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Yesterday, Dan and I celebrated Valentine’s Day.  Dan had made secret reservations at a place called dragonfly neo-v, which is an all vegan gourmet restaurant just a few blocks from our house (which I had been wanting to go to FOREVER).  Before we left, we exchanged gifts.  Dan was his usual lovey-dovey self and got me 2GB of RAM!  Swoon!  No, really, I love my practical husband.  I really did need it and my computer is so much faster now!

Aww. RAM.

I got Dan some iTunes cards.  He was excited about them, even thought it doesn’t show in this picture.

Aww. Ain't he cute?

Knowing that the RAM might not be that romantic, he also had some flowers hidden.  He’s so smart.

Yay, gerber daisies!

Dinner was so delicious and the restaurant was adorable!  I had pistachio-crusted portabellas and macaroni and cheese.  Dan got the vegan pizza.  Plus, we had awesome appetizers and bread with hummus.  We were stuffed, but we still left room for some ice cream at home!

Then this morning, we got up and had breakfast at Northstar.  It was a great weekend!  Now, Dan’s off to Salt Lake City for the week.  Booo.

This morning I got up and finished some schoolwork and ran outside.  Then, I had my Ed Tech seminar, which is always good.  For dinner, I went out with a couple of friends from my classes last quarter.  We went to lemongrass bistro, which I had been dying to try.  I got some good soup and sushi and had a nice chat.  I’m also really tired and need to go to sleep.  Night!

This morning I made myself get out bed by about 8.  I got ready and drove to the rec center to run.  It was nice and quiet there.  All of the undergrads like to sleep in on Saturday.  I vaguely remember those days.  After the run, I came home and started in on some school work.  I think I’m ready to teach on Monday (my first “lecture” on my own… though, I won’t actually lecture, we’ll be doing some inquiry work instead!) and I read for one class.  It took me about four hours to read three chapters.  I don’t know why I was so slow.  This was definitely not Foucault, but it took awhile.  Afterward, Ben and Rachael came over and we went to get some Northstar (why do I keep forgetting to take pictures for my blog?).  I hadn’t been there in a long time and it was really delicious!  Then, we came home and watched a movie and chilled out.  It was a good night.  More work tomorrow. 

Today, Dan and I slept in and I didn’t end up getting out of bed until about 11:00.  I feel a bit of a cold coming on, so I didn’t feel too bad about it.  I did get the laundry done and we went grocery shopping too (our fridge was completely empty).  Then, I decided to make this delicious eggplant casserole and hummus.  Dan and I ate and watched some more movies.  It feels nice to be in my own house and my own kitchen, even if I’ll be taking some nyquil before bed tonight.

This morning Julie took me out for my Christmas present, an outing with my sister (that would be Julie)!  First, we went to watch a Central basketball game, then we went out to lunch for some Japanese food, and then we went shopping.  We both ended up with some jeans from Ann Taylor and some smelly stuff from Bed, Bath and Beyond.  Good sales, good times!  Thanks, Julie!

Julie making good use of her chopsticks.

This evening, Dan and I headed up to Medina to visit Todd and Marcy.  They made us spaghetti and meatballs and we had a great time touring the new house, talking, exchanging gifts, and Dan and Todd even got to play some rock band together (they were a good duo).  Getting to hang out with Marcy always makes me wish that we still lived ten minutes away from each other and had 6th period together every day.  Oh, how times change.  Thanks, Marcy!

All grown up!

This evening everyone (except Pete, who’s not feeling great) loaded into the car to head to Clifton Mill to see an obscene amount of Christmas lights.  It’s a quaint little mill near Yellow Springs, Ohio.  Apparently, it takes a team of 8 men 3 months to put up 3.5 million lights.  The official lighting is at 6pm every evening.  We got there a bit early and walked past the toy trains, went through a little shed full of antique toys, looked around the gift shop, and went through another small building full of Santas.

Uncle Ray in the Santa room!

At 6pm, they started some music and lit up all 3.5 million lights.  Then, the lights on the covered bridge were synced to Siberian orchestra song.  It was pretty cool.

Dan and I in front of the covered bridge and the "waterfall" of lights.

Grandma and Katie in from of the mill.

Afterward we went to Young’s Dairy Farm to get burgers (or black bean burgers) and ice cream.  Just a few more minutes until Christmas Eve!

