Happy (Early) Halloween!!!

I just got off the phone with Jill, Gord, Amanda and Sean who were getting ready for the best fundraiser of the year - complete with Halloween costumes! (My dance moves and Gordon's ability to down shooters of green alcohol at last year's fundraiser were legendary! I can only imagine what this year will bring.) It was SO wonderful hearing familiar, lovable voices! I've been very busy these last few days, so I'm sorry for being delinquent in the communication department. The good news is!: I moved into my new apartment!!! I did the hard work of lugging everything up the stairs (haha.... yes, I live on the third floor AGAIN - I can't get enough of it)yesterday, and have been having a good today organizing and decorating... And laughing at the random assortment of things I brought down versus those things I decided not to pack: a hammer, but no nails; a bean bag chair, but no insides to fill it; a broken chair, but no glue to fix it. So... I'm currently leaning against a bean bag filled with pillows since I, for some reason, thought I'd need five throw pillows and five full size pillows while I'm down here.... ??? (Never pack under stress - it comes out all mashed up in the worst of ways.)

Work continues to go well. The weather has been scorching, though, so I've been guzzling more water than I ever thought was possible. I live about three minutes (driving) from work now, so the extra sleep is fantastic. I'm still exploring/learning about my new apartment complex (don't know where the laundry room is... but it'll turn up somewhere), but it comes with a lot of perks, like a fitness room and WiFi.

Here are some more pictures for you to enjoy. Oh, and thanks for all your comments - I miss you all and love hearing from you!

P.S. If you haven't voted on my poll yet, DO IT NOW.

And lastly, I'll leave you with today's personalized license plate: B FLYE

(The top photo is the view of the Catalina Mountains from my bedroom window. The apartment is long and skinny, so you can see the front door through the hallway in the photo taken from the bedroom. The kitchen is closest to the living room, and the bathroom follows on the way to the bedroom in the back - shower and toilet on one side and sink/mirror on the other - I actually like it quite a bit.)





YES - TWO closets! A girl's dream. ;)

First Day Off

Greetings! I’ve got a cup of amazing brew near my hand and an Arizona sunrise in view, so things are looking up. It’s also my first day off, which sure doesn’t detract. Unfortunately, I haven’t heard from the apartment place (I believe because it’s awfully hard to get an answer out of both my previous landlord and previous employer via fax; I advised the apartment personnel to call the offices instead, but we’ll see). However, I still hold hope that I’ll get the okay to move in later today.

Until then, I plan on shopping! Sounds like a good use of a day off, right? Oh, and I’ve been meaning to put my sisters’ concern to rest – please don’t worry, not only do they have Ross here, they have TONS of locations. I know, close one, right?

I also hope to go on a walk this morning. I took another short walk last night to catch some of the sunset. It’s fairly flat here (save for the mountains, of course), but I’m determined to find a vantage point from which to see more of the area.

To revisit an earlier entry, I’ve come across a few more personalized license plates worth sharing. Most are up-lifting, if not inspirational, such as ‘EMAGINE’ and ‘TGOODTB.’ Once in a while, though, you find something a bit concerning: ‘WKUPNOW.’

A week ago today was my first full day in town. It feels like I’ve been here a LOT longer than that. I’ve already fell into a routine, and the Wise’s dogs love me like their own now (which is good in some ways, but the excessive slobber sure isn’t a perk ;). The first two days I had to use Google maps to get myself to and from work (which is kinda funny, if you ask me), but I’ve got the route memorized now. I even know the area of the fruit stand fairly well already.

I’m very excited about how well the fruit stand is doing so far. And my goodness, I love being around all this delicious food! We’re building up our inventory day by day, as Randy makes more and more local connections. So far we’ve got: apples (many varieties), sweet corn, potatoes (several varieties), tomatoes, d’anjou and bosc pears (SOOO good), bell peppers, garlic, squash (many varieties), red and yellow onions, green beans, cucumbers, oranges, lemons, peanuts and jalapenos. Although I had to take a sabbatical from the Fancy Paper Plate Club in order to take this trip, I think we could say I’m using the trip to conduct ‘research,’ and I plan on coming back with loads of additional knowledge regarding food and food preparation.

I haven’t done a lot in the way of seeing the sights yet, but I’m starting to compile a list of interesting things to check out. Unfortunately, the local derby league website doesn’t show any upcoming bouts – that would’ve been fun to see. However, there is something called Biosphere 2, located about 15 miles past the Wise’s house, that sounds rather interesting, as well as several microbreweries that come highly recommended by my co-worker: Nebulous and Mario. I hope to check both of those out soon.

