Menu for "Schmooze with Suz" on Friday

I am getting very excited to see my friend, Susie, and host a party in her honor on Friday. I have received a lot of RSVP's the last few days. I have tried to think of something to fix that will be easy, but is something that Susie probably doesn't get in Saudi Arabia. So I finally decided that I am going to fix bean tostadas and mini bean burros. So the menu for Friday will be tostadas, bean burros, chili con queso dip, salsa, and a variety of other chips and dips. There will also be beer, wine, and bottled water. I am not much for desserts, so if anyone wants to bring a dessert, that would be great or if you want something else to drink, please feel free to bring it. We will have plenty of ice.

The party starts at 6:30 and goes until whatever time it might end!! Be ready to sing as I have a karaoke machine. This will all take place in my official Irish Pub "Shenanigans" so plan on a good time. Please email me if you need directions or my phone number.

Reminder of the "Schmooze with Suz" Event on June 26th!

My dear friend, Susie of Arabia, is coming to Arizona next week! I know many of you have become "blogger friends" with Susie through my blog. She has also made some other blogger friends who happen to live in the valley, plus some old friends from Douglas. So I am having a party for everyone who would like to meet and visit with her. Please mark your calendars for Friday, June 26, at 6:30. Please send me an email (srogers67@cox.net) if you are planning to be here and I will give you more information.

Susie has become a world-wide celebrity because of her blog. She moved to Saudi Arabia about two years ago because her husband is originally from there. Susie is from my home town, Douglas, and I have known her for many years as we went to Douglas High together (she was a couple of years behind me). Her blog has won awards and is amazing!!! Recently, it was banned in Saudi Arabia!!!

If you ever read Perez Hilton, he even wrote about her blog on his celebrity gossip blog. Susie also won a Weblog Award for her blog (just click on either of these links to read about her blog).

So if you haven't read her blog, there is a link to it on here (Susie's Big Adventure). Get to know her and join us on June 26!!

I am so excited to host this event at my house and to see and visit with Susie!!!

PS I am putting this Bette Midler song on for this post for two reasons--for my friendship with Susie and because I am going to Las Vegas tomorrow to see Bette Midler!! YEAH!!!!!

Road Trip Round Up

Eleven states and 8,000 plus miles later, we are finally home from our two week road trip. We got home last night around 7:00 and it felt good to be warm again!! Our trip was fantastic and I am not sure why I have never done this before. There was so much to see in the 14 days that we were gone.

My last post was about visiting Mount Rushmore in South Dakota and spending the night in Cheyenne, Wyoming. We left Cheyenne fairly early (for us) and drove to Santa Fe, New Mexico. Driving through Colorado and seeing the Rockies with snow still on them was beautiful. I had wanted to go to Leadville where my grandparents met and were married, but we didn't have the time. When I go to Leadville, I want to be able to spend a few days there, so that will be left to another time.

About six years ago, Kerri, Cameron and I went to a wedding in Texas and stayed in Santa Fe for a day and saw a lot of that beautiful town. I wanted to visit the Loretto Chapel again so we spent a little time there before heading back to Gilbert.

When I was growing up in Douglas, I attended Loretto School for first through eight grades. We had Dominican Sisters from Adrian, Michigan as our teachers. At that time, we had a nun for a teacher each year that I was at Loretto. I remember my mom and Aunt Teresa talking about when they attended Loretto and the nuns that they had were the Loretto nuns who were from the same order as the ones from Santa Fe. I remember meeting a couple of these nuns when I was very young. They had wonderful memories of them.

The Loretto Chapel is one of those experiences that for me is very hard to explain. For me, going into the chapel brings an emotional and/or spiritual feeling. I felt this way when I visited Knock in Ireland. If you haven't ever visited this chapel, I would absolutely recommend it no matter what your faith or beliefs are.

I am going to paraphrase the back of a bookmark that I bought at the chapel that tells what it is about.

The Our Lady of Light Chapel (Loretto Chapel) fashioned after Sainte-Chapelle in Paris, was constructed in the 1870's to serve Loretto Academy which was operated by the Sisters of Loretto.

Believed to be the first gothic structure west of the Mississippi, the Chapel had a design flaw: a conventional stairway to the choir loft could not be installed without adversely impacting the dimininutive Chapel's seating capacity as well as aesthetics.

