August 12 of 12

I forgot that it was the 12th of August until part way through the day, and then I kept forgetting to take pictures. So here's bits and pieces of my day, when I remembered to take the pics. Thanks to Chad, brainchild of the 12 of 12 idea. Head over to his website to check out what everyone else did today.

Las Vegas, NV 12 noon - Filling up my rental car before I return it to the airport. I've been in Las Vegas for a week and am ready to get back home, even though it was a fun trip.

Las Vegas, NV 1:30 pm - Checking in at the airport.

Phoenix, AZ 4:45 pm - In the parking garage at the airport trying to remember where I parked my car...until I remembered that I wrote it down on the parking ticket that was in my wallet.

Phoenix, AZ 5:00 pm - On the 202. The traffic wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

Phoenix, AZ 5:10 pm - Traffic wasn't bad until I got on the 101, and then it pretty much came to a stop.

Phoenix, AZ 5:20 pm - On the 101. Of course my gas light comes on while I'm driving home.

Phoenix, AZ 5:30 pm - My mail box that was stuffed after being gone for a week. There was actually a lot more mail in there than you can see in this picture.

Phoenix, AZ 7:30 pm - I didn't have anything to eat for dinner after being gone for a week so I headed out to the grocery store to find something. I thought the clouds looked really neat reflecting the color from the sunset.

Phoenix, AZ 8:30 pm - Checking up on the local news. It's pretty sad when this story is one of the featured ones on the front page of AZ Central.

Phoenix, AZ 8:30 pm - Checking baseball scores. My Red Sox won so I'm a happy fan.

Phoenix, AZ 9:00 pm - Catching up on the Olympics. I recorded 16 hours of it while I was gone so I'm fast forwarding through a lot of it and watching what I want to see the most. Gymnastics, #1 priority.

Phoenix, AZ 10:00 pm - Doing some reading and researching since I found out about a month ago that I am allergic to gluten. I'm finally over being bitter about the fact that I will no longer ever be able to eat some of the foods that I love, but I'm still trying to figure out what I can eat and how to make my favorite foods gluten free.

So there was my day. What did you do today? Join in on the 12 of 12 and let everyone know. Until next month...

July 12 of 12

Well, here's my installment of this month's 12 of 12. I was hoping I could come up with some interesting pictures since it's Saturday. Anyone who knows me knows that the past couple weeks have been really rough and difficult to deal with. So I decided to take pictures of anything that made me smile or at least made me feel a little bit better. Head over to Chad's website to see what 12 of 12 is all about.

10:00 am Mesa, AZ - Leaving my condo. I liked the pattern the clouds made in the sky. It's monsoon season so we actually have clouds right now.

12:30 pm Mesa, AZ - Leaving lunch. Maybe we'll have some respite from the sun today.

12:30 pm Mesa, AZ - Leaving lunch. Maybe the rains from the monsoons will keep the flowers blooming.

12:30 pm Mesa, AZ - I liked seeing the sun rays come down from the clouds.

1:00 pm Chandler, AZ - The wind started picking up. Maybe blowing in another storm.

1:15 pm Chandler, AZ - More clouds, looking more and more like a storm

1:15 pm Chandler, AZ - But a 180 degree turn still showed some blue sky.


6:00 pm Mesa, AZ - Back home again, looking at the same view from this morning, but with a few more clouds.

6:15 pm Mesa, AZ - Back home again, checking the score. My Red Sox are winning, so I'm happy.

6:20 pm Mesa, AZ - At least the humidity is back down, even if the temperature is back up again.

6:30 pm Mesa, AZ - One of my purchases from my retail therapy for the day.

6:30 pm Mesa, AZ - Another one of my retail therapy purchases.

Until next month...

June 12 of 12

Last month I forgot about taking pictures on the 12th, so I got smart and put it on the calendar for June. Therefore, Outlook informed me several times yesterday and today that it was time for 12 of 12. I have to warn you that today was not very interesting, just a typical day of work. Thanks to Chad for the idea. Check out his website to see what everyone else was up to today.

7:00 am Mesa, AZ: I'm trying to get back to eating healthy so for breakfast it was a rice cake with peanut butter and cantalope.

8:57 am Phoenix, AZ: I finally reached my first stop way up at Greenway and I-17, which is really far from where I live.

10:15 am Paradise Valley, AZ: Next stop, Paradise Valley Police Department and Municipal court where I discovered that they are not nearly as cooperative as some other departments I deal with regularly.

