Aunt Carrie Visit

Well, I may have just gotten back from my Phoenix trip last night, but that doesn't mean I'm not up for more adventure today! I like to jam pack my free time. That, and I am definitely starting to feel a crunch before I am once again moving.

Today I had the privilege of visiting with my Aunt Carrie and my cousin's son, Henry! It was so fun to show them around Redlands a little bit.

Prospect Park is always a fun choice for pretty much anyone. It was a beautiful day and we just took it easy and strolled around. I got a little sad though, realizing that with so much going on, it might be my last time at my favorite place in Redlands. Views like this make it hard to beat.

Palms and orange groves = Redlands.

 

Palm trees = Redlands. 

Henry and I hung out in the middle of this bamboo forest, but he wasn't too sure about Carrie's attempts to scare him through the shoots.

Carrie, being the awesome aunt she is, treated me to lunch at Five Guys where I learned that Henry loves ketchup and smashing peanuts (eating them- not so much). Still, he made less of a mess with the peanuts than most customers there.

The day was packed with parks and playing playing playing. I forgot how much energy a three year old has, and I'm not sure who was more worn out at the end of the day.

 





 
We went to a park by the University of Redlands and played there too! I learned that Henry loves the show "Paw Patrol."



He does this thing from the show where he (literally) sniffs out "tracks" and follows them to solve the mystery. I could not stop cracking as he hunched over shuffling and sniffing for tracks. He is so great!

We also took some time to cool off inside and read some books.



Henry loved racing me around the play ground and asking for my help climbing the small rock wall at my apartment complex. He is a super brave kid with a big personality. Somehow I still managed to visit with Carrie too. She is such an incredible person and I look up to her so much. I am so lucky that she had the time to come visit.

Ross came home early and outdoing herself yet again, Carrie treated us to dinner at Panera. Before long she had to head home with sleepy Henry in tow. I am so glad she made the trip out to see me in my natural habit, it was a special day and made me think a little too much about how much I am going to miss all this when I leave.

Hooked on Phoenix

Let me just start by saying that I just recently became confident in my spelling of the word, "Phoenix". Luckily once I set my mind to it, success came swiftly and I am now sure I can spell it right, even when high on too much caffeine or low on sleep.

If you're ever in a spelling bee it should go like this:

"Feenicks, P-H-O-E-N-I-X, Feenicks"

But for the time being I'll pronounce it like "phonics" or "pho-en-ix." Because I'm all about clearing up confusion.

And in case you are confused as to why I'm devoting so much time to the central Arizona city in the Valley of the Sun- well- that's the next destination! Ross and I will move in June. :D For a post much more GIF-filled, check out this one here.

Still traumatized from the nightmare of apartment hunting in California, we decided to up our game and get the ball rolling early with a trip to Phoenix. We headed on on a shockingly short road trip Sunday.

Gotta get those Snapchat geo filters.



 In case you were interested in wander around in the middle of the Sonoaran Desert be warned:




Anyways, I'm still not sure how we pulled it off with two crazy schedules, but it happened! But not before I went full-blown Sherlock Holmes on any and every apartment complex under $1000/month (and some above) within a 20-minute radius of Ross's new hospital. I feel like I grew up in Phoenix with how familiar I am with all the street names, freeway off/on ramps, and shopping plazas.

But it paid off because whether the ease of the Phoenix housing apartment market, or my preparations beforehand (or a combo of both?) apartment hunting took significantly less time, and was much less stressful than last time.

In just two days we:
1. Viewed dozens of apartments
2. Narrowed down, revisited, aaand
3. Started the application process for an apartment!!

Yep.

It feels incredible. It didn't come without exhaustion and grief and pulling teeth, but dare I say... I'm kinda getting good at this process. I can't wait to do it all over again in 3 years!

I feel pretty confident about our new place and it seems like a decent neighborhood. I am so excited to move and start this next chapter.

I must say, apartment hunting in this neck of the woods is absolutely .... what's the word... stunning? We got optimistic and toured a couple complexes in Scottsdale, Fancy-dale, Snobsdale, whatever you want to call it. Ross and I were literally choking back chuckles.

 

Oh what? Concierge service? Professional chef lessons? Swimming pools with fountains? Poker table? Theater room? Game room with Xbox and Wii and Netflix and Hulu? Chandeliers in my kitchen? Bronze lions in the lobby?  Keep in mind, these were the ones at the top of our price range. Like- we would consider them if needed. I can't imagine the ammenities at the ones I immediately axed. Heaven help me while I crawl back over to the Phoenix city limits.

Along with intense apartment hunting I figured it was requisite to find some fun things to do in the area to break up the monotony. Thanks to my mom I have a great affinity for Food Network's Guy Fieri and his "Triple D" list. Phoenix is brimming with Triple D restaurants and I managed to eat at 3 of them in just three days.

Here is my quick breakdown of visited eateries: 

Chino Bandido 
Was incredibly close to the motel we were staying at, and therefore and obvious first choice. The place is small and offers Mexican-Asian fusion food! If that scares you, you can definitely choose just Mexican or just Asian. I went "safe" this time and got the Jen Red Pork bowl. It is deep fried pork with this red sauce that is kind of like sweet and sour, but 100x better. It was very tasty and different from your run of the mill Panda Express.



