Happy April!

Rather than having to cope with scenes like this from back home

(Mountain pass that connects E. WA and W. WA)

I get to wake up to weather like this

On a side note, Jon took it upon himself to rent (another) non-mainstream chick flick. If you watched Desperate Housewives when it first started, then you'll see a familiar face. The acting was not so great and the story line was very predictable and unrealistic.

But I still loved it! (Isn't the female lead gorgeous?)

Some Dairy Queen, cheesy chick flick, and snuggling on the couch....I call that a great Thursday night! Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Spring is here!

I hope wherever you all are that spring is around the corner for you too! 

In hopes of finding a little splash of color, Jon and I are heading to Picacho Peak today. Around this time the Sonoran Desert explodes with wildflowers. Lupine, poppies, sand verbena and more become plentiful among the cactus. It is all dependent on the rain we receive in the winter and while we didn't get too much of it this year, I'm still hopeful. The fact that we got some rain earlier this week puts my hopes up higher! 

Jon is already pushing me to get in the shower because he wants to leave NOW! (eyeroll) I'm hoping when we get to the park we'll be greeted by this

and this

(all images courtesy of www.tucsonazrealestateblog.com)

Don't forget to enter my giveaway! You still have some time seeing as how I'm not as frequent in posting as I would like to be. Six posts left!

I'll never take these for granted!

This is what I saw on my drive home from work today. It got cloudy today so it was dreary and grey. Until, that is, it came time for the sun to set. The faintest of pinks started to color the clouds, making them look like cotton candy. As the sun sank further and further below the horizon, I could watch the most eastern once-pink clouds extinguished of their color while those closer to the retreating sun started to blush. This continued until the clouds closest to the sun got their chance to shine. It was the most intense pink-orange. The picture below was taken five minutes too late (I can only drive so fast!), but it's still beautiful nonetheless, don't you agree. So this is what I'll be leaving behind tomorrow. Farewell my dear sun. I fear I won't be seeing you much in the next week! Hello 11 degree highs and snow-covered ground! Now if only I had a decent warm coat....

What happened to fall?

OK it went from 90s to 70s. What happened to my 80-degree weather? When I went to bed last night it was already 48 degrees. I guess it got down to 39! Brrr!!! I froze today! My fingernails were purple when I decided to go out for a walk to warm up.  I don't know why the whole building is so cold. 

I skipped out on my run pretty easily today. I had packed shorts and a t-shirt last week for my run and I thought that would be ok for today since it was supposed to go up to 76. I was wrong. By the time I got out of work, the sun was about to set and it was super windy....66 degrees. Way too cold for this desert convert! If only I had pants packed, maybe I would have run like a good girl.....but probably not. Ugh! I need to get out of this laziness streak!

So ready for fall

Mother Nature has been teasing me lately. First it cools to the lower to mid 90s, then it's back up just shy of the triple digits. Now it's cooling off again, and the latter of last week was almost perfect in the upper 80s. When I let the dog out last night before going to bed, I was surprised to feel the cool crisp air of the fall evening. It has been anything but cool and crisp at night here, so I was really delighted when I felt the much longed for change. So I rushed over to check the temperature and it was 63 degrees! The low for last night was 56 and I was ecstatic. It hasn't been that cool since May! I had to clean the filter on the AC anyways so I turned it off and slept with the bedroom window open. I'm so ready for fall.

Unfortunately, temps will be rising again to the mid 90s later this week (I really hope the weather woman is wrong!) I mean, to me, October is a month of changing leaves, dew covered grass in the mornings, foggy evenings with clouds hiding the moon, thin sweaters and boots....you know, typical fall weather. But here fall lasts a few weeks at most and heads straight to winter. There are no maples or oaks that display their fall colors, very little grass, and almost nonexistent moisture in the air that is required for dew and fog! So my expectations of corn mazes and pumpkin patches here will not be met. So disappointing. I'm so sick of the heat. I want to be able to run comfortably again. Granted, 90 degrees is much more tolerable than 100, but I did my best running back in Seattle in the fall, where the high temps hovered between 50 and 60 degrees. And honestly, a knitter must make friends with cotton yarn to survive the falls here wearing their handmade goods. I miss my wool sweaters!

Forgot to add my "non-fall" inspired decorating activities. I stayed up until 3 am on Saturday making these. Well, the majority were made during the day and I took a big long break at night.

