CrossRoads Blog

The Lake Pleasant Good Dam Run is just one of those events that if we live here and are in town we will do every year. It’s not a big race, heck they don’t even give out medals, but it sure is a fun run. First off, it’s one of the few local events that actually is a trail run. Well it’s kind of a trail run or partly a trail run is better said. The first few miles are run along and in a Wash ducking trees and trying to avoid the water and the sand slosh as much as possible. You then run up and out of the Canyon (a nice climb for sure) and across the Earthen Lake Pleasant Dam they open for just this event.

I think the main reason we like it is it was one of our first organized runs, and best yet, every year friends Misty and Jim and their youngins’ are out there too. This is our third year to run and 4th or 5th I think for Jim and Misty. This year it the friend clan even got better because good friends James and Diosa where there too. They are fairly new to (at least to regular) running and we are so excited for them. This I think was the very first race for them. Adding to the whole gang Misty’s folks were there to do the run/walk with the Grand kiddos.

It was really a perfect weather day, even a little warm. We all got there early and hung for a bit taking some pictures and shooting the breeze before the start. With Kimberly still on the mend from the foot injury I was the only one of the group doing the 7 Mile Trail Run everyone else was running the 4 Mile non trail race. It’s really a small low key event and not really competitive, but Kimberly and I have always done well. Last year Kimberly for sure won her age group and was in the top overall and I came in second overall in the 7 Mile. I was hoping to beat my last year time and I was able to do that at 56:22 which was good enough to come in 1st place overall. I would claim some bragging rights, but like I said it’s small and I think some of the fast guys must have stayed at home. Way more cool news however was the ladies of our little gang. Kimberly sore foot and all came in second overall among the women in her race - and who came in front of her - Mrs. Diosa! Way cool women types! James I think was even in the top few men, and he just started running! Congrats to those guys for sure. I hope that just expands the addiction for them. Now we just need to get Misty and Jim and Robbie into some Saucony’s and running with us the “Running Belly Dancers Clan” can own the trails!

The Park by the way puts on a great event. The folks that work there you can tell really have a passion for what they do. They also do a great job with the raffle. They actually had way more prizes than they had runners. Everyone ended up with at least 2 prizes per person! So while the event grows every year, let’s hope next year there are so many people the prizes are hard to come by.

We have a lot of good friends here in Phoenix for sure, but for the most part all our old (old both ways…) friends either moved away or always did live under some other push pin on the Google map. So it is very cool when we get the call that some friends are headed our way. This time it was extra cool because it was Clay and Kathy making the trip to see us here in the desert. Kathy and Clay aren’t really friends - they be family - and it had been way too long since they made it out this way. Plus it was over the New Year’s holiday which meant lots of goof time to be had. Being oenophiles and golf fanatics, you knew we would be drinking well and I would need to dust off the wife’s sand wedge too.

Before we knew of the visit, Kimberly and I had been contemplating what to do New Year’s Eve. We really hate to go out, but at the same time hate to be old fuddy-dudies and just sit around. So with Kathy and Clay coming it seemed a no-brainer - we would have a party for them on New Year’s Eve! Then, with what was already sounding like a great few days got even better when the TCU Horned Frogs BCS bid sent them to the Fiesta Bowl. Both Clay and Kathy were grad students at TCU and go to most games back in Ft. Worth. Clay’s mom also works at TCU and with that has some special allocations where she could score some great seats for the game (the Fiesta Bowl is played 15 minutes up the street at University of Phoenix Stadium here in Glendale. BTW: Mrs. Reeves insisted on getting tickets for us and that was very kind and thoughtful of her and Gerald. So the week plan was set, family, vino, golf, vino, golf, vino, party, friends, tailgate, Frogs… life be good. It really did turn out to be a great week and every day ended with the old - it doesn’t get much better than that. The exception being the Frog’s loss in the Bowl, but I think next year is set up to be perhaps Natl. title time.