You also get a fresh baked snickerdoodle cookie for desert! Plus, their logo includes a Fu Manchu meets Pancho Villa panda. Does it get cuter than that?!

Monday was apartment hunting crazy day but I had a eatery in Scottsdale picked out for lunch:

Tom's Thumb "Not Your Average Gas Station"
Is very close to Ross's future hospital, so also a great choice! Completely different from Chino Bandido but kind of unconventional.

 

As you might have noticed from their tag line... this restaurant is in a gas station. But indeed, not your average gas station. In fact, the fanciest gas station I have ever been in (which, in fairness might not mean much). This gas station has over-stuffed crushed velvet chairs, and Papyrus brand greeting cards.





The food is classic American BBQ, and also amazing. I've had good BBQ, and mediocre BBQ... this is the good stuff. But how can you go wrong with jalapeno and bacon topped smoked and fried pork on a bed of creamy grits?! They have their own BBQ sauces put out in sets on the tables.


 
Of course I tried all of them, and it was really hard to choose a favorite. Even the spicy mustard BBQ was amazing, and I don't even like spicy mustard. The Coke Freestyle machine was a definite bonus.

Tuesday we had finished up with our second visit to our new apartment complex, and celebrated with a visit to:

DeFalco's Italian Eatery
Was yet another score. It is a deli, store, and restaurant located farther south in Scottsdale than Ross's future stomping grounds.


Since it has so much going on, there is little room for sitting but lots of food on your plate.

I got a calzone which I am pretty sure is actually just a medium sized pizza folded in half. I ate and ate and ate and still couldn't fit the leftovers in the to-go box.


Ross got a bruschetta sandwich, very fresh and delicious. The homemade cannoli and canned Dr. Brown's beverages just sealed the deal.

Are you done listening to me ramble about food? Just one more (but not a Triple D), and I'll change gears to dessert!

That's Amore Gelato 
If you're a hipster in the 21st century you're probably hoping on Yelp, Trip Advisor, or Google for your reviews of eateries before you go. Well, if you just so happen to stumble upon an establishment that has about 480 combined reviews with an average of 5 stars, well, you better stumble upon that place "IRL" (in real life). Besides the annoyingly wealthy wealthy people, this place is an absolute gem. They have 40 flavors of homemade gelato! I feel "amazing" doesn't do it justice, but until you come visit me, it will have to suffice. All words fail here.

 It's been an absolute pleasure to be here in Phoenix. I have a few more experiences from our trip that I will be blogging about soon. But for now I'll leave you with the story of

FANCY CAR ENCOUNTER #1:



Ross and I are sitting at a light in Scottsdale (duh!) and we see this fancy thing. Now Ross is a car dude, in that he can appreciate a beautiful car and if he plays his cards right he (believes he) will own a Corvette Stingray. So I ask him what the heck kind of car that is and he is stumped for a minute before he delicately declares that it is indeed a McLaren, a British car that is worth  some exorbitant amount that I immediately forgot because there's still children starving on planet Earth ya know? Ross sneaks a peak when the guy in the car next to us strikes up a conversation with Ross. From this conversation we gleaned that Mr. McLaren lives up the street from our new friend and this dude has not the one, but TWO FREAKING MCLARENS. What did I say about crawling back to the city limits of Phoenix?

Lost

I think, there are times in life when we all feel lost. Not geographically. But you know the kind. I have this favorite quote, classically Pinterest-cliche, 
"Not all those who wander are lost." -J.R.R. Tolkien. But there are times in life when you wonder how long you can wander before you really are just... lost. 

My sister recently became the proud owner of a pair of birds.  Apparently birds can be tricky pets because they have an adjustment period and they can get sick and things can, "go wrong." If you know what I mean. My family was on pins and needles for my sister, hoping the birds would be okay in their new home. And after time, they appeared to be adjusting just fine. They are happy and healthy and the female even laid three cute little eggs. We were all so excited. 

But then the nervousness returned. Would the eggs be okay? Would the parental birds take good care of them? Is the environment conducive to hatching?! Well, one egg hatched!

And produced the most frightening and maybe cute looking thing. A baby bird.

I am happy to say that the bird continues to grow and grow! 

As I thought of this new little bird, I was reminded of this poem: 

Coming Out 

"Some hatchings hurt: ...

The cracking 

of a hardened

fallacy.

The shatter-crumble 

of a bias

bind.

And the new learning 

softness

is so very tender. 

It's frightening to be

nothing more 

than the palest puff

that peeps.

And so remember

and remember

clarion call

to shelter:

"I will gather ...

as a hen

gathereth

her chickens

under her wings..."

A place to grow 

in strength." 

[Source]:Dianne Dibb Forbis, New Era, Dec. 1977, p. 7

When you're naive you think you're one big healthy bird cracking out of a one small shell. But in reality, life is one hatching after the next. And there are so many times in life when we feel like that brand new little bird.

Graduating from college-
Getting married-
Moving to a remote island in the Caribbean-
Moving back to America-
Moving to California-
Finding a job-
Moving to somewhere else (again)-

You feel exposed, vulnerable, and new. We have to find our own way. We may feel insufficient, especially without knowledge to fly, or wings to carry us. 

But it's okay. 

We will grow our wings. We will find our strength, and we will fly. 

Sometimes things just take time.