Rain and cupcake-making fun

It's 67 degrees out right now.....and we have a nice steady rain falling right now. I love it! I don't think I've seen sub 70 weather since April! I had to make a quick run to Target to buy a b-day card for my mom. The drive was uneventful but the lightning put on quite a show and the wind (and garbage) was blowing, although it was nothing compared to what force coastal Texas will be feeling tomorrow (pray for them!) When I came out of the store, it was a full-fledged rain storm. Unbelievably, there were still people running/walking around Reid Park at a quarter to 10! But don't you just love the sound of rain falling outside your window while you are tucked away all cozy in your house? It makes it better that my body is just exhausted from my cardio kickboxing class at Davis Monthan AFB. It's the perfect kind of tired, where you feel like you've worked really hard so you deserve to sit around for the rest of the night....with the rain falling steadily outside (drip drip splat splat). I hope it lasts so I can fall asleep to it. 

On a completely different subject, I made some cupcakes last night so that I could practice my rose-making skills. I had some left over frosting from my last cake decorating class and we are baking our final cakes tomorrow for Saturday morning's class, so I figured I should practice. The frosting was a little dry, last I checked, so I added more shortening to it (yuck!) but I think I added too much because it wasn't as stiff as it was supposed to be and I had a hard time making the roses. Well I guess they turned out for the most part, except a lot of them looked more like carnations than roses. I took a close up picture of the best rose I did. I'm pretty proud! I can only get better! Oh and look at Sammy coveting those cupcakes! Sorry, mutt. No Kahlua cupcakes for you. Chocolate is poisonous to dogs! Well, he did get a lick of frosting in the end.

An atypical opinion from a former Seattleite

I love the rain. I don't know how and it doesn't make sense, but there's no denying it. I lived in Seattle for 7 years and those never-ending, gray, wet winters were just too much for me. I've only been living in Arizona for about 2 years now and I have to say I miss the rain sometimes. I get so excited when it rains here, maybe because I know it will be short-lived. It's not like in the Emerald City where it's just raining everywhere west of the Cascades. Here in Tucson, it will be raining buckets and hailing on the east side when here by the airport where I live, we get nothing. They keep record at the airport too, so it's not a fair representation of the precipitation Tucson gets. 

Well, I was stranded inside the Target tonight. I got off work late and had to buy some cake mix. I couldn't find the damn stuff so was in there a lot longer than I planned on being. I was remembering the ominous black clouds coming in from the east as I scoured the food aisles for what I was looking for. Before I found the stuff the store was all of a sudden inundated with the loud pounding of rain. If I didn't know better I would have thought the ventilation system was going berserk--it sounded like air was just blasting throughout the store. Good thing I was wearing my tennis shoes today! When the torrential downpour let up a little I booked it across the parking lot to my car cursing at myself for parking so far away, splashing in the puddles that filled up impossibly fast. The particular Target I was at is located right across the street from Reid Park where I used to do my runs. It was full of walkers and runners who were taking advantage of the cooler weather when the got caught in that downpour. I saw people soaked to the bone, others had taken their shirts off they were so wet, and I was jealous of them! I was so mad that I left my running clothes at work! For some reason, rain gets me itching for a run. I even considered going out for a quick jog when I got home. That is, until I saw all the lightning that was headed towards my neighborhood. That idea died pretty quick.

For now, I just want to curl up all cozy in my house with some soup or hot chocolate and listen to the rain tap on the windows. Time to put the lounging clothes on--my workout can wait until tomorrow.

Camera happy

I haven't felt much like blogging lately. The majority of my blog-reading takes place at work when things are slow. For now, my crafty side is taking over and my time is consumed by endless knitting, baking, and now reading. So for now, I'm just going to post pictures....of my non-exciting life!

Some pictures of the summer monsoon and how hot it can get here in Tucson. We were relieved from those extreme high temperatures when the rain came! Also, the biggest beetle I've ever seen! My mom and I kicked him aside so we wouldn't run over him with the car, but when my parents picked my brother up at the airport later that night, the beetle was still in the same spot and they ran him over with the other car! I was sad. Also, from early summer, Texas Blue Something-or-Other flowers....they smell amazing!

Next up is my baking collage. The first pictures are of my Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies, recipe made available by Smitten Kitchen. They are by far my favorite oatmeal chocolate chip cookies...so soft! Next up is the picture of my very first cake, which also happens to be my birthday cake! Recipe by Ina Garten. The coffee chocolate combination is soooo satisfying (accompanied by vanilla ice cream of course!) Lastly, are my blueberry pancakes, again, recipe borrowed from Smitten Kitchen (if you haven't visited her blog yet, you must!)

