Our New Digs!
We were staying at our second La Quinta, one that turned out to be right down the road from our apartment. We got up, had our last complimentary breakfast, and headed to our new home. I was immediately intrigued by all the palm trees lining the road. I knew there would be cacti (yet there weren't as much of those as I thought there would be), but I never thought palm trees! I love them almost as much as cacti.
We filled out the lease and paid the manager, and got our keys for the apartment, mailbox, and pool. Now came the fun part (yeah, right?): Unloading the truck. Our feet were already swollen and hurting from driving all that way. Walking around with added weight bearing down on them did not feel good at all. I think that was the main reason why unloading was harder than loading. To boot, we had to go down a flight of steps for each load. The apartment is a downstairs one, which would normally be ground level. However, we're slightly below ground level, by about five feet.
We moved almost everything in on the first day. That evening, while I was getting a few last minute boxes, I saw what looked to be a cat. It was pretty curious as to what was inside the truck. I looked again. No, it's bigger... is that a raccoon? It saw me and sauntered away, moving like a cat would. I had gotten to the truck by this time, and peeked around the far side of it. It was a bobcat! I was amazed. The manager said we also get visits by roadrunner, coyotes and other such animals. Seeing it was believing.
On our second day in Tucson, we took it a bit more easy. We only brought in a few heavier things (all that was left, as I had taken all the boxes and bags in already), and unpacked some boxes. We had two things that we couldn't possibly move by ourselves. Our entertainment center (good, solid wood) and our computer desk (ditto, but a bit lighter). We saved it for another day. We took nap breaks and showers. Recuperating. My body wanted me to sleep, sleep, sleep.
On the third day, we got a call from the manager, warning us that she's about to tow the rental truck. There was really nowhere to park that big thing. We called up a friend of Nikki's father. He came by and helped us move the computer desk in. We were heading back for the entertainment center, when he spotted a bunch of latino men, who were moving in themselves. He got them to carry the entertainment center in for us! There was nowhere to lend a helping hand (not that we minded that much, hehe), so Nikki and I just followed behind. They were such a lifesaver.
At some point, our white's treefrog died. We had him back in his tank, with his crickets hopping all over, but he died. Maybe it was the shock of moving. Maybe it was the dry climate. Either way, all our frogs are gone now (we had three), so we need to get some more, as soon as our budget allows.
Other than that, there's not much to tell. We've unpacked almost all the boxes. Almost, because we had to leave our bookcase and cd racks behind. Not everything fit inside the truck. We know where all the local stores are: Walmart, Safeway, Staples, Petco, etc. We've been doing lots of laundry. I took that for granted for so many years in New York... being able to do laundry AT HOME... whenever we want! Skylar is in her own room now, thus unable to destroy her sisters' things or bother them while they try to go to sleep. We need a few things, like a couch, lawn furniture, and the aforementioned bookcase and cd racks. But we love our new home.
Here are a few pics of how it looked before we unloaded the truck. Thanks for reading. :)
Our living room. Those blinds cover a sliding door, which we blocked with the entertainment center. It was too easy for Skylar to open.
A view of the kitchen, with the breakfast nook in front. Yes, the stove/oven is electric. Yes, we have a dishwasher. ;)
And yes, we have a washer and dryer! YAY!!!
The kids' bathroom. There is now a froggie shower curtain hung there.
This is Skylar's room. Sarah and Savannah share a room, that is a bit bigger, with a double closet.
The master bedroom. The blinds cover another sliding door, this one leading to a small yard, covered with brownish/reddish rocks. I would love to sit out there and read, as there is an outside light. We just need patio furniture first.
The master bathroom. The sink is off-camera to the left.
The master walk-in closet. The sink is off-camera to the right, and you can see the edge of the counter here.
This is the small yard, looking out from the master bedroom. I hang out there sometimes.
This is a shared patio (with one other apartment), looking out of the front door. Those steps are a lot easier to navigate without carrying boxes and furniture!
Welcome to the Realm of the Sun!
