From Sac Town, 2010 to Cactus Land, 1965

For the last year and a half, Mr. T and I have embarked on twice-a-season grand voyages replete with outstanding adventure, exotic cuisine, harrowing danger and wild romance. Okay fine, I'm trying to romanticize the 12+ hour drives to and from Phoenix where adventure comes in the form of our audiobooks, exotic cuisine ranges from Subway to Foster's, harrowing danger is found only on the LA freeways and the wild romance involves an old married couple. In any case, these voyages are usually colored by emotions--ecstatic I'm-headed-home-for-vacation excitement or melancholy I'm-going-back-to-the-desert-ALONE sadness. On this particular trip, T noted that it will be the last time I drive into the desert for an extended stay all by my lonesome. Hello change of perspective! Somehow the trip passed quicker than normal, the air smelled sweeter, the cacti seemed friendlier, etc., etc.. And of course, it helped that we were headed to a fabulous party.

A friend planned a perfectly timed "Mad Woman" 40th birthday bash at a remodeled throw-back-to-the-60s hotel in Scottsdale. We were requested to bring our finest Mad Men-esque duds which, I admit, involved lots of shopping on our parts. I found a dress (or two) and I got T to (finally) buy a new suit. With some costume jewelry, fun glasses, back-combing and brylcreem we were transformed! Here are a few photos of our adventure back in time.

As a last hoorah before my new semester begins, T and I stayed at the Valley Ho in Scottsdale after making our 13-hour trek from Sacramento.

The building is a remodeled 1960s original which used to be a private hideaway resort for stars like the Rat Pack fellows.

The layout is startlingly familiar to some scary apartments I checked out when moving to Tempe.

Cool plants and architecture though.

Loved the mod furnishings.

Especially our room. Mustard and teal, gotta love it!

Comfortable and roomy although me thinks the large screen TV wasn't an antique.

Although it wouldn't go with our existing decor, I'd love some teal walls in the house.

Cafe ZuZu offers delectable dishes like classic beef stroganoff and spinach/goat cheese and roasted tomato casserole. The food was definitely a highlight of our stay.

Of course, we were there to celebrate a friend's birthday. A Mad Men themed birthday. Cue 1965!

After a lesson in back-combing, my mom saved the day by buying me "Bumpits." I'm sporting the "double bumpit" look, and contrary to my friend Miles' comment on Facebook, that is not a breast reference!

For a slight second, I was afraid we'd be the only ones in costume. Not so!

Our Mad Woman host, the birthday girl Sarah Tracy. Check out the gorgeous cake!

To fully recreate the 60s experience, we began the evening with me sewing Mr. T's tie. Uh huh.

Lovely ladies from my school.

My gorgeous friend Jenn. I wanted to steal that cigarette holder and those gloves!

View from upstairs.

I'm bummed that this picture of my Mad Man is slightly blurry, but what can you do?

Sunset in Scottsdale, AZ.

Kendra et moi.

Kendra and her partner, Tim, look like they could be straight out of the Mad Men cast. (It was always fun in classes to differentiate between her Tim, my Tim, and the Tim who was also a student in our class.)