hi ho, hi ho, off to san francisco and napa i go.

it's that time of year, folks.

about this time last year, i hopped up on my soap box and blogged about the importance of summer skin care and my battle with melanoma. it was rewarding to get an email from one follower who said that after reading my post she cancelled her tanning booth membership and decided to stick to spray tanning. hooray! and i was touched to see my story also ended up as a PSA on another blog, Imperfect Polish (post here). awesome.

summer is officially here, so i'm sharing this great infographic as a gentle reminder to beef up your SPF. lather up!

{click the picture to make it larger & easier to read}

are we insane? yes.

we're in the early stages of arizona's beloved monsoon season. thunderstorms, lighting shows across the desert landscape, cloud cover and rain ... it's a wonderful break from the summer heat. 

this past weekend the temperatures dropped into the double-digits so we decided sunday was our chance to get outside and do something active. for a while, the heat is a fun excuse to be total slugs over the weekend and basically just eat and drink, but after a while of living in the desert without a pool (us), you quickly run out of entertainment options (shopping, movies, eating/drinking, repeat) and eating and drinking all day, every day just isn't as exciting. so when our iPhones told us it was only 86°, we decided it wasn't too hot for tennis <insert laugh>.

we set off on our great activity adventure, but danny's dreams were quickly squashed when the first few sets of courts we pulled into were closed - chained up to be exact - which makes sense because what idiots would play tennis in july in phoenix? us.

after driving around for 35 minutes, we were ready to give up hope when we stumbled upon some open courts in bum park - but now it was 96° with 65% humidity.

danny kept telling me to just hit the ball back and forth with him, but i was determined to get a work out in so i was dashing all over the courts, hitting the ball as hard as i could and yelling at danny for not trying harder... and that all came to a screeching hault less than 30 minutes later when my head started pounding, i started to black out and my back broke out in a heat rash. game over. idiot(s).

danny handed me the jug of water, called "the game" and we headed back to the car where i kept my face plastered against the AC before running into our house for a cold shower to get my face and heat-rashed back back to a normal color. i'm bummed now (at the time, i wouldn't have let a camera near me) that we didn't get a photo of my insanely red face.

so what did we do after we showered? the only thing arizonans can do in july... we did an impromptu indoor bar crawl in uptown phoenix and proceeded to eat and drink the day away. happy summer!

blind pilot sings happy birthday to angela.

not really, but that would have been awesome. in true angela fashion, a week after she blew out her candles, we continued the celebration of her birth when a big 'ol group of peeps headed to the crescent ballroom on a tuesday night to sway to the sounds of blind pilot, a not-to-miss band touring their second album. the patio was packed with her birthday posse, alicia had cupcakes & cherries in-tow and the PBRs were a flowin'. blind pilot is a ting household favorite in the acoustic guitar / indie folk genre. they're the perfect band for chill moods and rainy days. 

here's a fun little tidbit about these awesome dudes... the portland, oregon band completed a bicycle tour in  2008, biking from bellingham, washington to san diego, california carrying their instruments on custom bicycle trailers they fashioned themselves. they made more than two dozen stops along the way to play shows. rad.

{the lovely janette, angela, alicia & camille}

 {an aunt chilada birthday tradition... alicia's homemade cupcakes at the bar}

{you can always count on angela for a Facebook check-in}

{d&c reacting to a crazy WTF just happened situation + me in my concert solo sway}

{carlyn + anglea... do the Coco}

the feral cat project headquarters: our front porch.

well, yeah. i mentioned three - maybe four - cats in this post. but we're officially home to five felines. 

it's like a cat soup kitchen around here. danny perfectly captured what dinner time looks like.
make yourselves at home, kitties. sheesh.

family heirloom loot.

each time i go home, i come back with a few new things. this time i was on a mission for afghans. my grandma eileen and mom used to crochet all the time and i was anxious to get my hands on a few of their blankets. i use a blanket every night on the couch - even in the middle of the summer. i'm just more comfortable like that.

while we were in oregon, my mom pulled out a dozen or so handmade afghans and quilts and told me the background on each one - who crocheted it. when it was crocheted. the story behind the colors and patterns. danny limited me to two (and that's all we really could stuff in our carry-on luggage), so we came home with these.

{both crocheted by my grandma eileen. we totally love them.}

plus i may have snagged another milkglass vase...

...and this awesome crocheted lace / oversized doily for the sitting room couch :) 

thanks, mom!

just what the doctor ordered.

it's been a busy week. tonight called for the couch + my boys + one of my favorite dinners... cheese, crackers, meats, mixed nuts, hummus, dried & fresh fruit. to top it off i'll probably curl up with 50 Shades Freed. yup, i'm on the final book in the infamous 50 Shades series and not ashamed to admit it. charlie tango, ladies.