And here is a quick knitting project I decided to do last minute. This little Harry Bear was made for one of my co-worker's sons who turned one, coincidentally, on my birthday! I hope he loved it! If he didn't I know somebody who would (reference last picture in collage)!

So there you have it. I promise I'll write more when the urge strikes me. But I have a huuuuge queue of knitting projects and an incessant need to bake so I'm not promising anything!

Too good to have lasted

Jon just told me that circumstances will be changing and soon we won't be able to talk as often. I've been extremely spoiled in that I get to talk to my hubby every night. He can call me directly from his office, he has a cell phone that I can call, and we talk on Skype as often as we can. That's all going to change. It's going to be back to carrying my phone around so I don't miss his calls (he calls on schedule now and if I miss his call, I can just call him back!) and I won't be able to see him anymore. After having all these luxuries, it's going to be hard to go back to "normal." I hope our relationship won't become more strained as a result!

Tucson is right there with Baghdad in terms of weather. Our daily high temperatures are matching up very nicely with those in the Middle East. It was 109 today! Jon told me that Baghdad has actually been cooler, which is why we are comparable now (due to sandstorms) And here's our forecast. Still waiting for that monsoon! 

It's definitely summer here!

It's past 10 and it finally dropped down to 95 degrees! It was so hot today, yet I still saw quite a few people running around Reid Park at 7 pm when it was still at least 100--brave souls. I miss running there! I decided to run in the mornings now when the temperature is more bearable, so that I can save myself from the awful headaches I get from running in the heat. Except I don't want to run at the park so early because it has a reputation. One of my cardio kickboxing buddies almost got raped there, and I am not taking any chances. So I have to stick to the Tucson International Airport, a four mile run round trip from my house. But...I think I'll be out for a while. I just donated my precious O+ blood today and even walking upstairs leaves me panting now :(

Yuuummmmm!!!!

It just started pouring outside! I love it when it rains here! If I could post the smell, I would because it's just amazing! I just got word that Mt. Lemmon has received 3-4 inches of snow today so far! I'm sure Mt. Lemmon Highway will be closed tomorrow. Right now, the doors and windows in my house are open just so I can take in that "water-starved-desert that-just-received-rain" smell. Might stay up just to hear the rain come down!

Another running story

I absolutely hate wind. I'll start off by saying that. How is it that on Tuesday it was 103 and sunny when today at the same time it was 67 degrees and cloudy? This is crazy weather I tell you! Spring in Tucson is full of windy days. It's not so bad when you are safe inside, protected from all that flying dust and debris, but once you step outside, hold onto your hat! And say goodbye to that good hair day you were having.

Here as just some of the reasons I despise wind so much:

1. Hair in mouth and eyes. And nobody wants hair that looks that wind-blown.
2. Dust and other fun stuff in your eyes (mine, in particular, are magnets for such things even on calm spring days).
3. I can't wear my pretty girly skirts or dresses, lest I want my chonies on display for everyone to see!
4. Running against it! With gusts up to 50 mph, you might as well strap a parachute behind me.
5. When I was still driving the Corolla and commuting to and from Sierra Vista, these hurricane force winds would almost push me into another car in the lane next to me or hold me back as I battled my way up the steepest hills at 85 mph.

So the main reason I hated the wind today was #4. No matter which direction I ran, it seemed like I was running against the wind. Well, except when I was running east, which means the wind was probably coming from the north- and southwest. I convinced myself to still go for said run even after gazing out at the windy conditions all day. And all because I couldn't just "waste" a perfectly good sub-90 degree day, considering these will be few and far between in a couple weeks. So I'm 0 for 2 for good runs this week. At least I was able to finish this time and run faster. Better luck next week.

Oh and those of you in the PNW...can you please stop sending us your crap our way? All those storms and low pressure systems, while producing the welcome drop in temperature when they collide with our high pressure ones, are the reason for these crazy wind storms here. Thanks, I'd appreciate it!

Brrrr

It's times like these that I'm greatful for my decision to move to Arizona. Do I have to move back to WA so soon? I'm pushing Jon for a future recruiting position here!

