Camelback Mountain

Chase and I climbed Camelback Mountain last Saturday. It was around noon and 100 degrees. We went through about 3 liters of water, and it took us about an hour to get to the top. It was insanely difficult, but one of the most famous hikes in Phoenix.

No changing weather to cue the seasons here!

I feel like times flies by in Arizona without me noticing it. This is because (well, the conclusion that I've come to) the seasons barely change. In Indiana, or pretty much any other state, there is a stark contrast in seasons, and it's a noticeable difference when one seasons begins to melt away to the other, and it reminds us that "it's that time of the year again!" In Arizona, it's just always hot and sunny. It's almost October and it's still 100 degrees outside. It will start to get a little cooler, but only marginally. There are no leaves changing color or cool October breeze. Just brown desert. I want to burn some fall smelling candles or drink hot cider, but I can't bring myself too because it still feels like summer! I do really miss the fall weather from Indiana. It was such a beautiful time of the year. Oh well...

september update

It's crazy how time flies by...can't believe we're already half way through September! Here are a few updates.

• Chase is operating the role of Regional Repair Specialist. I don't think he has any traveling scheduled in the near future. He will be training other Cintas employees from other states in the regional repair specialist role. Luckily they are flying in to Phoenix so he doesn't have to go away on business!
• I am still loving working on the 6th floor at Scottsdale Osborn. I have been trying learn more about neuroscience and neurosurgery. I try to be in my patients room the entire time the neurologist/neurosurgeon are talking to them. This works if I have time and my other patients don't need anything! I am learning a lot and I ask the doctors explain the scans (MRI, CT, etc.) when they pull them up on the computer. These scans are essentially impossible to read unless you know what you are looking for and have extensive training. Most doctors are pretty cool with this...and I've learned which ones will give me the time of the day and which ones won't.
  

• Chase and I went to Flagstaff last weekend on September 11th to see my collegiate soccer team play in a tournament. I remember in 2006 when I was on the team and we flew out to Arizona to play in the same tournament. I was my first year starting and playing every game...and thankfully not my last! I am so fortunate for the opportunity to have been able to see and do so many great things through playing soccer. We had a blast. Ball State won the tournament (a feat that we were unable to obtain in 2006...but hey...we went on to win back to back MAC Season Championships).

With Abby and Sarah, my old teammates who are currently on the team

After the game, we checked out a 9/11 memorial

Lunch and brewskis at the Beaver Creek Brewery

• Chase and I are also doing lots of projects around our apartment. I found some awesome fabric at JoAnn's and reupholstered our Ikea kitchen table chairs. No longer is there just boring white. We also found this vintage, old little writers desk in Flagstaff for $40. It was scratched with graffiti and stickers all over it. Chase sanded it down for me and we primed and painted it in this beautiful white color. We will distressed the trim with a sander and then finish the piece. It is currently a work in progress. Will post pictures when I am finished!
• Also - I signed up for the PF Changs Half Marathon in downtown Phoenix in January. Not something I want to advertise as I am only barely into the beginning of my training. I just want to finish! The thought is overwhelming...but hey, I paid for it and by golly I will follow through!

staycation at the princess

Last weekend Chase and I had a lovely and wonderful "staycation" at the Fairmont Princess. This is what the local phoenix/scottsdale residents do in the summertime when all the resorts are offering cheap rates. Chase has been given a lot more responsibilities at work, and with that comes longer, harder hours. So this was a much needed break for him.

The Princess is literally across the road from our apartments! But that didn't take away from our weekend at all. It may be close, but once we stepped on that huge resort, it was like a different world. We enjoyed lying out at the pool, getting a little tan on our skin, and the delicious breakfast bistro.

On Saturday night, we ventured off the resort and went out for dinner at the Scottsdale Quarter, a new, luxury shopping center down the road from our apartments. It's a relatively newer center, but for some reason, Chase and I haven't explored this place yet. It was beautiful! All these fun shops (a nike store, west elm, pottery barn - all great places for some window shopping), and some new, cool restaurants. We had dinner at a Fox Concepts restaurant called True Kitchen. It's all organic with some vegan options, so it was interesting to say the least. Chase got an amazing bison burger with parmesan cheese and sweet potato hash on the side. I ventured out and got pangang curry. Chase's burger was DELICIOUS. But this was my first experience with curry (and a little coconut milk), and it was OK. The overall atmosphere was AMAZING. A beautiful, modern restaurant with huge light fixtures, long wooden tables, and an open kitchen

Date nights are fun - but date weekends are the best!