Seems Clay and Kathy had just landed a day before, played a round of golf and it was party time. As always we spent the day running around making sure we had everything we needed and doing the setup and cooking. Before you knew it, party time. We didn’t have a lot of the Belly Dancer gang this time as many were out of town or had other plans by the time we set the Party up. Plus it’s so hard sometimes with New Years, baby sitters, etc. But we still did get to enjoy a great fire dance from Laura, and Misty and Kimberly did a excellent sword dance too - the gang all loved it. Also cool was we had a ton of folks from our West Valley Runners group show up. We have gotten to know them all just recently really and this was the first opportunity we had to invite them over. It was great to have them. Of course a ton of the other usual suspects were also kind (or silly) enough to spend their NYE with us as well.

I’ll leave the details for another time, but as seems to happen as the night wears on the activity under the Tiki Bar progresses to trouble (ish). Stirring the pot this time, Mr. Clayton Reeves himself. He was pouring Tequila shots quicker than a Nolan Ryan fastball. My poor little sis ended up playing that game a little too long by the way and missed Auld Lang Syne by about 15 minutes. Tequila along with a ton of Bubble Water, including some Dom Perignon (brought by good friends Christian and Debbie) was a flowin’ until the wee hours. I think we ended up hitting the pillow about 3:00 am the first early morning of 2010.

Over the weekend we did the golf thing. I got to play Anthem Country Club which I have wanted to for awhile. Considering the cold, and I had not played in forever, plus the course (man it is a tough one), I did pretty good. Would have enjoyed it anyway, but sure helped having a decent game. I even won a couple of bucks from Clay (let’s not mention he has to give me 2 shots a hole).

One of my favorite days of the whole visit was Fiesta Bowl day. We did it up right. I think we had the whole back of the truck full of grills and coolers, chairs, food, etc when we headed over to do some serious tailgating at the stadium. It was a chamber of commerce weather day, I grilled some burgers, then some shrimp, and we just hung out all day munching and drinking beer and vino and enjoying the great company (incl. Clay’s folks who were here for the game). The best part of the day however wasn’t even at the game - it was because our Grand Daughter was born (Healthy, happy 6lb. 10oz. Ariana Marie)!! It was killing us though that we could barely get cell service to find out all the details.

I sure hope that Kathy and Clay enjoyed the week as much as we did. I wanted everything to go perfect because there is some talk that they may make Phoenix home a couple/few months out of the year. It would be so, so cool to have them close so we could hang all the time.

As always… you know there were some Party Pictures (errr ummm …minus a few) HERE and also the Fiesta Bowl shots HERE

Sometimes Kimberly and I are running around and next thing you know the whole day is gone, or the weekend for that matter, and we go “man what happened, were did all the time go”. It’s like time really does just fly by. Neither of a has a job that is outside of the house, we have no traffic time, no kids piano or Tae Kwon Do lessons to go to, no PTA, no etc. - but yet it seems like we don’t ever have a spare minute one. Yesterday, I think this was the epitome of ‘no rest for the wicked’ as we were running (ummm.. no pun intended) right from the get-go!

Our morning started with a 4:00 A.M. rise. We quickly did the breakfast thing, and got ready for the Saturday long run with the West Valley Runners. Seeing we were starting the run at 5:30 so that we would be finished by 8:00 ish, this meant cold weather gear, gloves, packing the GU shots, music charged, headlamps on, watch, recovery bars, spi-belt, etc. We wanted to still make sure we had at least a little time after the run to go over to Starbucks and hang with the guys before we had to scoot quickly home and get things going for the next part of the morning. So Kimberly knocked out the 18 miles she needed and I got in my 21.5 and we went over and said hello for a bit with the gang for coffee.

We couldn’t stay long, because we had to run home and get ready for the Annual Tae Kwon Do Party in the park by 10:00. Seeing we had committed to bringing the breakfast Burritos that meant a ton of veggie chopping and cooking still to be done (to say nothing of cracking and separating 5 dozen eggs as we only wanted the whites). So we were flying with showers going, four burners cooking, the electric skillet rockin’, knives, chopping boards everywhere, wraps, aluminum foil, it was nuts. But we did manage to load the food (about 30 plus Burritos), grab some chairs, throw them in the truck and make it over to the park only 30 minutes late or so.

