Monday Night "If I give you $11..."

After having missed the last ferry, Brad-o took me home and made dinner for me and his roommate Jamison. Chicken, potatoes, corn. It was really good. We decided to hit up bloomingdales, saks 5th avenue (on 5th avenue), and bergdorf goodman, just because they were close and I thought the stores would be cool to see.
We got downtown at 8:05.
The stores close at 8:00.
Why on earth can you eat at Little Italy at 1am but not shop Saks after 8pm I have no idea.
H&M, however, was open. And that was a fun store I had always wanted to shop at. It was huge, but nothing I had to have.
Except a hoodie, because the hospital is really cold from 3am-5am. And they were having a sale on hoodies for $10 instead of $20 if you were buying denim. I found the perfect hoodie, but no jeans. But the guy behind me in line was buying jeans and no hoodie. So I gave him $11 and had him buy my hoodie for me. The girl behind the counter just about passed out when she realized we didn't know each other. We all ended up introducing ourselves.
Christin from AZ, Tim from Michigan, Essence from NY.
:o)

"There is No Free Parking in NJ" Monday, cont'd

Parking is insanely expensive here. Like $9 an hour. Reason #7022 why not to get a car here. So when Brad and I drove on the NJ side (NYC & NJ are like 2 miles apart) to see the Statue of Liberty, and he asked how much parking was, I said "It's probably free." And we laughed and laughed. Because there is no free parking in New York.
Turns out, however, there is free parking at the Statue of Liberty after 4pm. Brad and I high-fived each other and were like "No Way!" As we pulled into the parking lot, I said, "Wouldn't it suck if the reason parking is free after 4pm is because no more ferries to the Statue of Liberty run after 4pm?"
The ferries quit running at 4:30.
We got there at 5.
Awesome.
Oh well.
There really is no free parking in NJ.

Do Not Drive in New Jersey. And Do Not Get Lost. Monday, August 6th

Today I drove a stick shift in NJ. Not by choice, necessarily. Brad is working in NJ/NY installing security systems, and he had to do one today. I tagged along, and decided to drive down the street to get some band-aids for my poor feet. Well, I got turned around as I often do and went on a 45 minute joy ride in the worst traffic ever. And I am terrible at driving stick. Lesson learned. I survived. I got back. I will never ever do that again.

Sunday, August 5th Central Park and Ground Zero

I finally remembered my camera this day, so I have some pictures of my own. Today we went to church in the Manhattan 8th ward. This may have also been the day I realized that the Lincoln Tunnel (and the Holland Tunnel) run UNDER the Hudson River.
Wow. I know that seems obvious to people who may actually know geography, but it wasn't to me, and it made all our rides through it seem that much cooler.
Anyway, so church was in a building 10 blocks from Times. Square and we took the elevator to the 3rd floor. The ward seemed cool, and everybody seemed to have so much style. I swear this place is like walking though a copy of Lucky magazine. :o)
Brad had packed us a lunch, so we sat and ate in the car. While we were eating, this guy walks over to the apartment near us with flowers and groceries and buzzed himself into his friends house. It seemed so out of a movie, so I totally papparazzied him and his picture is here.
Then we walked over to Ground Zero. Again, I thought a memorial had already been built, but apparently 6 years is a little overzealous on my part, and it basically looks like a big construction site at this point. Still, it was interesting to see.
Then we drove over to Central Park. We gave directions to two girls to the subway. Good directions. To Grand Central Station. From 5th Avenue. Across Madison Ave. To Park Ave. It felt so surreal and fun.
Central Park is amazing. Besides the beautiful fountains and stairs, it is so densely green and has such nice feeling to it. We walked around and watched these 40something black women double-dutch jump roping to music. They were so good. There were some crazy people too, but mostly very normal cool people. Sheep's meadow is where they have a lot of concerts, and when we went, there were people playing frisbee and soccer and stuff. Brad and I just sat and played with our cameras to take cool pictures of the skyline. Good day.

Clothes and Taxis

NYC Fashion Update:
I asked Brad what people wear in New York, and he was like, "I don't know..just regular clothes." People in New York wear a lot of skirts, sundresses, and khakis. And sandals and flip-flops. They do not wear jeans. I saw like 10 women wearing jeans the whole time I was there. Luckily, I had brought some skirts. That I wore with docs and/or tennis shoes because I was recovering from the blisters.

Taxis:
As cool as it sounds to take a NYC taxi, this is what it costs:
$2.50 to get in
40 cents a mile
40 cents a minute that you are stuck in traffic

We took pictures of the taxis. :o)

The Rest of Friday: HotDogs, The Subway, and The MET

In "Fools Rush In," Sala Hayek brings Matthew Perry Gray's Papaya Hot Dogs from New York City as a present. So we decided to try to find one. (Actually, I decided, and Brad was cool with whatever..) And the best way to get across town is on the subway. Brad had never been on it, and I was so excited. We actually had a little map now with the subway lines on it, so we got on the 4 train. Actually, we got on the 7 shuttle first (same direction, luckily)...I asked the guy next to me where we were, and he was like, "Grand Central Station," and I felt all giddy and excited inside for no particular reason (we didn't go upstairs at Grand Central Station until Monday...that's when I realized why I was excited). Anyways, so we continued on to the SoHo district, which I hear is great shopping, but we had hot dogs to find. I love "The Lower East Side." Walking through Greenwich (gren-itch, thank you Bekah) was one of my favorite parts of the trip. The street we were on (12th?) was so straight out of a movie. The thing abut NYC is that you are in a big huge city, but that's not necessarily the coolest part. The coolest part is that you feel like you are living history. I mean, these buildings are like 100 years old, and there are all these groups of people and the city just has so much character. I adored it. Absolutely adored it. So we found some cute places and finally found Gray's Papaya. And the hot dogs are just a buck each and are soo soo good. We also passed a bakery with fresh cookies and a line of people wrapped all the way around the corner. I took a picture, but we didn't wait.
Afterwards, we took the subway again to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We only spent an hour there because, well, they close at 9 and we got there at 8, so we only saw the Egyptian exhibit, but it was amazing and fun. Super cool building.
We rode the bus home. Just to say we did. Those pictures are cute. It was a very crowded bus, but the bus station was fun. Brad talked to a woman from Syracuse, and I talked to a guy from Oklahoma.

Friday, August 4th aka "Wow. These shoes are horrible."

Today we went and saw the Lion King on Broadway. Once again, we were subject to horrible directions and wandered Times Square for about 40 minutes. I wore my navy blue patent leather heels. HAH! That was the worst idea EVER.
A couple things:
1. People do not dress up to go to Broadway
2. People do not care what you wear in New York, as long as you don't wear heels. Then you get the weirdest looks ever.

