Family and Friends Friday - Remembering

Good Friday was a day of prayers, fasting and remembering who died for us.  This is what I remember as a child growing up and attending an all girl Catholic School.  Three years ago we have lost so many family members as well as friends.  At this time I would like to take a few moments to remember all of them. 

For some today is a holiday and it makes it a very long weekend because they not only get Good Friday, they also get Easter Monday.  Here in the USA it's a great week to shop because there will be lots of Easter sales and some stores even have early hour shopping as well as very late hours. 

Today is also a special day because it is Annette's birthday.  Annette is my mother-in-law, my volunteer partner, my shopping assistant, my lunch and movie date, my Spanish classmate and of course my friend.  She has a great sense of humor and has a lot of energy - she walks faster than me.  She is so easy going and very thoughtful and caring.  From the first time I was introduced to her, I knew that we would get along very well.  While I was still living in Canada, we were pen pals.  We wrote a lot to each other even though we had emails and telephones.  I love getting her letters/cards because it is always very unique and special, not to mention a lot of stickers.  I am hoping it will be a nice day so we can do something different today.  May Annette have a wonderful day filled with joy and happiness.  We will have a belated dinner for her because she has given up sweets and dessert for Easter.  Jeff and I will take her out for a dinner and a movie sometime next week.

What does Good Friday mean to you?  Did you give up something for Easter?  Where will you be spending your Easter Dinner?  Any plans of an Easter Egg Hunt?  I remember one year when Jeff surprised me and I had my own Easter Egg hunt in his backyard.  

Just a little something yummy to look at.  This was the cupcakes that Linda had for her belated birthday celebration while we were in Scottsdale.

Truthful Thursday - Life is Good

After coming back from holidays, I had three important appointments. First is right from the airport we had to stop by the Tax man to sign off our first joint income tax.  Second appointment was Monday for my eyes and after reading the chart with my contact lens and glasses, the doctor gave me a good report card.  My prescription is lower by .25 which was great and of course after dilating my eyes, he also announced that all is good.  I am contemplating on getting a Turquoise or Sapphire color lenses.  The last appointment is with the Dentist to get a crown.  According to Jeff this dentist is very good and does not cause a lot of pain but most of all his very funny.  Actually there will be two visit, one for fitting and the second for the final crown fitting.  Of course after all these appointments and almost forgot to mention catching up with housekeeping chores, then I will reward myself with possibly a tennis game and a golf game.   

This is also the last series of my blog about my vacation.  The photos that I will be sharing will be of nature and how it's truly a wonderful world we live in.

View from #1 Hole at Sanctuary GC - check out the Geysers

Cactus of Scottsdale

Cactus with flowers

Palm Trees taken looking up

Taken from the patio of Lookout Mountain GC

It only rained one day during our 7 days in Arizona.  The rest of the days were sunny blue skies with a little breeze just to cool off.  Life is good and thank you to my girlfriends from Canada for including me to one of the DIVA celebrations.

Wicked Wednesday - All about food

Today is all about great food during last weeks golf vacation in Phoenix.  For most of our meals, we cooked in our Condo and the rest were eating out.  The girls wanted to try PF Changs and the Cheesecake factory.  One night we sort of split because a couple of the girls went to meet their friend at the Green House Restaurant while we ended up at a restaurant called the Bamboo Club which is directly across the PGA Golf Warehouse.  On the nights that we ate in, we have taken some of the meals while on the days that we golfed, we would pack our lunch and snacks as we did not have time to have a sit down lunch.  The first morning I made breakfast (omelet, bacon and toast) and the other morning Linda and Lynn made pancake and sausages. So here are some of the photos of our meals that were all so yummy. 

Lynn's pasta at PF Changs

Loaded Nachos made by Rose and Gina

Mushroom and Onion Omelet made by Linda

Lulu's Cantonese Noodle at the Bamboo Club

Luckie and Linda's Grilled Ahi Tuna topped with Papaya salsa and Pineapple Fried Rice

 

There should have been more photos taken from the different restaurant that we have eaten but when you are a little too hungry sometimes it's hard to remember to take the photo.

Timely Tuesday - Excuse me - Excuse me

Third part of my vacation stories.  You are probably wondering what this blog is about - why Excuse me.  It all started with me being in charge of setting my alarm clock for our wake up call.  What would be a good ring tone or melody that is not annoying but would actually wake us up.  So I did and the concensus was the Excuuuuuuse-me_8.ring tone.  It made us laugh so much everytime the alarm goes off which is great as it starts our day on a happy note.

Timing was very important during our trip because of all the 4 different golf course we had played.  A lot of organizing is required the night before.  Lulu was the leader so she would tasks each one of us.  I was very lucky that my job was to take care of the coupon for our golf fees.  She then tasks some one else with the condo keys (two different one each day).  But when it comes to cooking, cleaning, making coffee or tea and drinks, it seems like everyone does their part and everything gets done in such a timely manner with no whining or hissyfits.

