Post-vacation Quick Takes, and blogger meet-up!

Let's dive right in, shall we?

1. There is nothing like spending the Fourth of July on an aircraft carrier with 3,500 other patriots while your baby break dances to classic American rock:

No, he didn't fall. He is doing the baby equivalent of break dancing.

He later rushed the stage and had to be escorted by Daddy from the scene (the lady in white was loving this!):

[click photos to enlarge]

Oh yes, my little one, we will be keeping a good eye on you in coming years!

Heh, heh, heh...

2. For those of you who remember the holey soap, you will appreciate this update. For those of you who don't remember the holey soap, please go here and get caught up on the back story. We'll wait. 

Okay, everyone done? Good.

So this year, the waste reducing exfoliating cleanser is still being used at our hotel (I had hoped it was a fad). After the second day of post-beach showers and I see this:

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

Wide shot

                        

The next day, the pieces had been removed by the maid and replaced with a brand new bar! I'd say at least 80% of the soap was tossed. So much for "waste reducing"! Give me that old-time, conservative (literally) bar soap anytime. And if I could keep my incandescent light bulbs, that would be great, too.

3. Am I the only woman left in America who does not have a tattoo? I do not want a tattoo. I do want to laser away these spider veins, though. So, I think I want the opposite of tattooing.

4. Nothing in the world is better than a blogger meet-up!! Yesterday, I had the absolute pleasure of spending the afternoon with Nicole from Mom and Then Some, and JoAnna from A Star of Hope (also a contributor to Catholic Phoenix)! Girls, am I right that we could have talked for many more hours?! Here is a shot of us, in front of the Danya-inspired drapes first seen in the last Quick Takes:

JoAnna, Nicole, Leila

5. The following will take exactly 33 seconds of your time. It's worth it. It's the massive haboob that hit Phoenix while we were gone. You won't believe your eyes. I've never seen anything like it, and I'm glad I missed it:

And yes, the word "haboob" makes me laugh.

6. We've had some intense discussions about gay "marriage" recently, and homosexuality in general. Keep your eye on the Bubble in the coming days, as I will publish two posts offering a fresh perspective. One is from a young gay man, the other from a young bisexual woman (who has come out of a long term lesbian relationship). You don't want to miss them.

7. I just really like this:

"Why I am a Catholic" by (former atheist) G.K. Chesterton, 1926

The difficulty of explaining "why I am a Catholic" is that there are ten thousand reasons all amounting to one reason: that Catholicism is true. I could fill all my space with separate sentences each beginning with the words, "It is the only thing that. . . ." As, for instance, (1) it is the only thing that really prevents a sin from being a secret. (2) It is the only thing in which the superior cannot be superior in the sense of supercilious. (3) It is the only thing that frees a man from the degrading slavery of being a child of his age. (4) It is the only thing that talks as if it were the truth, as if it were a real messenger refusing to tamper with a real message. (5) It is the only type of Christianity that really contains every type of man, even the respectable man. (6) It is the only large attempt to change the world from the inside, working through wills and not laws; and so on.

For the rest of the essay, go here.

Thanks to Jen, for hosting!