Within 30 minutes I had the worst blisters in the history of the world, and those pictures are on Brad's camera, but they will definitely be posted. I stopped at the first shoe place I could find and bought some $15 flip-flops, which also ended up giving me two cuts and one huge blister, but still felt better than those horrible heels, which I am returning.
Anyways,
Lion King was wonderful. They amazingly let us in late and we sat on the stairs for a little bit so we didn't disturb anyone. The lighting was amazing, the stage and scenery were breathtaking, and the acting was phenomonal. Brad had never seen a live show and was so much more impressed than he thought he would be.
Good Times.

Back to NYC, August 3rd.

Some pictures will be a little delayed because they are stuck on a cd in my old computer. (the ones that brad took)
But back to the last entry...
So we went back to Brad's apartment and then took off to the city. Our destination was little Italy. People give terrible directions here. I didn't believe Brad at first, but it is true. It's like everyone's from a different place and they know they've seen a place once and it's "over in that direction."
So we ate dinner at Cafe Nepoli (?) at 1 am. It was so good, and such a fun little place. The waiters were like, "It's delicious. You no like it, you no pay."
We had an appetizer of baked clams, mussels, fried fresh mozzarella cheese sandwiches (heaven), shrimp, mushrooms, and eggplant. It was huge, but we were starving.
I had sea bass and Brad had Loster Ravioli. Such a fun first night!
It was raining really hard when I first got there, but it had just turned into a nice sprinkle by the time we ate, so we ate on the patio.

Macs are compatible/Can I put you on hold for a minute?

Jessica can jump in here whenever she wants to, but this message is for my dad. Macs don't crash, they don't have viruses, they look sweet, I can do cool things with pictures, they have built in cameras, and due to the fact that they spent probably millions on advertising and putting them on every single show and movie over the last 5 years, they are now pretty much compatible with anything. Including Microsoft Office. This was a good decision. I promise.
And my semi-horrible day yesterday...
Yesterday I woke up and called Sprint to try to get out of my early termination fee, in which I did not succeed. I waited 40 minutes to talk to this person and was a little upset. (The good thing is the guy who returned my wireless card at the Sprint store yesterday gave me a $200 credit for a free card, so I shut up about it.)
Next, I called to check on my loan and the guy told me I was declined because I had $10000 in overdue loans and just about freaked me out over my identity theft, until he realized the secretary had paper clipped somebody else's credit report to my loan application and he approved me over the phone because of my (actually) excellent credit.
Then I went to the bank and got pulled over for passing a cop. She gave me a warning but told me I needed to pay more attention while driving. I wanted to tell her I was already stressed out and that's why I wasn't really paying attention, but I didn't. Of course. I don't need any extra tickets.
Then I went to Verizon and got a new wireless card and for some reason my account was wrong and it took 30 minutes to get a new wireless card.
Then I decided all I wanted to do was get my eyebrows waxed and maybe the day wouldn't seem so bad. So I turned into a spa and my battery and brake lights went on. I went inside the spa anyway, but they were all booked for the day, so I called the one car place I know and they said it was probably the alternator but they couldn't look at it until tomorrow.
So I walked outside and started sobbing. I don't know if it was that on top of my computer dying or what, but it was the final straw. So I sobbed and sobbed. And said a little prayer and turned left into this hard-to-see auto place of super nice guys who replaced my alternator in an hour and a half.
And then I went to a church activity called "Cookies and Conversation" where we all just sit around and talk at someone's house and it was actually very fun.
So that was my stressful day.
And life is ok now.
And now I have found two good car places. Whoo-hoo!
cc

bv NV CCC? huh?

Those letters mean that we were together when my computer took a nosedive and never recovered. I didn't drop it, actually. It just died. So I made a huge purchase I hadn't really planned on and bought a MAC. So I have a cool new computer and just barely got the internet, and I am working on putting everything back together, which is taking a little bit longer than I thought it would. :o)

Friday, Aug 3rd, 1st night

I got into JFK about 8pm. When I made my reservations, my mom was like, "Christin, more flights are delayed at JFK than any other place in the world." But, of course, a girl has to fly into JFK at least once in her life, so I did. And the flight was delayed. We sat on the runway for about 45 minutes. Which was okay, because traffic was horrible and Brad was late and called to tell me that if he ever had to make that drive again he would shoot himself in the head. Anyways, we finally met up and drove home. The thing is, Brad technically lives in New Jersey and NYC is huge, so a lot of this trip was spend wandering and driving aroound. bc v v v v v nv

NEW YORK IS SO COOL

K- So I had a really good time in New York. Brad and I took like 200 pictures and saw so much in the 4 1/2 days I was there. It's a little overwhelming to try to put everything relevant online, but here goes. (I've been home since the 7th, but I've been working.)

The thing about this sign is that there`s only one. Haha.

Half Empty, Half Full

Wednesday could be looked at in a lot of different ways. It was my day off, and my big day to run errands before I go to New York on Friday :o)I need to get used to the fact that errands take a lot longer here and to just go with the flow. I really think it's easier, though, to go with the flow when you have someone around to deal with the crazy flow. But it helps to share. So this is my glass half-empty, glass half-full day.

Empty: My Service Engine Light was on and I had to go get it looked at before I could go do anything.

Full: The people were really nice, the cute guy there gave me a screwdriver and showed me where my distributor cap was, and it didn't cost a thing. (The monsoon puddle set it off.) And I had a killer breakfast burrito at Whataburger.

Empty: I had to go to the DMV 3 f-in' times before I finally got my car registered and my drivers' license. I had to drive like 7 miles away the 2nd time to go get my car emissions tested before they would register it. And I had to stop by my house because they only take cash or check.

Full: It's done. The girl who worked at the emissions place was from Salmon, ID, and was nice. It took me all the way back over to where I had been this morning (near Whataburger), but it was near another errand that my parents wanted me to do, so that got done, too.

Empty: I plan to make a tile mosaic under my washer and dryer because our lineoleum is horrible. So I called a tile store a week or so ago that said they had mismatched tile 20 for $1. Perfect. Today I drove like 15 miles to that tile store where a guy with a middle eastern accent looked at me like I was crazy and said they only stocked one pattern of tile in at all and he had no mismatched tile at all. He said there were no other tile stores in the area. I am still completely confused by this.

Full: Ok, really that's just an empty part of the day

Empty: I headed to the Chandler mall from the tile store. Turns out Chandler, AZ is Southwest of me, not Southeast. Just about a 30 minute detour.

Full: I stopped by a tanning salon to get directions to the mall. This, if you are wondering, is an excellent idea. The girl was not exactly a genius, but she gave me killer directions to the mall.

Full: The boxes above are from the Disovery Channel store, which is going out of business. Their fixtures were 50% off, and I bought both of these for $15. Brad has no bookshelves or endstands so we are going to refinish them for him. I was excited.

