My Royals

Did you hear the sad news about Princess Madeline of Sweden? The poor girl was engaged to this lawyer (these two have been a couple for a number of years) at the end of 2009, turns out the cad had a fling with some 21-year old college student in the meantime and the engagement is broken off. Princess Madeline is gorgeous (as you can see in the pic), it just goes to prove that even pretty people suffer. I hope that she recovers and finds a nice guy, preferably someone royal, I would love to see a proper royal marriage. I like her! As far as that guy, loser. I guess this is more points for her older sister, Crown Princess Victoria's finance, even though I don't like him either.

Have you heard the news about Prince William and his lady love, Kate Middleton? Rumors are that they will be announcing their engagement in June. I am so excited!!! Also it is said that they might get married this year, in November. As soon as the engagement is made, I am booking my air tickets for London, I have to go! For my close friends, they will know that since I was a teen I have vowed that I will be at Prince William's wedding. I don't care, come hell or high water, I am there!!

Does it make me a total snob that while I don't mind these commoners coming into the royal families, I would like the next generation to go back to the old days of royals marrying royals. Otherwise the blood will be all diluted. There is a whole generation of European child royals that will grow up together, so there is that possibility;
Infanta Leonor (4), Infanta Sophia (2) of Spain
Prince Christian (4) and Princess Isabella (3) of Denmark
Princess Elisabeth (8), Prince Gabriel (6), Prince Emmanuel (4), and Princess Eleonore (2) of Belgium
Princess Catharina-Amalia (6), Princess Alexia (4), and Princess Ariane (3) of the Netherlands
Princess Ingrid Alexandra (6), Prince Sverre Magnus (5) of Norway
Lady Louise Windsor (6) and Viscount James Severn (2) of England

Arizona - a Police State

Boy it just keeps getting better to be living in Arizona (I'm being completely sarcastic here). This week, in a wholy unsurprising move, the uber-conservative governor of this state - Jan Brewer (she reminds me of that preacher Pax is always joking about, Jan Crouch), signed SB 1070 which allows Arizona police to stop anyone they suspect of being an illegal immigrant and asking for American citizenship paperwork, always having to carry around your paperwrok, just like in the Soviet Union or Nazi Germany.

I smell racial profiling in the works, though of course proponents of the act say, "if you are here legal, you have nothing to worry about." I'd like to know how many white people will get pulled over, in comparision to those looking of Latin descent. What bothers me about this bill is that again the onus is "guilty until proven innocent" and that employers who hire these illegals get away scot free, and we know why these employers get absolved of any guilt, because they are white men - they can do no wrong, only people who look different, well they must be mistrusted (cause they eat babies for breakfast - sheesh)!

I find from the local news that this issue has really divided Arizonians, Conservatives (generally white and older people) are for the bill, while those of latin descent find this highly offensive. To me, this all goes back to proving to me that Arizona is one backwards state (and also speaks to the meanspiritedness of conservatives). I think there should be boycotts of the state, don't come to visit, don't spend money here, let them fend for themselves.

Again, this whole thing is reactionary politics, instead of addressing the real issue, what causes these people to cross the border illegally (jobs), they target the victims. No one wants to take on the employers. Start arresting them and I think we would see some significant change.

Best part of this debate is the utter stupidity of the people, one of the local news channels was discussing some of the emails they had received regarding this issue and one lady wrote, "get rid of them illegals, I am tired of paying for their kids to go to school." I had to laugh, so this lady would prefer these children stay illiterate and uneducated, because we all know what a sure-fire way that is to guarantee a productive adult member of society. Idiots. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I will NEVER have a problem with my taxes going to pay for children's education, be they American or not, legal or not, I have no problem paying for educating any child. If we are picking and choosing where our taxes go, than I don't want mine to go to anymore expensive defense programs, also reduce foreign aid to Israel!

ps - Arizona's unemployment rate is 9.6%, the governor is trying to make up the budget gap by cutting all health care for children (yeah she's a real peach), and Arizona's high school graduation rate is less than 80%, why can't these issues be addressed??

Road Trips and Dublin Car Rental

I thought I would elaborate on my previous weekend, the big baby shower extravagance! I flew in two days earlier so I could spend some time with my mum, dad and sister. We went out for my mom's birthday dinner (a bit delayed as her birthday is in March). It was a nice time for me to catch up with the family as well as errands that I had to run in my hometown (getting my hair colored!).

Saturday, I joined my two girlfriends and we drove down from Northern Virginia to almost the bottom of the state. My friend S, rented a car, which helped immensely in us getting last minute preparations for the baby shower done. Also, with a car, I could really see spring coming alive in Virginia. There is nothing like driving down the entire length of the state for one to really appreciate the beauty of the Old Dominion (despite the Governor's proud marking of Virginia being a Confederate state).

I must say, renting a car can liberate one to truly explore any site or location. My good friend Molly Malone and her honey rented a car when they visited South Africa and listening to her adventures made me envious, it certainly frees one from some restrictive public transport systems (like the midnight closing Paris and Washington DC metro or the frantic craziness of rush hour in Rome and and Berlin). From Car Hire Ireland to the American Zip Car, it seems a good idea!