Seeking divine guidance the Sisters made a Novena to their patron saint, St. Joseph the Carpenter. As legend has it, upon the ninth and final day of the Novena a mysterious carpenter arrived to design and construct a circular stairway to the choir loft. The tools upon his donkey were just a saw, a T-square, a hammer and tubs in which to soak the wood.

His "miraculous stairway" contains thirty three steps in two full 360 degree turns. This stairway has no center support nor is it held from it's sides--it's full weight rests on the its final tread.

Upon completion of the stairway, the carpenter disappeared without seeking payment. No records have been found for the purchase of the materials which the stairway was built. Many sisters believed the craftsman to have been the embodiment of St. Joseph the Carpenter.

Originallly built without a railing, its use was a daily reinforcement of faith by both sisters and students. In the 1880's the banister was added.

Engineers and architects marvel at the stairway; there is no known duplication of its design.

It is absolutely amazing to see this and what a fitting conclusion to this incredible trip!

Many Miles and Many Stops...

This morning started in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and a visit to some beautiful falls on the river. It was sunny and a bit chilly.

From Sioux Falls, we traveled across the state of South Dakota with the weather becoming increasingly worse. The sun gave way to dark clouds and even chillier weather. By the time we got to Mount Rushmore, it was raining sporadically and was dark and cloudy. The trip from Sioux Falls to Mt. Rushmore was about five hours.

Before I continue to post about this trip, I want to talk a bit about my friend and teacher, Martha. Today was her scheduled surgery down at the University of Arizona Hospital. My thoughts and prayers have been with her all day today as well as these last several months. We have not always been in cell phone range, but I received regular updates all day long. I was able to get on Facebook at one point, and saw that she had a post telling everyone to go to her blog as she had an update. Now this is after her 6 plus hours of surgery! Martha, you are amazing and I can't tell you how great you look and how much I admire your wonderful outlook as you have battled breast cancer these last several months. You are truly an inspiration!! There is a link to her blog on the side of mine and I am putting the link right here survivingibconedayatatime.blogspot.com I am in awe of what you have been through and your spirit.

Mt. Rushmore was awesome to see in person. I have seen pictures over the years, but seeing it in person is well worth the trip. It was cold, dreary, and raining, but it was still worth it. To see the way the artist sculpted the four presidents, Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Teddy Roosevelt, once again reinforces how much art is tied into our history.

We left Mt. Rushmore and drove through some beautiful mountains in South Dakota and then in to Wyoming. The rain became worse and at one point, the fog was so bad that the visibility was really cut. Patrick did a great job of driving us through this bad weather. We arrived in Cheyenne, Wyoming about 9:30 and stopped to eat. We had a little trouble finding a hotel tonight. I am thinking that the bad weather probably caused many motorists to stop. We finally found a hotel. It's almost 11:30 and I can say that I am really tired tonight. I think we are all tired at this point.

We are heading to Colorado and hoping to stay in Santa Fe tomorrow night. We will be back to Arizona either late Saturday or Sunday. I can tell you I will be glad to get home to the warm, sunny weather (I need to remember this come August) and to see our pugs!! I know they have had great care, but I am sure that they are missing us!! I know I have missed them!

Chicago Day 2

Our second full day in Chicago was filled with so many amazing places to visit. It was cloudy and cold when we started out in the morning. Our first stop was to the Sears Tower. They told us that there was zero visibility and that the 103 floor was under construction, so we would only be able to go to the 99th floor. We went up anyway and actually could see quite a bit, even with the zero visibility. The Sears Tower is the highest building in the western hemisphere.

Something I didn't know is that Chicago is a finalist for the 2016 Olympics. There are signs of support all over the city.

After that we went to the Chicago Institute of Art where many incredible artists and works of art are displayed. I have never had much of an interest in art, but have always felt it was so important for our children to be exposed to fine art. I was absolutely blown away by how much Cameron knows about artists and works of art. He talked nonstop telling me about the different artists that we saw. There was art from Monet, Renoir, Jackson Pollack, Georgia O'Keefe, Remington, and Salvador Dali. I asked him where he learned all of this and he said that he learned it in art from his wonderful art teacher, Mrs. G. He also learned it from the Art Masterpiece program. I truly was blown away and it convinces me even more how important these opportunities to learn are for our children. His favorite picture is "Water Lillies" by Monet which was on display.

The other display that was awesome to see was the Caldecott winners from 2000-2008. These are the artists that illustrate children's books.

