<a href="http://www.diaryofalatebloomer.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/P41000031.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-5097" title="OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA" src="http://www.diaryofalatebloomer.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/P41000031-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a>Wow, I love my city.

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I moved out here when I was 25 for my first teaching job and (kinda sorta) a hot guy.  Not kinda sorta that he was hot.  He resembled <strong><a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001557/mediaindex" target="_blank">Viggo Mortensen </a></strong>who my sister has always gone nuts over.  My Viggo look-alike was a sculptor, a thinker, a dog lover.   He was pre-Aidan, but now we would recognize his demeanor as "Aidan-ish".  (The female readers are nodding excitedly and the token male readers are scratching their heads right about now.)

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Anywho, I met him at Montessori teacher training, and now you know why I was kinda sorta inclined to look for jobs out here.  (I turned down Honolulu and Nashville.  Juneau rejected me.)

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Since my Viggo look-alike was an artiste, he was naturally free-spirited.  He sat me down one night and told me that he couldn't be tied down, and he wouldn't marry until he was 50.

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This was SHOCKING to a Naive 25 year-old.  SHOCKING, I tell you!

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Nowadays, commitment-phobe artistes are par for the course in my world.

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Let me wrap this little non-love story up:  There was no great romance once I moved here, but I stayed anyway.  I also met my (now ex-)husband two months later, but now I really digress.

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My point is that I fell in love with this city, and I have been here ever since.

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I love my city for oh so many reasons, but one of the biggies is perfect weather for 8 months out of the year.  And where there's perfect weather, there are festivals.  Lots of them.

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This weekend was the <strong><a href="http://www.scottsdaleculinaryfestival.org/" target="_blank">Scottsdale Culinary Festival </a></strong>which raises lots of $$$ for what's nearest and dearest to my heart:  the arts and arts education.

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God bless the wonderful people who volunteer their time for this mammoth event which includes a week of foodie mayhem.  The Great Arizona Picnic, the grandaddy event of the festival, takes place over the weekend.

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This year, wet stuff fell out of the sky again on Saturday.   I cannot tell you how rare this is for my fair city.  Usually, it's like Camelot around here and it only rains when convenient.

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This means that the entire Phoenix-Scottsdale metro area showed up to picnic on Sunday.

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Let them eat cake!  I obviously started the feeding frenzy with dessert.  Duh.

<a href="http://www.diaryofalatebloomer.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/P4100008.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-5102" title="OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA" src="http://www.diaryofalatebloomer.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/P4100008-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a><a href="http://www.diaryofalatebloomer.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/P4100009.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-5103" title="OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA" src="http://www.diaryofalatebloomer.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/P4100009-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a>

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I'm a sucker for live music.  And sunshine and 70 degrees.  And tasty eats.

<a href="http://www.diaryofalatebloomer.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/P4100004.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-5100" title="OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA" src="http://www.diaryofalatebloomer.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/P4100004-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a><a href="http://www.diaryofalatebloomer.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/P4100005.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-5101" title="OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA" src="http://www.diaryofalatebloomer.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/P4100005-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a>

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My blog companion du jour:  my friend, Jim aka Jimmykins.

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A wishing fountain!  Goody goody gumdrops!

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Until Jimmykins nearly had a conniption when he saw me aiming my penny for the fountain.  Apparently, pennies muck up the water.  This must be common knowledge in Snobbsdale because there was not a penny to be seen at the fountain's bottom.  Parents must be a laugh a minute in this town.  I abandoned my penny on the side of the fountain for good luck.

<a href="http://www.diaryofalatebloomer.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/P4100010.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-5104" title="OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA" src="http://www.diaryofalatebloomer.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/P4100010-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a> <a href="http://www.diaryofalatebloomer.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/P4100011.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-5105" title="OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA" src="http://www.diaryofalatebloomer.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/P4100011-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a>

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Been there, done that.  <strong><a href="http://www.diaryofalatebloomer.com/2011/03/14/day-167-tiggers-are-not-the-only-one-who-are-bouncy-flouncy-trouncy-pouncy/" target="_blank">(On Day 167.)</a></strong>

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Ducks on the run!  I was half expecting <strong><a href="http://www.bravotv.com/bio/jonathan-waxman" target="_blank">Jonathan Waxman</a></strong> to come running around the corner for ingredients missing in action, but nope.  The ducks were simply fleeing from a toddler on the loose.

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The See and Be Seen Crowd in Scottsdale is a trip.  Women choose to wear heels at a picnic.  To walk on grassy slopes invaded by mobs of people, ducks, and toddlers.

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Impractical shoe count:  59.

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Honestly, I expected this to be much, much higher.  In years past (during the Sex &amp; the City years, for example the count may have reached 590.

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A shout out to the women who wore picnic shoes -- cute flip flops (this blogger included) and sandals -- for the picnic.

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I couldn't help myself.  I pretended to scroll through photos on my camera in order to "accidentally" take this shot for you.

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After snacking on various tidbits, we concluded our feeding frenzy with dessert.  Duh.

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