Last Weekend

Last Saturday while Brett was at work, I went to Glendale with his Aunt Judy and cousin Jenny to have lunch and check out some antiques.

We started out at this cool place called the Brass Armadillo that has just about everything you could ever imagine and then some. 

After the Brass Armadillo it was definitely time for lunch.  We had planned on eating at a mexican food restaurant, but as we walked toward it we noticed that as soon as you crossed the railroad tracks you were definitely in a different part of town, and perhaps not the safest part of town, so we turned around and decided pizza sounded just as good.

We had lunch at La Piazza Al Forno which was featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.

We had this pizza:

It was AMAZING.  No red sauce, just butter, huge chunks of garlic and feta and mozzarella cheese.  Absolutely to die for.  We also had some delicious ravioli that was probably the best I have ever had. 

After we has fully loaded on carbohydrates it was time to walk around and check out more antique shops.

 

Judy and Jenny decided they did not want to take a picture with me.  :-P  I think it might have had something to do with the fact that they knew it would ultimately end up on the internet.  That's ok though.  I love them anyway.  

Picture or not we had a great time and will definitely need to plan another "girl's day" sometime soon! 

Adam

Adam came to visit us in Arizona last weekend! 

The first night we all just hung out on our patio, enjoying the fabulous Arizona weather.

Saturday morning Brett had to work, so Adam and I headed to the Phoenix Art Museum.  This picture makes it difficult to tell, but it was absolutely pouring and we got completely soaked walking from our car to the building.

Here's proof:

Really wet feet:

On Sunday we went and enjoyed Old Town Scottsdale even though it was raining.

We posed with the giant boot just for fun:

And checked out the mission:

And all the cool art.

 

It was a great weekend and we always love having our California friends & family come for a visit!!

Scenes from the Desert

When I drove out of our little gated community on Monday, I saw this:

It seems that our pounding of rain left us with some snow on the mountains.  I knew there were more pictures to be had, so I drove a couple short miles up the road to the Tonto National Forest to see if I could get a better view from there.

I was able to get a great up-close shot of Red Mountain, which I also see when I pull out of our drive, and some pretty foliage.

 

I really like the vintage look of this one...

...and the "old west" look of this shot here:

But, it still wasn't what I was looking for.  I wanted to see those beautiful snowy mountains, so I drove on up the road a bit.

It was at this point in my journey that I began to think that The Eagles were sounding an awful lot like Hootie and the Blowfish.  About 60 seconds later I realized that my Eagles CD had changed to my Hootie and the Blowfish CD and suddenly my world made sense again.  In the midst of this, I found the shot I was looking for:

There's something really beautiful about the contrast between the desert and the snow-capped mountains.

Up close, things are even prettier: 

And for my wonderful Grandmother, who says that I do not blog enough pictures of myself, this one is for you:

We're Gonna Need an Ark

Did I ever mention that Brett & I are living in a lakefront community?

No?

Well that's because we aren't... but this scene says differently:

The park down the street is totally underwater.  The freeways are all underwater.  I think Brett might have to swim to work tomorrow. 

I hear things are not much better in So Cal. 

We have nothing but more strong storms headed our way.  I checked the hourly weather forecast and the strong storms just keep going...

and going...

and going...

and going...

I stocked up on all of the necessary supplies (food, water, crafting stuff, etc.) so that I can just hunker down and stay home and not go anywhere until the world outside stops blowing away. 

It sounds like a good plan to me. 

New Year's Day Hike

Travis and Alex have come to visit us over the New Year's weekend.  On New Year's Day we headed out for a hike to a wind cave in one of the nearby mountains. 

It looked quite manageable from a distance, but the trail actually became more steep and rugged than we had anticipated.

At least the desert scenery was pretty along the way. 

After much walking and relatively little falling, we reached the wind cave at the top of the mountain. 

And of course, we have the photographic evidence to prove it. 

I would definitely do this hike again, but maybe next time will be after a little bit more training on the elliptical. 

The 'Big Move'

Ah, the joys of moving across the country. In town moves are infinitely easier. Since I know you are dying to hear all about how the move went, here it is:

We started packing quite a while ago, but didn't start loading the truck up until graduation week:


We had the challenge of fitting all of our stuff into 12 linear feet of truck, and Brett & our friends accomplished it.


We are very grateful for all of the friends and family that came out in full force to help us get the truck loaded and the house cleaned.




Moose was not a very big fan of the whole situation, but he was a trooper and hung out in his carrier during the packing and the drive across the country.


We waved goodbye to the Iowa-80, the World's Largest Truck Stop, and a landmark that I drove by everyday on my way to work.


We stopped to rehydrate at what is probably the cutest little gas station ever.

This is the evil Subway that gave me a horrendous bout of food poisoning on our drive to San Diego in Summer of '07. Don't worry, we did not eat there, we just got gas there.

(Side Note: Does anyone else find it funny that all of these cars are silver?)

We waved goodbye to Mr. Terrible and his casino as we left the state. He was the first thing that greeted us when we arrived there nearly four years ago.


We hit Kansas City just in time for rush hour.

This is the most traffic that we had seen in some time.

Here is Brett's very serious traffic face:


And this is my not-so-serious traffic face:

On road trip day 2 this cow really wanted to say hello:


And most of Oklahoma and Texas was flat and boring like this:

On day 3 we woke up to snow in Albuquerque. Things started off okay, but then visibility got worse...


and worse...


It did make for some pretty scenery though....





The good news is that the snow cleared up relatively quickly, which is a good thing because nearly 400 miles at approximately 40 miles per hour is not the way we like to do a road trip.

Just for old times sake we had to go stand on the corner in Winslow, Arizona.

Moose was pretty well pooped at this point.


Flagstaff was chilly but picturesque, with only mild flurries.




It was our last stop before arriving safely in the Phoenix area. I busied myself for the last leg of our journey by harassing Brett with my camera:


Look! It's both of us!


Uh-oh I know what this look means. This look says 'this crazy woman better stop taking pictures of me soon...'


Yeah, game over.