Thoughts, Reviews, and Ramblings

I have a favorite pair of shoes.  They are so dear to me that I don't wear them.  If I had a glass case in which to display these shoes, I would place them prominently in the foyer of our house.  But I don't have a glass case, which makes Andy happy.  Our friends Shannon and Steven invited us to an occasion that required some dressing up. I thought that maybe this occasion would warrant The Shoes.  So we got dressed up.  I threw on my little black dress and my Happy Shoes and joined Steven and Shannon all aboard the authentic Pullman railcar turned swanky bar at Platform 18. We had a blast stepping back in time in this Gatsby era themed cocktail bar! read more

When Lily tells her friends she went to a fancy dinner to celebrate her graduation, they will inevitably ask "Where did you have your fancy dinner last night? The Mall?" Well, yes actually. Fashion Square Mall has quite a few very nice restaurants, which do not even require you to enter the mall, per se. Francine, along with Nobu, Toca Madera, Zinque and others are attached to the mall perimeter. Drive up in your Ferrari, hand the keys to the valet, walk five feet and there you are: at the front door of the French Riviera. read more

It's Friday!! I celebrate Friday nearly every week by not cooking dinner at home. It's a celebration passed down through many generations of women in my family.  An unspoken tradition, if you will.  Or it just might be that I forgot to remove the cedar plank salmon I intended to have Andy grill from the freezer, so we had to go to dinner elsewhere. Who can say? But Andy's daughter Lily made a rare appearance at home.  She's busy and we hardly ever see her. So we thought it would be a good idea to take her out to Pomo Pizzeria Napoletana and catch up. read more

One beautiful Spring day, we woke up early and looked at our phones to see if the end of the world came over night. Happily, the world still existed in its same ol same ol--the politics are still politics, the stock market is still cranking away, and the weather is still HOT.  However, this particular morning it hadn't made it out of the mid-seventies by 8 A.M. which gave us a great (looks like I spelled "terrible" wrong again) idea: let's walk to Old Town and get breakfast!! What could possibly go wrong on an 11 mile round trip walk in the early summer of Scottsdale, AZ?? So we did that. We walked into Old Town and found an awesome coffee shop which provided a lovely atmosphere to eat a healthy breakfast and to really concentrate on answering the question of our teetering sanity: Schmooze. read more

There are lots of ways to say mediocre and I know I will piss off lots of locals by saying, Talking Stick defines mediocre. Right from the Talking Stick homepage, "Stunning Scenery"... Going to have to say no on that. If I replaced the cacti across the fence line with rows of corn, you wouldn't know you weren't in Iowa. But don't write this course off, I like to start with the bad and then work my way into the good. read more

I love when people say stuff like, "Lynyrd Skynyrd is a really good singer" and you think to yourself, um, that is the name of the band, not the name of a guy... do I tell them? Well don't expect to go into the kitchen and find Paul Martin either because I can't figure out how the name came about. Paul Flemming and Brian Bennett the founders of Paul Martin's, must have some story behind the name, but I may never know. read more

It's my birthday year!  Every year is my birthday year.  When you need an excuse to celebrate, just remember it's your birthday year, too! But actually my real birthday was recently. Our neighbors, Steven and Shannon, wanted to celebrate with us so they thought to take us somewhere fun. I've always wanted to go to Casa Bonita for my birthday (a Denver landmark where the restaurant is designed like a village and they have guys cliff diving into a small pool while you eat). As a Colorado native, it's almost sacrilege that I have not yet witnessed the cliff diving circus that is Casa Bonita. One day... However, Arizona offers a restaurant chain with the same family friendly, unique feel--but the primary difference is the food is good at El Encanto, which is already a huge improvement over the speedo-wearing teenagers flailing off a foam "cliff" in my book. read more

One thing I love about golf is being outdoors and getting to take in the beauty of a well manicured course. In the Scottsdale area I have found it is absolutely consistent that you pay for pretty. Coldwater is definitely not pretty. From the driving range that could pass for a dump site to the golf cart workers in their mullets and rocker tees, you get the immediate perception that your day is going to be less than enjoyable. But that was apparently me being a bit too judgy from the git go. read more