Friday, July 8, 2011

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!


31 comments:

  1. He is so cute- I love the break dancing!! And YAY for blogger meet ups! I love the pic, you are all beautiful!

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  2. You do good Quick Takes. That is one cute kid! I love the meet-up. There's something so awesome about seeing bloggers actually together in real life! We saw the Haboob on the news and the girls were amazed. I was worried about you having to dust your new living room.

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  3. Hehehe....haboob.

    Your kid is so cute.

    OMGOSH HOLEY SOAP!!! SO ridiculous.

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  4. Love, love, love the dancing baby! I could watch that for hours.

    GK Chesterton always seems to "get it". No wonder he's on his way to becoming a saint.

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  5. Your son is adorable!

    I don't have a tattoo either! :)

    And, I had no idea what a haboob was until I watched the video. My brain kept reading "hubbub". lol I'm glad you weren't there when it hit!

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  6. I linked to you in my Quick Takes. Just thought I'd let you know... My "about me" page of my blog is a partial story of my reversion to Catholicism. Maybe I will write a full one sometime and send it to you if you'd be interested...

    We are fellow BC grads by the way. I graduated a little bit behind you '97. Wish I had been able to stay more engaged in college too!

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  7. Oh my is he cute! I may have to arrange for Mary-Grace to meet him when she is older. ;)

    I don't have a tattoo either!

    I saw the haboob on the news. That word makes me giggle too. :) Glad you missed it!

    People ask me all the time why I converted. I always say that when the truth is right in front of you you can only run from it for so long. At first I though maybe it wasn't a good enough answer. That I needed to put more work into it with more specific reasons. But it's true and I can't seem to come up with anything better.

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  8. no tats here! I read on Pat Madrid's site that a priest in the Phoenix area told him you guys get those dust storms "all the time". That looked like a massive bomb! Yikes!

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  9. That haboob was the scariest thing I've ever seen. (Other than a tornado.) But they have to come up with a scary name to match the scary haboob.

    No tatoo either! I tell the kids we don't draw on ourselves with markers so why would I do it with a tatoo?

    I agree, your son is sooo cute! That lady in white was so obviously in love!

    And that soap? I can't wait to show my husband when he gets home! Thanks for the laugh!

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  10. I'm the rebel, I have a tattoo!! Haboob makes me giggle!

    Welcome back!!

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  11. Awesome- is your little guy doing "the worm"? Throw back to the '80's, baby.

    Good ones!

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  12. Manda, I've lived in AZ for practically my whole life, and while I've seen little dust devils, I've never seen anything like that haboob before! So, I don't know who that priest is, ha ha!!

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  13. No tattoos here, either, and no desire for any.

    I had such a great time with you and Nicole! We easily could have talked for hours more.

    The haboob didn't hit us too hard in Surprise, thank goodness.

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  14. Thank u for sharing the pics! Ur son is so adorable and so r u Beautiful Ladies..
    The haboob is the scariest thing I have seen so far.. Glad that u missed it.
    And I hate tattoos :)

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  15. If I were you, I'd tatoo "haboob" on your boobs.....! ;)

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  16. You guys are all so sweet! And, Ashley, I have about three or four funny responses to your suggestion, but they are not entirely appropriate, ha ha!

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  17. Kimberly! A former BCer? I'd love to hear more! And, I want your story! I'm gonna go check out your blog….

    Welcome!

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  18. Hope you don't mind, Leila, but I have to link to your blog about that soap!

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  19. I do not have a tatoo either!

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  20. Hmm, was that a California beach? I totally could have come down and babysat for you!

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  21. I love that kid!!!!!! Can't wait to get him and Abigail together!

    No tattoo- or any desire for a tattoo- here, either!

    WOAH. That haboob (seriously?) is CRAZY. Looks like a horror movie!!!

    Ashley- HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

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  22. No tattoos here!! Very fun about blogger meet up. I need to do that with a couple of local bloggers here. Very cute dancing baby.

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  23. Yay for blogger meet-ups!!
    No tattoos here either.

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  24. How did I live 43 years and never hear or see the word haboob? I even lived in AZ for two years during grad school, and trust me, if I had heard it before...I would remember!

    Love your blog!

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  25. aaww, sorry. thought it was apparent i moved to cali! looked like you enjoyed your all things blogger break though!

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  26. Jan, I only heard the word for the first time a couple of years ago. It's an Arabic word, and even as an Arab, I didn't know it! But it sounds a bit like "habibi", which means "my darling".

    Moonheads, that is how brain-fogged I am. I knew Mexico and Texas but didn't connect the dots to Cali. I am a little slow these days, ha!

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  27. Dang I wish you had been there for the haboob to give us a first hand experience report, that is so interesting!

    Love the "break dancing" pictures, too cute :)

    Always love blogger meet ups, they happen too infrequently.

    Allie

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  28. Wow was that haboob :) crazy! What a fun way to celebrate the 4th! And great bloggers meet up pic!

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  29. Love the meetup! How fun! We still nee to meet for lunch so I can get that book from you!

    So cute about the breakdancing. hilarious!

    We missed the "haboob" too, we just got back (to the mess!!) tonight. Amazing.

    Oh my gosh, that soap story is hilarious. Seriously, what are these libs thinking? (Or not thinking?)

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