wednesday= free art

Hello my name is Aimee and this is a real life adventure...

Every Wednesday afternoon from 3-9 pm the Phoenix Art Museum opens their doors and invites the community to visit the museum for free although making a voluntary donation is highly encouraged. The same phenomenon happens during First Friday evenings from 6-10pm. This makes art accessible to everyone in the community. Last Wednesday my little sisters and I made a date to go visit the art museum.

One of the exhibits was this cool looking black bean. It is very similar to the instillation at Millennium Park in Chicago.

The museum happened to be featuring Ansel Adams, a famous American photographer who specialized in photographing the outdoors.

This one was Emily's favorite

Haleigh just wanted a picture with something. She chose this Ansel Adams photograph.

After about an hour of being there Haleigh and Emily were losing patience with the museum rules of being quiet, no running, and turning the flash on the camera off (I still can't figure out how to turn it back on).















We were so obnoxious that the museum had a guard dedicated to following the Williams' girls around making sure we didn't touch, break, or breath on anything.

The best part of visiting the museum (besides the free entrance) was the firefly instillation on the third floor. If you have yet to experience this please make an effort to go and visit. I won't tell you much more about the exhibit except that I happen to think it is magical.

I remember the first time I ever went to see it. Clayton made me cover my eyes and wouldn't let me open them until everything was just right. When I was allowed to open them it took my breath away.

Official Review: The Phoenix Art Museum makes for an awesome time with the absence of admission prices and spectacular displays (can you say cheap date?). Just make sure the crowd you roll with is patient with art.

I hope you take time to appreciate the arts.

advobuddy sing along

Hello my name is Aimee and this is a karaoke adventure...

I will keep it short and simple: in order to clench victory in the advobuddy challenge Patty, Brett and I subjected ourselves to humiliation last Tuesday night at Barney's Boathouse to earn 15 points. The three of us teamed up to pull off Shania Twain's "That Don't Impress Me Much". It's not the greatest version I've ever heard, but for being dead sober at a bar we sound pretty amazing.

Check out our singing talent here.

My favorite part is the girl on the left of the screen in the blue t-shirt. She was our biggest fan, cheering the whole time and cheers-ing us with her drink.

I hope you let me live this down.

yummy burger shop du wop

Hello my name is Aimee and this is a real life adventure...

Going to school in downtown Phoenix for most of my life has its perks. For instance you find really AMAZING burger places. My sisters and I have developed a little tradition. Every once and a while Haleigh and I will pick up the younger girls from where we once walked the halls and take them to Lenny's Burger Shop. This epic burger joint is a rare treat for us, but is well worth the wait. The family owned and operated 50's themed diner caters to middle and high school students looking for a treat on weekday afternoons. The fries are always crispy, the ranch is always cold, and the shakes are to die for.
We usually go for an after school snack so we order one (sometimes two depending on how hungry we are) basket of fries, a shake each, and of course tons of ranch! Bee and I love to get chocolate-peanut butter shakes while Emily and Abbey choose from assorted flavors each time. The most recent was a chocolate-strawberry ordered by Emmy. Delicious!I especially recommend trying a burger once you get there, they are unmatched and simply mouth watering! Since Haleigh and I gave up red meat for lent its been hard to resist temptation, but the shakes distract me enough to remember what I'm missing out on. Besides the yummy snack, I get to spend the afternoon with my sisters. :)

they are wonderful

I hope you try Lenny's and make your own family tradition.

you are valuable

Hello my name is Aimee and this is a real life adventure...

Currently obsessed with: Stay Here Forever by Jewel

I do this thing where I start writing down my great ideas for a blog and then I push the "Save Now" button on the bottom of my screen and forget all about. So today when I was putting off working on my GIANT Working Plan of Operation (WPO) project I was scrolling through my list of unpublished blogs. I found one from a few semesters ago (a long freakin' time, I know!) when I was taking PRM 380 with Dr. Megha Budruk. It was mostly me rambling, but I did happen upon this awesome quote:

"when the end of the supply is in sight [do] we 'discover' that the thing is valuable"

-Aldo Leopold

It seems I was going to apply it to non-renewable resources, however today it strikes me a little differently. There were flowers in the office and yummy pastries in the kitchen. I thought we had won department of the week until Eddie told me they were the remnants of a memorial service held for Dr. Frank Sackton, a founder of the College of Public Programs.

Once again I was reminded at how precious life is. In conjunction with the Leopold quote I decided it was my duty to remind everyone to be thankful for the wonderful things in our lives (even if the wonderful things drive us crazy sometimes).

I am thankful for...

my family (and David even though he annoys me sometimes)

my friends

my amazing boyfriend

and among other things...

Filiberto's (cause it's freakin' delicious)

I hope you're counting your blessings.

tulips and theraflu

Hello my name is Aimee and this is a real life adventure...

Even though today is Monday good things are happening. For instance I have finally hit double digits in followers! (Yay!!! Thank you for reading!) Also, I was sick last week but my symptoms appear to be lessening and vanishing all together. I wasn't sick enough to go see my physician Dr. Wright, but I was pretty miserable complete with a stuffy nose, a deep sexy voice, coughing, and body aches. Clayton was wonderful of course and brought me white tulips on Tuesday night (just as the symptoms were rearing their ugly heads) and a care package of Theraflu (the BEST medicine in the world), Zicam, and tissues on Thursday when I was utterly miserable. It seems the thoughtfulness of Mr. Nelson and a (slightly) restful weekend did the trick!

