Who Let the Dog Out

Blackjack is a good dog. Most of the time. However he is not 100% trustworthy alone in the house so we crate him when we're at school/work. Here's how it goes:

Whoever is the last to leave in the morning puts the dog in his crate (he runs to get in when we say "crate it!" and waits for his treat, too funny). We give him a treat and lock the crate up, lock the house up and leave. I was the last one out the door yesterday.

Last night Steve got back from class, opened the front door and . . . no dog to be seen. The crate was wide open. Of course Steve thought I must have come home early. Nope. So he looks around and finds the dog . . . in our bedroom, laying on our bed, with socks, underwear, and bits of tissue scattered all around him. I remember giving him a treat this morning, but apparently I skipped that next step of LOCKING HIS CRATE!

This morning's poop provided evidence of just how much tissue he scarfed while enjoying his independence a little TOO much. Oops.

Pros and Cons

As I drove to work this morning, I started thinking about all the things I'm going to miss about Phoenix. And it made me really depressed, even though I'm very excited about moving to San Francisco. Phoenix is the only place we've lived that I feel like we could truly call home for a long time. I mean, how could I not love:

1. The actual tan my skin gets here! No laughing, it IS tanner than it's ever been in my life.

2. The wonderful DRY heat that is so nice to lay out in. A lazy river in Phoenix is as good as it gets people. I never knew the sun could be so relaxing. Apartment pools are everywhere and they're open year round with no lifeguards.

3. All the outdoor things to do around here (albeit they are much more fun to do October thru April).

4. Not having to highlight my hair so much, the sun is a more natural way to go. Going without highlights is not even an option. I would highlight my hair over eating. As my mom once said, my natural hair color is "dirty dishwater blonde." YUCK.

5. Phoenix is driving distance to lots of cool places: Vegas, Grand Canyon, Mexico, Flagstaff, Sedona, Las Vegas . . . Vegas is my second favorite city, for many of the same reasons Phoenix is. DRY HEAT = perfection!

6. We can leave the door open for the dog October through April and not worry about the heat or a/c going out the door. No bugs here either, but that may just be our complex.

7. I don't have to stress about big spiders, cicadas, and bugs falling from the trees overhead or off the underside of the backyard deck. Yes, this was an issue back in the DC humidity! It was TERRIFYING.

8. Burning more calories in less time due to an increased amount of sweat.

9. My box of winter clothes stays in storage. The coldest weather here is at the office when the a/c is blasted too high.

10. I'm going to need a whole new wardrobe for San Francisco weather. We Phoenicians wear just enough clothing to cover the bare essentials. Such freedom, I love it!

To make myself feel a little better, I made a list of all the DOWNFALLS of living in Phoenix.

1. Triple digits are expected tomorrow and it's still April!

2. My electric bill will go way down.

3. I won't have to fight Steve on whether to keep the a/c at 82 degrees or 84.

4. I'll no longer get in my car only to find my water bottle that was sitting there all day is not just hot, it's literally at boiling temperature.

5. I won't dehydrate after 5 minutes of hiking.

6. I can wear my hair down for more than 6 months out of the year.

7. I can go outside for more than 10 minutes without sunscreen.

8. I can walk barefoot by the pool, and flip-flops won't be a necessity at all times. Even at the waterpark in Phoenix, one must wear shoes all the way to the slide and hold them over your head as you slide down.

9. I will no longer come home from a day in the sun to wash my hands in the sink only to find that the water temperature gets no cooler than lightly scalding hot between the months of April and October. How refreshing!

10. All this sun = more freckles = me no happy!

I suppose I could give San Francisco a try . . .

California here we come

It's official. I've put in my notice at work so I can officially announce we are moving to the San Francisco bay area next month. Yeah for Steve for his job offer and yeah for it being in San Francisco and not Houston! Boo for the high cost of living. Ah well, there's a reason people are willing to pay so much to live there right?

Steve and I both grew up in the bay area but moved away right after high school and have not lived there since. My family has all moved away as well except one brother and Steve's parents are the only ones left there on his side. From California we moved to Utah for school, then to DC for our first jobs, then to Arizona for grad school, and now we're headed back to California. There were short stints in Houston, Florida, Argentina, and Russia along the way as well. We'll see how long California will take us for :)

We've already started making a list of all the fun weekend trips we'll be taking. Tahoe, Napa, Route 1, Monterey Bay, Yosemite, Santa Cruz. . . there is no shortage of places to visit that's for sure.

We're hoping to take a few weeks off between jobs to get settled in, do some exploring, and take a trip down to Cancun for a few days to relax and unwind before starting this next journey. We're very excited!

Springtime has arrived!

For some reason I feel like I can't post on the blog unless I have pictures. This is why a month might go by without a post. Not because we haven't been taking pictures to talk about. But because I'm too lazy to load the pictures onto the computer. The very simple task finally made it to my to-do list for today and what do you know, I'm actually going to be able to mark it off.

So let's see, what's been going on here . . . The weather is starting to warm up. Although it's been going back and forth between 90 degrees and back to the low 70's(which is quite cold for us here in Phoenix). So we've been getting outdoors a lot more lately, that's always fun. I'm beginning to understand why my skin never got anything past pasty white in DC. When it's not winter, it's too stinking humid to go outside for more than a minute or two! Since moving here, my skin color has gone from pasty white to a slightly more golden version of pale. I'll take it! We love Phoenix. We're retiring here, it's official.

Last night we went to the Greyhound dog racing park, something we've been meaning to check out since we realized it was just around the corner from our place. It was very . . . interesting. I had a hard time finding the line between having fun and feeling bad for these dogs chasing the "bunny" around the track. Don't they eventually realize it's NOT REAL?! My favorite was a male named "Late Night Luvah." He came in first in his race.

Steve is on an ASU co-ed softball team made up of the MBA students. Here's the team during their first game.

Steve after a nice swing.

Off and running.

Steve playing outfield.


Now for the Blackjack pictures, of course:

Dogpark dog wrestling. Round 13 or so. These two couldn't get enough of each other.

And apparently this little guy couldn't get enough of Blackjack. Now would this be considered "nurture" or "nature?" :)

This morning we hiked South Mountain again, only this time with the dog, and we managed to stay on the "real" trail and didn't get lost. No rattlesnakes this time either. I love this picture, check out Blackjack's very white underbite. We'll have to think about headgear when he gets a little older . . .


Playdate with my co-worker Mer's chocolate lab Muley, her parents' beagle Snoops, and Blackjack. Muley spent most of the time jumping in and out of the pool retrieving her toy that just "happened" to keep falling in, while Snoops spent most of the time hiding from Blackjack. Eventually Blackjack convinced Muley to play with him and they raced each other around the backyard. Too funny.

And finally, Blackjack really thinks he's a human. Lately he's taken a liking to sleeping up on my pillow with my head. But he's so cute it's hard to make him move.