The get together was good fun as always. Way more food options than we all need. I scored some home processed sausage and even ate a doughnut (I ran 21 miles that am so I figured it’s all good). We spent some time shooting the breeze with the whole gang - the folks and the families of our Dojang are all great people. After stuffing ourselves it was time for the annual soccer game. I had a riot, even though I had to play much more in control than last year seeing the hamstring is still very tender. Kimberly wisely watched from the cheering section. I think we played for at least an hour and half before the crowd started breaking up and we all called it a wrap.

It was now time for a late lunch and little store running we had to do. We got the shopping done as fast as we could, came home, ate, hit the shower again (funky from the Soccer and being out in the cold), and got ready for the night. Kimberly’s fellow Belly Dance troupe friend Laura was having a birthday get together. The cool part was that it was going to be the Coyotes Hockey game playing the Sharks. So I was down with that for sure. Only thing was, the gang was all getting together before the game over at Westgate for dinner and drinks meaning we had to be there by like 5:00. Seeing by the time the late lunch and showers were done it was now 3:30, there would be no hoped for nap.

We had a good time at the restaurant and game, it was nice to catch up with everyone. Seems like it has been forever since we have had a night out with some of the Belly Dance gang. It was also nice to see the Coyotes playing some good hockey (it’s been awhile), but sadly we had to book it after the second period so we could rush home and get ready for the Annual Boat/Xmas Party at the Courpe’s. Good news is we are only about 15 minutes from the stadium, I think it took more time to walk to the Truck than it took to get home once out of the parking lot. So within one hour of leaving the game we were in the Christmas(ie) duds with Kimberly’s homemade cookies and a bottle of Vino in our hands walking into the Party.

Alan and Ene always put on a great holiday party, and this year was no exception. Seeing there was no Boat Parade that meant no kiddo’s. No kiddo’s I am sure meant a much more ‘adult’ vibe to the later hours of the party - which sadly we did not get to see. We said hello everybody, had a few cocktails, some vino, hung as best we could, but by about 11:00 we had to fess up and admit we were getting too old to party into the wee hours. Still by the time we hit the sheets it was a 20 plus hour non-stop day. I still wonder where the heck the time goes and how we used to do it back in the day with kids around….

So good news and bad news. The bad news, the ‘third annual’ Vegas Bellydance convention was easily the most subdued of all years. The good news, the ‘third annual’ Vegas Bellydance convention trip was easily the most subdued.

Actually it was a great long weekend. While it did not feature some of the comedic value of Belly Dancers rolling on the ground at 4:00 AM in the middle of a casino, nor playing VIP with Bottle Service at an Ultra Lounge as in years past, it was no less enjoyable as we were able to spend a great deal of the trip hangin’ with good friends Misty and Jim (Jimbo, the Jimster, the Jiminator…).

We played nice with the drinking goggles this trip, though not that we didn’t give it a run, nor for the lack of it hanging around (umm.. Misty just suggested she wanted options as she pulled 6 bottles out of her suitcase and put them into the fridge. But for the most part, grading on the Vegas curve we were good little boys and girls (or at least good little boys – you know them belly dancers…).

During the days while the girls were doing that shimmy thing over at their Bellydance classes, me and Jim did the typical Vegas Walkabouts – cruising around the Hotels and Casinos getting some people watching grins and looking at all the crap in the stores that it’s hard to believe anybody buys? Though come to think of it, I did score some really comfortable black leather Drivers at Barney’s and we found a most excellent sushi kinda’ place we really enjoyed called Woo even if the portions were a little high on the artsy and low on the quantity scale.

