A year later and it is finished

A year ago this month, we were just moving into our new townhome (which we thought was pretty much the biggest mansion in the world compared to Tim's old apartment and the various Lamoni homes we had both lived in) and we had both just started new jobs- mine was the first 'real' job either of us had gotten and Tim's was just a supplemental job while he finished grad school. But these jobs meant one thing that we had never known in our college years: We had MONEY independent of our parents! It was such an amazing feeling. Independence is so great.

Being the smart, educated people that we are, after the first paycheck we decided we needed to get rid of the conglomeration of gross college furniture and buy a new bedroom set. So we spent well into the thousands of dollars after our first paycheck on a bed, two nightstands, and different decoration accents to go into our new room. We realized pretty quickly that along with this newfound money also came newfound expenses (that our parents wouldn't pay!) We experienced our first big reality check when we saw the credit card bill for the furniture, paid it off in full and then had to pay off all our other bills on top of it. We then realized that we had about $400 in our checking account, so after that shock of our first instance of not really thinking things through (budgets were stupid then), we never really finished our bedroom. It remained pretty bare last year (except of course for the bed and two nightstands).

So yesterday, we decided that now is the Time. Time to finish our room... FINALLY. (It's not that we never wanted to finish it before-after we built up some savings, but it was always hard to justify finishing it in Des Moines since the nearest Crate and Barrel was 400 miles away and as we found out the first time, shipping costs as much as another piece of furniture...) We couldn't believe it this spring when Crate and Barrel brought back the EXACT same line of white furniture that we had bought last year... it was so awesome! (It's the Newport collection-if you were wondering).

Since we have unpacked here, a dresser has been a necessity. When we moved we scraped all of the rest of our junky college stuff except for a desk and a coffee table... so our 'dresser' right now is about four huge piles of clothes in our room. It has made the room look less empty, so if you need space fillers, just throw piles of clothes all over...it really works! And it's so fun every day looking for the tank top you SWEAR you saw yesterday when you were digging the day before for the pair of pants that you SWEAR you saw the day before that... it's been like a treasure hunt every day... and if you want to be late to work EVERY SINGLE DAY, this is the way to do it. I keep expecting a prize every time I find the coveted piece of clothing I have spent 20 minutes looking for. I might actually be a little sad to lose this FUN experience once we actually have an organized bedroom... at least our dresser is backordered so for another three weeks I get be as excited as a kid at a birthday party when I run across an article of clothing I haven't seen in two months because it's been playing hide and seek with me.

Nostalgia for Iowa

I just ran across these pictures that we took of Iowa right before we left... I do miss a lot of different, unique things about Iowa but on the flip side I love just as many things (if not more) about our new home in Arizona.

Total Cali weekend and other exciting news

Tim and I just returned from a long weekend in southern california. It was so strange to just be able to drive to his parents house...it has always been so far away! It only took us about four and a half hours to get there so it was a really easy drive!

Saturday we went down to Newport Beach and had breakfast and walked around... funny thing is, we got SO sunburned. We have been so careful in Phoenix but our first day in California we fried without meaning to. Now we are just tan with some pretty funky tan lines so we might have to brave out the Phoenix sun just to even them out. Saturday night we went out to my favorite restaurant of all time, Rutabegorz. It was started 20 or 30 years ago by college students...everything they make is all natural and organic. It really is great!

We went to church sunday and got to see a ton of people we haven't seen in a while. Then we had a barbeque at Tim's parents house with some good friends-John and Mary Anne and Bobby and Kristina. It was so great to see them...we haven't seen John and Mary Anne since the wedding and it has been almost a year since seeing Bobby and Kristina. It's crazy that now we will be able to see them a lot more frequently!

We didn't do a whole lot for the fourth... we spent a good chunk of the day driving and then when we got home we spent approximately two hours doing something I would never wish upon anyone. I might post about it later but for now I think it is too disgusting to warrant writing about. Following this, we saw some pretty cool Phoenix fireworks but other than that, we had a pretty quiet night.

In other news, out of the job offers I received, I decided to accept a job with the larger firm in the valley (the one where I sounded like an idiot on the phone...although in retrospect I do think I overreacted a little bit). I talked to one of my previous managers at Denman and he solidified my thinking that a larger firm will give me more training and more career opportunities down the road. So, my first day is tomorrow and I think they are putting me out in the field already on THURSDAY! I am nervous about that because my audit work is limited but I guess it is my "training."

So today I am going to enjoy my last day off by going SHOPPING! I think I am going to go over to Scottsdale... There are so many cool things this season that I want to buy but I've been holding out until I knew we both had jobs...this moving business has been really surprisingly expensive and we even had an allowance! Then maybe I will go to the pool to try to even out my tan lines...

Just when I was starting to build up some confidence...

