Happy 35th Birthday TK!

I wanted to make TK's 35th birthday a hit so, I planned a big Mets-themed surprise party for him and invited 60 of our family and friends. The food was all ballpark food with a few specialties thrown in, like Spanish rice and Guiness mac & cheese. We had soft pretzels, corn dog bites, hot dogs, hamburgers, salads and fries...all things you would find at Citi Field without looking very hard. I decorated with pennants, signs, blue and orange. For centerpieces, I got mit-shaped bowls and filled them with peanuts, and I got red and white popcorn boxes and filled them with (you guessed it) popcorn. Then I put together a play list on my iPod that included all songs that TK and I like (because I can't completely trust his taste in music) and named it "Party Like its 1975" because I like to be pithy and insult my husband even when he doesn't know I am. I also rented a tent and spent a large part of my tax return on it.

So, it went down like this...my dad took him, my uncle, his friend Matt and his brother Steven golfing that day. TK was pissed that he had to get up early to golf but if he didn't, people would have grown way too impatient waiting for him to arrive and would have left the party. So he golfed all day and then my dad brought him in for the surprise, and I was the only one to say "Surprise!" Oops. He was slightly surprised though because he knew something was going on but didn't know the extent of the planning, time and money spent on the party, of which I am glad.

After all of the planning, running around, secrets, food and fun, TK told me that this was the best birthday he ever had and it was ALL worth it.

Ah, Desert Bliss

We are back from Arizona and we had a great time. Our hotel, Westin Kierland Villas, was beautiful. We had a one bedroom suite with a balcony. There was a "relaxation pool" for adults at the resort so I took it upon myself to spend a couple days there. A woman even came over and brought me ice water as soon as I sat down. One day I even ordered a frozen beverage and a sandwich for lunch. It was lovely to get pampered. The other days of the trip we were pretty active...see below.

• Monday: We went to the Phoenix Zoo where the animals were closer than I have ever experienced. I even rode a camel. It was awesome! At night we went to the mall and to the Yard House. They had 150 beers on tap and gave us a tour of the keg room. It was a crazy sight and it was great to try beers I have never seen or heard of before.
• Tuesday: I hung by the pool, TK hit golf balls and then we headed to the Arizona Diamondbacks game at Chase Field. We started out down the street from the stadium at Alice Cooperstown. It was an interesting mix of sports and rock. The bartenders all had black eye makeup designs on their faces. After eating, we headed to the stadium and it has a retractable dome, a pool in center field and a TGI Fridays in left field where you can see the game. The game was great and corn dogs were only $1.50...What? That is unheard of at Citi Field or Yankee Stadium where prices are so inflated that you need to take out a second mortgage to feed a family of four.
• Wednesday: It was a little chilly out, surprisingly, but I managed to drag TK, kicking and screaming, to the Desert Botanical Gardens. Guys don't like gardens? What? Who knew? Well, this garden had mostly cacti, and a butterfly garden where butterflies landed wherever and whenever they wanted. It was so cool to see them flutter all around you. Then, I promised TK that I would go golfing with him, so we did back at our hotel. We had fun and I realized that I could not channel Annika Sorenstam for any of the 18 holes no matter how hard I tried.
  
• Thursday: We went to Casino Arizona which wasn't the best idea because we donated a large quantity of money in a small quantity of time. I left grumpy and with empty pockets. A quick visit to Sonic, however, helped to lift my mood a little bit.
  
• Friday: We headed to Arizona Mills Outlet Center and stopped at Joe's Crab Shack for lunch. I LOVED it there. The waitstaff dances, the t-shirts are inappropriate and the food is delicious. I am determined to visit another location this summer. After shopping, we found the Four Peaks Brewery and sampled some of their beer. I loved the Arizona Peach, it was crisp and refreshing, and TK loved the Leroy Brown which was a little too dark for me. We visited both of their locations in Arizona. Then, we went back to the hotel and got a car to take us out in Downtown Scottsdale. We hit Shotgun Betty's Rock & Roll Saloon first and that was interesting. Not somewhere I would leave my husband to hang out alone for the night but I did like it there. Then we went to a few others, including the Rusty Spur (where we saw people fail at riding the mechanical bull), American Junkie and Dirty Pretty...We were able to hop from bar to bar because people drive golf carts around the street and work for tips. It was really convenient.
  
• Saturday: It warmed up so I lounged by the pool again and then got ready to play another 18 holes of golf. This time we went to the Camelback Inn to do so. The course was beautiful and the cart had a GPS. I sucked again and this time I did in front of a couple from NY that were in front of us. After my poor showing and a little cleaning up, we went to dinner at McCormick & Schmick's and it was delicious.

On Sunday, we left Arizona and headed to Atlantic City because our trip just wasn't over yet. During our flight from Vegas to Long Island, we had to make an emergency landing in Virginia to reroute around some weather and fuel up. It took us an extra 3 hours to get home. All I was thinking was, "It could be worse. We could have crashed and died," and it helped me through a throbbing headache. Then at 3 a.m., we jumped in the car, made a quick pitstop at 7-11 for eyeopeners and headed to Atlantic City. We stayed at the Showboat, lost more money, ate at Carmine's and Ruth Chris.

In conclusion, I enjoyed Arizona and would go back again and Atlantic City was OK and I don't have to go back for a little while but it is an option if I need to just get away for a long weekend.