Filed under: Ordinary Life | Tags: architecture, Family, food, life, music, travel
Our quick get away to Arizona was a lot of fun despite the 105+ degree heat. It was fun catching up with family we haven’t seen in years. It was fun floating around in a giant pool. It was fun enjoying some great food. It was especially fun for me to see some of the amazing architecture and venues in the Valley of the Sun. You can check out some of my iPhone Arizona Trip Photos on Flickr
While I do love traveling, and especially a good road trip, it is good to be home now where it’s currently a beautifully cool 68 degrees. I was reminded of one of the reason why I love living here when I heard the music in the park next to our little place in Orange earlier. I always forget about the annual summer concert series on Wednesday nights in Hart Park until it’s about half way into the summer and I’ve already missed all the good shows, only hearing them occasionally from a distance. In case you live around here too, be sure and catch at least one of these.
2009 Concerts in Hart Park dates (thanks to oc.metblogs.com):
* July 8, The Wise Guys Big Band Machine – Big band/swing music
* July 15, The Fenians – Traditional and contemporary Irish music
* July 22, Stone Soul – Motown, soul and R & B classics
* July 29, Open Wide – Classic rock
* August 5, Crashdance – Top 40 dance favorites
* August 12, The Sam Morrison Band – southern classic rock
* August 19, The Hodads – 50’s and 60’s rock-n-roll
* August 26, Film at Eleven – Motown and R & B classics
Hart Park is located at 701 South Glassell St., Orange, CA 92866
The music may be a little hit and miss for your taste, but it’s all free and free makes everything better, right? Are there any summer traditions you enjoy that make home just as sweet as a good trip?
Spending the weekend with family in Tempe, Arizona and decided to visit a place that Guy Fiere recommended. He’s the host of a show on the Food Network called Diners, Dives and Drive Ins. It’s a place in Glendale called La Piazza Al Forno.
The pizza was really good and the service was even better. We got the Itallion Stallion with a load of spicy meats, the Piazza Blanco with basil and white sauce and the Mediteranian with pesto and feta.
The place has a really comfortable and relaxed family feel. I’m sure that Guy’s feature on this simple brick oven pizza joint has helped business quite a bit. They’ve capitalized on it with a banner our front and literally putting Guy’s name on the place with his signature on the wall right by the front door. Have you ever gone to a place just because you saw it on TV?
This is a challenge I got from a designer friend of mine Tim McMahan posted on his blog a few months back. I’ve been feeling lately like I need a jolt of creativity, so I thought I’d try it out. It was a good, fun challenge. Let me know if you try it, too.
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To Do This
1 – Go to Wikipedia. Hit “random”
or click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first random Wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.
2 – Go to Quotations Page and select “random quotations”
or click http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four or five words of the very last quote on the page is the title of your first album.
3 – Go to Flickr and click on “explore the last seven days”
or click http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days
Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.
4 – Use Photoshop or similar to put it all together.
5 – Post it to FB with this text in the “caption” or “comment” and TAG the friends you want to join in.
(If you spend more than 5 minutes, you’re doing it wrong.)
((why couldn’t all of our school project’s have been cool like this?))
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Here’s my randomly generated, creatively branded Band Name and Album Cover:
So after years of determined resistance and occasional mocking, I finally decided to joined the cult last night. The cult of Apple. I’ve had just a basic phone for so long, waiting for the technology to really catch up with what I want and make it worth the investment. My contract just happened to expire this month, right around the release of the Palm Pre and the iPhone 3Gs.
After a few weeks of hemming and hawing and researching and polling, I found the iPhone just made the most sense and there really is a reason for why it’s so popular. So, I took the plunge and bought one. Just picked it up last night.
It’s got so many features built in and countless others that you can add on. Can’t wait to trick mine out with apps and music and photos and videos. What do you think are the most essential, most fun, most productive apps to add? And, maybe now that I have a phone that I can use to blog, I’ll do it a little more often…
