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Last week I wrote a post for MomsLA.com about Arizona shutting down Tucson’s Mexican American studies program. It’s racist and another vile chapter in the saga of terrible things happening politically in Arizona.
I saw this video on the Huffington Post and I had to share it. Here’s the full article.
Royal T’s New Exhibit “TAG You’re It”
Coffee. I love it. I drink a lot of it and I’m very particular about it. This week I went to a tasting of a new brew at Starbucks in Westwood Village. It’s a “Blonde Roast” and the beans are roasted for a shorter amount of time for a lighter-bodied coffee.
Now, I drink very strong coffee every morning and sometime sall day long. At home I drink Starbucks Café Verona, which is a dark roast. But I also buy Pike Place, which is a medium bodied coffee.
At the tasting we got to try all 3 side by side. The one I liked best was surprisingly the Pike Place, which isn’t what I drink every day.It tasted different brewed in the store from the way I make it at home. Fresher beans? Finer grind? I’m not sure. But it was really good. Not bitter, but strong and full of flavor.
That morning, the Blonde Roast, which is called the Veranda and packed in a pretty yellow highlighted bag, seemed a little too light for my taste.
Then this afternoon, as I envisioned a long night looming in front of me, I decided to try the sample bag I got at the tasting. It was perfect for that time of day. It was lighter, but still had flavor.
Starting this week, customers can order the Veranda in Starbucks stores and buy the beans in grocery stores around the US. It’s worth trying out. You may find, like me, that it’s your new afternoon coffee.
Sometimes you just need to lay down the law. This is what I had to do with my two boys recently when I told them we were going to see Beauty and the Beast in 3D. They did not want to go because they felt it was a princess movie. Okay, it is a princess movie, but it’s such a good one.
The music is great. The animation is wonderful. And the story has a beast and a lot of dark and scary elements. I sold my boys on the darkand scary elements, but mainly they went because I told them they had to.
And of course Mom Knows Best and they had a great time.Actually, they really did have a great time and they loved the movie.
It didn’t hurt that we saw it at a screening at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood and Beauty and the Beast came on stage before the movie started. It also didn’t hurt that there was a funny, new animated short, Tangled Ever After, that played before the film.
Here’s a clip from Beauty and the Beast 3D that starts tomorrow for a limited engagement.
Uggh. Everywhere I go people are talking about their New Year’s resolutions. It was even a homework assignment in my son’s kindergarten class (he’s resolved to do more jumping jacks). People are talking about how they will make more money, start a diet, be a better person. January 1st is full of promises.
But the thought of another thing I “must” do is exhausting. I know I need to lose weight, but if I make a declaration, write a blog post, and tell the world it will result in me diving head first into a box of See’s Candy. I almost started a new exercise plan, but I already run and lift weights as much as my schedule will allow. Any more and it will effect my work and time with my kids.
It would also effect the amount of sleep that I get. Ok. If I have one resolution, one declaration to be made to the world it’s that I will get more sleep. No more falling asleep on the couch with my latop on my lap. No more falling asleep while talking to my husband (sadly, I’ve done this while I’M the one talking). No more bags under my eyes.
This year, while my son is doing jumping jacks, I will be napping. Go 2012.
Yesterday I was fortunate enough to attend the PBS Winterpress tour in Pasadena.
The highlight for me was a panel on PBS presidentialelection coverage that included Gwen Ifill, Judy Woodruff (both via satellite),and Ray Suarez of PBS NewsHour.
Suarez took the room full of journalists to task for notasking more about how PBS will cover the 2012 presidential election. He saidthat every 4 years journalists talk about how the upcoming election is themost important of a generation, but this year politicians are arguing about what role the government should play in our lives. The future of social security and publicbroadcasting is at stake.
He also mentioned that two states, Arizona and Nevada, wouldbe getting a lot of attention in the coming months because many Latinos inthose states will be turning 18. After the panel, I asked Ray Suarez his thoughts on thevoting power of Latinos in the presidential election and the impact of theupcoming Supreme Court decision on SB1070 (the Arizona immigration law).
I love Tucson in the winter. It’s crisp and cold and the desert is quiet and beautiful. It’s been years since my husband and I have taken the kids to spend Christmas there so this year we packed the car and made the 8-hour road trip from Los Angeles.
The car in question was graciously provided by Ford. We borrowed a Lincoln MKT for a week and put about 1,200 miles on it. It was a fabulous roadtrip car. It was roomy and luxurious with leather seats and so much leg room.
We were able to pack two kids, 5 suitcases, Christmas presents, blankets, and pillows and we could still see out of the back of the car. Once we got to Tucson and unpacked the car, we could fit 2 more people once we put up the seats in the third row.
My favorite features in this car-full-of-cool-features were the built in cooler that we used for cheese sticks, sodas, and water, and also the AC outlet that I used to run and charge my laptop while we were driving. I didn’t use the laptop while I was driving, but it was great for the passenger. The only thing I didn’t like about the Lincoln was the gas mileage. We got 21 miles per gallon on the highway, which seems good for a vehicle of this size, but less than we were hoping for. It drove wonderfully and we loved the GPS telling us how far we had to go.
It was interesting to get to use all of the new technology and safety features that are available in new cars these days. The Lincoln had adaptive cruise control that would automatically slow down in traffic. In normal driving, if the car sensed that we were approaching something too rapidly an alarm would go off to warn us to brake quickly. When backing up, not only was there a rear camera, but an alarm would sound if we were getting too close to something. And then there was the mood lighting. The interior accent lights could be changed to a variety of fun colors.
The cars features combined with my kids’ good moods and lack of traffic made for the best drive to Tucson I’ve ever had. We left late morning from West LA and arrived at Loews Ventana Canyon in the early evening. We got a great deal on the hotel and had a fabulous time there. The first night an astronomer had set up a telescope and allowed guests to look at the stars while she gave a talk. Weeks earlier, the hotel had a gingerbread making party and decorated the gingerbread men that stood guard around the gingerbread replica of the San Xavier del Bac Mission in the lobby.
After a day visiting with friends, we took the kids to my favorite place in Tucson, the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. The desert zoo has outdoor walking trails where you can see coyote, mountain lions, javelina, gila monsters, and hawks in their natural habitat. I think we did the entire 2 miles of desert path while we were there. The Raptor Free Flight was amazing. We watched as group of hawks flew from cactus to cactus and then swooped down and attacked and ate an animal on the ground.
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| A mural in DeGrazia’s Chapel at the Gallery of the Sun in Tucson, Arizona |
On our last day before we left Tucson, we visited Nogales, Arizona to see more family. I haven’t been there in years and I was saddened to learn that my late Aunt Tita’s house had been torn down . It was beautiful and old and spooky and I wish it were still there so I could show it to my kids. We were able to see my late grandmother’s house from the outside and the old church that we would visit on Christmas Day.
Then we packed up the Lincoln and headed back to Tucson. It was a really wonderful trip and in a very sweet ride.
Disclosure: I was not compensated for this post, but I was loaned a Lincoln MKT for a week.