I managed to RUIN no-bake cookies. For anyone that has never made no bake cookies, it is about as elementary as baking brownies from a box. All it requires is mixing and measuring. Most people probably had these perfected in fourth grade. Not me. Since I've had some time off, I've been trying to perfect my cooking. So today it was no-bake cookie day. Not only did I somehow manage to burn these (even though they are NO bake), I also ended up with a big hard glob of what looked like rocky mud.

I used to be a lot better cook than I am now...it's a really weird phenomenon. I really am trying to be a good cook and it's not that I don't want to cook (like my mom always thinks). I really do try and I am good at some things, on a CONSISTENT basis...consistency really is the key. I have made some really good way healthy recipes but Tim tends to gravitate towards the meat and cheese type of person. I don't mess with meat...lord knows what I would do to ruin that if I tried. He grills all meat we eat...the only thing I can do is brown ground turkey and bake chicken. And I can never make any of the healthy recipes again because they are so complicated that the second time around could prove to be somewhat worse than the first. Again, the consistency issue. [Also, it should be noted that I made no bake cookies two weeks ago and they were GREAT. Which is why I decided to make them again...because I KNEW I couldn't ruin them, right?] These are things that I can always make well:

1) Spinach artichoke dip
2) Spaghetti goulash stuff
3) Tacos
4) Oatmeal
5) Kraft macaroni and cheese (although I don't think this counts).

And by the way, I am don't even do well making cans of soup. I have a little bit of a microwave issue. As in, I always blow stuff up or catch it on fire...seriously, ask Tim. I caught a microwave on fire when I lived in the dorms at college because I was trying to heat up a cookie...who doesn't like WARM COOKIES?

So, someday I am going to be a good cook. But not today. Dinner tonight? Kraft macaroni and cheese with burnt rocky cookies. Yummy.

Update: I am not even joking about this, although I do find it slightly hilarious and I don't think Tim has stopped laughing at me since he's been home. I have never managed to do this before, but I somehow managed to make the macaroni and cheese extremely soggy...I really think I might be cooking cursed today. It's like macaroni soup-edible but kind of has a baby food texture. Chipolte, here we come!

Where are we now?

Here are some pictures of our new area...

I had no idea that pretty flowers grew in the desert. There are some even cooler orange and red ones...I need to go on a walk to get a picture of those.

This is our neighborhood. We have really nice neighbors. Last friday, we had a neighborhood barbeque... I made potato salad FROM SCRATCH. That really isn't the most relevant thing because I try to make a lot of things from scratch. But this is really pivotal because people actually ate it and said it was good. THAT, my friends, is progress in the cooking qwest.

I love driving around our area...it is so nicely landscaped and there are tons of palm trees, flowers, and yes, even grass! And anywhere you go, you can see the mountains all around you. Perfect.

We can see these mountains from our kitchen window. It's kind of hazy in this picture because there is a 124,000 acre fire up north right now (quickly becoming the largest in Arizona history).

Holy hell and other choice words

Exciting news (with a little bit of Jenn being an idiot on the end). I just got offered a job...at an awesome firm here in the Valley...it sounds like it is a lot like Denman which is exactly what I have been looking for. The firm is on the opposite side of the valley than what we are on which isn't that big of a deal it just means a lengthy commute everyday.The point is, one of the partners that I interviewed with just called to extend me an offer and I feel like I sounded like the biggest idiot in the world. I got all flustered and basically WAS an idiot. Arg.

My other point is that I DO CUSS, CURSE, or SWEAR. Whatever you want to call it. Not all of the time but I have to say that when I get mad, sometimes excited, flustered, or pissed off I do manage to spew off a few choice words. I am only admiting this publically (probably much to my husband's dismay-he hates it) because I am sick of not posting something I am pissed off about because I am afraid of the JUDGEMENT AND WRATH that will come from all of these people who try to believe that I am perfect and convince themselves as such. So there, it's out there...one of my flaws, among many. I am not perfect and I feel like using a certain word starting with "SH" to describe how I just acted on the phone. But since admiting that I cuss is a new development for some people I will save everyone from actually writing the word. Just know that I am not perfect and as soon as I finish writing this I am going to go scream a few choice words. And yes, I am not always calm for those of you who think I am always calm and composed. Sometimes a good scream and cry really makes you feel better. Thank you for your understanding of my character flaws.

We can't say we weren't warned....