Full: MAC make-up lets you get a free lipstick if you recycle 6 empty containers. Unfortunately, their lipsticks look terrible on me. BUT! The nice girl at the mall told me that now the free-standing MAC stores (in Scottsdale, for example) will let you get either a lipstick, a lip gloss, OR an eyeshadow. This is fabulously exciting.

Full: I got a cute little white shirt from a store called A'GACI.

Empty: I spilled bright purple Acai juice on it when I put the bottle (empty, I thought, and closed) in the same bag with it.

Full: It came out

Full: I got all my grocery shopping done.

Empty: The people at Fry's are more than a little anal about getting out on time. When I said "hi" to the greeter, he said, "You have a half hour." THANKS. And then every FIVE minutes for a half an hour they announced that you should come to the front with your things because they were closing. And then I knocked over a display of froggie hair ties.

Full: I also got a water cooler for $90. I actually am just hoping this turns out to be a good idea.

Full: I went to the Post Office, sent Jess her CD's back, and Bekah had a job interview that went really well.

If it seems like this was the longest day ever, it was. I was gone for 13 hours.

And I'm going to New York tomorrow! Plenty of pictures when I get back.

Love y'all!

cc

MONSOON SEASON HAS ARRIVED

So nothing was really more exciting when I moved here than hearing people talk about "monsoon season." The word monsoon is about as exciting to me as the word tsunami. To the point where one would think equal amounts of water would be involved. But nobody would really give me a good explanation of monsoon season, and they showed no excitement, so I was really left to wonder and wait.

Basically it turns out it just means rainy season, but it's still fun. It rained 5 days in a week, with stormy weather each time, and killer lightning once. There is a tendency to flash flood, and I found out that my car lurches really really bad when I go through a deep puddle fast and get water all over my distributor cap.

This picture is right outside my house. This happened in like an hour. It's been 3 days now and it's still here. I had been upset about a dead spot of grass that is now under water. It's growing really well now.

localharvest.org

So, I've been out of town for a few days. I went home to spend some quality time with the family and to get a perm, since mine was dying rapidly and my hair looked terrible most days. (I flat-ironed it for a week, which looks nice, but takes way too long for me to do every single day.) While there, I read Reader's Digest, which taught me about CSA's. CSA stands for community-supported agriculture. It means people buy little shares in a farm and during their growing seasons, the farmers drop fresh fruit and veggies off at your doorstep once a week. This seems incredibly exciting to me.
Unfortunately, AZ has a crappy little growing season, but we still have some good little CSA's, and I think I might buy the "summer survivor" share that lasts for 4 weeks and see how that goes.
For my loyal readers in MA and ID, y'all have great CSA's that also deliver eggs and flowers, including edible ones, and your seasons last forever. Colorado has 10, Boise has like 30, AZ has 3.
So, localharvest.org is where you go to choose one, and it might even be fun!

Cars

So on Thursday night, before my guest came to stay, I went to a service project at the church where only 3 of us showed up, but we painted cars for kids- the girl who did it doesn't know yet if they are going locally or internationally, but it was fun. Her grandpa made them, and we painted the fun designs. I painted the pink one with purple flowers, the blue and green striped one, the one with tons of yellow lighting, the green and yellow polka got one, the one in the back right corner with curly hair and a miniskirt, the green chevrolet, and the ambulance (the red crosses on the side didn't show up). The girls who were there were really sweet and it was a lot of fun.

BOTOX WRINKLE

Right in between my eyes, where I tried to put an arrow and could not, is a wrinkle I like to call my botox wrinkle. This is because whenever I stress out it shows its ugly face. This girl Amy I used to work with in Pocatello would always say, "Christin, stop stressing about [whatever i was currently stressing about]. You're going to need Botox when you're 30 if you keep wrinkling up your forehead like that. Today it is showing quite a bit (even if the picture doesn't necessarily show it off that well) and this is why...

this morning I locked myself out of my house because my house key was still off the chain from yesterday when I took it off so the handyman could get back in. So I drove clear across town (about 30 minutes) to get a spare key from my landlord's housesitter, because my landlord is on vacation. But she was sleeping and apparently my landlord didn't want to wake her because she's really stressed out, so I couldn't pick them up for about an hour and a half. So I ATM'ed out some money and ate lunch. Then I went and picked up his keys and made copies of the four I thought might be mine (his idea) and drove home-- a very long way because the 51 SOUTH is closed until Monday, even though the 51 NORTH is open and got me there. (This seems to happen quite frequently to me that they close an important freeway when I need it..including my first night here). I stop also at Kmart to get a lawn chair, but it costs 76 cents more than I have with me, so I don't get it. And so, quite stressed, I stop at the new World Market near my house to see if they are open yet and to get me an Aqua Panna because I need some fun water for all my stress. They are, but they don't have my water. And I get home, and none of the keys fit, and I'm about to scream or cry, but instead get my old ATM card out of my car and try to break in because I've heard it's not too hard. It takes about 20 seconds. I still have a headache from wrinkling up my forehead all day.

Lesson of the day: Keep your ATM cards, new and old, in your car.

2nd lesson of the day: How to break into a house. That's a new one.

p.s. I found an extra dollar bill on the seat of my car when I got home. I could have gotten the lawn chair.

My first guest stayed last night

Oh, it was so exciting. Actually, I was beyond exhausted because I had to go to stupid classes at work from 7-4 for new RN's when I'm used to working night shift, so basically, it was trying not to sleep through classes at work so that I don't get fired.
But, back to my guest. She goes to church with my parents-- her name is Renita-- and she is looking for an apartment here because she is moving here in a week or two. So I blew up the airbed a little more, bought cute little travel-sized stuff, and put it in the bathroom for her in case she needed it. Then I bought a little leather journal at Target to be the guest book and put it on her nightstand. She obliged my cheesiness and wrote a little about herself and the date and her address. It was very fun.
:o)

My Closet is Growing Fungus

So...the handyman came and replaced the leaking pipe and the gaskets behind the washing machine. The next day I was walking through my bathroom and realized the carpet was squishing again. I soaked through ALL my towels again (like 8) and called the handyman back. Apparently now there was a HOLE in the pipe. He fixed it, and I'm not leaking anymore, but frick my room stinks. This is a picture of Mildew. I think it's growing in my carpet pad. So, the carpet cleaner is coming in the next few days, and in the meantime I've doused it with Lysol spray to inhibit fungus reproduction. And I'm sleeping on the couch tonight. Gotta love it. cc

Going the Extra Mile

This is a little camera phone picture of a church activity that I went to. The bishop's wife had recipes and ingredients and cutting boards and knives all set out for 6 great salad recipes. We all split up and made them and then got to taste them all. They were absolutely fantastic. She put so much time and effort into making it fun for us that it almost brought me to tears. But sometimes I'm a pansy like that. :o) I would like to give you all the recipes, but as of now, I haven't thought of an easy way to do it, and I don't plan on going the extra mile like she did. Love you all! cc

The Surviving Shoes

So I would definitely recommend this whole Zappos trying on shoes thing. Some of the ones I thought I would love I hated, but I adore both of these. It was so fun to get this huge box of 5 shoes to try on. :o)

Funfun!

