Playing Dress Up

Recently, Brett and I started on a spring cleaning adventure to spruce up the house. During the removal of clutter, I stumbled upon Winston's Halloween costumes. I absolutely love Halloween; it's my favorite holiday, even though I am a huge chicken when it comes to haunted houses and scary movies. Every year I dress up and either trick-or-treat or handout candy to the kiddos; Brett and Winston also dress up - my boys are such good sports.

In 2009, Winston's first Halloween, he was a vampire. We thought the costume fit with his bat ears.



While we purchased costumes for Halloween 2010, Winston didn't get to wear them because Brett and I were celebrating Halloween on our honeymoon. To make up for the missed holiday we took a break from organizing to play with our puppy, and dress him up as a hot dog and a jockey.





Halloween isn't the only holiday Winston dons a costume. At Christmas we dress him up as Santa and call him Winston Claus.



He gets so excited when we put his clothes on, and yes, he does do tricks for treats; his newest trick is shake!

In the Raw

Tickling our taste buds with the cuisine of a new restaurant always makes for a delightful date. Squid Ink, a sushi bar in the West Valley, has a trendy, artsy ambiance. The clear lucite chairs, white lucite tables, concrete walls, and metal accents give the restaurant an airy, lofty atmosphere. While not as tasty as our favorite sushi restaurant Fresh Wasabi on 66th Avenue and Bell Road, we were pleasantly surprised to find the food fresh and the drinks refreshing - the water came with cucumber and lemon, which gave it a crisp taste and added to the zen environment. Even the wine list impressed with a red wine named after yours truly. The only con was the waitstaff did not have it together the night we were there and it took quite awhile for our waitress to take our order. Putting the negative aspect aside, I would recommend checking this place out if you are ever near Lake Pleasant Parkway and Happy Valley and are in the mood for some soy sauce and chopsticks, and who knows, you just might love the taste of water.

Swingers

A few weeks ago, Brett and I decided we need to have more fun together and enjoy each other's company outside of home and work. When two people live and work together I think it's difficult to separate the everyday together events from the "couple" activities. We've been spending so much time at work, on the house, and with family that we have forgotten to be attentive to each other, so we decided to bring dating back into our lives.

Before I became sick, I played golf all the time. Since my last surgery, a little more than three years ago, I've picked up a golf club once only to realize (1) I was not as good as I used to be, (2) I could no longer hit an entire bucket of large balls at the driving range, and (3) I needed to give my wrist a bit more time to heal. Brett saw my frustration and desire to get back out there and hit a couple good shots, so last month he took me CrackerJax, a family fun and sports park across the street from our office in North Scottsdale. My clubs are still at my parent's house and unfortunately Brett doesn't own any clubs - I need to fix this, I know - however, our nephew Cameron tagged along and we used his clubs. We bought three large buckets of balls and began to tee off from the top deck - I had no idea Brett had never been to a double-decker driving range!







Brett and Cameron hit some long drives and with the last handful of balls they managed to hit the targets they were aiming for, I was impressed. My drives have never gone the distance but they do go straight, and even though I had to take a few breaks to let my wrist rest I did manage to go through an entire bucket of balls myself.

When our baskets were empty, Cameron and Brett wanted to smack a few balls in the batting cages. Thanks to Cameron's "Mary Poppins" car trunk we skipped renting bats and the boys were able to hit a round of pitches before Cameron had to head to work.









Our first date night since our agreement turned out to be a huge hit, and we are looking forward to future dates!

Desert Visitor

Since moving into our home we've enjoyed the sights and sounds of the desert. Living at the base of a mountain has lent plenty of opportunity to experience nature, from coveys of quail skipping from one bush to another to hawks and eagles soaring against the cloudless bright sky, from cottontail rabbits and desert hares hopping along the dried earth to ground squirrels burrowing underneath the sand, from coyotes playing in the wash and calling to one another in the evening to bats flying in the black of night hunting for grub. We've even had a scorpion scurry along the walk, a tarantula hide in the garage - it was dead, and a king snake slither out the garage door. Thankfully we have yet to contend with a rattle snake - knock on wood.

The most memorable animal encounter we've experienced was a few months before our wedding. Winston was throwing a fit at the back fence; for those of you who are unfamiliar with Winston's fits, when he has one it is because he knows something is there whether it's a bone, a food morsel, his toy, or in this case an animal, and he wants it now and there is no shushing him until you get it for him. Brett and I went out in the backyard afraid he had stumbled upon something that could hurt him, but we didn't see anything so we took Winston inside to calm down. He bolted back out his doggy door and continued with his fit, digging and scratching at the back fence. He's a pretty smart boy, so I decided to look once more in the backyard - nope nothing - so I went to the front yard to figure out what was causing his distress, and sure enough a desert creature had come to visit - Winston wanted it and was trying his hardest to get it.

This is what I found...



...a desert tortoise! Somehow he or she - I don't know how you determine the sex of reptiles - became wedged between the back wall and the house. It may be a myth that turtles and tortoises cannot walk backwards, but this armoured guy definitely could not get out of his predicament.

Being an animal lover, I asked Brett if we could keep the tortoise. Brett, being the rational one, determined it was probably best to put it back into the desert, so I got his work gloves and unwedged Tortie - yes I named the tortoise just in case he ever came back for a visit. It took a few attempts to get this guy to stay in the desert, he kept wanting to crawl back in our yard or toward the street. Eventually, he got the gist of what we were trying to do and made his way home.





Tortie hasn't come back for a visit, but I'm sure he's happy munching on vegetation in the desert, where he belongs.

Getting to Know Us, Getting to Know All About Us

Kudos to you if you read this post title and started to hum the song from "The King and I."

Greetings family and friends, we've officially joined the world of blogging! In our hectic day-to-day lives we realize how difficult it is to keep in-touch with everyone, so we decided to bring our life to you via a blog. Our goal is to keep connected through our posts and your comments, so please comment, we'd love to hear from you. Now let's catch-up!

For those of you living under a rock, Brett and I were married at the Desert Botanical Garden on October 10, 2010. We entered The Garden Wedding Contest and won! The affair was spectacular and breathtaking, a wedding we could only have dreamed of if it hadn't been for the generosity of so many people. Feel free to read our story here.

Our celebrity lifestyle continued after the wedding with an elaborate honeymoon cruise to Barcelona, Spain; Monte Carlo, Monaco; Florence, Italy; Pisa, Italy; Naples, Italy; Pompeii, Italy; the Amalfi Coast; Rome, Italy; the Vatican; and Palma, Spain. Europe was beautiful in the fall and we can't wait to go back! If you are friends with us on Facebook, feel free to look at the pictures.

It's been five months and nineteen days since Brett and I said "I do." We are loving every minute of matrimony and hope you enjoy following us on our journey through a beautiful life together. Welcome to "Dusek Diaries," our paradise on Parkside.