I have three letters that I probably dislike more than anything: DMV. I hate the DMV. Why can't all states be uniform? Here are the reasons that really dislike the Arizona DMV:
1) We went on Monday. Line was out the door and wrapped around. Temperature: 115. We leave.
2) Monday afternoon CALL the DMV to see EXACTLY what we need before we go. (As we learned from Travis and Rachel, sometimes there are many trips required before you have everything the DMV requests).
3) From this phone call we learn that a) Tim can get his AZ license because his current license is in CA b) I cannot get my license because my current license is MO...so I have to have a CERTIFIED birth certificate-NO copies. c) Total cost to register and license the focus: $150. Total cost to register and license the mini cooper: $500 (this is particularily annoying since we just paid $2000. to the state of Iowa in JANUARY for the mini-a mere five months ago). d) We never really figured out if we have to get an emissions test done on the focus...the lady was a little bit whack and the website is like trying to read japanese.
4) Tuesday morning, 9 am: Go to get the Focus emission tested just in case. It passed. Guy acted like we were idiots for even getting it tested.
5) Go to DMV, 9:45 am. See sign that all out of state vehicles MUST BE INSPECTED FIRST. Disregard it and stand in line.
6) Line is shorter than yesterday but still out the door. Takes 10 minutes to get to front. Take a number and wait in HUGE waiting room, with about 100 other people.
7) Tim takes "out of state vehicle" to get inspected while I wait....and wait...and wait...
8) 11:15 am. NUMBER IS CALLED!!! We feel like we've just won the jackpot... After spending 45 minutes with the guy, Tim has his AZ license, the focus is licensed but the mini and I are still only legal in the midwest.
9) 12:03 p.m. After three hours we are finally done... until we realize that we will have to repeat this whole process and waste even more time when I get my license (once I have a document that 'legally proves I am a US citizen'-since my MO driver's license and social security card apparently don't) and when we have to get the mini licensed and registered...

I really hate the DMV. Really. It is even more frustrating to me than the game of golf.

Bubbles and bubbles...

I would consider myself to be pretty health conscious. In fact, I was so extremely health conscious about three years ago that it actually ended up being unhealthy (as in I only weighed 89 pounds unhealthy...yeah it WAS that bad). That is a different story entirely but the point is that I feel that I am now a pretty balanced person in terms of health. I try not to eat much junk food, I'm not a huge meat eater, and I really try to stay away from processed foods. I am not saying that these things define the 'perfect' healthy person...they are just things that I TRY to do. Of course, I am not perfect and I do eat the occasional bag of peanut butter M&M's and pan of brownies. And there are weeks when I am absolutely unmotivated to exercise. I can say, though, that I have never craved a big ole juicy steak...yuck.

My one regular downfall (aside from the occasional cravings)? Well, maybe I have two: Soda (or pop or coke...whatever) and unnatural peanut butter (nothing beats JIF reduced fat crunchy even with its hydrogenated oils). The peanut butter craze is a whole different story. As far as soda goes, I go on spurts where I won't drink it for months at a time to try to be more healthy and eliminate caffeine, sugar, aspartame, carbonation...whatever. But it never works. I always revert because I really love the bubbles I feel in my stomach when I drink soda. To be honest, I really don't love the taste...Dr. Pepper and Diet Coke are the best, in my opinion...but I really just love the bubbles. Tim thinks I'm crazy and for several years now he has tried but has never felt the bubbles. I feel kind of sad that he hasn't because it feels so good.

Am I nuts? Does anyone else feel bubbles when they drink soda? I have talked to several people that agree with me but I am not sure if they are just being nice. So I would like to settle this ongoing debate between Tim and I for once and for all. And with that thought, I am going to go drink a Dr. Pepper.

A week later...Part II

We are finally up and running in Phoenix... we got our Internet and cable hooked up on Monday so we are starting to feel like we are back up with what's happening in the world. We arrived in Phoenix at around 10 a.m. on Friday. Our area is really pretty nice... I like it a lot. We got here just in time... right now we are in the middle of a MAJOR heat wave (and I do mean major-even by Phoenix standards). It has been 115-120 degrees for the past three days. Granted the humidity is at 5-8% but I DON'T CARE. 115 degrees is 115 degrees even if the low humidity makes it FEEL like a COOL 112 (this is what the weatherman tells us). I actually don't mind the heat though. It really isn't unbearable. It does feel hot, but not worse than it feels some days in the midwest. Plus, I'd so much rather have heat than snow. Tim and I were thinking that we were in for a long summer but we heard on the news that it is the hottest its been here since August of 2003! I will write more and post more pictures about Phoenix and our new place later. But for now I will back track to our journey to get here:

Saturday, June 11. My parents drove up from Kansas City to help us load the truck. It then sat in the front of my parents house in Blue Springs, Mo. for three days before we left on Wednesday. This picture is of my dad and Tim beginining to load the big stuff...packing the truck took a total of three and a half hours. Good thing I had people helping me... nothing ended up being broken but if I had loaded myself, I would have just thrown stuff in and it would have taken me about an hour. True, less time but not everything would have fit and EVERYTHING would have been broken. My dad lived up to his name of the 'master packer.'

Our garage was pretty big... big enough to have fit both cars in this past year. We had boxes, suitcases, furniture, and a whole lot of other crap that completely packed this garage. We really didn't think we'd be able to fit everything into what seemed like a TINY 15 foot truck, but in the end, everything fit.