Being Vegas you know we got in some good eats. Kimberly and I hit up Rao’s again. I needed a redo on the Chicken Cacciatore mmmmm. And you know Payards is across the hall there at Caesars. We did the seafood thing across from our hotel one night, but the best meal of this trip was a Puck’s Trattoria Del Lupo again. We just have never had a bad dish there, they are always on it. That dinner also provided some of the trip’s entertainment as well. The table to the right of us featured one man and about 10 woman. Yep, 10-1 and they all seemed to be playing the smile and giggle notice me game. It took a bot to figure out who the heck it was, but once you saw that trademark clock you knew it was Flavor Flav. Yeah, I guess this is one of his good half decades (seems he does the the 5 year up and 5 year down life). Being husbands of belly dancers, Jim and I could only smile and nod as the woman folk hopped up to partake in the Flav paparazzi moment (like they would miss a chance to get their picture taken… please). I will say though, Flav did a little belly roll thing with the girls that was closer to bellydance than his rap is to rappin’ . Ahhh…. Just 11 months and 28 days until version Quattro!

A few PICS HERE (we didn’t take much this year)

By Kimberly

Dinner in the Desert with the Flowers and S.O (that’s Significant Others in Blog lingo).

On Saturday night we hosted a Texas BBQ themed dinner to celebrate the Macy’s Day Parade Entry DVD that my dance troupe The Desert Flowers recently performed in. (As a side note special thanks to all who helped out so much in the making of the DVD and the setting up of the church for the event.) Michael made some awesome Texas Brisket and chopped chicken and even some great homemade slaw. We had a nice dinner and then, as per normal with the Flowers and friends, did a bit of drinking. It was a fun evening and….no one ended up in the pool, which was a big bonus considering that its still a little nippy and non too sparkling!

Sorry no pictures gallery link yet until we do some editing - iffin’ (Texas talk) you know what I mean

By Kimberly

On March 18th the Desert Flowers performed at the Desert Gardens Church Fellowship Hall. The church was kind enough to allow the show in their facility and many members attended the show. The performance was recorded in order to put together a promotional DVD for our Macy’s Day Parade Application as well as for other events. There were quite a few practice nights set aside prior to the performance . We had some unique Bollywood style dances as well as Gypsy style dances and some more traditional belly dance. The Desert Flowers brought in Desserts for the evening to treat all attendees. It felt like a successful event and was a lot of fun.

Here’s hoping we are spending thanksgiving in Manhattan! -

PICTURES FROM SHOW HERE
THE VIDEO (will add link when online)

By Kimberly

On January 10th our home hosted the bitter sweet party (roast) bringing The White Claws together one last time. Erik, one of the key members is/has moving to Chicago and the other White Claws members did not feel as if the group would be the same without him. The evening was filled with good friends, tasty food, several heartfelt and yet humorous speeches and of course plenty of drumming and dancing. Although everyone at the event seemed to totally understand that it was time for the group to move on it was sad just knowing that all the fun we had dancing to the WCs had come to an end. Thankfully it seems as if a couple of my Desert Flowers dancing buddies are dating former Claws so at least we will be able to keep up with them and hopefully although they are not involved with world drumming currently they will attend some of the dance events….or at least the after parties!

White Claws….you will be missed.

Some PHOTOS HERE

By Kimberly

The dance troupe that I am a member of, The Desert Flowers, were asked to dance at a party for Olympic gold medal winner Henry Cejudo. Henry is a wrestler that grew up mostly here in the Phoenix area and has a pretty cool story. The event was on September 14th and held at the new Westgate Mall’s Bar Louie.

The whole evening was setup as a fund raiser for Henry. His family is not well off and the focus was to help cover some of the expenses for the trips to China for all. Although the set up for our dance location within the Westgate Center was a bit strange - it is still always fun dancing with the girls. It was also nice to meet Henry who seemed like a very nice young man.

The troupe has several upcoming events. I will not be able to do all of them, but keep an eye our for our schedule and come see us sometime….