Here are a few more photos for you to enjoy. Oh, and please keep the hair dye vote going – so far ‘mermaid green streaks’ is winning by a total of two votes (which was almost ‘mermaid green steaks’…). Although I’m leaning toward the ‘bright red’ option, I’m willing to do which ever wins – so please make your vote count! (Are we sure blue streaks wouldn’t be cooler than green? I don’t want to look like I have fungus growing in my hair…) :)

Love you all! And thanks for commenting. I love getting news!

Disappointed!

Well! Enough is enough. I am not satisfied with lack of comments left on my blog. How, I pray you, HOW!? am I to know anyone cares for me!?

SO! I am issuing a challenge. I will be posting a poll today that I'd like all of you to respond to - along with any comments that would cheer me up and let me know how much you love me. :) (Of course, I am doing rather well, and don't need to be 'cheered up' per se, but I sure wouldn't mind the love.)

By the by, the weather was great today. I turned in a few more things to the apartment place, and hope to move in on Thursday (my day off), but haven't heard for sure. I'll let you know.

Love ya tons!

WAHOOO! We Have Internet!

Greetings! I am happily writing from my LAP TOP! Things are going really well in Tuscon for me. The streets are really easy to learn, there are a lot of beautiful muscle and sports cars to drool over, it's surprisingly very bike friendly, and every sun rise is gorgeous! The weather has been very varied so far - from rainy to overcast to blazing sunny to CRAZY windy (today). I'm not a fan of the wind (almost Ellensburg bad), but they tell me it doesn't come through very often.

If all goes well, I will move into my new apartment on Thursday. That will also be my first day off since I got down here - and I figure getting my own place (after a month of living out of a suitcase) is a good way to celebrate. I'll be living very close to work, which is also good.

I keep missing phone calls from friends, so I need to get this posted and return a few calls, but I'll be sure to post more tomorrow. Hope this finds everyone well. I miss you all SO much, and would love any comments you think to jot down for me. :)

LOVE!

P.S. Mom - It's great to hear you've got turbo water and great inlaws to help when you need them! Kara - I LOVE your wedding photos SO SO much! You and John BOTH look so incredible. Sara - I'm glad to hear you are better! I know there's so much left to do at school in this semester but I know you can do it! Sisters - I MISS you! I'm sad I missed out on your get-together. I'm really excited to hear new music, though! Thanks for thinking of me. Spokane friends - I miss you so much! I miss all our delicious dinners, pool playing and pottery get-togethers. You mean SO much to me.

(Some pictures taken on a walk near the Wise's house.)

Saturday Notes

Well Bruce spingsteen came on the radio two times today so I think that adds up to be a pretty great day. :D. After some extensive sadness, I finally began reprogramming my car's radio stations. There are a bazillion to choose from but I think I found some gems.

The weather was even better today, but still only allowed for a few hours of direct sun. I find that most people are content to wear jeans in this weather, although im sure most washingtonians would be sporting shorts at the same temperature.

I think I had some luck with apartment shopping today. I'll try to get the application turned in tomorrow and we'll see how it goes.

Tonight is homecoming and a very important football game for the Arizona wildcats. I'm sure ill be hearing all about it tomorrow from my coworkers, although I'm very content to be a hermit in the country with the Wises at the moment.

Miss everyone dearly! Take care.

Learning the Ropes

Hello all! Day number two is done. We had better weather today and also sold slightly more at the stand. I'm getting the hang of what fruit is good for what kind of dish - FPPC members would be proud! I went for a short walk this morning before work and took a few photos of the gorgeous mountains near the house. I thought about trying to find a coffee shop with wireless internet so I could add the photos via my laptop, but then I remembered people aren't as obsessed with coffee down here. They are hard to find, in fact! I know, hard to believe. Here are a few other things I've noticed about Tucson: they are REALLY into personalized license plates here (ie IM DUB); they are, unfortunately, not so into fashion... at all; they've got great, wide streets and U turns are LEGAL! YES!! Ah, U turns are so much fun.

I work tomorrow morning, but will try to post again tomorrow afternoon. We will have internet at the house by Monday, I think. Wish me luck on apartment shopping- I hope a few will be open for viewing during the weekend.

Love and miss you all!

Day One!

I am all snuggled into a huge blow up mattress bed -thanks to the Wises -which is a huge upgrade from the camping pad I had been using before. Today was a great and busy day. I navigated the city to find a few apartment options - one of which I think ill apply for - and worked about 7 hours at the fruit stand. In addition to the two owners, I work with two fantastic guys: Ryan and Emmanuel. Ryan just graduated from college and has been a transplant from California for six years. He is an outgoing six foot something redhead. Emmanuel grew up here and is in his senior year of college. He's a quieter guy, but that seems to round out our little team quite well. It was rainy off and on today, so of course the joke was that I brought cold weather down with me. The business, in my eyes, is doing really well. People down here seemed starved for quality fruit. I'll be working again tomorrow afternoon/evening, and looking forward to a slow morning doing more online research for apartments. I really like Tucson so far and am very impressed that I've managed to get myself to and from the drug stand since its an hour away from the Wises house. Well, I'm still tapping this out on my phone, so ill call it quits tonight and crack open my book before bed. Thanks so much for checking up on me! I miss you all dearly.

made it!