What is it with this weather? All last week I was freezing my butt off and sporting scarves and a coat and the meteorologists were telling us to watch for frozen pipes and to cover our plants overnight (lows in the upper 20s to low 30s). Now it just warms up all of a sudden? It hit 76 today (and yesterday)! I was so excited! I even hand washed both the cars, which I will pretty much avoid doing as much as I can by taking it somewhere to have someone else do it for me. Plus, Sammy got a nice long walk in the morning before it got too warm for him. I can't wait for spring (although summer can stay away for a while, thank you!) I even went shopping because of the whole "springiness" in the air. Well, I only bought sweaters on clearance. I'm a little skeptical that it won't get cold again. It is February, after all. Here's our forecast for this week.

Oh no I di'nt!

Yesterday I went to a Superbowl party down in Sahuarita at one of my co-worker's neighbor's house. It was really nice of him to invite me, and I really appreciate how the people in my lab have stepped up to take care of me in my husband's absence. I love 'em! Anyways, the whole group is really into poker and, apparently, they play pretty frequently (at least it looked that way because they were pretty good). I'm a poker novice and was convinced by my co-worker to play.....he even put up the $10 to buy me in. I wish I could tell you I had a great streak of beginner's luck, but I lost. Good thing though, my co-worker won the whole pot (over $100, but I'm not sure how much)!

But I had another chance. Before the game we were given questions to answer and we got a card for every one we predicted right (heads or tails, who would lose the first turnover, who will lead at halftime, etc.) The person with the best hand at the end won. Well when it came time to look at everyone's cards, I was talking to my co-worker's wife, so we were oblivious to everything that was going on. We noticed when we heard celebrating going on across the living room.

"Wait!" we shouted out, "you haven't even looked at our cards! How do you know you won?!"

"You better have better than a pair of kings!" she shouted enthusiastically, challenging us.

"How about a pair of ACES?!" I yelled back as I pulled the cards out of my pocket.

A whole bunch of shouting and laughter broke loose then as I walked over to show my cards. Yes ladies and gentleman, I, the person with the worst luck in the world and who never wins anything, won the pot! Wasn't as big as the poker one, but $60 is pretty damn good if you ask me. I only felt bad that I burst the poor woman's bubble.

So......what can a girl do with $60. Hmmmmm.......think long and hard. Pay bills? That's no fun. Go grocery shopping? Yeah, but until I need to this money will be burning a hole in my wallet, plus I can't even close it! Only when I was leaving work did the idea plant itself in my head.........and I headed straight to Kiwi. I'm a yarn addict! Did I not just get tons of yarn on Friday? Yes but, I found a pattern for this yarn. I already had 2 skeins of it at home and bought the rest of Kiwi's stock for Eunny Jang's Tangled Yoke Cardigan. I've been wanting to knit this one for so long! I just had to get this yarn when I saw someone else on Ravelry made a beautiful one using it!

So here's a picture of this luscious yarn. It's 40% silk, 30% cotton, 20% merino extra fine, 10% viscose, and 100% pure bliss for this girl! I can't wait to start!

I'll finish with a couple pictures from today's walk with Sammy. It rained pretty much all day here and our mountains got some snow.

The Santa Rita Mountains south of us

The Santa Catalina Mountains north of us

Keeping busy

Things have thankfully been a lot better since the day Jon left. Suprisingly, it only took me a few days to adjust to living on my own and get used to not having him around--amazing how quickly the mind remembers how to cope!

My knitting needles have been endlessly clicking away (not in the literal sense, though, since they are bamboo--ha!). I've been frantically trying to finish gifts planned for Christmas. In the span of 3 weeks, I've finished a pair of socks for Jon, a pair of gloves for my youngest sister, Diana, and am halfway through a pair of socks for my brother, Mikey ("He likes it! Hey, Mikey!") And just in case any of the siblings are reading, I've only posted a picture of Jon's socks.I'm quite proud of them and hope he likes them. I don't even know why I cast on for these first in the first place since he won't be using them anytime soon. I suppose I needed to do something for him since I am sitting home helpless while he's half a world away.

In other news, I've hired a real estate agent to sell our house. I really hope it goes quickly so we can stop this whole mortgage + rent business. I need to save up for nursing school! Well, just for the living expenses since my tuition would be paid for. I really want to get the house burden off my shoulders, but at the same time, I will miss it. I already miss Sierra Vista terribly. And who would have thought? When I left Walla Walla, I thought I'd be done with small town living for good so when I had to move to SV, I was not too thrilled. But there's just something about small towns. It's still hard for me to go down there because as I'm driving, I still have the mindset that I'm going home and Jon will be there waiting for me. So those are the bad days where I miss him way too much and I end up crying on the way home, frequently catching glimpses of my little town against the mountains until I can see it no more.

