Feliz Navidad 2009

Since Taylor and Courtney wasted all their vacation days on a wedding and honeymoon in 2009 and had to stay at home over Christmas (I guess I can't blame them) and Tanner was in Argentina for his last Christmas in the mission, that meant I could avoid expensive plane tickets, crazy holiday travel, and cold weather - hooray!  Mom and Dad came to Arizona to hang out with their families (and me).  After spending many of my childhood Christmases in AZ, it's just not Christmas if we're not in AZ.

As usual, we start Christmas Eve with the Kleck clan.  Instead of a ham, Grandma made her awesome prime rib.  Little Zsa Zsa was hoping that Grandpa would drop some on the floor for her.

Christmas morning - I opened a few non-surprises since maybe we buy our own stuff and have someone else wrap it up for us.

Then it's off to visit dad's family down in Coolidge, the awesomest little town that we all hated visiting when we were kids.  The cousins protested such visits and tried to get someone to take us down to Tucson or at least to the Bottle Stop so we could get out of the house.  Instead we were (and still are) subjected to family photos which consist of mass chaos and Grandma yelling at us to move around, in addition to the musical talent shows that we all must perform in, even though we haven't played our instruments in nearly a decade.  

Even so, Christmas at the Williams family means the best Mexican food you ever did eat.  I still remember last year's meal as a heavenly feast.  Grandma makes tamales, there are enchiladas, green chile meat for burros, fresh beans, Uncle Rick's ridiculously hot salsas and unbelievably good posole.  I ate soooo many bowls of it!  And stole some to take home.  I've never had better.

At the end of the day when we're all stuffed and not feeling so well, it's a bit of a comfort to know we've got two pharmacists, a nurse, a chiropractor in the house, and another doctor on speed-dial.

Vegas, baby, Vegas!

Back to Dec 2009 - I am under a year now!  Only 11 months left to update before I catch up to real time...

So Vegas is one of those things that I don't really understand.  I know lots of people who go, lots of times.  When you're not a drinker or gambler, I don't get what there is to do there.  Yes, there is shopping, and yes, there are shows, but who feels like dropping $100+ bucks to be entertained for 90 minutes on something that is likely to suck (unless you're Cirque du Soleil) ?  Lots of people do, just not me.  Food is good, but I also don't feel like spending that much $ on great food and all you can eat buffets don't do it for me either.

Vegas is close.  It's a regular weekend gig for Phoenix people.  Here's the story of my one and only trip.

C-squared and I took off one Friday afternoon in early December; he had some good friends who would be there for a conference, so we decided to meet up and spend the weekend.

We took some lovely back highways to get up to the 40, before winding thru the Hoover Dam.  It looks like a Star Wars village.  The new bypass over the dam opened just a couple weeks ago, and I'd be tempted to go back just to see that.  Apparently it has the longest concrete arch in the Western Hemisphere and is the 2nd tallest bridge in the US.

Here's the thing about me traveling - yes, I am very go-with-the-flow, but I am also a planner.  We had two nights there.  We had already determined that Saturday night would be the go-out-and-dance night since the rest of the gang wouldn't be in town til Saturday anyway and that's what they wanted to do.  I also knew I wanted to see the only show worth seeing (it's O, in case you didn't know), and Friday would be the only chance.  Clearly, it's popular, and since a certain someone wouldn't ever really tell me what he wanted to do so that I could get cheaper tix in advance, we just "figured it out when we get there."   By figure it out when we got there, I mean he took a nap and I went to the Bellagio by myself and bought last-minute really expensive tickets.  The show was amazing though, really, I'm glad I sucked it up and went.    

Saturday morning breakfast - an entire loaf of bread for french toast?  That was just his meal.  Yes, it's tasty, but it could also feed an entire Ethiopian village.  We spent most of the day in and out of hotels, exploring all the casinos and shops.  I can get behind Caeser's and the Bellagio - I think I'd wanna stay there if I ever go back.

Saturday night was supposed to be the big night out for dancing - which I would love.  It's rare that I actually do it, so I was excited to be among people who actually had that on their itinerary.  I prepped with an early evening nap and got up at 9ish to get ready to go out.

Wouldn't you know that everyone got sick, took Nyquil at 8pm and went back to bed.....  As a girl, I didn't think it would be the best idea for me to go out to a club alone.  Nor did I care to venture through the incredibly smoky casinos for the rest of the night.  Saturday night, 10pm, WIDE awake, ready to party, and nowhere to go.  I think we ventured out for late night food, which wasn't all that great, and then went right back to bed.  I couldn't sleep and listened to some snoring while trying to watch SNL......

Sunday morning we caught some NFL in Caesar's (which was actually fun) before starting the drive home.

So Vegas - does it deserve another shot?  I really don't know.....

Fall 2009 - Halloween and State Fair

I don't think Halloween and I ever really got along well, but when presented with the opportunity to join a group of people already in the spirit and have a costume made for me - hey, why not?  All I had to do was buy the game of Twister - on sale at Target.  I like outsourcing.

 The party was actually one of the better ones I've attended, and the creepy food was pretty fantastic.  I don't think I have the patience to make those fingers with almond nails to dip into a bloody fountain, but I admire the work!

 Selica's chola gig was amazing - she had a neck tatt and all!  Grossly awesome.

Also around that time - the annual pilgrimage to the AZ State Fair.  I assure you there's no better mix of people-watching.  My girl crush Kelly Clarkson performed and no way would I have missed her.  The girl was supa-dupa fun.  Kudos to the dudes who accompanied, for dealing with a night of female power.

 In family news, Grandpa K turned 80!   And Kristine left with her baby girl to go back home to Ecuador.