A lot of updating...

Holy hell! Was my last post really on September 30th? WOW. Well, my only excuse is that I've been madly cooking and blogging over at Scraping the Skillet. I do have a lot of things to update y'all on, though. Really, there should have been a bunch of posts between September and now...here's a brief recap of what's been going on:

NINI AND ADAM GOT MARRIED! Yes, my little sister is married! I have a bunch of photos posted on Flickr, but here's one to get you started...

I was back in Chicago for a glorious 10 days around her wedding. It was great to spend time with family and friends - we don't get to see them enough! Highlights? Bocce ball in Merrimack Park. Glorious fall leaves. TO DIE FOR Italian food (by an Irish chef, no less). Oh yeah, and the wedding. That was pretty awesome too ;)

2. I took a new job. Actually, I did this before the wedding by a few months. It just didn't seem top of the list. It's not an exciting or challenging job, but it is flexible and the people are nice. Now you know why I've been flakier than usual about returning e-mails, etc. Job + Food Blog = crazy busy.

3. Dylan and I have made a new resolution to go hiking more often. I mean, we live 5 minutes from a National Park but we haven't hit the trail in over a year? Crazy. The first hike was The Bellota trail up on Mt. Lemmon. Gorgeous scenery and a relatively easy hike. Amazing views after just a short hike to the ridge. Here we are:


This weekend we hiked up and around Sabino Canyon. It was also beautiful and we got to see lots of cool stuff, like a desert box turtle and a desert kitty cave. Check Flickr for pictures soon (D took the camera with him to Miami).

4. Speaking of Miami, the Canyon Ranch Miami project that D has been working on since we moved here is opening! He's there now for the soft soft opening. I was starting to wonder if this would ever happen!

5. Caleb has been battling some peeing issues. He's gotten all blocked up twice and had to spend the night at the Vet (he relapsed after the first drain). To help him manage better in the future we have officially put him on the Weekly World News Juice Diet. Mrow.

That's all the news that's fit to print.

I'll leave you with this thought:

Tucson in July

Dear, dear friends,

I want to share with you some insider information. Call it a pitch, or take it at face value. Up to you.

Most people think that the best time to visit our corner of the US is in winter and spring. Mostly, they come for warmth - to escape their bleary winter days and experience some sun in the middle. Here, in my opinion, is where they go wrong.

NOW is the best time of year to be here. Why? You ask. Let me pontificate.

Once the monsoons begin the weather here is paradise. It's not 105 anymore (that's usually just May and June). In fact, it's a high of 90 or 95 with glorious breaks in the day when there is a lovely thunderstorm and it is 70 degrees! Now, before you wince at the 90 -95 degree declaration, remember what the humidity is like in the desert. You know, it's a DRY heat ;) What that means is that it's probably about 13-15% humidity. Midwesterners: BEAT THAT!

When it rains all the plants in the desert do a happy dance. That dance (called photosynthesis and growth) makes everything around us green and beautiful. Seriously, it looks Hawaii in them thar hills! The roadsides are flanked with green grass. For anyone who has already come to visit, I'm sure you can attest that your first reaction to Tucson was "it's so brown." Not at this time of year, friends. Not at this time of year. I've attached a picture (poor though it is, taken with my camera phone while driving) as proof. Look at the hills! Green! Be still my beating heart.

Finally, because most people choose to visit in the winter and spring (and are not privy to this insider info) the plane tickets to Tucson are the cheapest during the summer. Talk about a deal for a get away or a vacation!

Ok, I'm getting off my soapbox. I just wanted to share this with everyone. This season should last thru August and then it's on to "second summer." If you have a free weekend and you're looking for a get away, call :)

Cali-forn-i-a

At the beginning of the month I/we took a little vacation and toured around a good chunk of California. I started out driving west and camping overnight in Joshua Tree, which was beautiful. I had not been there before and am really glad I stopped. I basically rolled in just before the sun started going down and took pictures until it was gone and the stars were out. Then I set up my tent and attempted to get some sleep. I say attempted because it was actually quite windy. In fact, I had originally planned to have a glorious morning yoga practice amidst the Joshua Trees...well, that plan had to be scrapped due to wind, but I did get to discover a funky little coffee shop in town and have a bagel and coffee there before setting out.

My next stop was Santa Cruz where my dear friend Katie is finishing up her grad program (Paleoclimatology, in case you are interested). She has already blogged about our visit here. To get to her I drove up Hwy 101, through zillions of lettuce patches. At the end of the day I passed numerous farmworker buses carting workers back to their living quarters. Once in Santa Cruz, our three days were filled primarily with eating, talking, some walking, more eating and a lot of baking. Much fun was had with heavenly strawberries. I think we must have done more than that, but really, it was a classic Katie-Micha few days.

Dylan flew into town from Miami (where he had been sweatin' it out for work) and we traveled together up to the Santa Rosa area to visit his uncle John. We got into town just in time to go hear John's jazz trio play at a local winery, enjoy the sun setting over the grapevines and reflect on how lucky we are in so, so many ways...

The next day we went with John into Forestville to see the annual parade and hang out for the first day of the 2-day music and bbq extravaganza in the park. I'm not sure you can get more of a vacation feel than that!

We finished up our trip with a whirlwind visit to Liz and Woody in Pasadena. I've got no picture love to show from this visit, as we were literally there for less than 12 hours (and we slept during that time...). Hopefully, though, there is another trip in the near future, one where I can spend a little more time catching up with Liz :)

The Crosswalks

A new Crosswalks video! yay! (Okay, actually this came out in September, but I haven't exactly been checking myspace much lately, okay?)
For those that are wondering...yes, Dave and Brenden were two of the muscians that provided accompaniment and entertainment at our wedding. Fun, fun.

Phoebe and Ray came for their second annual President's Day visit this weekend...we had lots of fun and ate way too much (of course!)...but at least we hiked a lot of it off...