Continuing onto the weekend saga....the shower started at 3pm and it lasted well until after 6pm, as my friend H said, "A good time was had by all!" We played some weird baby games, like a mad lib's and finding safety pins in rice. The momma to be got more than enough cloths for baby girl.

After the shower we girls decided to go out for dinner (we just didn't want the fun to end)! And though we are all older we stayed up till well past our bedtimes, savoring our rare time together. Me, H and S, stayed at a Travelodge, which has the strangest mascot, a semi-nude bear leering out at customers in a very suggestive manner. It weirds us all out and we have decided to no longer stay there (we use to always stay at Travelodge when traveling in college, as it fit our budget, but now we are professionals, we agreed we could move up the hotel chain, no?).

The next morning we high tailed out of it there (as it was Sunday and everyone had to get back to the real world, blah). But we were able to make one last stop to our beloved ala mater, Mary Baldwin College. It was lovely to walk the campus and even catch up with a familiar face!

I left Monday back for Arizona. Though I was sad to have to return to this military state, I did have a great time and that makes it all worth it!

Fliza Minnelli

I am back! The trip home was lovely and it was rather hard to leave and return to stinky ol'e Phoenix. The baby shower was so much fun! It was grand to see all my girlfriends, it really hit me when I was out there how much I miss them. But hopefully soon we shall be reunited (I continue to push for moving back to Virginia with the hubby).

I've embedded this video of Tracy Chapman's song "The Promise." At the store (where I work), we have a music track that runs in the background. I have to say as store music goes, my retail establishment doesn't do a bad job, there is a whole host of eclectic songs, from pop to country to R&B. Each CD runs for about 7 or 8 hours, so you often don't get a repeat in a day. The songs are both modern and classics. I love this particular song, it is so appropriate when it comes on at the end of the night, as I'm closing. I had to share.

Does anyone else think that KFC is having a laugh with that new sandwich? The Double Down? Is that what it is called? The one with the two chicken breasts and in-between is two strips of bacon and cheese. They have to know that is a heart attack waiting to happen. I think they decided, for all their heavier customers, to speed up the process, maybe as a backlash against tirades on healthier eating???

Swear to God, I can't understand conservatives (particularly the ones living here in Arizona), why do they scream for less government but are always wanting, no loving, government keeping rules of authority, i.e. the police. They seem to like being watched over, like showing your I.D. everywhere. yet, they don't appear to like giving to those less wealthy. These conservatives live in fear I think?? Either way its just another reason I don't like Arizona. Aye!

Going Home!!

I'm sorry for being so AWOL of late, I'm doing double duty with work and a training program - to the point where I'm getting home at 10pm and than up again at 5am. Crazy but I love it!

I'm off to my beloved Virginia tomorrow morning, for a dear friend's baby shower, I can't wait to see my peeps! It will be a weekend o' fun!

Hope everyone else has just as lovely a weekend!

'Son, if you really want something in this life, you have to work for it. Now quiet! They're about to announce the lottery numbers." - Homer Simpson

Vegas Trip! Car Hire Ireland

With apologies to JoeinVegas for not contacting him (I am so sorry Joe!! I promise we plan on coming back and will definitely do dinner - I have to meet the famous B!) - the husband and I went to Las Vegas (his first visit) and had a great time!

As this was a novice trip for the hubby, we did things on a GRAND scale! We stayed at the Paris Hotel (directly across from Bellagio) in the heart of The Strip. Our room faced The Stripe and I had the husband take a picture of the view from our room, amazing!!! The hotel is so nice as well, all in classic European style, straight out of something from Marie Antoinette era. I felt like I was a rock star.

The first day there we did a Grand Canyon tour in a helicopter, so interesting. It made me appreciate the beauty of the Grand Canyon from views and directions I probably would never get to see if I wasn't seated in a flying machine. We were able to see the North side, with all the snow and than the South side, complete different. Day two was spa day, a refreshing way for me to recharge! We finished the evening by seeing "O" at the Bellagio and eating some super fancy foods (for that go-round, I felt like I was on Top Chief). There are no words to describe the spectacular that is Cirque De Soleil's "O" - just wish they had down the opening ceremonies of the Vancouver Olympics, it would have been much more memorable.

It was all so much fun, though now that I'm back in PHX, a town that goes to sleep at 9pm, I'm bummed. Vegas definitely is more my scene (well at least in my head, lol).

All the little details of the mini-vacation were lovely, from the room to the food. We even rented a car, though I think in Las Vegas you can get away without needing a car, unlike other locations I've been too, such as Alaska, South Africa, or if you decide to go tour around a country, like France or Ireland. Take your pick, Las Vegas car rental, Paris car rental or Dublin car rental, all needed if you want to have a fantastic trip as I did!

Now back to reality, blah - but I'll always have Vegas baby!