New Favorite Shirt

Got a wonderful package in the mail from PA! I proudly show off the art work on my fridge, and I love the reminder of what a snow man looks like. Thanks, Ava-bug!

Nerd Alert!

Steve and I didn't waste much time to start decorating for Christmas. Decorations included window stickers and a Charlie Brown Christmas tree. Clearly we had a blast.

Thanksgiving Dinner

So Thanksgiving dinner was a lot quieter than I remember this year, but the food was pretty good, and the company was great!! Steve and I unbuttoned the top button and relaxed for the rest of the evening. It didn't really seem like it was Thanksgiving though, with the 80 degree heat and mountains across the street!

1 Night, 2 Parties

So I decided to dress up like a cat for Halloween. I thought it would be easy--it's in my name. The night was fun, but I was down and out for the weekend. I decided that I can't do that very often. I'm starting to get old. But now that Halloween is over, the countdown begins for Thanksgiving. Happy Birthday, Dad!

The Chicken and the Bee

I've been searching for the perfect Halloween costume for the work party this weekend. Instead Steve and I had too much fun at Target.

Sunday Breakfast

I already have a favorite place to go out to breakfast. Come visit and I'll take you there!

Stuffed french toast with cream cheese and raspberries...

I ordered oatmeal, but only because it came with with a strawberry cheese danish!

"Punk-in" Carving

Steve and I thought we'd try carving pumpkins this year, something I hadn't done in years. I remember enjoying playing with the pumpkin guts more before..

Tracing the perfect lid.

3 hours later...

Haunted house and Kitty Kat.

Celebrating our success and contemplating our future careers as professional pumpkin carvers.

Thanks Aunt Connie and Uncle Jim!

I was going to pretend that Halloween wasn't happening this year since I didn't really have anything to decorate. Thanks to Aunt Connie and Uncle Jim for the surprise package, I started looking forward to Halloween. Next thing I know I'm buying Halloween candy to pass out to kids. And I've only eaten a couple of the kit kats.

Cactus Gardening

So I took Steve to the local cactus greenhouse Saturday afternoon, and he loved it! We originally went to buy me some replacements, a few of mine had died, but he was inspired to create something himself! I documented the process...

And the cactus trifecta is complete!

See Mom?

I can manage to make some pretty good meals on my own. I don't ONLY eat frozen pizzas. :)

Lazy Sunday

I like to relax the night before the work week starts, and I'm pretty sure I do it the right way. Here's my point of view relaxing on my balcony, sipping on my calimocho (red wine and coke!), eating chips and guacamole (from Trader Joe's!) and watching the sunset turn the Catalinas red. Wish you could have been there!

Catalina Sunset

It was another great sunset over the Catalina Mountains (my backyard!!!) so we decided to take a few pictures.


















But then we noticed a few stormy clouds coming our way and some thunder rumbling in the distance...








Naturally I went to my balcony to watch it.




















It still made an incredible sunset. But to be completely honest, every sunset here is an incredible one.

Steve the Pilot

Steve kept himself busy while I was at work all week. He visited the Pima Air and Space Museum, and one day he got to fly a helicopter! I'm very proud of my flying man!

Mount Lemmon, Part 1

The next day, Steve and I made a trip to Mount Lemmon. We were hoping to take a ride on the chair lift at the top, but we got there too late. We decided we'd have to go back later. We got great pictures on the way up though.

Steve couldn't believe the view of these mountains, and that we were driving towards them.

Getting closer...

The majority of the pictures were potato-head ones like this, so I thought I'd put in one. Precious.

Mountain climbing

One of the many vistas we stopped at.

My First Visitor!

During the first weekend, Steve and I decided to check out the Sonoran Desert Museum. It was off-season, so the tickets were cheap, but it was really hot, even at 8 in the morning! Coffee was a must. Unfortunately, a lot of the animals were hiding from the hot desert sun, but Steve and I still had a blast.

Seeing all of the animals was cool, but Steve and I really liked playing around in the caves. Eventually we figured out it was probably made for kids.

You can't really see it, but I swear that I am standing next to running water. I don't see much of that around here, so I wanted a picture with it.

New Addition to the Apartment

I am officially an Arizona resident! I thought it necessary to own a cactus or two. Thanks for the great house-warming present, Mom! My favorite succulent is on the front left--because they are called Baby Toes!

Settling in my New Home

Due to popular demand, I decided to make a blog to keep everyone updated with the move to Tucson. Mom, Dad and Stephen traveled with me to Arizona last week to help me find a car, an apartment, and furniture. Luckily we found everything fairly quickly.

Here I am sitting pretty in my new chair, exhuasted after a week of hard work.

Here begins the tour of the new apartment.

Where I can sit in the morning and drink my coffee and look at the mountains.

This is a dream come true for me...I've always wanted a walk-in closet!

My new queen sized bed, most things are from Ikea or Target.

Bec, you and Nick bought me that red lamp. Thanks!!


The new desk area

A huge kitchen!

The living room. Mom was thrilled with the color scheme.

The new ride! A 2005 Toyota Corolla

The view from my balcony

Not bad, huh? My first day of work begins Monday, the 17th, so Mom and I have the weekend to finish up decorating, making sure I have everything in order, and more importantly, time to relax.

You can see how spacious my one bedroom apartment is and I don't plan on coming home until Christmas time so I will be taking reservations for visitors! Big hugs to everyone. :)