My First Time in AZ

Hello Reader,

A year ago today I touched down in Phoenix, AZ for the first time. I arrived on a Thursday afternoon and was greeted by a classic 116 degree AZ summer day. (It was 76 degree that day when I left Maine, I made special note of the temperature.) And about 24 hours later, I was back in Maine with the reality of moving to AZ starting to sink in.

I remember the trip from the airport to the hotel very clearly. I was in awe of this new environment. The cacti, the warm earthy tones, the public art, palm trees, and the contrasting landscape of the flat valley surrounded by mountains. It was completely the opposite of my world in Maine. Not good, not bad, just different.

After my interview out here, I was waiting at an intersection for my shuttle to come pick me up and take me back to the airport. I remember trying to orient myself to where the airport and hotel were in relation to this campus - I realize now I was terribly turned around. Thank goodness my sense of direction has greatly improved daily since being here.

I now walk by that intersection daily. It always makes me smile to think that's the spot where I made phone calls back east saying, "I think the interview went really well," "I think they liked me," "I may have said something stupid in front of the dean," "one lady yelled at me to drink more water because I was from Maine" and "I think I could handle living in the desert."

Well, it all worked out just fine - obviously.

Thanks for reading.

- M

Back to school ...

Hello Reader,

Remember that Staples ad where the father was flying down the aisles collecting school supplies for his kiddos and you hear, "it's the most wonderful time of the year" playing in the background?  See below ...

... I relate to the kiddos in the ad right now. Classes start in the morning, and I'm not sure if I am ready (actually, I know I am not ready, I just realized I didn't post my syllabus today). Things have slowly been picking up all over town the past few weeks. It has been a ghost town this summer. I saw a population count for Tempe, AZ be estimated at approximately 50,000 people...this number confuses me since the Tempe campus has approximately 50,000 students, but it certainly felt as if the whole town left during summer vacation.

I started to feel the end of summer blues a few weeks ago when the local high schools resumed. I wait for the bus across the street from one and I get my fair share of people watching in by 7:30 a.m. everyday. (I find the most fascinating pattern to be when these students all get off their respective buses they make their way to the Walgreen's across the street. The first week I noticed this pattern, all the students seemed to leave the store with balloons. I have discovered they typically leave with sugary drinks and snacks before they go into the school. That is a rant for another day.)

I find the end of summer blues come with a lot of reflection. I've been thinking about high school, my first year of college (and the 5 years that followed), and how I had no idea I would be moving to AZ at this time last year. It is amazing how much can happen and drastically change in a year. I think that is a good conclusion to come to and keep with me on the eve of the fall semester.

Ready or not, here we go!

- M

HABOOB!

Hello Reader,

Nothing says welcome back to AZ like walking out your front door and seeing a wall of dust coming along the horizon.

These dust storms are called haboobs (I giggled the first time I heard that). They don't have names like hurricanes - there is no Haboob Florence, probably because there are more dust storms than letters in the alphabet. This is the first dust storm I have truly encountered since being in AZ. I have seen them pass by, but this one actually came rolling through my neck of the woods. You can find out more about them and see much more dramatic pictures here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haboob

Really, this one was quite anticlimactic.  The sun went away (which is more than ok in this heat), no one goes outside during it (in this heat, who would want to anyways), and you waited for it to pass (just like the extreme heat of the day.)

I look forward to more.

Thanks for reading!

- M

My trip with the boys ...

Hello Again,

Life in AZ is back in full swing! Classes start in nine days - I'm not ready for that - so I am hanging on to my vacation for as long as possible. I find editing photos a great way to relive all that I did.

 

(From the plane over ME)

One extra special thing about this trip from ME to AZ was I was not traveling alone ... I had two cats with me. It was memorable, let's just say that. They cried, I cried ... the three of us were a hot mess.

They had to travel as cargo (broke my heart) since I was just me and couldn't take that much carry-on. They were on a different flight than me because the Phoenix airport does not accept live animals between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. - and they call themselves America's friendliest airport - so we were separated. They had a nine hour layover in Jersey; the poor things, no one ever wants a nine hour layover in Newark!

