Ladee's Travels

Good Neighbor Kelley turns 50!!

Happy 50th Birthday to Good Neighbor Kelley!!
Thank you to her wonderful friends for creating an exciting day.

Social Media Class at ASU Lodestar

I'm attending a two day class at ASU about social media in the non-profit sector. I except to leave with great plans on combining the tools to meet a strategy.

ASU Alumni weekend Lacrosse

Beautiful weather for the ASU Alumni weekend. Lacrosse alum players out to compete against this year's team.

Tiramisu at Portland's and 3 Redneck Tenors

This is awesome. Put the restaurant on your must do list.

We went to the Phoenix Theatre to see "3 Redneck Tenors - Broadway Bound" (See their website here). This is a really funny show and the tenors are incredible singers.

See the TV interview of these crazy guys click here

Happy 25th Birthday to Kalen!!

Celebrating early at La Grande Orange! Kalen started his birthday off with a breakfast with his mother. He has lunch and dinner plans with coworkers and friends. What fun!

Yes, those are the tacky number candles used for every birthday. I dug through the "candle bag" to find the numbers. Matching ones would have been great, but it is more fun to see the multiple styles.

The cake is a yummy 8 layer red velvet cake from Tammie Coe Cakes. One slice is so rich and velvety. I can't imagine a whole cake.

Many "Happy Birthday" wishes to Kalen. I can't believe that he is 25. So grown, such a great guy.

Phoenix - Musical Instrument Museum - Visit #2

I managed another visit to MIM and talked K into visiting with me. We met at 11AM and toured Europe for about an hour then took a lunch break in the Cafe . I had the grilled sausage and K had a roast beef sandwich. Both were accompanied by a nice chilled Heineken. We returned to the second flour to tour Asia for two hours. I needed another break, so we went to the coffee shop for coffee and a cookie snack. We spent the "last hour" on a fast walking tour through the US and Canada, and then through Africa. Exhausted, we returned to the service desk to turn in our headset. The woman at the desk told us that we had to walk just down the hall to see the Hands On room and the "Visiting Artists" room. Promising that we would only quickly look, we took our headsets and journeyed down the hall.

What a wonderful surprise. String instruments, drums, things to shake and plink...all for our enjoyment.

Each section is nicely hidden, so as you move past a wall, your are delighted by the opportunity to play something else.

The guest artist room was filled with many delights. Here are a few photos of what was in the room. George Benson...

R. Carlos Nakai

Paul Simon...

And the guest musician of the day!

Matcha

I purchased a Matcha bowl, whisk and tea today from Teavana. I found it online at their store but decided to go to the Biltmore store to save shipping costs.

Matcha is the tea used in the Japanese tea ceremony.

The water is heated to 170-180 degrees, less than boiling. I put a little of the powdery green tea in the bowl and filled with water. Oops. Mistake 1 and 2. I think that you need to wet the powder first with cool water and then add the hot. A full bowl (mistake #2) doesn't allow enough room to whisk a foam. At the suggestion of G, poured out half and made two servings.

End result? Very tasty deep green tea. I'll repost back on the "mental clarity" claims? (Note: I changed the "repot" to "repost". Maybe I have mental clarity already once I read the posting.)

Have you tried this? Share your experiences online.

Musical Instrument Museum (MIM) - Phoenix

The Musical Instrument Museum (MIM) is located at 4725 East Mayo Boulevard in North Phoenix. This is at the corner of Tatum and Mayo Blvds, just off of the 101. The parking lot entrance is on Mayo. The building is huge. The entranceway is landscaped with desert plants and is a beautiful start to the museum experience. Little did I know what I was in for at this point.

The customer service staff recommended that we start on the ground floor with the introductory section, then move to the second floor to begin viewing the instruments. An awesome collection of guitars started our experience, and a display on how instruments are made gave us a warm-up to what we were to see. We went to the second floor on the escalor (or you can take the stairs, or an elevator).

The layout of the building is airy and spacious. Once we reached the second floor, we put on our headsets and continued to the first room on our right: Africa. As we rounded the corner to enter the room, we were immediately blown away with the view. Instruments, text explaining what we saw, costumes, and video screens met our eyes in a layout that called for our attention.

Each exhibit has the name of the country or region, a map, the instruments along with a description...and a video screen. As you approach the exhibit, your eye is drawn to the video screen and the action. Once within range, the radio headset picks up the sound from the video and you are immediately immersed in the music.

We had been in the museum for about an hour, and realized that we were not going to be able to see everything tonight. We had made it half way through our first continent, Africa, and had so much more to see. We decided to just walk through the rest of this section and plan to come again. Walking close to the front of each exhibit, we were able to hear a sampling of the video and the sound. We walked past Pakistan...

Through parts of India...

Across some regions of China...

This is a close-up of some of the string instruments. They were beautiful.

Through Vietnam...

Across Thailand...oh I wanted to stop at each one!

Saw a little of Japan...

And a little more of China. The large rolls on the left sit in front of a screen. The things perched on top of the roll are stick puppets. The video shows that the music is played and the puppet show tells a story.

This is a mere sampling. We exited this section. South America was to our left. Europe was across the hall. We had to stop! As we walked out, we knew that this museum deserved several trips. I think that I would like to go in the morning for a few hours, enjoy lunch in the cafe, and spend a few hours in the afternoon. Where will I start next time???

New & Improved Market Square

(Tina, this is for you!!)

I'm shocked at how wonderful Market Square is now. Gone are the mass herds of pigeons. It's open and airy, with clean tables and chairs. Two entrances are still under construction. I don't remember the old buildings as they weren't worth a second glance. More photos when I can post.