Fake Jewelry Makes My Heart Jump

I don't know if it's my love for sweet grandmas or some hidden memory of my childhood, but "old lady" jewery makes me smile. You know, those huge purple stones with tarnished gold that looks not-that-great, but somehow the shinyness and the boldness makes you smile. I love that. I think I need to get me some old lady jewelry. Because it makes my heart happy.

My favorite youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mive6ZfY_jM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZRk14bbxuE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGXQKLqegIw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oam4Rc3zVM0

Contrition...quickly

So..I just realized as I was putting together new outfits out of the stuff I bought today that I may have sounded greedy or whiny or something when I said I didn't have a lot of clothes, blah, blah, blah...in "Fashion Epiphany." My clothes are fine. They are definitely not all from 2003, and lots of them are very nice. They just are mostly all solid, and my wardrobe was getting boring, and it desperately needed a breath of fresh air. And now I'm going to go to bed. Like I was going to do 2 hours ago.
Good-night all!

See Those Vertical Basketball-looking lines?

That means it's a Tuscan cantalope. This was hands-down the BEST cantalope I have ever had in my entire life.

Olive and Ivy

My Aunt Jill and Uncle Dan were in town this morning and took me out to brunch and this restaurant called Olive and Ivy (it was right next to the mall. Hence, the crazy shopping trip.) But anyways, this place was amazing!! First, they accidentally brought us cinnamon apple steel-cut oats which were to die for. Then I actually ordered mixed berries with yougurt and granola and a mushroom omelet with gruyere cheese (this is, i think, my favorite cheese. I should put up my recipe that uses it.) And our servers (one was in training) were so cute and fun. Jill had told them it was my celebration dinner for getting my license, so they brought out tiny dishes of sorbet and gelato with a candle at the end of the meal. It was so fun. Thanks guys!

http://www.foxrestaurantconcepts.com/olive.html

Fashion Epiphany

So last night after the water incident, I was up until 6 in the morning. What, you ask, does a person do until 6am? Well, first she reads Glamour. Then she gives herself both a manicure and a pedicure that are better than she's probably ever done (and saves herself $60 in the process. However, she will make a trip to the Altered Ego spa quite soon for an eyebrow wax. Because that is only $15.) All the while watching TLC.

So late-night Friday night TLC is better than all the other nights of TLC because they have "What Not To Wear." And some other good makeover home shows. But back to "What Not to Wear." So even though I don't think I'm a candidate for the show (unfortunately), there are a few basic things to know about my wardrobe.

1- I buy (relatively) expensive clothes.

2- This means I don't have very many clothes.

3- My clothes largely consist of Lucky jeans and banana republic tops. Take these away and you have like 10 shirts left. And half of those are Gap t-shirts.

4- My sister has an incredibly diverse closet which is crazily wonderful.

So, I've worn some of the same shoes and skirts since circa 2003. Which is fine, but it's getting old. ESPECIALLY on Sunday. Church clothes were getting super-boring. And watching the show, I was like "Oh my gosh. I have no sense of style! Oh No!" The thing is, I just moved to a totally different climate. And wearing long-sleeves, which I really like, whenever you want to is not really an option. And my knee-high boots that I love feel somewhat inappropriate for summer here.

SHOPPING TIME!!

So my moving bonus and paycheck also came yesterday and I paid like 12 bills and I actually had a couple hundred dollars I could spend, so I went shopping. I started out at these boutiques in Scottsdale which were like $300 for a dress. (A great dress, don't get me wrong, but a $300 dress.) For a few moments, I was considering re-adjusting my budget, and then I was like, "Christin, get over it." I even talked myself out of an incredibly amazingly supple and beautiful Italian leather jacket that was on sale for $600. I thought of Emily U., who has one, except she bought hers IN ITALY. Which is super more cool.

Anyways, so I went into the mall and looked for a few hours and came up with nothing except one more plain skirt from banana republic (it was on sale!). I called my sister and asked her to please come help me, but she said something about having a life four hours away, and wished me luck on my own.

I went to Betsey Johnson and tried on some more $300 clothes I couldn't afford (but which fit fantastic), and trekked onward.

pictures from the dressing rooms are on flickr

Finally, after hours and hours, I stumbled into Charlotte Russe. My friend Julia from TX used to manage one of these. It's a little like Vanity, and huge. And it was having the best sale ever. Now their clothes aren't particularly expensive to begin with, so when something is 75% off, it's like $7. I tried on 17 things, and bought 11 of them, including a purse for $5. And I absolutely love it all. And I took a picture just so everyone can see that none of them are t-shirts and some of them even have cute prints!! The fuschia polka-dot one has a navy belt and it looks great on! Crazy. I finally found style!

I could go on about how I drove to two other malls and got a couple t-shirts on sale at Banana Republic and those amazing red wedges for $10 (80% off BCBGirls!), but suffice it to say, I spent 9 hours shopping non-stop and am totally beat, but it was a very very good day.

And some white and navy shoes are on their way from Zappos. They have free shipping and free returns, so I ordered all the ones I wanted to try on and I'm shipping back the rest. teehee...

And, I'm sorry...I'm kind of excited. I got a BR t-shirt dress on super-good sale (internet) that I can wear with the black leggings I bought with Jessica and some flip-flops and look totally chic.

Love you all!

Squish, Squish!

So yesterday was my day off this week, and I slept until 8pm. Awesome. I love that. It's the very best way to make sure you stay up all night doing nothing worthwhile. So I got up and walked over to the bathroom when I noticed my feet were wet. And the carpet was squishy. I looked over to the toilet and tub. Nothing. Dry. I felt under the sink. Totally dry. I looked up at the ceiling. Dry. In the closet. WET. So I took everything out of the closet, pulled up the carpet, and called the landlord. In our joint investigation, I realized the washer and dryer are on the other side of the wall of my closet. And the valves were leaking, even though I hadn't used the washer in about 3 days. So my landlord tightened it, and it hasn't leaked since. So I'm getting my bedroom carpet cleaned again, and the handyman is coming over on Monday or Tuesday.

The adventure continues.... :o)

CORRECTION

Hi everyone! So something I wrote apparently didn't transfer very well into words. When I wrote that I got the flowers from my parents for taking the test, it was not the first time they have ever sent me flowers and told me how proud they were of me, like they always do. It was just the first time I have ever gotten flowers before anyone knew if I had actually PASSED the test. To get flowers just for TAKING it was kind of crazy. I was like, "Oh no, what if I didn't actually pass yet!!!! Ahh!!!" But they had faith, and I had passed it, and I just wanted to clarify.
Love ya'll,
cc

I'm a nurse, I'm a nurse. Whoo-hoo!!