Speaking of which, I must humbly apologize for the lack of entries of late. I've been a fish out of water lately, and I'm having trouble getting myself into any kind of routine at all. I've also been rather unsociable, which happens when I feel stressed in some way. I'm getting there though.
Before I get into our road trip stories, I just want to say that I love it here! Everyone was telling me the heat was unbearable. Pshaw! True, I've yet to see any 120 degree days (though it got up to 107 last week), but so far it's been a snap. The humidity is very low here. To me, it seems like 85 degrees when it's really 105. Yes, I sweat... but not profusely. It doesn't stick to you like it would in Michigan or New York. I love the nights. Sooo comfortable. I've always loved summer nights. The neighborhood (read: apartment complex) is very quiet and serene, and the neighbors are pleasant. What a change from Michigan! I would never want to walk around our old apartment complex at night, for fear of being harrassed by the local hoodlums. People would walk around at all hours of the night, fighting and screaming at each other.
Here? Silence. That is, besides the sound of people's televisions inside, cars passing by on the road outside the complex, and the hum of air conditioners. I look up and see the stars, clearly visible with nary a cloud in the sky. I feel the warm air caressing my body. There are no mosquitoes, no horseflies. Later, day breaks. It gradually begins to get hotter outside, but it bothers me not. (I don't burn too easily.) The sky is so bereft of clouds that I can see the moon in one part of the sky, and the sun in another... way before sundown. I try to find a cloud in the sky, just one wisp of white... none. I venture out by car to the main road outside our complex. Palm trees line the roadside, and every so often, a saguaro cactus stands defiantly, thrusting towards the sky. But the masters of the sky around here must be the mountains surrounding Tucson. The Santa Catalina Mountains to the north, the Rincon Mountains to the east, the Santa Rita Mountains to the south, and the Tucson Mountains far to the west. This may not be a paradise to some... but it's my paradise.
Anyway, the ride down:
DAY ONE
I wrote a series of scheduled posts the night before we left. The first one (for day one of our trip) was pretty accurate. We wanted to take our picture in front of a sign saying, "Now leaving Michigan" or something, but there wasn't any. Not on I-75, anyway. :( The entire trip that day consisted of farmland, houses, empty fields... and more farmland. Yes, it was quite rural. We had lunch at a picnic table outside a gas station/food mart in Ohio (see photo below). The people there were quite friendly.
An Ohio lunch.
I don't remember much of Illinois or Indiana (Indiana was over quickly, if I remember correctly). The people were pretty rude in the section of Missouri we stopped in (an hour or two from Waynesville). Nikki and the kids went to McDonald's for dinner, but I ran across the street to get Taco Bell. ;) As I was walking back into McDonald's with my bag o' Taco Bell, I was given the evil eye by an employee sitting down on her break. Well, frag you too!
This was either Illinois or Indiana, I'm not sure which.
Then we got to the motel in Waynesville, after getting lost in St. Louis because Sarah had to use the bathroom. This particular motel did not allow animals. There would be a $50 charge if evidence of animals in the room was found, plus expellment from the motel. Besides the rats, mice, and frog... we had two cats with us. We put blankets over the cat carriers and prayed they wouldn't meow. They didn't. We passed right by a group of Harley Dudes. One of them said, "Helllllo ladies." I don't think they were paying attention to what we were carrying!
DAY TWO
The scheduled post for day two was pretty accurate as well. The day was mostly boring, as we were only on two roads (I-44 and I-40). We managed to sneak the cats and other animals back into the car with no problem. I almost left my cellphone behind at the motel. Thank goodness one of the housekeeping staff found it and told me, just five minutes before we were about to leave.
Nikki discovered that the mice had died. There were two of them in the little carrier, and they were both dead. Maybe it got too hot for them, though I did make sure to keep their cage in the shade at all times. They had food and water, so we're still not sure why they died. Nikki's rats were (and are) fine.
