Artist Dates, Week 30 ~ el Pedregal Spring Wine and Jazz Concert

I'm BAD!  I have not been good about blogging my Artist Dates.  Even though I do this just for myself and no one else, I have not kept up with my blogging diary of Artist Dates.  So on Sunday, April 17th, I took advantage of the great spring weather once again for my Arist Date, and went to the el Pedgregal for another one of the their Spring Wine and Jazz concerts.  The band Affinity performed, and once again was a huge crowd pleaser.

Great Day!  Good music, and lovely weather.  Life is Good.  I will never tire of listening to music outdoors.

Music is the mediator between the spiritual and the sensual.

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN

Artist Dates, Week 29 ~ Awakening to Potentials & Possibilities

My mother-in-law has been in the hospital for over a week.  She had an accident that required surgery, and she will have to be in a rehab facility for several weeks, if not months.  It's possible she may never walk again.  I've spent a lot of time this past week in hospitals, which isn't the most pleasant environment. So after visiting her one day, I just needed to get out in nature, so I drove to the Desert Botanical Gardens.  I walked around and looked at all the cacti in bloom, and spent some time watching the butterflies in the butterfly pavilion.

I received a last minute e-mail to attend a session with Panache Desai at the New Vision Center for Spiritual Living.  The evening was called A Passion for What's Possible:  An Evening of Unlimited Possibilities. Panache enables you to step into the flow of a life of infinite possibilities, holding the greatest vision and the highest vibration of who you are here to be.  Using energetic sessions, active meditations, conversations and exercises you  become empowered to actively improve the quality and experience of your life. Panache shared that this year, your commitment to yourself is being matched by the energy. Therefore, the degree to which you show up, is the degree to which the energy can support you.





Panache Desai





Panache helped us open up our Higher Heart Chakra.  It is sometimes called the Seat of The Soul. This chakra is located between the Throat and Heart chakras. The Higher Heart Chakra focuses and defines who you are and what you have come to do in this lifetime. 



Today I spent a very lazy day doing nothing but reading Shirley MacLaine's new book I'm Over All That.  I loved her interview with Oprah this week.  She taped that show the week before the taping my sister and I attended.  If I had a choice of any of the Oprah tapings...I would have picked the Shirley MacLaine taping...she speaks my language.  I look forward to talking shop with her one day...because I have a passion for what's possible, and I am awakening to infinite potentials. 

Happiness is when what you think,

what you say, and what you do are in harmony.

MAHATMA GANDHI

Artist Dates, Week 28 ~ I AM...The shift is about to hit the fan

On Tuesday afternoon my husband and I went to Tempe Harkins Valley Art Theater to see the new documentary, I AM.  I had received numerous e-mails from different groups I am a member of suggesting seeing this film once it hits my area.  I LOVED this film...it's about the Shift in Consciousness this planet and all of us are going through...regardless if you know it or not. 

On the way home in the car, I told my husband that one sure sign of a shift in consciousness is when Fox News goes off the air because no one is watching them anymore.

Well this morning I see on the internet Fox News is taking off the air the Glenn Beck show because his show is down 35% in viewers this year.  Well that's a start with a shift in consciousness...hopefully the rest of the Fox News Network will follow. 

I would love everyone to go see this documentary I AM...because the sooner The Shift Hits the Fan...the Better.

Success can make you go one of two ways. 

It can make you a prima donna, or it can

smooth the edges, take away the insecurites,

let the nice things come out.

BARBARA WALTERS

Artist's Dates, Week 27 ~ Entertaining My Snowbirds Friends

This past week I spent entertaining five female friends, ages 17 to 54, while on spring break.  They came in from Portland, St. Louis, and Chicago.  Two of them I have known for over 40 years...we grew up across the street from each other.  So I didn't go on any Artist Dates alone this week, but it's always fun to do things you are accustomed doing, yet you see it differently through other's eyes.

My friends all came in last Friday, and all these snowbirds wanted to do first was just be outside.  They really didn't care what...they just wanted to be outside in the fresh air and sunshine after being cooped up all winter long indoors.  So on Saturday, I took them to the Tempe Festival of Arts.  We spent a leisurely afternoon there walking around looking at art and listening to music.  My friends 17-year old daughter bought tons of things there...mostly jewelry...she's a real girly-girl.  After a day of shopping we ended up having dinner at Z' Tejas Grill. 

On Sunday I took them for lunch at Tonto Bar and Grill in Cave Creek.  Once again, they could have eaten anything, and it would have tasted great to them, as long as they were eating outside on the patio and enjoying all the majestic views.

After lunch we headed to the el Pedgregal for their Spring Wine and Jazz concert.  The group performing was Marmalade Skies.  The audience was rocking and grooving to all the Beatle tunes.  Once again, they were just so happy to be sitting outside and enjoying the great weather.

My friends really wanted to go on a rafting trip down the upper Salt River, but since the water levels were low, we decided not to go.  Instead they hiked a lot around the mountain trails by my house, and I introduced them to Pinnacle Peak.  They loved all the great views and got some fabulous pictures.

Since they are all from Chicago originally, they could not come to Arizona in March without going to see a Chicago Cub Spring Training game at Hohokam Park.  I admit I really don't care who wins...Cubs or Diamondbacks.  I happy either way...they are both my teams.

If we were not eating dinner outside at my house, we would always go to a restaurant where you could eat outside.  Once again, it didn't matter what they were eating...the enjoyment was being able to sit outside.  So we took them to one of our favorite places to eat...AZ88 in Old Town Scottsdale.  Of course our 17-year old spent plenty of time shopping and buying herself, her girlfriends and boyfriend souvenirs from the Old Town Shops.

Everything I did this week are things I do frequently.  But it is always fun to do the same old things when you see what you are doing and experiencing through other people's eyes.  It gives it a different perspective...and makes it more fun.  The gang is all gone now, and I am spending Saturday and Sunday this week cleaning up my house and doing laundry.  I have another five friends coming from Chicago to visit us in July for a week.  Not as much going on in July here in Scottsdale, but this group of friends just likes hanging out at the pool drinking margaritas.  That suits me too.  :-)

Friendship is a strong and habitual

inclination in two persons to promote

the good and happiness in one another.

EUSTACE BUDGELL