if the world continues to spin at its usual pace, tomorrow will be the 4^th of July, America’s Independence Day. As momentous as that day is, there was another major and, arguably, equally important event  that occurred 86 years and 364 days later, in the rolling hills of Pennsylvania. 

I grew up in an all American town, and I loved it.  It was the kind of place where comfort food ruled the day. When we wanted food that was more “ethnic” for a change, we went to the Wong Family Chinese joint, ordered the Poo Poo platter and maybe a few spring rolls and felt as if we were being exotic. Why not? It was the only game in town. Boy, have things changed.

“Keep Vashon Weird” 

Considering Vashon is a small island in the Puget Sound south of Seattle and considering this was the bumper sticker attached to a beat to crap Subaru I saw on the Washington State Ferry, I thought, "That's pretty funny." But if really friendly people and over the top service is weird, I’m all for it.

You know when you are asked to answer a security question for a log in system on your computer and one of the options is “Name of your childhood best friend?” What’s so very cool is when the answer is the same name for 40 years. I have one of those friends, and we went to visit her last weekend.

I love a good bar!

Tavern, pub, lounge, or dive, however you want to call it; as long as the seats are comfortable, the music ain’t too loud and the pours are long and strong, I’m one happy camper. Aside from my kitchen, a good bar is one of the few places where my shoulders fall away from my ears, my heartbeat slows, and I am completely at ease.