Annerisms

Diego and I decided to take our favorite Mama to Hawaii to celebrate her turning over another age. Her birthday was actually in October but it is never to late to celebrate, right. Besides, March was the first real break she had in her schedule. So we celebrated over Spring Break. The girls opted to spend the eight days on a farm riding horses and learning how to make butter and ice cream. What other way does one start a vacation than with a beer in hand? I kid you not, Lisa was emphatic about being on the beach with a beer in hand. You think I would choose Sapporo! Okay, so I fibs a bit. Lisa merely weighed in her choice once I had determined that I could and would not absolutely be seen on the beach without a beer in hand. This was taken on our second day on the island. Lisa has yet to be tanned. I am nowhere in sight because that is actually an empty can she is holding... Lisa is my hero for posing as well as exposing what a truly cool chic she is. I can't really find anything...

On February 11th, my baby boy turned 6. It was an incredible time for all of us because we love celebrations. However, no one loves a good celebration more than my son. This guy can go on for days with "this is my special day so such and such will take place..." He squeals with delight, too. We celebrated as much as possible this year. You know as parents when you try to make up for all those wicked hours with one big celebration? Well, we had an unusually large amount of wicked hours piled up so we had to have two celebrations. The only difference this year was that I was in charge. (Last year, Lisa did a wonderful job of creating a birthday party in the mountains. But the anxiety of having everything ready to go two weeks before the actual party and then people getting lost in the mountains and being really late must've gotten to her because she handed the baton over to me this year.) As a parent, I am not a big pull out all the stops person for birthdays or special ...

I guess I could be talking about Montezuma's Revenge, and that alone would cause a faint heart - or least a weak stool. But fortunately or unfortunately (depending on the way your mind bends) I am not making reference to traveller's diarrhea. I'm referring to one of the most well-preserved cliff dwellings in North America. This is the creme- de- la-creme of high-rise apartments. Being in the Verde Valley only makes it more special . We visited here at the behest of my partner, a lover of cultural history who has wanted to see this sight firsthand since we moved to Arizona. Since we are now looking to move back to California, we are feverishly pinning our tacks to potential national monuments we'd like to see before leaving the beautiful Southwest. In the early part of December in 1906, President Roosevelt commemorated the passage of the Antiquities Act by declaring four sites of historic and cultural significance as our nation's first National Monuments. I became ...

At the beginning of the summer, which began once I took my last final, I resolved to do two things more often: hike the trails listed on"Top Ten" lists in magazines, and read novels deemed to be our "classics" (which has been a puzzle given the Opening and then Closing of the American Mind perspectives). So far, I'm on track. My son and I have spent the last two-and-a-half weeks conditioning our bodies for major morning hiking by getting dropped off 3 miles from our home and walking back. My partner and I have ritualized every evening by closing out the day with reading. We've finished several novels this way. Although we both have a competitive illness of sorts, we do enjoy our nightly reads. We enjoy the same authors but have points of divergence. For instance, she can and does read Spanish novels and novellas. I, on the other hand, read stuff about fishing, sailing and how to raise a perfect child. The 'perfect child literature' is in my fantasy ...

As children we are taught that libraries are magical and mystical. Places that are special because there is a wealth of knowledge behind those doors. As a kid, I had to wait for Saturdays, a time when one of my parents could drive me to the local library. I longed for the day when I could walk into a library at my leisure and not have to worry about my folks sitting outside with the engine running, waiting for me. As a law student I can waltz into the library any time I damn well please. The law library is open more hours than I am awake. Anyone that has ever been in an educational institution knows that the library has benefits, and I'm not talking about knowledge or learning here. I'm talking about hardcore staring at the off-the-wall law journal student who gets frustrated by the Wills, Estates & Trusts, Property, Corporate Taxation, Torts, Family Law, Immigration, Intellectual Property, Criminal Law books sitting on the shelves. However, I don't usually stare at the...