Weekend in January

Great weekend. I'm blessed with a wonderful husband and great friends.

Friday
Friday night Genevieve, Joe, and David came over for dinner. However, an unexpected event made the night a little more disjointed than planned. I rode the bus home from work (my carpool partner got sick and went home early). As I walked the block from the bus stop to our house, I came across a guy on a bike with two trailers behind it. Unfortunately one of the trailers had a flat tire. I stopped to ask if he needed help and he was clearly defeated. He was just worn out and clearly didn't know what to do. It became clear that he was probably homeless and probably carrying everything he had on his bike trailers. His name was Dennis.

I went home and told Chris about it. He was hesitant to help since we were having people over for dinner (at any moment) and we didn't want to be taken advantage of. We discussed our boundaries then went out to see what we could do. To make a long story short, it turns out the second trailer was make-shift and we wouldn't have been able to get a new tire that night. We basically pulled everything out of the bike lane and onto the grass. Dennis needed to get a ton of stuff into downtown and it was clear the only way was with a truck.

It frustrated me that Chris and I only have small cars and couldn't help. Luckily, David, who was coming over for dinner had a truck. David was generous and agreed to drive Dennis (and all his stuff) into downtown. So Genevieve, Joe, David, Chris and I helped load the truck. Chris rode along with Dave and Dennis rode in the back of the truck. It turns out Dennis was going to the homeless shelter. When they got there, some other guys from the shelter helped unload the truck and got Dennis along his way.

I should mention that the entire time, Dennis was embarrassed that he needed help. He seemed the like kind of guy who worked really, really hard until every path was exhausted. (I would have given up long before Dennis.) He was humble and in no way tried to take advantage of us. He even turned me down when I offered him money. Dave seemed to think Dennis was newly homeless which I think was probably accurate. With the economy in its current state, any of us could be in Dennis' position. Helping him was a disruption to our Friday night plans, but it was just a little something. I couldn't just walk into my warm comfortable house, eat and drink with friends but leave him stranded on the street. I still wish I could have done more, but am proud of my husband and my friends for helping on Friday night.

Saturday
Chris went to work, which is normal. I was at home and completely unproductive. I read a book and watched a bunch of TV. I didn't shower until 3pm. However, I did make dinner.

Saturday night we went to a drag show with David and Keesha. I was a little disappointed that it was an amateur show (I hadn't read the advertisement carefully enough) because Chris had never seen drag. I wanted him to see all the pomp and attitude of a great queen. Though the amateurs were great and we had a good time. We ended the evening at Shady's, which is one of my favorite bars in Phoenix. If only it were in my neighborhood!

Sunday
Chris and I rode our bikes to Cave Creek to have lunch with Josh & Isaac. The ride was much tougher than anticipated since it's gradually up hill the entire way. The 14 miles took us an hour and a half with multiple stops along the way. It was a good work out, but not fun. I kept wishing for gears. (I ride a single speed bike.) The ride back home was much, much easier since it was all down hill.

Josh cooked an amazing brunch! The sweet potato hash was the best and definitely something I'm going to try to make. We enjoyed the amazing view of the mountains from their house. Catching up and hanging out was great.

Again, I'm so lucky to have good friends and such a full, wonderful weekend.

Comments

This Must Be The Place

This is a lovely, lovely set of photographs of people in their homes in Austin. While I've never lived in Austin, I've spent a lot of time there. There was a period of time while I was in college that I was in Austin monthly. It's a special place and I have very fond memories. These photographs are so true to my memory of people in Austin. Plus, I love getting a peek of how people live.

This Must Be the Place: Photo Essay by Briana Purser

Thanks, Bluishorange, for the link!

Inauguration 2009

What a big day! The United States of America has inaugurated the first black President. It's a huge day and very emotional. I wish I could have been in DC for it (except for the cold part...its a lovely 70 degrees in Arizona today and only 26 in DC). The press is talking about the excitement in DC and I can only imagine how amazing it must feel there. This is a huge, huge day. I'm proud of this country.

It just feels like this President is different. At the luncheon after the ceremony, he thanked a lot of people. Included in that list he thanked the waitstaff who served his lunch. I'm so impressed with how human he is. He consistently says that this isn't about him, but about the country and where the country is going.

Sex and the City: The Movie

Monday night Chris went out to play bike polo and I stayed home. I watched Sex and the City: The Movie. Wow, wow, wow. It was a really amazing movie. Hollywood, please make more movies like this! I want more movies about women and friendship. (And keep the happy endings...I love a happy ending.)

I love that this movie showed the ups and downs of love. I love that the ladies are still quite fashionable but they're not over-whelming about the fashion. I love the male characters and that they play a secondary role. I loved Carrie's personal assistant. I love that forgiveness is just as important as love in this story.