Just back from the ‘Third Annual’ Vegas Bellydance trip. This year ended up being pretty relaxed and easily the most mellow of them all, which is probably a good thing. Kimberly was a little under the weather the whole time, and the event was at a smaller hotel so I think this all lead to the more subdued path.

We headed up a couple of days early. We had gotten some screaming deal offers from the Hotels (one good thing about a bad economy I guess) and so we stayed pretty much free at MGM the first couple of nights and then moved over to the hotel where the Bellydance events were located (umm… not quite the MGM by the way). The trip plan was to have a chilled out few days hanging at the pool and relaxing, get a couple of runs in on the Strip, have some good meals, and enjoy the Bellydance events.

When we arrived we found out it was Restaurant Week in Vegas which was way cool. Basically every top-end restaurant sets a price fixed menu for three or four courses and the funds go to charity. The net is you can eat at some of the best places for about half price. We were going to take advantage of this several nights, but ended up doing it only once, at Sea Blue. One of the main reasons is I had also wanted to get in a Rao’s dinner and they were not part of the event. So from a Vegas dining perspective this trip: Sea Blue was disappointing overall though parts of the experience were really enjoyable. Rao’s is as good as we remembered, and we got into one of ‘the rooms’. We had some amazing Sushi at a new place called Sushi Samba, and the best chocolate both of us have ever had is at Payard (across of Rao’s in Caesar’s Palace).

As we have been talking about, everywhere we go now we like to get a ‘run around the city’ in. For sure when in Vegas this means you have to take a run down the Strip. It was pretty cool, Kimberly and I threw on the iPods and ran from the MGM down to The Wynn and looped back. Lot’s of zigging, people watching and cool views - a great run. I liked it so much I did it (and then some) the next two days while she was at her bellydance classes. One day was one of my longest runs to date, darn near two hours straight.

We did get out ‘clubbing’ with Kimberly’s Troupe friends one night to ‘The Bank’ in Bellagio. But with Kimberly not feeling her best, and all a little tired from the long day, we called it a fairly early night. Most of the rest of the trip was hanging out at the pool and walking around (typical Vegas).

By Kimberly

Saturday night was a much anticipated event: Pharos, for both me and my fellow belly dance troupe members. We had new costumes designed and made for the events. We had practiced our tail feathers off or at least our beads (yes, literally we lost many glass beads from our new costumes during dress rehearsal). I felt ready for the show. Pharos is a new event in Phoenix and there were several hiccups that come along with putting an event together for the first time but the evening was full of great dancing and drumming and The Desert Flowers accompanied by The White Claws Raked!

It was a great set for us and despite going on almost two hours past our stage time (past midnight) it felt like we really did a nice job. Funny thing is that as I look back at the pictures there are several shots with the majority of the dancers dancing with their eyes closed ,lol. I do not really think it was that we were “feeling the music” as much as we were just plain old TIRED! Still, fantastic night with my favorite fan (Michael of course) by my side and my dancing buddies around me.

By Kimberly

On May 18th, 2008 Tim and Stephanie were married in the beautiful setting of The Arrowhead Country Club. Friends and family braved the 100 plus degree heat to share this special day with the happy couple. Stephanie was a glow with happiness and Tim looked handsome but a bit nervous although later he shared that it was due to too much fun at his bachelor party the night prior, lol. Following the ceremony there was a reception at our home. We had a good turnout….including several unexpected non-RSVP folks… which is another story altogether. The Desert Flowers danced for the reception and one of the Flowers even did a special love hula dance for the couple. It was great for us to be able to share in this special occasion with Tim and Steph.

PICTURES OF THE WEDDING AND RECEPTION HERE

Kimberly and her Troupe The Desert Flowers, recently performed at a Charity event on December 2nd, 2007 called ‘Big Love for Citrus‘. The event honors the memory of Citrus Golba a beautiful little girl who last year lost her battle with Cystic Fibrosis. It was a perfect weather day, and we all had a great time. The event seemed really well setup, and there were many local performance artists doing their thing.