No internet here either, so again ill keep it quick but just wanted to let everyone know I'm here safe! More soon!

Quick Note

Joe does have internet, but doesn't have his login info handy, so here's just a quick note from salt lake city via my phone. I made good time and was able to spend an hour stretching my legs at a park before Joe came home. Traffic here is scary, but I'm okay so far. We took a drive up a canyon to see where he works and caught the sunset hitting all those brilliant fall colors. We had excellent fish tacos and nearly non-alcoholic coronas at a Mexican place for dinner and are calling an early night after a good chat. Good to see my bro again.:D Tomorrow will be an EARLY morning and a long drive. Thank you all for your comments and phone calls. I love them all.

Headed to Salt Lake

Tracy just left for class and I'll be headed out the door soon, too, headed for Salt Lake City. I started the morning with Bruce Springsteen's 'Sad Eyes,' but the rest of 18 Tracks is starting to perk me up.

I plan (if I can find it...) it stop at City Brew on my way out of town. It comes highly recommended by both Tracy and Pat. I'll probably need to rush it, though - I'm a little behind schedule.

It will be a LONG drive today, but I'm thankful to have some 'books on tape' type entertainment to keep my mind occupied.

Last night was a fantastic time - we walked into town which gave me a good view of the river, streets and establishments. Tracy was fighting a cold, and I'm just, well, emotionally spent, I guess, so we decided to turn in early, but not before we checked out two great bars and had a fun time catching up.

Well, if Joe has internet I'll be sure to post once more this evening or tomorrow morning. Hope this finds you all well.

First Leg Done!

I'm feeling somewhat optimistic having just completed my first leg of the trip (yes, it is rather pesky of me to write a second blog entry after having just created the blog five hours ago... but perhaps I'm feeling a bit needy in the communication department). I'm sitting in Tracy's house and will venture out on foot in a few moments to track down a coffee shop she recommended. We'll meet up when she's off work so I can get a mini tour of town - looking forward to it!

The drive here was uneventful, thankfully. I stopped in Albertson for gas, which was a ghost of a town. Cars were parked on either side of the road, and it had a promising high school on the main drag, but there wasn't a person to be found. Inside the gas station, I found (in addition to a clean bathroom - thank goodness!) the late 20ish cashier gossiping about her mom to her a friend who had stopped in to visit. Almost prompted a desire to do a study on the town. Almost. :)

The wide open valley of Missoula (which looks similar to the flats of Ellensburg) was a welcome sight after miles of towering mountains - the skinny, winding freeway seemed like a tiny passage between green, sleeping giants. Beautiful, for sure, in its own way, but Missoula beats it in my book. I did notice, however, a multitude of build-in-three-months cookie-cutter duplexes near the freeway, though - much like the cheap developments we saw go up in the back end of Ellensburg. I'm not a fan of those types of developments, but I suppose they do serve a purpose. In any case, the more historic area Tracy lives near, and the yellow/orange trees littering the town, was enough to set my mind at ease.

I miss you all dearly.

On Leaving

In less than an hour, I will be freeway bound, destined for Arizona. Along the way, I'll be stopping in Missoula, MT and Salt Lake City, UT to visit friends and get some rest. I hate to leave Spokane during its most beautiful time of year - I've enjoyed the brilliant leaves, crisp air and gorgeous sunshine so much these past few days. Nevertheless, I am also excited to explore and learn about a new city. I've never been to Tuscon, or even Arizona for that matter, but the idea of heat all year long and desert beauty intrigues me.

My eyes have nearly come to tears a few times so far this morning. And I couldn't remember my pin number at the post office - so I was forced to write a check. Of course, the clerk asked if my driver's license address was current - ha! I don't have an address. So I just said yes. Needless to say, my brain is on the fried side.

Still, I feel so blessed. Blessed to have recently gone on an international trip with my older sister. Blessed to see my usually terrorizing cat recently mellow to constant snuggles. Blessed to have dear friends who have shown their love in countless ways upon the approach of my leave date. Blessed to have a boyfriend who cares for me absolutely. Blessed to have the opportunity to explore more of the USA.

I plan to keep you all updated on my adventures this winter by posting them on a nearly weekly basis. I'll be sure to post photos, as well.

Thank you ALL for being in my life. I couldn't do this trip without the support I've received from each of you.

Okay, enough of the gushy stuff. I'm off like a pelican... ;)