So Sammy and I took a longer walk today because I left work early. I live in a housing development of cookie cutter houses near the airport, which I guess in itself isn't too bad. We are in the furthest reaches of the city limits that haven't been developed too much and we have the desert right there. In fact, there is a small trail that goes around this development and you are pretty much walking in the middle of the desert. I was reminded of our proximity on this walk we took today. We were just getting to the part of the trail which is just dirt/sand (did they not finish this trail yet?!) when we saw two coyotes pass across in front of us. I didn't even notice them, but Sammy all of a sudden stopped and was staring intently in front of us. We both just stopped as a coyote walked across, not even 10 yards away. I hesitated for a bit and that is when another one trotted across, stopping for a while to stare at us. "Those are your cousins, Sammy" I told him as we stood there a while. I turned around to walk back, but then freaked myself out by imagining them coming up behind me and attacking so I started to walk forward again. Just don't turn your back on them I told myself as I reminded myself that these animals were smaller than me and weren't likely to come towards a bigger creature--plus I had Sammy with me! So we continued forward and when we passed a certain point, I frequently checked over my shoulder and in the tumbleweed for any furry bodies. Sure enough, at one of those times, I saw one of the coyotes on the trail sniffing the ground where Sammy and I had stood.

See the resemblance?

Ahhh!!! Finally a new post! I've been meaning to write for a while, but other things were calling my name.....such as the much anticipated knitting project Broad Street Mittens. I've been working on that wretched lattice stitch scarf (*BORING*) and finally finished. So what do I do instead of blogging about it? I cast on for a new project of course! These are my first mittens/gloves/glittens and I find them a lot more entertaining to knit. I've been messing around with the pattern this past week and I think I have it worked out to where they won't turn out gy-normous.....

I just realized that my one year anniversary at the Cancer Center was this past Wednesday. I can't believe I've been living here a year already! It feels like I was walking down Eastlake to get to the Hutch just yesterday! (I do miss walking to work.)

Well, I compiled a list of survival tips for any transplants moving to Arizona:

1. DO NOT underestimate the strength of the sun here (and this is coming from a brown girl). You are closer to the equator even this much more south and the sun's rays do reflect that! Even brown girls can burn!
2. Get a car with good, reliable AC or else you are toast. You might also want to invest in one of those sun shade thingeys you put up on your windshield.
3. Working in a skin cancer lab, I am very conscious of the evil sun rays (yes, Seattlites...too much sun is bad for you). Never in my life until now have I had to apply sunscreen just to drive to and from work (the UV rays do penetrate that glass!). You should have seen my trucker tan even with this precaution.
4. If you see monsoon clouds, WAIT IT OUT! I got a little cocky, coming from a very rainy region of the country so I made the mistake of underestimating the power of the rain here and was soaked in about 2 seconds flat while trying to make a run for it.
5. Be prepared for stupid motorists during monsoon season. Every time it rains like that, leaving lakes in all the dips in streets, you can count on somebody going for it ("it didn't look that deep") and getting stranded or worse, dead. That being said, don't you go being a risk taker! Better to wait it out or find another route!
6. Drive defensively! When I first got here it took me a while to get used to the higher speed limits on the streets (it's 45 mph on the street behind my house). I was naively driving 30 mph down a road and almost got ran off the road!
7. If you see a speed limit sign for 45 mph, be prepared for people to fly past you at 65 or even 70 mph. Please be careful!
8. Not a good idea to use your cruise control. Arizonans don't like to be passed, it seems. I once passed the same car 5 times and kept getting stuck behind him when he decided to slow down 10 mph after passing me and getting right back in the right lane. Just try to get a way from these people.
9. Be prepared for a tighter selection of cuisine. Not as good as Seattle's.
10. Arizona has a free-range policy on all the roads....meaning....if you hit livestock, you pay for it. Learn to keep your eyes peeled for any animals on the highways.
11. Arizona highway patrolmen like to sit in the grassy medians with their lights off. I think I remember Washington state troopers doing that, but always had their lights on. Safer, I think.
12. Border Patrol are prevalent in Southern Arizona. Be prepared to go through any checkpoints. BTW...since I'm brown, I always had my US citizenship questioned. "Excuse me?! I speak better English than you!" (to an agent with a thick Mexican accent).

Hope these help. I'm sure I can think of more later. But for now....it's time for Grey's Anatomy.