11:30 am Phoenix, AZ: The dreaded light rail construction on Central Avenue. I was on my way to get a sandwich from one of my favorite places, Pane Bianco (and to visit my friend who works there).

12:15 pm Phoenix, AZ: After a delicious tomato, basil and (fresh homemade) mozzarella sandwich, I headed to the Phoenix municipal building to do some more police checks.

2:30 pm Mesa, AZ: Back home after making all my stops. Took a few minutes to check out the news. Looks like you have to pay for everything on US Airways now, and most airlines you have to pay to check your first bag now (ugh).

2:35 pm Mesa, AZ: Checking on dinner. It had been cooking since the morning and smelled sooooo good when I got home. Tasted really good too.

3:15 pm Mesa, AZ: Went out to check my mail. I really like the trees we have around our condos, helps keep the sun out during the day.

3:15 pm Mesa, AZ: Look longingly at the pool while I went to check the mail. Hopefully I'll be able to spend some time in the sun this weekend.

3:15 pm Mesa, AZ: Nothing exciting in the mail, just a mortgage bill and something asking me to renew my subscription to Glamour even though I got rid of it about four years ago.

6:00 pm Mesa, AZ: I haven't had to put together a resume in about seven years so I figured it couldn't hurt to get some help!

6:30 pm Mesa, AZ: Just now relaxing and watching some basketball before I have to do school work.

So that's it. Hopefully my day next month will be a bit more interesting. Hope you all had a good 12th.

April 12 of 12

Well, April 12 came up on me quickly. My morning was pretty boring so I decided to show you my afternoon and evening. I must preface this entry with the fact that I am not a redneck or a huge Nascar fan. But I was offered a free ticket to the race today and didn't have anything else planned so I thought, why not, it could be interesting. Even if the race is boring, I can go and make fun of the rednecks!!! So here's this month's installment of the 12 of 12. Thanks to Chad Darnell, the brainchild of this great idea. Head over to Chad's website to see what everyone else was doing today.

4:15 pm Phoenix, Arizona - The park and ride lot. Only at a Nascar race will you find someone who drove his/her big rig to the race.

4:20 pm Phoenix, Arizona - We were getting ready to get on the shuttle to go to the race track when some of these very kind strangers offered us some free beer. Apparently, you can't take large or hard side coolers to the race, so they had to get rid of all their beer before they left. We happily obliged in helping them out.

5:00 pm Phoenix, Arizona - Here we are at the race, the Subway Fresh Fit 500.

5:10 pm Phoenix, Arizona - One of the pre-race festivities, Army Rangers parachuting out of the sky.

5:10 pm Phoenix, Arizona - An up close shot of a parachuter.

5:15 pm Phoenix, Arizona - The race track. We had pretty good seats, and I can't complain since they were free tickets.

5:20 pm Phoenix, Arizona - Another pre-race surprise, a fly over by some Army helicopters.

5:25 pm Phoenix, Arizona - One of the race cars before the start of the race. This is Kasey Kahne's car. He finished 36th.

5:35 pm Phoenix, Arizona - The Goodyear blimb watching the race from above.

5:50 pm Phoenix, Arizona - One of the pace laps before the race started. #48 is Jimmie Johnsons' car who won the race.

5:50 pm Phoenix, Arizona - My $7 can of beer. At least it was 16 ounces, instead of the usual 12 ounces.

5:55 pm Phoenix, Arizona - And they're off!!! It was definitely an interesting afternoon and evening. We stuck around until just after the first major crash, then left. But still, all in all, a good day. Till next month...

March 12 of 12

Spring is one of my favorite times of the year. Not too hot and there can be lots of flowers, even in Arizona. So here we are ready for the March installment 12 of 12. I took today off and ran a whole lot of errands. I originally thought I would just take pictures of all the stores I went to (boring). Instead, I found lots of flowers everywhere so that's what I took pictures of today. I have no idea what any of the flowers are and I haven't had enough time to do research so all I was able to do today was put up the time and place where they were taken.

Thanks to Chad Darnell, the brainchild of the 12 of 12 idea. Head over to Chad's website to see what everyone else was up to today. Here it goes...

11:50 am - Mesa, AZ

Noon - Mesa, AZ

Noon - Mesa, AZ

Noon - Mesa, AZ

12:40 pm - Chandler, AZ

12:40 pm - Chandler, AZ

12:40 pm - Chandler, AZ

12:50 pm - Chandler, AZ

12:50 pm - Chandler, AZ

3:15 pm - Chandler, AZ

3:15 pm - Chandler, AZ

3:15 pm - Chandler, AZ