(From the plane about 100 miles northeast of Phoenix) 

I arrived in AZ that afternoon and the boys flew in without any problems that evening. They were very confused and scared when they got here - although, that is a permanent expression on Odin's face.

I think they have adjusted fully to this place now....

Thanks for reading!

- M

Vacation In Review - Photo recap!

Hello Reader!

It's been a while, I've been busy. Since my last post I have been in Maine for 10 days, Arizona for a day, then Nebraska/Iowa for a conference for 5 ish days, and I have been back in AZ for about a week now.

While on vacation, I accomplished my to-do-in-Maine list in full - sort of, I cheated on a few but that's ok because it is my list and I can do what I wish with it - which was a great way to map out my time in Maine.

I have finally started sorting through the 1500+ photos I took while home and I thought I would share the highlights of the trip. Most of the highlights are made up of food, drinks, friends, and natural bodies of water - All things that have been missing from my life since moving to AZ!


Enjoy!


Places to Visit:
1. Tubby's Ice Cream - CHECK! (there may have been multiple checks on this in-particular one)

2. Gifford's Ice Cream - CHECK! I decided to try a very Maine flavor, LL Bean's Muddy Bean Boots

3. The coast, specifically Rockland  (I am very ready to see an ocean again, or any natural body of water for that matter) - CHECK!

4. Orono - CHECK!

5. Ampersand (I want a cookie and coffee) Homemade cinnamon buns at Chica's - CHECK!

6. Woodmans (mmmm....flirtinis) - CHECK! (twice) I forgot how good these were!

7. Pat's, specifically the Tap Room Bear Brew for guoda and roasted red pepper dip with blueberry ale on tap - CHECK!  I had never had blueberries floating in the ale either, so that was a fun surprise.

 8. Monmouth Theatre for some Shakespeare- CHECK!

9. Hallowell (On Old Hallowell Day and probably at least one other time) - CHECK! It was Hallowell's 250th birthday so they had a cake baking contest instead of the typical pie baking contest. Worked for me!

10. Slates Bakery, and maybe the restaurant but definitely the bakery - CHECK! (three times)

11. Acadia National Park - CHECK! Which also meant popovers at Jordan Pond Restaurant - CHECK! And I also got crab cakes to amp up the Maine experience!

12. Central Street Yoga - CHECK! I didn't take a picture of it because that would be disruptive to do in the middle of a yoga class. But I did go and it was absolutely amazing - Could not have asked for a more perfect yoga class in Bangor!

13. Stillwater river - not because it's beautiful place or anything but because it is nostalgic, it was my go-to-think spot for about 6 years - CHECK!

Things to do:
1. See friends (duh) - CHECK! I, sadly, didn't get pictures with everyone...

2. Dance with friends - CHECK!

3. Eat (not all at once) lobster, blueberries, whoppie pies, maple syrup (on waffles made by Mom), and other things made with things from Maine. - CHECK! Some are listed above and I also should have added Harvest Moon Deli, Wicked Good Bean Coffee, and comfort food made by mom to the list above :-)

4. Convince Mom we are writing a children's book - CHECK (ish) we started one at least. Below is the scene we overlooked while writing

5. Take lots of picture - maybe even be in a photo shoot? - CHECK! I took approximately 1500. I reached my 10,000th picture on my camera while in Orono where I took my first photo on this camera. I captured the 9999 since the camera doesn't count above that. I also taught mom how to use the camera on my iPhone which she used to take pictures of me taking picture...

6. Sit by the lake every single chance I get! - CHECK! I was joined by an incredibly friendly/vain dragonfly who I must have taken 50+ pictures of. He even landed on my camera. So I took a pic of the dragonfly on my camera in one hand with my iPhone in the other hand so the focus is bad, but you get the idea :-)

More vacation recaps to happen later this week!

Thanks for reading! 

- M