First thing this morning, I met with my teacher friends for breakfast.  We got there at 9:30 and didn’t leave until 12:30!  At that point, I was ready for lunch!  We just talked and talked and caught up.  It was so nice.  We could have easily stayed for three more hours.  I think I might be a bit horse.  That was a lot of talking. 

Heritage chicks, past and present.

Wow, that’s some terrible lighting, but it’s all I have.  My apologies.

The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent playing some Wii with Katie and Cole, eating dinner with the whole family and then playing some more Wii and reading part of The China Study.  It was a fun day and I’m pretty tired.

Today was so great. I woke up to the beautiful Arizona sun, did some yoga in my room, read this blog and cried my eyes out: http://bandssullivan.blogspot.com/, showered, sat by the pool and read, took a walk to get coffee and read some more, talked to my sister, my mom and my cousin, and came back to the hotel to find Dan home from work.  Now, we are relaxing for a bit (like I need it) before heading out for some “authentic”* Mexican cuisine with his coworkers.

*A note on the word “authentic” since it came up in my cultural studies class a few times this quarter.  What does “authentic” Mexican cuisine mean anyway?  What does “authentic” anything mean?  Is there really an “authentic” Mexican that cooks some sort of “authentic” cuisine?  Yesterday, at the Heard Museum, Dan and I bought an angel ornament made by a Native American, and I thought it was funny because it had a tag on it that was a certificate of authenticity, which had the picture and the name of the “authentic” Native American who made it.  Can any culture really be boiled down to an “authentic” real?  Aren’t we all sort of a mash-up of some sort?

Yesterday was a long, busy day… and it was amazing.  We began on the Black Bear Diner and had the most delicious breakfast.  Then, we headed North on I-17 to Sedona.  The scenery along the way was pretty, desert mountains and cacti everywhere.  We took a side trip to see Montezuma’s Castle, which is a cave dwelling built right into a mountain and dates to the 1130s(!).  Of course, it’s misnamed because when the English explorers found it, they assumed that the people that lived there were the Aztecs, but they were actually another culture called the Sinagua.  But, the name stuck (and I bet it attracts more tourists).  Anyway, it was neat to see, but I was REALLY disappointed that we couldn’t go inside.  Dan thought that was funny, but who wants to just see the outside of a castle?

We got back on the highway for a bit and then we took the exit for Sedona and drove about 10 miles west, all of the sudden it was so beautiful I thought I could have died right there.  The red rock formations were spectacular and the mountains in the distance had snow on the tops!  Dan and I visited Bell Rock first and hiked around it.  There were some families on the trail with us and one little boy kept shouting, “It does look like a bell!” And, we were at a much higher altitude than we were in Phoenix and we were feeling every bit of that thin air.  We were both getting winded and feeling loopy… so that little boy was probably funnier than he would have been.

After that, we stopped by the Chapel of the Holy Cross, built right into the rock by a monk or a priest (can’t remember) in the 1950s.  It was pretty amazing and the view from inside was awe-inspiring.

Then, Dan and I heard (from the nice guy at the visitor’s center) that we could get a really amazing view from the airport.  So, we took airport rode up and, it was a fantastic view.  It started to rain a little bit and then the sun peaked out and guess what we saw… a rainbow! The picture didn’t turn out too great, but if you click on the piictures tab above you can see more scenic pictures (including the rainbow).

After all that sightseeing, we went to this little arts and crafts village called Tlaquepaque (T-lockey-pockey) to look around and grab a bite to eat.  Well, wouldn’t you know it, but last night was the light festival!  So, everything was all lit up, music was playing, and we got free apple cider and ate at a little Mexican restaurant.  It got me in the Arizonian Christmas spirit.  We finally headed home to find somewhere to watch UFC, which is why I was too pooped to write my blog last night.  Today, we’re going to do some Phoenix touristing.  Oh, what fun!

No, it’s not what you think, it’s a vegan restaurant here in Phoenix.  After Dan and I went to see the movie, Up in the Air (it was alright), we went to the Loving Hut to eat.  Dan got some fried rice with vegetable protein and he liked it!  I got a Hawaiian burger and fries!  The only downside was that I’m so used to only having two or three choices on a menu that it took me FOREVER to order… but it was a good forever.  You wanna know how I finally decided?  I was deciding between three dishes and Dan had me name all three and then he said, “Okay, pick my right hand, my left hand or my foot.”  “FOOT!” I said (of course), which turned out to be the Hawaiian burger.  Ha.  They also served free veggie soup before the meal and their water had orange slices in it!  We are going back!

Dan with his chai drink.

Me and my vegan burger!