At one point during the day, I kept seeing tufts of cotton fly by my face, and out the car window (no air conditioning, so the windows were open). It took awhile for me to realize it, but Skylar was pulling the stuffing out of her pillow. I had to confiscate it from her, at which point she began to wail quite loudly. I put my earbuds back in, and jacked up the volume on my iPod. It worked like a charm, except for between tunes, of course.
Oklahoma, I believe. We didn't take many pictures on this day.
I'm really glad we moved to Arizona, and not Oklahoma. Not to say that there aren't fine, good people living in that state, but... well, Nikki needed some help pulling alongside the pump at a gas station. (Long story.) The young man (I think) who helped her... well, he looked young, but acted like an elderly gentleman in some ways. All he was missing was some wrinkles and a shaft of wheat sticking out of his mouth. He was sporting overalls, baseball cap askew and backwards, and some missing teeth. He was rocking back and forth on his heels, and looking me up and down, saying, "You don't come from these here parts, do ya? Are you and ya friend moving here in that there truck? No? Awww, it ain't so bad here. Ya might like it!" Interestingly enough, Nikki thought he might be a very odd female-to-male transsexual. That's not what I saw. I suppose he defied characterization... by us, anyway. We couldn't get out of there fast enough.
We got turned around a few more times that day, for restroom breaks, gas stops, and meal time. That stretch on I-40 in Texas was particularly barren. We were feeling very drowsy, so we stopped for an hour and parked in an empty parking lot to get some rest. We didn't get to the Amarillo La Quinta (a motel which which allowed pets, yay!) until about 4 am. We then decided to change our plans somewhat. Originally, we were going to get into Arizona on Monday, May 31st. This day is also Memorial Day, so we wouldn't have been able to move in just yet. We'd have to occupy ourselves in Tucson for a day, then move in the following morning (June 1st). So we decided to have our "resting day" a day earlier, in Texas.
DAY THREE
There was no travelling at all on this day. We slept too late to take advantage of the continental breakfast offered by La Quinta, so we ate lunch at Denny's next door. Not bad at all, though a bit pricey. We went back to our room, put on the TV for the kids, and passed out cold. We woke up a few hours later, only to find that Skylar had squeezed all my shampoo and conditioner out onto the floor. Yay. And I so badly needed a shower. Double yay. We found a nearby Walgreen's, and, since I couldn't find my brand there (Marc Anthony's Thicker), I got the new sulfate-free shampoo and conditioner from L'Oreal (one of them, anyway). Sulfates tend to strip the color out of dyed hair quite quickly, so I wanted to give a sulfate-free hair product a try. It does make my red hair color stay in much longer, but it doesn't provide the sheer volume of Marc Anthony's products, even though L'Oreal's are volumizing as well. Anyway, I digress.
We ate dinner at Wendy's, or rather, Nikki and the kids did. I pulled my "run across to Taco Bell and bring back" routine. No stares this time. The Texans were friendly, at least in Amarillo. Oddly enough, best Taco Bell I've ever had. Seriously. I know, most (or all) of you are thinking now, "What's the difference? It's all the same ingredients!" It was all so fresh though, and the Volcano Nachos was packed full of stuff. I ran out of nachos before I ran out of toppings. Now don't get me wrong, Taco Bell is so bottom-of-the-barrell as to not even be considered Mexican food (that would be like comparing Spaghettios to real spaghetti with homemade meatballs), but this was the best they could do with what they had. Impressive, if you like Taco Bell. I have no idea if this is a rarity or a commonplace occurence in Texas, but it sure was yummy.
We made sure to turn in early to prepare for the last day of our trip.
DAY FOUR
This would've been our lounge-around-in-Tucson-day, but we decided to make that Amarillo instead, so this day consisted of the trip from Amarillo to Tucson. We got up early enough to have some continental breakfast at the motel this time. There were waffles in the shape of the state of Texas. Cute, huh? Then we were on I-40 for another 285 miles. We had trouble finding somewhere to eat for lunch. We were tired of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. We shouldn't have, but we stopped at a Mexican restaurant (in New Mexico) and blew $50 on a late lunch. I had posole (a spicy soup with corn and pork), and a huge burrito. It was delicious. Nikki and the kids had boring crap like chicken fingers. Go figure. We took a whole bunch of pictures before and after crossing through New Mexico...