There were 7 girls in a 3 bedroom condo.  We rented two vehicles - a white Dodge Caravan and a Steel Gray Chevy Malibu.  There were 2 main drivers and 2 alternate drivers.  All of them were great drivers specially when trying to find shopping malls.  Talking about shopping this is my great bargain shopping.  Since it's Timely Tuesday, check out the watch with big numbers for easy viewing.

And then of course, I wish I had bought this one.  It's one that I can use for a summer formal evening wear.

What happens when you have so much time at the airport?  You end up checking out every store and you end up buying another watch.

Check out tomorrow's blog with more yummy photos and hopefully some funny stories.

Maybe Monday - Marilen's Birthday

Today is my niece Marilen's birthday and we met for dinner with her on Saturday at Patio Filipino.  We ordered a lot of food because we wanted to taste several items on the menu that we have not eaten for a long time.  Of course we did not finish it and ended up taking some home. I believe she is off for a week and will be doing some volunteering which is great way to celebrate your birthday.  I hope that she liked our gift and I am looking forward to seeing her again.  We plan to get together one day and do a SPA day with massage and facial and maybe a late lunch outdoors or indoors.  I am so lucky to have family in the Bay area and I am so glad that even though she is actually my niece through my x-husband, we still keep in touch and she treats me like her real aunt.  Anyway, Happy Birthday Marilen and hoping you are truly enjoying and celebrating your special day.  Knowing her, she's probably watching her favorite team (San Francisco GIANTS) play.

Magnificent Shot - this is what we call Lulu's drive every time she tee's off.  Here are some photos of the magnificent golf course that we played in Scottsdale.

It's too bad that I did not take more photos but sometimes it's difficult to remember when you are golfing.  There's always a group behind your group and you cannot lallygag or the Marshall will be telling you to keep the pace.  All four courses we played were really magnificent but our favorite is the Lookout Mountain GC which is part of the Hilton Resort.

You can check it out on this link.   http://tapatiocliffshilton.com/golf/index.cfm

Soulful Sunday - Sweet and Sour of my vacation

It has been over 8 days since I did a blog.  As most of you know, I went away on a 7 days girls golf week in Scottsdale, AZ.  I have so much to share but I will try and spread it during the week.  It was so nice to be away but I sure miss being with Jeff that I was calling him and sending text every day.  Does that make me needy?  The other thing I was missing was doing my daily blog.  I tried to do it using my phone by it did not really work so I gave up.  So I will do a sweet (good) and sour (bad) list best describe my vacation. 

SWEET:  

• a birdie on a par 3 at the Lookout Mountain Golf Course (a Hilton Resort)
• a 30 foot putt on another hole and seeing a cotton tail bunny
• a great dinner at The Bamboo Club - Ahi tuna with pineapple fried rice
• a new watch, a bracelet and a flower ring
• two new bra - Cerise(pink) and electric lime (green)
• Rose as my room mate
• Golf lessons from Lulu and Don from Calgary
• Hanging out in the pool/hot tub with the girls
• Great weather and bargain shopping
• Touring Sedona again

 SOUR:

• Rainy Saturday and jam packed mall
• Cactus in the desert that is very scary
• Snake holes along the cart path 
• Losing $21 at the casino but still had fun
• Getting a headache for not eating on time
• Missing some of my favorite TV shows 
• Losing golf balls in all four courses
• One hour flight delay on my return flight
• Elevation issues on at least 4 of the holes at the Lookout Mountain GC
• Being in the same city as where the SHARKS are playing but no stinking tickets

Well, there's still a lot of things to do and a lot of catching up.  I have some photos to share and a lot more stories.  NHL playoff has started and Jeff recorded the shows that I have missed so I will be glued to the TV for a couple of days to catch up.

Finally Friday - Finished 2 new Angry Birds

RIO - the new angry bird and for those of you playing it, you know how exciting this one is.  Today I will have to go back to all the previous original Angry Birds that I did not get 3 stars.  This latest one RIO had two themes - Smugglers Den and the Jungle Escape.  They have 15 levels each and we don't move to the next level until we get 3 stars.  What happened we we first started Angry Birds we wanted to see the next level that we were satisfied to just move on.  But now that we realized that it was better to keep trying until we get 3 starts before moving.  Anyway, since we have completed part of the Rio version, we will have to wait until May for the more levels to open up.

Last night I decided to do my nails with a really different design.  I was planning on doing the design from the Besty Johnson perfume box but I did not have the right yellow color.  Here's what I have done instead.

I will try to continue my daily blog, but if I miss some days, please check back in a week.