Pizza-rific!

So if you know me at all you know that I don't really cook. It's not that I don't enjoy it or that I'm completely devoid of culinary abilities, I just rarely make the time to do more than heat up a Lean Cuisine or something similarly (not) time consuming.

When I was in SoCal for work my friend Guy the video guy and his sweet wife Margaret invited me over for dinner. And there was a moment of concern when I learned that menu primarily consisted of pizza. One of which I would be required to make.

But under the excellent tutelage of the experts I was shockingly pleased with the results. And--of course--needed to document my little moment of triumph.

Yes--that's me with, ahem, a rolling pin.

Clearly this was a task that required concentration.And some help from the expert.Ready for the fire.Getting it in the super groovy pizza stone grill contraption thingy.
The experts inspect the final product. Voila!
Guy with his finished pizza.

We made a crazy number of pizzas and mine was certainly not the best, but it was a delicious endeavor nonetheless. And pretty darn tastey in its own right.

(So much better than Lean Cuisine).

Thank you Ristorante Cirinelli for such a fun time--Buono!

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All in a Day's Work

Well, not really a day...more like a month. And not really all work either.

I did some calculating today, and in the month of June I've visited 5 cities. In 4 time zones. Shuffled through 7 airports. Stayed in 5 hotels. Stayed in 3 homes of friends/family. And spent 18 nights somewhere other than my own home sweet home.

(That's a lot.)

Almost all of that was for work, but I did my best to fit some play in there, too. My last trip started in Boulder for the first leg and then on to Southern California for a stop in Santa Ana and then San Diego. There are, obviously, worse places they could ask me to go slave away for the job. I completely fell in love with Boulder--it makes my top five places in the US list. It rocks. (Sorry, couldn't resist.)

I got home last night, and while I'm completely pooped today I can't help but reflect on what an amazing place our crazy little world is. Mountains. Oceans. Climate swings of 30-ish degrees. (Seriously--it was something like 71 degrees when I left San Diego 24 hours ago and is currently 102 in Austin. Hello heat!)

I'm so grateful that I get to see little pieces of the planet here and there. Even better when I get to see (and make) friends along the way. This time around I even got to make some pizza. That story is going to have to wait, but here are some shots of the nature-licious sites I got to enjoy last week.

Hiking (more like sprinting because I had so little time) in The Flatirons in Boulder early Saturday morning before rushing off to the airport. At the beginning of the trail:

Where I stopped--these are rocks at the base of one of the climbing areas. I would have LOVED to scramble around up here!

The view looking down from where I stopped:

All done.
Juana rockin' the super cool car we had (mind the sarcasm).

I flew from Boulder to Orange County and had to spend some time at my most favorite place: the beach!

The cliffs of Corona del Mar:

Blue sky and blue ocean make me one happy moose.

There is simply no better way to spend an afternoon than this:

When I left Santa Ana I drove down to San Diego for a meeting. Here's the sunset at Carlsbad.

Oh, SoCal. I have a S.E.R.I.O.U.S crush on you!

Life, Liberty and Fabulous Friends

So far my summer has been a blur of traveling from one time zone to the next. It's a happy blur, but, truth be told, most mornings I wake up wondering where I'm at. 'Cause I'm just a jet setter like that.

(And because everyone knows that standing in a trade show booth or sitting through yet another training for 8 or 12 hours is Oh. So. Glamorous).

But I have to admit that one of the upsides to this very mobile life I'm living is getting to see and do a few things I've never done before. To be clear, the opportunities to enjoy the sights in various places aren't exactly experienced the way one would on a proper vacation.

The scene is something like this. Me running through the streets of Philadelphia at a feverish pace, 30 lb laptop bag on my forever misaligned shoulder. Cell phone in one hand checking email just in case something comes up. Camera on the other wrist just in case I come across something photo-worthy. Suitcase left with the hotel bellman. Flight in two-ish hours. Blisters forming as the result of said racing in shoes that could only be described as very inappropriate for the jaunt.

Can you picture it? Yeah. SUPER attractive.

But at the end of it all I did get to see some pretty amazingly historic sites last week. Truth be told I'm not really a history girl. Those classes just seemed so dry to me. Until I get to actually see things for myself and imagine what they saw. And walk where they walked. And then it sinks in and I get downright nostalgic.

And take a million photographs, the vast majority of which I will not subject you to.

But here are a few:

At the Liberty Bell Center. The Bell.

Independence Hall where men gathered and amazing historical documents that changed the entire freakin' world were signed.Ben Franklin's grave site. OK...I wouldn't have visited this one except that my boss has a major, uh, thing, for the founding fathers.
The not-historic-but-culturally-fabulous statue in downtown Philly.

After my trek through the city I raced to airport only to have my first flight delayed. Followed by my second flight that was also delayed. I was home for a few hours before driving off to The Woodlands to see a few of my childhood girlfriends.

It was fantastic to see these girls...next time we'll try to get the whole old school gang. Here are (of course) a few photos of our time together.

Mel & Marsha.
Moose & Mandy.

Amy & Marsha

The (partial) Huntsvegas Crew.
Amy & Mel

Loved Philly. Loved seeing new (really old) sites. And LOVE these girls!

The Final Milestone

Guess what I wore Monday?

For, like, 13 hours, even.

Yep.

They might not be a pair of my favorite pointy-toe stillettos, but I feel like we're on the cusp of those and I'm willing to claim this as victory recovery.

My closet and I are so pleased.

That's Ms. Moose to You

Yep.

I know.

I've been a little MIA lately. Emphasis on the A part. I feel like a character in a cartoon action movie where they just show a blur zooming across the screen with virtually no detail. The good news is that my blurry little world has been the source of much bliss lately as I have kicked off the summer by having more fun than I can remember in a long time. I actually feel like I did when I was kid and it was the last week of school.

In a word? GIDDY. And I'm a fan.

And of course, I've embarked on all this fun with camera in hand. Here are a few pics of the past couple of weeks.

With Lindsay at the lake Memorial Weekend:

At Abel's on the Lake...I feel certain this will be my summer hangout. I like to call this one "pretty in pink" (in a completely non-pejorative way, of course):

More fun out on the town with LG:

I spent the past week in Dallas and got to enjoy three of my all time favorite people, Wendy, Suzy Q and Darla:

More fun in Dallas with Brandy, KK and the other Mel:

One quick story to go with the photo gallery. I spent last weekend with Wendy, also known as the world's best hostess. Seriously...it doesn't get much better than the accommodations at Casa Bryan, complete with fruity drinks by the pool and chocolates on my pillow. Not to mention the hours of fantabulous girl talk.

When I was with her amazingly sweet family I kept laughing at how what my brother started so many years ago has stuck. I mean really, Jason, I've got to hand it to you.

Because these two beauties?
Yeah. They call me Ms. Moose.

S.E.R.I.O.U.S.L.Y.

And I'm not going to lie. It makes me smile every time.

Now...off to have more spectacular summer fun!