I passed! I passed!

The compass deserves a better picture

says jessica. so here it is:

Before and After

This is a link to my friend emily's blog. She and her hubbie just finished remodeling their Massachusetts condo and have amazing before and after pictures. Crazy huge project.
http://howsyourhousecoming.blogspot.com/
And I ate sushi here on Friday (the picture I took got deleted when I got my new phonebook switched over on my cell, but the website is amazing.) The sushi was just ok, but I will try again. The mussels appetizer was to DIE FOR.
www.stingraysushi.com

Barbeque Pork Chops

So tonight after the Sunflower adventure, i decided to barbeque. Now, I have barbequed before using a gas grill, and using my little charcoal grill with a ready-light briquette thing. But never really with real briquettes and lighter fluid. I learned a couple things:

1- Stacking the charcoal in a pyramid is very important

2- Do not boil the rice while you go start the charcoal. The rice will boil much faster, and the pan will be brown when you come back inside.

3- Marinating is an important aspect to this grilling thing. (Although, really, they weren't too bad.)

Smiles!

"Off we go! We can do it!"

I am not promoting Angelina Jolie in this picture. I am promoting her little girl Zahara. I can't get over her expression in this picture. I stole it off People magazine. Luckily, not enough people read this blog to violate copyright, i think :o) Anyways, it's cute as can be. Have a happy day!

cc

I'm Walkin' on Sunshine. Whoo-hoo..

So, I don't actually know if I've lauded Walgreens on this blog yet, but they came through for me once again, as they always always do.

In a roundabout way. So, first I went to Target to get some iron because they have the best iron supplements of all. I was also going to get some Bee Pollen because my dad and his friend swear it's the best stuff for allergies ever. And I swear to you, I don't know how allergies are bad in the desert, but they have been pretty freakin' bad here. But they didn't have bee pollen.

And I was going to get my pictures developed, but, of course, the photo shop was closed.


So I headed off the Walgreens because they develop pictures in 1-hour 24 hours a day. And they didn't have bee pollen, either, but the guy was really nice and came out to help me look through all the bottles. So, because I had a half hour, I looked around. And saw the following store across the street.


Now, this store looks a little ghetto and scary on the outside. But for one, it was OPEN at 9:15pm and two, it said "natural" twice on the outside. So I thought it was worth a try. Yes, they had bee pollen. And oh my gosh, it is such a great grocery store. It's kind of like the Boise co-op, with a lot less self-importance. And much nicer prices. They had little tiny cans of coconut milk for 99 cents, which means I don't have to pay $3 a can everytime I make a particular recipe. And a "guacamole kit" with 2 avocadoes, one shallot, two Roma tomatoes, and a jalapeno pepper for $1.99. Wow. And Boar's head meat, which I thought was just an Idaho thing. And banana-vanilla wallaby yogurt for 89cents (It's $1.09 at the co-op). And odwalla on sale and simply orange juice on sale. I am not kidding you. This is what the sign in front says "SERIOUS FOOD. SILLY PRICES." yep, their sale prices are called silly prices. Now this is a little nuts, but the store is called SUNFLOWER, so what does one expect? Anyways, I'm totally shopping here from now on and I am thrilled. There's so much fun Asian stuff and little mini zucchinis!! Yay!!

NCLEX OVER!

So I took the nursing boards on Friday. I don't know until tomorrow how I did. Now, I probably passed, and I felt okay about the test, but it's still very scary to not know for sure. But I'm writing this now because it seems like I would be cheating you all of the anticipation factor if I just wrote tomorrow and said I passed. These are the flowers my parents sent to the hospital on Friday night. For taking the test. hmmm.. that's a first :o)

Fireworks

Tonight was kind of a unique fireworks event, but not too bad. I thought to myself today (because being alone really didn't bother me today at all..maybe because I have amazing friends and family..they'e just not here). Anyways, I thought to myself that maybe the reason we don't see people alone all that much is that because people who are alone are maybe scared to go out alone. And so they watch the fireworks INSIDE. And then there's me. So I drove down towards Tempe's beautiful bridge where the fireworks display was going to happen. Tons of the roads were blocked off, and I ended up about a mile west of the bridge. So I parked and walked-- for the record, there were lots of families around and still light outside, so I felt very safe. It was $6 to get inside, but I figured I'd just walk down and look for a good spot- on a bridge perhaps. Turns out it was more like a crazy packed carnival, and that's wasn't really what I was looking for (there is a little "beach" right there, but I'm sure it was packed. I couldn't actually see it because of all the blockades). So I walked back and hopped back in my car right as the show started. But I could see it pretty well while I drove and could listen to the radio station with the fireworks soundtrack. I ended up on McDowell Road, west of where I'd ever been, and pulled over to the side of the road like everyone else and watched them. It was a great view, and the high school kids I sat (sort of) next to were excited for the music. It was good. I drew a picture for you all. I'm such a budding artist. :o) I left out the buildings that were in the background. They weren't really that scenic. And the yellow squiggly lines are the lights on the bridge. I love America.

I Embody Change

So... I needed some noise in my house the other day and went CD shopping. I had heard really good things about Joss Stone's debut album "Introducing Joss Stone," and it was on sale, so I took a chance and bought it. And I love it. It's a good feel sexy, dance around in your house CD, and it doesn't have "explicit lyrics," which is nice.

So.. the first track on the album is a british guy talking. This is what he says,

"You see I know change

I see change

I embody change

All we do is change

Yeah, I know change

We are born to change

We sometimes regard it as a metaphor

That reflects the way things ought to be

In fact, change takes time

It exceeds all expectations

It requires both now and then

See although the players change

The song remains the same....

It felt appropriate. Happy 4th of July!!!

"You Are Facing East"

Oh lovely lovely day. Today I went to Target and got a compass that goes on my rearview mirror. Hopefully this will prevent flipping 6 u-turns/day. I am very happy.

Four Star Misting System ****

Today my misters are working! I had put them together, but a few faced the wrong way when tight and I didn't have the proper tools. As luck would have it, my dad was in town for the day for work and happened to have 2 sets of crazy plier-wrenches and could adjust them. With just a few turns and a little more Teflon tape, we were done. Whoo-hoo!! (The back ones are still in limbo because apparently I need a tube of PVC glue from ACE to fix that one.) :o)

Cupcakes Part 2

This is Lulu's cupcakes. The little chocolate sample cupcake, the mango cupcake, and the super cute green polka-dotted store. I still think Boise's cupcakes are a teensy bit better, but I say the score is even for now. :o)

Not-so-pleasant surprise

So, I've been a little stressed out this week, what with new job, state boards in 8 days, my phone being utterly frenetic (i.e. stupid and dysfunctional), no gym membership still, my dishwasher not working right, and misc.. random crap. So I come home yesterday to this lovely present in my bathtub. Mind you, my house is clean, it is not gross in anyway, and these things are somewhat common in areas as freaking hot as this state is. But living in Idaho you tend to forget that. But to come home after 14 hours of working "on the night shift," and to find a 2 inch cockroach laying on its back is the creepiest, nastiest, ickiest, freakiest thing to come home to ever. Lysol here we come. No more cockroach.