I say slightly restful weekend because we had a picnic for the members of Devils' Advocates to welcome all the newbies. After our picnic there was a scavenger hunt with the prize being 12 points in the Advobuddy competition (this is where my advobuddy and I have to complete a list of goofy things together in order to accumulate points. The team with the most points win an awesome, not yet decided, prize at the end of March.). This activity required all members of your group to solve a riddle and take a picture in front of the answer, i.e. "you won't find any potties in this old building"- Old Main.

Here's us at our first stop, Grady Gammage Auditorium. We are fired up!

My competitive team mates had us running from A Mountain to the SRC to the MU. Without a doubt we were the most ridiculous looking thing running down University Drive on Saturday afternoon: Patty at the front of the line yelling encouraging statements "Come on guys, I want to win!", Brent (who had just ran a marathon earlier that morning) jogging at the back, Zach catching all of our greatest moments on film with my camera, and me somewhere in the middle clutching onto my cup of Theraflu in one hand and my "to-go" tissues in the other. My group kept insisting that I would sweat my cold out, but I just felt like I was going to pass out.

Losing steam somewhere in the middle , with Old Main in the background.
(Notice I am chugging my Theraflu while simultaneously throwing up a pitchfork)

By the end we are completely exhausted in front of the Sun Card Office in the MU.

The good news is all our hard work payed off, we won! Brett, Patty, and I are now 12 points ahead in the Advobuddy Competition. The pains and aches were worth it, plus I slept pretty soundly that evening.

So who knows if the key to recovery is medicine, exercise, or extreme thoughtfulness. I do know that I am grateful for all three!

I hope the symptoms won't come back.

i'll take my day sunny side up please

Hello my name is Aimee and this is a real life adventure...

After a crummy day yesterday I really needed something to boost my mood. Ask and you shall receive. Clayton offered to make me breakfast this morning, so I woke up extra early (8:00am doesn't sound bad, but it feels worse) to make sure I had time to get ready before heading over to his house and then onto class. My roommate had curled my hair from the night before and somehow most of it managed to stay curled. I touched up a few pieces in the front, powdered my nose, and added a coat of mascara and voila! I was ready.

Did I mention that the weather happened to be PERFECT for sporting sundresses? Yep, it's official- I broke out my first one today and don't plan to stop until October!

Being absolutely wonderful Clayton not only offered to make breakfast, but also picked me up. We ran by Babeway to get the necessities and then headed back to his house where the cooking would commence.

We decided on omelets, but after a not-so-successful flip it turned into scrambled eggs.
Despite the small disaster, it was DELICIOUS! Here's the recipe:

3 eggs
1 dash of milk
1 dash of butter (melted)
1/4 of a green bell pepper (or as much as you desire) chopped
1/4 of a yellow onion (again based on preference) diced
1/4 of a small Roma tomato (as much as you like...) diced
1 clove of garlic minced
spinach (you know the drill... add to your taste)
1/4 cup of shredded cheese (we used Monterrey jack cheddar)
1/2 avocado sliced
splash of olive oil

1. Mix eggs, milk, and butter in a small bowl with a fork.
2. Saute onions, bell peppers, and garlic in olive oil until onions begin to brown.
3. Add onion and bell pepper mixture to eggs.
4. Over medium heat, cook egg mixture. Avoid stirring to allow the bottom of the omelet to cook.
5. Once the edges look like they are cooked add in spinach and tomato. Allow egg mixture to complete cook on bottom.
6. (This is where things went all wrong for us) Flip the egg mixture over with a spatula and cook the other side for an even amount of time.
7. Sprinkle cheese and avocado slices, fold in half, serve and enjoy!

I suggest consuming this breakfast with salsa, it's the perfect compliment. We accompanied it with buttered toast and half a banana, but bacon or potatoes would be great too!

I hope you made time for breakfast.

the road to redemption

Hello my name is Aimee and this is a real life adventure...

If you know me, you know I am somewhat of a caffeine addict. It started getting serious when my head would start off with a dull constant pain in the back of my head and work its way to my temples gaining momentum until it was a full on thrashing headache. I would wonder (almost always out loud) why I was getting these constant, inconvenient episodes. It wasn't until the oh-so-clever Clayton pointed out to me that they always came on if I didn't drink a coffee or tea to start my day. Psh... I am not THAT bad, I would assure him. Of course the pain would always subside after sipping on a mocha or an earl grey tea.

Simultaneously, my sister Bee is preparing to become baptized into the Catholic church. Before Easter comes Lent, it is a season of penance, reflection, and fasting which prepares us for Christ's Resurrection on Easter Sunday, through which we attain redemption (learn more here). In absolute awe of her faith I decided to support my little sister and observe Lent with her. We decided to give up red meat (this is because we couldn't get enough protein if we went completely vegetarian leading our college lives) and soda (in hopes to lose weight). I decided it was as good a time as ever to stop drinking coffee to rid myself of any forming caffeine addiction.

Some days are harder than others. I still wake up and crave the taste of the warm, sweet liquid against my lips. (I did however, not give up tea in the event of an emergency. Only emergencies.) My coffee maker has accumulated dust and the creamer in my fridge has expired. The only reason I use my ridiculously cute owl mug is to sip warm liquids such as Theraflu.

Right now, I REALLY want a raspberry, white chocolate mocha from Dutch Bros. I can't give in until March 29th when Lent is over.

So I'm just going to do something productive every time I crave a coffee.

I hope this works.