Decorating our apartment!

This past month, we decided to decorate our apartment by painting some walls and re-doing our furniture. Here are some pics!

Before

After

Painted the walls, painted the furniture, and hung some decoration! The mirror in the middle, I found at goodwill. It was an ugly wood color. So I painted and primed it and fixed it up!

We went to ikea and bought a few decor items to go on the other side of the room. We only painted two accent walls in our room, so these walls were left white.

The candlesticks were found at goodwill. They were so cheap and so beat up! The were a dark brown wood color with plenty of knicks. nothing a little martha stewart paint couldn't fix!

My little bit of purple I snuck into the room:)

Hope you all liked our changes! Still have a few more to make!

crazy arizona monsoon season

We can't believe we've lived in arizona for ONE YEAR already. It's gone by so quickly, as we assume life will from now on. This summer we've experienced some genuine Arizona weather. Earlier this month, we had a massive Haboob engulf the entire valley with a mile high wall of dust. Also, high winds and ferocious rain accompanied this crazy storm. Then we had another smaller dust storm. I remember being in the hospital working, and looking out the window of the 6th floor to see the nice view of Camelback mountain...less than a mile away. Five minutes later, it was completely gone. That's how terrible the visibility is due to the thickness of the dust.

Typically each day is sunny and in the 100s. And then all the sudden a monsoon with sweep on by and dump a ridiculous amount of water on the valley, so intense it produces "flood warnings." These monsoons are often accompanied with lightening storms and/or hail.

Just weird, huh?

One year and counting

Woohooo!!! Chase and I have been married one year!

On Saturday (June 25th), Chase and I celebrated one year of marriage together. I worked during the day, but I had the next day off, so we decided to do something fun fun fun. Chase got us some reservations for dinner at Modern Steak. It's a Fox restaurant - just like the Culinary Dropout (where we went for my birthday). It had the most beautiful decor. We had seats right next to the open kitchen, it was interesting to watch. We both chose this DELICIOUS three course meal, and I got the wine pairings. It was pretty awesome, esp. since the last drink was a sweet champagne.

Before the dinner, Chase surprised me with a gift. We really wanted to do wedding gifts one year later, because a year ago on our wedding day, we couldn't really afford to get each other nice gifts. We wanted to get each other classic gifts that would last and could be passed down in our family. So amazed to get these:

These pearls are absolutely beautiful, and the perfect length. I got Chase a croc-embossed, black leather strapped watch with our wedding date and a verse engraved on the back. We'll remember these gifts forever. Probably won't ever be able to top them - there is a lot of meaning behind them.

After dinner, we went to our next destination. We booked a room on hotwire (so we didn't know which hotel we'd be staying at until after we booked it) and we were delighted that we got a room at the Hyatt Regency Resort! It was a blast! The room was great, but the best part was the brunch and pool area. We went to the Southwest Bistro at the Hyatt for their famous Sunday brunch - and WOW. It was probably the most elaborate thing I have even experienced. Everything from Eggs Benedict to scallops, to a roast, to king crab. Seriously. They literally had every single kind of breakfast food you could want. And then they also had salads and dinner items. I loved the fine cheese table with prosciutto. My favorite of course was the smoked salmon and bagel with all the toppings. This is something Chase got me hooked on on our honeymoon. I was absolutely overwhelmed with all the choices. Especially because I knew I wouldn't be able to try everything, there was just too much.

These pictures are a little blurry and do not do it justice! I was trying to take them sneakily while we walked out.

Oh and the desserts! AMAZING! My favorite was this little thing with delicate chocolate petals with this delicious chocolate cream in the middle. It was like a little peony. But all the desserts looks too good to be real. I felt like I was in Willie Wonka's Chocolate Factory and everything was edible.

The have this huge area with 14 different pools patterned around each other to make it one big pool area. On one side, these is a sandy beach. We had a blast going around to the different pools and enjoying the sun.

We had an absolutely wonderful time. Thank you for all our anniversary cards and wishes!!!