Hey...it's all part of the adventure, right?

p.s. this is one of those pictures you can click on to see details.

Camera Found

I'm pretty sure no one has actually had a chance to even read the entry below this one, but just in case you were considering abandoning this blog for a week because I lost my camera, I found it. Now I'm doing laundry so that soon I can take cute pictures of all my new scrubs and try to link it together to make one picture. That might take a little time, but it will be fun if it works.
Keep ya posted!
cc
Best laundry detergent for darks: Woolite Dark :o)

Extension Cord City

Today I decided to vacuum my car. Mostly, because, in between moving and the cupcake store, it had become a mess. There are a few things here I really miss (besides my amazing friends and roommates) and one of those is Metro Express, the best carwash in the entire state of Idaho as far as I'm concerned. So yesterday I drove around looking for one as cool, and did not find one. I did drive through the "Buggy Bath" and left a message to them complaining that for $8 I would expect my car to be clean (and I still have bugs all over the front of it). So today I hooked my 50 foot orange extension cord, 3 6-foot long white extension cords, and my vacuum together just to barely reach my car and vacuumed it. Truth be told, my next door neighbors don't actually live there now I don't think but I knocked on their door to see if they were home and would mind if I used their electrical outlet (It's like 10 feet closer), and they weren't, so I tested it out to see if it worked and it did. So I used it for like 1 minute. Then I started wondering if maybe they just didn't live there for the summer and what if they got a $2 electrical bill, but weren't expecting one, and it was 2 months late, and they couldn't figure it out, and it would be all my fault for ruining their credit, so I went back to mine and stretched the cords to capacity. Ahhh...crazy times.
Best carpet cleaner spray: Woolite Oxy Deep....It took every single spot out of my upholstery in like 2 seconds.
Frozen slushy mango gatorade is freakin' good, too!
I would take a picture of this for you, but I think I left my camera in Bullhead City at my family's house. In that case, it might be a week before new fun pictures come up.

Guess Where I'm Going Today!

Just looked this up on the internet. http://www.luluscupcakes.com/. I called them to ask about flavors of the month. They have flavors of the week. And this week is Mango. How sweet :o)

Copper River Temperatures

So by now most people know that the best salmon in the world are Copper River Salmon (first run, high in healthy fats, etc..) The best cooking temp? One fillet alone in pan. Brush with olive oil, and cajun spice or salt & pepper. Bake at 500 degrees for 13 minutes. Perfection.

The Corn in Gilbert

Couple More Things

One- Josh gave me a beautiful plant named Guss and I killed it. I took pictures of the sad end, but really they are much to heart-breaking to post here. When he wasn't looking great one day, I walked to a greenhouse and they gave me some free potting soil and I think it had a fungus in it. Anyway, that's what he died of. Terrible.

Anyways, I planted some new flowers in his place and his memory (Guss's...not Josh's).

Coming soon...maybe tonight....a map of this crazy catastrophe of a humungous city where I live.

A Little Update on Life in General

So life is going pretty well down here in AZ. I'm staying up late tonight because my first night shift is tomorrow from 7p-7a, so I'm up until at least 3 tonight I figure to fully prepare. So crazy! I'm actually pretty excited. I just now realized I get to wear my new scrubs and that might be the most exciting of all.

So I just finished 4 days of orientation. Wow. Orientation takes forever. But today was good. We learned how to use chest tubes and IV pumps and all that fun stuff.

Then I went shopping at Target for some more stuff. Hand soap. Bleach. Organic cotton dish towels. A little hippo (I didn't find one..I still just have one little ceramic hippo in the wooden square in my living room.) Also, a Father's day card, a fun random card, and a multi-outlet thingy.

It was 110 today. Yesterday it was only 105 so I worked on my Misters. I got them all to work because I bought great nozzles at ACE hardware and used teflon tape so they would stop leaking, but one faces the wrong direction now--- straight up. I absolutely cannot take apart the section of pipe holding it together. I thought for a minute it must have been years since it was taken apart and then I realized that i myself took it apart four days ago. Even with pliers it refuses to move. I'm starting to think I'm getting weak.

Speaking of which, I just found out today that I can join ASU's gym because I am living with Brad (my brother, come Sept, who is conveniently a student there). Thank goodness, because I really am close to a lot of things, but one of them is not a good gym as far as I can tell.

Today I drove to GILBERT, AZ kind of by accident looking for Gold's Gym, which happened to be in the opposite direction. This is the highway route I took to head back home and get back to Gold's.

202 N- Exit 101 South-- Enter 101 North-- Exit 55B towards Phoenix Highway 60--Exit 10E towards Tucson-- Elliot Rd Exit. Drive home on Elliott, which is really not too far, but far too far to work out. And this Gold's is no where as cool as the one on Parkcenter in Boise.

Today Kaitlynn on the phone tells Candice, "Idaho...Pretty...I want to go SOON." She's so cute, and, really, who can blame her? No one.

Gilbert, AZ, by the way, is gorgeous. Ok, maybe I'm exaggerating a bit, but it is really pretty. They grow CORN there. Like a crop. A real crop. In the desert. And it's kind of green and there are little hints of suburbia everywhere. Like kids riding bikes. And the best manicured lawn with like 5 huge fat palm trees was The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which I just happened to drive by as well. Wow. I really really like Gilbert. If I happen to stay here in this crazy state, I might end up there.

Okay, so after endless hours (3) that that experience took, I went to a church service project.

AND THEN I WENT AND GOT BLUE BELL ICE CREAM!!!

Blue Bell ice cream, for those who have not had the rich and sweet experience of tasting it, is from Brenham, TX. http://www.bluebell.com/. When I lived in Texas, they only sold it there. But now they are branching out a little bit, and I bought 3 pints tonight. I explained to the cashier, who had never had it, what an absolute treasure he was missing, and he assured me he would buy some. I also talked to some Texas people (I looked at their license plate) in the parking lot about it, and they were excited, too. (It was a girl and her grandpa headed back to Dallas tomorrow. So cute.)

Oh, and in case anyone wonders how this whole internal moving thing is going, some days I get the scared nervous feeling back and then the next day it goes away. I guess that's just called adjusting. It's kind of fun, though, to be the crazy one doing this...

A few bests:

1- Obviously, Blue Bell Ice Cream

2- The target website for ways to locate targets convenient to you. Much much better than mapquest.

