Off to Zona for the Weekend...

I will be back on Monday with stories of my nephew's 1st birthday party and my baby shower! Ahh I cannot wait!

Quick Trip

The Graduate. My beautiful cousin Victoria graduated from high school. She is heading off to NAU in the fall and I am so proud of her!

Sleepy baby

He looks like he is telling jokes!

Grandma takes him for his first swim. He loved it!

Everyone comments on his crazy hair! It is awesome.

Relaxing by the pool, can't remember if this was at Wildhorse Pass or the JW Marriott at Desert Ridge. Both were amazing, thank you Mom and Scott for putting me up for the weekend!

My last minute trip to Arizona was too short.

I love my family. They all pitched in and bought me a ticket so I could be a part of the graduation festivities for my cousin Vic. Thank You All, I Love You!

My heart hurts when I think about how much I love and miss my family. It is probably the hormones, but life just seems to be flying by so fast and I feel on the verge of a break down when I think about how much I miss being a kid and being surrounded by family.

And, as if leaving behind my family wasn't enough to throw me over the edge, my sister had to create the most perfect human being in the world and missing out on his first year is really hard. Now I understand why she sometimes considers ditching school to hang with him full time.

Stay tuned: in less than 12 hours we find out if Baby is a boy or a girl!

Tempe, Oh How I Missed You

A visit home was just what I needed. I got in everything I love and miss in Tempe:

Sister time watching silly TV and doing crafts

Grocery shopping at Sunflower Market

Iced Chai's from 3 Roots, Solo Cafe and Xtream Bean

Walking through campus on the palm lined pathways

Catching up with old coworkers and running into people I know on the street

Strolling around Tempe Town Lake and admiring the lights

70 degree weather and the bluest skies in all the land

Happy Birthday Fake Lake

Tempe Town Lake was opened 10 years ago this month. Today the Arizona Republic highlights the history, development and past 10 years, you can find the article (including the picture) here.

Now I know it is a fake lake, built in a dried-up river bottom, but I love the 2 miles of dirty water regulated by deflatable rubber dams. I love flying into sky harbor and seeing the lake, adorned by A mountain to the south. I love having the lake as a backdrop while waiting outside on the cobblestone sidewalk for our name to be called for our table at Monti's. 10 years have gone by fast, I remember when that river bottom was empty. Look how far Tempe has come since then. Marketplace, light rail, orbit!

In Nashville, there is an actual river that runs through downtown. You can see it from the terrace on our building. The Cumberland winds through the city and is in no danger of being dried up and turned into a man made lake.

But, I still love the fake lake.

Homesickness

Great Grandma, me, Mom, Grandma

Homesickness has finally hit, and boy has it hit hard. I know, you are probably thinking "but Whitney, you bashed on Arizona for years... claiming you would never return once you left the desert." It is true. I did. I am ashamed. I caught myself talking to two different people within the span of about 30 minutes about how much I miss home. When the first victim of my bantering passed by while I was carrying on the same conversation we had shortly before with someone else, I was embarrassed and hoped she didn't hear me. She was probably thinking, jeez girl, get over it. Well I am not over it!

It might be that I have completely lost the memory of the intense heat (weird how quickly it fades). Or maybe the fact that the holidays are slowly creeping up. Whatever it is, I want to go home. I want to see my freakin nephew, who doesn't even know me and wouldn't recognize my big bulging eyeballs if they were popped out in front of him! Sigh...

I also miss things like Sunflower Market, highways that have exits every mile or so and also have on ramps at the same place as the exit, streets that either take you north-south-east or west, and the light rail. I really got used to her convenience last year.

It has only been 3 months. I need to suck it up and stop thinking about it! But, I will tell you, it definitely makes you appreciate your family and friends. And at least I will know what it is like to live somewhere else...cause everyone wants to know that, right?

Dear Tempe,

I can't stop thinking about you on this exceptionally dreary day. Nashville is grey grey grey today. My skin misses the warmth of the sun and my hair misses the dry air. (Who knew I had wavy/frizzy hair?) When I return to your beauty, I will do just as I had done before. I will focus my gaze on your clear blue sky and let the sunshine wash all over me.

I miss my family and friends a lot today. I want to go home, go through my sister's closet (her clothes always smell good) and then grab dinner at LGO with Dad and Wendy. I want to watch a football game at my Mom's house with my brother just for the amusement of his loud emotional outbursts. I want to drive down the street to my Grandma's house when I am having a bad day and lay on her couch for an entire afternoon. I want to gather with my family at the "Fall Birthdays" party and play with my cousins, before they are too old and decide that I am really not all that cool.

And to my friends, I miss you like crazy too. I am learning how rare it is to find people you always have something to talk about with. Please don't forget about me, even though I am not on Facebook, I still exist!

Pic: Mill Ave bridge, via Flickr; Palm walk at ASU, via Wikipedia

Live in Arizona?

Check out this sweet alternative to the standard camping trip. The Shady Dell

It's just so different.

Since moving to Tennessee I get asked a lot how I like it here. I love the history in Nashville. When driving through neighborhoods or even to the grocery store there are signs recognizing Civil War Battle grounds. It is crazy to think that a century and a half ago, the Union and Confederate armies were engaged in combat on land that is now potentially occupied by starbucks. I buy iced grande non-fat chai lattes where men lost their lives in bloody warfare.

Another thing I like is how green it is here. Driving on the highway you don't see rows and rows of stucco, you see never ending rolling hills of trees.

While the rolling green hills are great, they don't quite compare to the mountains in the desert.

So my answer is, I do like Nashville, it's just so different.