Part of my exploring focus was with a hope of getting outside and exploring more, but part of it was also to embrace where I live and experience fun Arizona activities. As the weather heats up, some of those things are necessarily going to need to be indoors (or else outside of Phoenix!)

True story- when the photographer was setting up our photo he said- well I think we all know who gets the spear… I think it’s supposed to be Wotan’s spear since the Valkyrie don’t show up in this part, but I think I could rock some warrior woman spear combat if I had to…

So this past weekend we explored some onstage adventures. My husband got to see Henry IV Part I over at Southwest Shakespeare. We often have to switch off when seeing a show due to finances and childcare and since I’d gone to see Brelby Theatre’s new work Spin a few weeks ago which was packed with fierce females and roller skating, it was his turn for some solo theatre. Henry IV is one of my favorite Shakespeare plays (I will always always cherish getting to play Hal and Lady Percy… and one day I hope to play Mistress Quickly!) and I’m glad I at least got to hear all about it. Saturday, however, we were lucky enough to go see something together. My husband got tickets to the OPERA from his work! Going to see a professional opera production has been on my bucket list and a sweet friend agreed to watch the kids so we could both get dressed up and see Das Rheingold together. We felt so fancy being there and so grateful for the tickets. They even had a professional photographer taking pictures in the lobby! We had fun being immersed in the epic adventure of gods and dwarves and sea nymphs and it was such a different experience than most shows we go see. We had a lot to talk about on the way home and it made us wonder what it would be like to experience the whole ring cycle… I don’t know why I’m a sucker for really long stories when most people would dread them but a festival where you spend days watching opera or all day watching Nicholas Nickleby or Harry Potter marathons or a festival of all of Shakespeare’s history plays are just super appealing to me. I also think I now need to go re-watch Lord of the Rings…

The next day we had even more Arizona love with a much belated pool date. For my birthday last year (almost a whole year ago!) I got a Groupon for a massage at the spa at a local hotel, and the Groupon included return passes to the hotel pool. It took us until now to use them! It was such a gorgeous Arizona day and as it got warmer the move from the hot tub to the pool water was perfect. Plus, we are always up for a free date, especially one that feels so luxurious! I forget that so many people travel here for their vacations and that maybe a staycation once in a while would be a really fabulous idea. We have a lot of travel coming up this summer, but once that is done I am looking forward to exploring more local restaurants and other special spots and for the love of my life and I to keep re-falling in love with the place we’ve decided to call home.