3- Not Susie's Mexican Cafe & Lounge which looked, shall I say, authentic?, but really had terrible enchiladas

4- Best city in AZ to pretend you're in Idaho- Gilbert

5- Best place to buy hardware. ACE Hardware. Really, I have to give credit to Josh for the guilt trip on this one. But really, ACE has been around forever and they guys are really really helpful and nice and they even had all the right nozzles, and Home Depot didn't. And they were just in a little plastic hometown-feelin' toolbox at ACE. So, here's another shout out to the little guy. Who, in this case, was once the big guy.

I USED MY PLATTER

So a few months ago I bought a glass platter from Fred Meyer on clearance. It was a super-good deal, but my roommates were all like, "um, christin, you just bought a WHAT?" Like why on earth would you buy such a thing. But being 27 and mormon, you get to the point where you realize that at some point you are either going to host a party or at least be invited to one where you are expected to bring something. Hence, the first church activity I went to in AZ involved a potluck and I was in charge of a fruit platter for 15. Strawberries were 97 cents a pint at Fry's (June is an awesome month to buy strawberries), so I bought some. A lot of some. And this is how it turned out. How pretty!

Best Salad Dressing

Is Safeway's Orange Poppyseed. Really really good. And I'm pretty picky about my dressings. For lunch today I had a spinach and baby greens salad with shrimp and cucumber and orange poppyseed dressing. And a pomegranate IZZE. Since I've been here I've mostly lived on M&M's leftover from the trip, so it was a good thing. :o)

HANDYWOMAN GOES TO TOWN

So today I realized I have MISTERS in front of my house. And in back. Not hot guys. Not that kind of misters. Water misters. However, they didn't work. But how can you live in AZ and have cool water misters that gently rain down upon you and not get them to work. So... I hauled out my pink tool kit and my bar stool and went to town. First I took down all the little nozzles that were all gunked up with who knows what. Then I turned on the water to see if the pipes were clear. They weren't. One of the holes had orange and green and red stuff growing in it and a LARVAE. gross. So I took the system all apart and took the poles into my bathroom and washed them all out. And put it back together. A litttle later I'm off to the Home Depot to get some new nozzles. Hopefully by tomorrow I will have a 4 star misting system all my own :o) If you click on the picture you can see the gross stuff up close.

Quick "Bests"

The best thing about today was being able to mapquest my life. How, really, did people ever survive on their own in big cities without mapquest? Maps need little "Target," "Barnes & Noble," "Post Office," and "Gym" stickers. That is my invention of the day. Anyway, I found out today I live near several targets, and that is lovely.

Another best: a good place to eat for decent healthy food (not heavenly, just decent).
www.zoeskitchen.com

AND a super fun house store. http://hausmodernliving.com Kind of crazy, but fun. Lisa B. from Murphy's(the restaurant where I worked) probably would love this place.


Oh, and Postage rates went up everybody. I sent out some fun packages today to a couple people. It was kind of a blast. I have an odd obsession with the post office and mail in that I love it all.

KNOCK KNOCK!! IT"S YOUR....

STOVE.. at 8:30 in the morning. But it doesn't fit. Because the granite countertops overlap the old ones 1/8"

HANDYMAN..at 12:15 in the afternoon coming to saw off the granite

CABLE GUY...at 2:10 in the afternoon coming to fix the problem with the living room cable box and talk to you for about an hour about his pre-med plans. Doctors are cocky. This little 24 year old will probably be a doctor. He wants to be a pediatrician. We'll see. He shaves his legs. Okay, he was kind of cute. But a bad flirt.

MY HOUSE IS CLEAN!! I have like one thing to put up and some vacuuming to do and I can take some pictures and put them on the internet for all to see because, dang it, my house is looking cuter every day.

I HAVE FOOD!! I finally went grocery shopping. That first shopping trip is a kicker. I saved $42 with my Safeway card, though, or my cherries would have been $15 instead of $4. It still looks like my fridge is empty.

One good thing about living alone: Your fridge (Especially if all the drawers are see-through) looks kind of pretty, and if you think "who's crap is this?" you can throw it away, because it's YOURS!!

I DO NOT HAVE TUBERCULOSIS thursday 6/7

On Monday, I had a TB skin test and filled out paperwork. On Thursday I had it read and it said, "wow. you do not have a disgusting disease which eats out your lungs via little gross pustules." I also opened a credit union account (I'm a little iffy on my work's credit union, so I just opened a savings account. On Wednesday I got a checking account. Sorry. That's the boring stuff. Moving on.)
I did not fit into any TB gas masks. That means I cannot take care of anybody on respiratory precautions; i.e. anyone with creepy airborne bugs. crap. hahahaha.
Today I got cable to work in one room, but not in the other. So I laid on the floor and watched TLC and MASH, and really, it started to feel like home (ironically--I never had cable in my Boise home). I talked on the phone to the cable girl for a while. SHockER.
Oh, I looked very Arizona today in my green shirt and my khaki shorts and my docs. AND, it was 89 degrees instead of 108 which made such a huge difference. And I opened the doors and listened to all the little kiddies play in the pool. I need to learn Spanish to live here, though, let me tell ya.

I wore a $3000 dress today, wednesday 6/6

Life is better when you find a good mall. It actually took me until thursday to realize that I work two blocks from this place, but wow. Crate & Barrel, J.Crew, Urban, Pottery Barn...really I could go on and on, oh, and Betsey Johnson (not that I need a hot pink $200 dress, but if I did, I would know where to get one). This is Fashion square at 76th and Camelback.

About 50 blocks (yes, 50)-- oh, by the way, when you ask for directions here, and someone says "just drive down that street a little ways, they mean AT LEAST 50 blocks."-- north of this mall (24th and Camelback) is a bunch of stores people really can't afford, at least if they are cool. Like SAKS 5th Avenue.
But you can go there and try on clothes and act like you can afford them. So I did. I wore a $3000 Armani dress for about 5 minutes. I found out my Italian size is 42 and had a woman offer me a bottle of water while I tried on my dress and then took her card in case I decided to get it.

Best way to get over being alone: try on a $3000 dress. Then call a couple people and tell them about it and be grateful you have friends to call.

Best tinted moisturizer: okay, really, people at SAKS are nice. especially at the laura mercier counter. I had read that this moisturizer was amazing, so I stopped by and said hi and told them I just moved here from Idaho to be an RN and could I possibly have a sample. And they totally obliged and were so sweet and were like, "Come back and visit us!" "Okay!!" :o)

And I got the internet!! And a REALLY CUTE green t-shirt from J.Crew :o)

I bought Lamps, Tuesday, June 5th

i am not a lamp person. Really I'm not. I just like to turn on the freakin' light already. But that is not an option in this new place, and I just bought some amazing lamps. 1 for my bedroom. 2 for the living room. And they will be in the pictures and they look great.
On Tuesday I went to a bunch of Targets and drove through Glendale.
Tempe is big and looks small.
Glendale is big and looks big and is GREEN. And driving though Glendale at 9:30 pm made me the happiest I've been since I got here.
I talked to the mail lady today. I talk to EVERYONE i see since I got here. I am a very nice person since I've been here.