After that we went to Museum of Science and Industry where they are having the Harry Potter Exhibition. Cameron was so excited to see this. He could hardly contain himself when we got there!! I have to say that as excited as he was about the Harry Potter, he was almost as excited to see the great works of art. Anyway, the Harry Potter Exhibition is only in Chicago. It has been there since April and runs through September. It will then go to two other U.S. cities that haven't been announced yet. After that it will be taken to Europe. We weren't allowed to take any pictures in this exhibit. I haven't really followed the Harry Potter Series, but I love that this series has gotten so many people, both children and adults, to read and be excited to read. The exhibit had many of the original costumes and artifacts from the different movies. It was very well done and I thoroughly enjoyed it!We saw a whole lot in the two full days that we were in Chicago. It was great to see so much. I think I would like to come back and really take more time in some of the places that we went to visit. Of course, I have to make sure that Cameron comes with me because he has so much information stored in his brain!!

It is late now and we are in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. We are driving to see Mount Rushmore tomorrow. We went through Wisconsin, Minnesota, touched close to Iowa, and got here about an hour ago. I had never been to Wisconsin or Minnesota and both states are absolutely beautiful and green.

More driving tomorrow, but it has been well worth it! It has been cool to cold all day today--so hard to believe it is June!!

Chicago

Chicago is a great town! I had been here once before a few years ago for the International Reading Association convention. Didn't get to see anything in the short time I was here the. It has been fun to do the tourist things this time.

Yesterday we went to the top of the Hancock Building. The view of the city and Lake Michigan was absolutely beautiful. After that we visited the Field Museum. We saw Sue, the dinosaur. It is the most complete T-Rex skeleton in the world.

We went to two different exhibits. The most incredible one to me was a series of photographs that were taken during the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950's and 60's. The photos were in black and white and depicted the events surrounding Dr. Martin Luther King and the other leaders of the quest for equal rights. I remember when all of this was going on, but I had forgotten about so much of what had taken place during that time. One of the most somber was a picture of Dr. King's motel room after he had been killed. Once again, this exhibit reminded me that we don't look back at history and learn from it so that we don't repeat previous mistakes.

There was also an incredible exhibit on Native Americans. It is a very large exhibit and shows the progression of early people through tools, pottery and art. The exhibit displayed thousands of years of artifacts and is amazing!

We then visited the Shedd Aquarium. It was fun to see the Beluga Whales, sea lions, and dolphins.

The last tourist "thing" that we did was take a one hour boat trip on the Chicago River to learn about the different architectural designs on the different buildings in Chicago. It was awesome!!
We are off again this morning to visit Sears Tower and take a boat ride on Lake Michigan among other things.

Sonya's Wedding Continued!

As I was going through the pictures that I have taken since we have arrived here in Illinois, I found a couple of ones that I hadn't posted that I think are very interesting. I mentioned in a previous post that there was an inland hurricane in southern Illinois that caused a lot of damage. I had never heard of an inland hurricane before, but we saw the uprooted trees everywhere we went in Carbondale.

One of the best signs that we saw was on a church close to where we were staying. It said, "Jesus is bigger than an inland hurricane!" I wish I had taken a picture of it.

When we went to the rehearsal dinner at Sonya's parents' home, I talked to her mom about this storm. She told me that she hadn't realized how bad it was until it was over. When we went out to the back of their house, Sonya's dad showed me where they go when a storm like this comes along. I found it absolutely fascinating to see. They actually have a storm cellar that is in the ground where people go for protection. It fits six people and is something that is purchased and then put into the ground. Her dad told me that after a storm, neighbors check on each other to make sure that trees haven't fallen on the storm cellar door. Having lived in Arizona for all of my life, this is so hard to imagine.

I also mentioned that the original reception hall that Sonya had booked for her wedding had been destroyed in this inland hurricane. It was going to be in the middle of this beautiful lake near the wedding chapel. Because there was very little time before the wedding, she had to find some place quickly that wasn't already booked. She was able to find an Elks Club and she was a bit disappointed that it wasn't quite what she was looking for. Sonya and her mom did a great job of decorating the place and of course, it was a lot of fun. I am posting a picture of the sign in front of the Elks Club last Saturday night. I absolutely love this picture!!We are in Chicago now and have spent the day doing tourist things. We have a two day pass and will be seeing much more tomorrow. Chicago is a great city, but it is very expensive!! I will be doing a post on this part of our trip later. This trip has been great and we have seen so much!! I am glad we have driven and been able to see the different parts of our great country!!