On a kinda’ sad note though, I don’t think the attendance was as much as hoped for. I also did not see a lot of mechanisms (if you will) to raise money. Maybe next year the founders can get some help (as I am sure it is quite challenging and time consuming) in finding more ways to raise money. I think they could; sell food, sell more clothing, pass the hat, raffle, etc. They put on a great event and everyone really seemed to enjoy it, with more help I think a lot could be done for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation by those honoring Citrus.

If you would like to support - The Big Love for Citrus Myspace can be found HERE

We spent this Halloween pretty much the same as we have for many years now - sitting in the front yard trying saying hello to the neighbors and trying to scare the little ones. We set up the yard with all the tombstones, and scary stuff, had the strobes going, and our favorite Halloween soundtrack. No crying kids this year, but a few freaked out and a couple that purposely avoided the house.

We also did get to play dress up this year. Kimberly’s (our) friend Laura had a ‘Halloween Hafla’ on Friday night. It was a good time, with all the bellydancer ladies and us bellydance groupie husbands/boyfriends. There were several special Halloween flavored dances everyone came up, and Kimberly did a solo as well. She choreographed a special snake dance to the song called ‘After Dark’, from the ‘Dusk till’ Dawn’ movie - very cool, with a scary vibe. We will be getting some pictures from the dance up soon, along with the other Halloween shots and video.

For costumes as you can tell from the picture, Kimberly went as Eve and I went as the Devil (surprise….).

Kimberly and her troupe The Desert Flowers, have been busy with 4 shows over the last couple of weeks or so. First, they danced at Sultan’s Grill. Almost the whole troupe was there and they did 2 long sets with the full troupe and several solo’s. They packed the place, and Sultan’s was the busiest they have been any night I have been there.

Then last weekend they had two shows in two nights. First an outside event at Paper Heart’s in downtown on the ‘First Friday Art Walk’. The dancing was good, but nighttime lighting made the pictures a little challenging. The following night was the big event at Mystic Jewell called “Boom-Boom Bellyfest”. Kimberly and her troupe had been practicing hard for this show as it was one of the premier events in Arizona (if not the premier show). What a great night. The Flowers were at their best, and the place was rockin’ for their performance. Which, by the way was really enhanced by having live drumming by their friends The White Claws for most of the numbers they did. The venue was really setup nice, they got VIP treatment backstage, and it was easily the best overall Bellydance show I have seen, and the best show I have seen from the desert Flowers.

Kimberly’s busy dance schedule finished up with another outside, though daytime, event at a shop in old town Glendale this weekend. Just a few of the troupe were with her, but it was a perfect weather day, and they had a great time dancing. All in all, some great nights for the girls, and the bellydance groupie husbands and friends.

MORE PICS HERE

Another Vegas trip again in September. Kimberly had her Belly Dance Intensive and we made another mini vacation out of it. Another great time (as it was last years), so this trip will for sure have to become an annual event.

We stayed at the MGM Signature and really enjoyed it. Like The Hotel at Mandalay, the Signature offers the perfect balance of close to the casino and restaurants, but far enough away from the cling-cling. We had an extra day and half there, so one day we hung out at the pool, had foo-foo drinks and relaxed. We always plan that, but it never seems to happen. One of the nights we hit the new Rao’s in Cesar’s Palace. What a great dinner - it’s a replica of the famous East Harlem location and lived up to all expectations.

The last night I played chaperon (err.. sheppard) for all the girls at a night of clubbin’ at Studio 54. We had a VIP table, bottle service and a it was a fun night - a little more mild than last year (which is a good thing…I think).

This last Saturday Kimberly and her Belly Dance Troupe ( The Desert Flowers ) braved the smoldering Heat and headed over to the White Tanks to have some pictures taken all together. It was truly painfully hot out there and I am amazed the girls all held up so well for the photo shoot.

They will be performing at Sultan’s Grill coming up here soon, so keep an eye out in Kimberly’s news and elsewhere for details. Should be a great time, see you there.

Some of the PHOTOS from the the White Tank shots.