Best deal ever on a lamp(shade): I got a lamp on clearance at Pier 1. It was originally $150 and i got it for $28.15, I hate the lamp, but the shade is awesome, and it goes great with my target floor lamp. I will try to post a picture tomorrow.

Walter the Vacuum Man (monday 6/4)

Things began to look up. I painted the edges of my canvasses to cover up the paint. Josh and I had gotten most everything else out.

Best way to get paint out: use OOPS!! and some rags and some paint scrapers. For clothes use a butter knife and KRUD KUTTER and soak it in OOPS!! and wash it. ACE hardware has OOPS! in the paint aisle.

Then the air conditioning guy stopped by and fixed my AC which actually made me feel much better about life in general. I went to Borders and got 3 maps, one of Scottsdale, one of Mesa/Tempe, and one of Phoenix. I still don't think I've actually seen Phoenix.

Oh, and I bought a vacuum. This is by far the best thing to happen today. I walked into the store "Complete Vacuum Service"-- I like to support the little guy and this 70-ish year old man in the back asked how he could help me.
"I'd like a vacuum," I said
"How 'bout that one over there. It's a nice orange one."
"Okay."
Walter then kind of waddles to a chair. He's quite a big guy.
"Bring it to me."
"Okay."
"Now plug it it and try 'er out and see how you like 'er."
I plug it in. It seems pretty good. It's a Panasonic and about midline in price.
Walter then explains all the attachments to me with his pretty sky blue eyes and asks me about school and what I'm doing in AZ and if a nurse like me could take care of an old diabetic like him. He then tells me that since I write so good since I'm a nurse I should fill out the receipt on my own. So I do.
He seems thrilled that I'm there so we talk about my cell phone and anything else he can think of. I get a free vacuum check-up and belt replacement in 3 months. So I'll see Walter again in September.

Adventures in Moving aka Forsaken in the Desert

I arrived on Saturday, June 2nd. My landlord was waiting with the wrong keys and some cleaning supplies to clean up a little. (He had known I was moving for a month and a half). So Jess, me, Nate, and Josh took off to IKEA to look around at that big adventure store while landlord got things put together. I think I was pretty out of it because nothing really seemed to sink in about the store. It looked cool, but I may have been a little burnt from 18 hours of driving. (Although the driving was fun...Josh and I scared Nate & Jess a little 'cause they thought we were going to wreck the moving truck from kissing so much. Silly them...)

We did spill red paint, though. Or should it say it spilled itself...on the moving truck floor. And on my bookshelf, the leg of my couch, and my canvasses that I so lovingly painted for our Boise dining room. It was a rough night.

Everyone left me alone on Sunday. Why on earth anybody lives on their own I have no idea. I kind of cried. Until Josh left. Then I had to buck up. So I did. But this is how I felt inside...

LIKE A DESERT

Why on earth was I left alone in the desert? Why do people live in a desert? My AC does not work in my house and I am sweating and lonely and holy crap I don't know a soul in this town and do you know how many people live here?? 3 million. Do I know where I am? Nope. Don't have a map. Don't have the internet.
All I see is brown walls everywhere. Tempe is mostly brown walls. It's like no one wants to see each other and nobody zoned the town, so it's like store, brown-walled subdivision, store, brown-walled subdivision. Crazy. Sad. Lonely.

Best Moving Truck Company: Penske. Their little 12' truck was awesome and drove so good and they were cheap and had nice people working there.

Hola From Arizona!!

Hi everyone! (That means Jessica and Emily mostly). So I'm still keeping up my little flickr photo album (flickr.com/photos/christinlife), which is much more exciting, but for those who would like to share my thoughts and concerns about living in arizona, including those items for which no pictures are available, here you go:

Best Fish in the World

I used to think it was Mahi Mahi. But now I am convinced it is Artic Char. I love this fish. It is kind of like salmon without the fishy salmony flavor. It is from Iceland, and it is to die for. I had it tonight pan-seared with fennel and grapefruit and black olives and olive oil on it and heaven...just heaven.

WOW

So Apple ipods are taking over the world. This I know. And they don't really need any more publicity, but even though I lost my little ipod shuffle, I loved it. To death. If you get it off the apple website, you don't even have to pay shipping and you can get a whole line of stuff engraved on it for free. And they come in 5 different colors. I think orange is the most motivating for exercise. Perfect perfect perfect.

YOU TUbe

I'm starting to really like you tube. There's this girl Natalie who is Asian with an English accent and who is beautiful and so funny. Her username is communitychannel. haha. I have one video, but it is not the best thing on youtube and I won't waste your time.
:o)
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Best Justification for This Blog

I just finished presenting a book report on "The Tipping Point" which I would highly recommend. It is a quite fascinating look at the world and what little things affect us in big ways. Like some people's personalities. Turns out I am called an "Information Maven," which means I tell people how to get a good deal on something or the best way to do something simply for the pure joy it brings me to help you. And has nothing to do with my own personal benefit. This is also why I tell people at the grocery store on the aisle next to me which cereal is best, which ice cream is best, and let the cashier know that the Organic Strawberries this week are divine. And why I have written Haagen Daaz to tell them how horrible it is that they discontinued Hazelnut Gelato and the Jell-o company to let them know how much I miss the Jell-o popsicles of my childhood. Oh, and the username HotStuffCarbiener does not really mean I'm full of myself, it just means my roommates and I thought it would be funny.
Have a nice day,
cc

Strawberry Mojito

Best thing to do with strawberries:

Get some little bowls.
Put honey in one.
Put lime juice in one.
Put "Sugar in the Raw" in one
Put chopped up mint leaves in one.
Dip strawberries into the bowls in this order.

SO GOOD!

Best Drink in the Whole Wide World

Or in Idaho. There's a lot of the world I haven't seen yet.

It's IZZE Sparkling Grapefruit and it's wonderful.
So it Walleby Banana Vanilla yogurt. Better than you think it's going to be. Yes it is.

Best Way to Get Freaked Out That You Are Becoming A Grown-up

1. Turn 27. This is the beginning of adulthood. Yes it is. Yes it is.

2. Get your first job that actually uses your degree. Not the first degree. Not the one you just look at on the wall. The one you are going to use.

3. Get some good money. This part hasn't happened yet. I'm looking forward to it, however.

Twilight Zone

Hey, so guess what. I haven't even looked at this blog in a year and turns out the last time I posted on it was 363 days ago. Almost exactly a year. I could have started again in 3 days and you'd have to look hard to know it was even a different year. Do you ever think maybe our lives just go in cycles and the reason we don't remember is because a year is too long. Like maybe last year on this day I went grocery shopping too and worked out twice because I felt like a slacker. Creeps me out, actually. Anyways, I'm back. For now. :o)