Sarah in some field in Texas.
Nikki in the same field.
Savannah, just inside New Mexico.
Savannah with a wild cow (?) in the distance.
Skylar sleeping it off in New Mexico.
Sarah, ditto.
I have no idea what cool-looking mountain in New Mexico this was... but it sure was cool-looking.
I know the sign is cut off (d'oh!), but this was taken in front of Exit 321, to Palomas, on I-40 West.
Some time after that, we went up this road that went up some mountain. We got off of I-40 and onto I-25 South after going back down the mountain.
We didn't cross into Arizona (on I-10) until after nightfall. We were starting to close our eyes for more than a second or two again, so we slept for an hour or so in a gas station parking lot. We headed out again on I-10, and it was soon after that I started seeing odd shadows on the roadside and median. Cacti? It teased me for awhile longer, until an approaching tractor trailer on the other side of the road illuminated the median for just a second. There I saw it: A saguaro cactus at least ten feet tall! I was so excited that I phoned Nikki to tell her what I saw. She said, and I repeat, "I'm so glad you shared that with me, baby, but remember my battery is low?" I love her.
I was stopped by border patrol not too long after this. The officer was very friendly, and was just making a routine inspection to make sure that drugs or other illegal thingies weren't going to or from Mexico via our car. He wanted me to open the trunk, and he exclaimed, "Wow, you're really packed full." He bade me a safe trip and a good night, and I continued on my way.
The rest of the ride into Tucson seemed to take f o r e v e r. But we finally made it to La Quinta in Tucson (which is down the road from us and quite a simple drive, yet the Mapquest directions had us going in circles). Check in we did (though there was a little confusion on the part of the clerk there, since we had cancelled day one of our stay (we stayed in Amarillo instead), and kept day two), and pass out we did. We moved into our new apartment the next day! But then, that's a subject for my next entry. After seeing the length of this entry, now you see why I'm splitting all this into separate entries!
Newly Minted Look
[ Marie Digby - Bring Me Love ]
hello,
so yesterday I finally came up with a look that I had posted up on youtube. I gotta admit I havent really been inspired to do any looks or do a tutorial rather that. But I had some time in my hands to think about what colors to use and put together. Here is the look I did and its called Newly Minted Smoke, because the featuring shadow is Mac - Newly Minted.
Items:
Eyes_
Scandalous - Light Base
Nyx - Black Sparkle
Mac - Newly Minted
Mac - Hi-Def Cyan Pigment
Revlon Colorstay - Black Eyeliner
Mac - Blacktrack
Maybelline - Great Lash
Cheeks_
Mac - Cheeky Bronze
Mac - Feeling
Lips_
Nothing
hopefully you guys get inspired by whatever it is around you and colors that you already have in your vanity.
hope you guys are enjoying your SUMMER, try to squeeze the most out of it and enjoy life. Dont waste your time on being angry and irritated over the smallest things :)
- LOVEVA
Bimmerfest 2010
[ G.E.M. - All About You ]
hi!
how is everyone today? i have much time today to kill, so... what great way to kill it than blogging! i need to show my blog more love i swear. so if ya'll didn't know BimmerFest 2010 has passed already, it was located down in Pasadena (LA), Ca. This year's wasn't all that, kind of dissapointing actually. its the 3rd one i've been too and is the worse one. but i did copp' just a couple photos of the whips Juls wanted me to take of. there really wasn't much to look at, maybe its cause we arrived late, iono; but still its whack. any who, lets get on with the pictures shall we.
First off is the E46 M3 Sponsored by Savini.
Then follow up we have this Air Force'd out M3, i thot this was pretty siiiiiick. All the features of this was pretty on point.
Then lastly i made sure to copp some photos of Phuong's 335 coupe, with his clean BLURPLE color'd rims too.
i thot this was pretty catchy and funny.
hope you guys enjoyed it! until the next blog. *deuces*
- LOVEVA
