Something I read...

"Some people will like me and some won't. So I might as well be myself, and then at least I'll know that the people who like me, like me." -- Hugh Prather.

I've been struggling with this "new me" since I've moved to Phoenix. I've always been used to being able to act as myself 100% of the time, but since coming out here I've sort of became shy. I'm NOT shy, nor have I ever had the issue of being shy. I think my comfort zone became so comfortable in Denver that when I get in social environments out here I almost shut down.

So ultimately I've decided that I am who I am and if you like who I am than that's awesome. If not I'm sorry for that, but I want my old self back. The self that everyone loves and the self that I feel comfortable in.

Power Week

So this week I had asked my amazing Creative team to work from 8am to Midnight on Monday and Wednesday. They were so positive about it right off the bat and just said "Yes" before they even knew they would get something in return for the hard work they put in.

So it's our 2nd night working till midnight and we are completing our last job of the power week pipeline right now. They were such team players and I am so thrilled to have a team working for me like Kenferd and Jordon.

“If you expect the best from people, then more often than not the best is what you’ll get”

Thanks guys!!

Sedona Hiking Trip

Whew! What an amazing hike that was!

I had this amazing idea to take a 2 hour road trip to go on a beautiful hike in Sedona. 4 hours after actually getting in the car we were actually at the hiking trail we wanted to go on. In between that time my boyfriend forgot his shoes (yep...his shoes) so that put us back about 45 minutes and than we decided to take an extra 20 mile drive to a trail that had a bunch of 5 year olds and 80 year olds walking it. Based on the fact that we took 4 hours to get there we were not about to walk a trail with a bunch of amateurs...ha!

Or at least that's what I was thinking before we got to Huckaby trail. It was considered a moderate longer hike, but being that it was our first hike of the season I should have taken that into consideration. Don't get me wrong it was absolutely stunning. It started off very deserty with a bunch of cactus, red dirt and rocks, but as you got farther and deeper into the trail it started turning very mountainess. It actually really reminded me of back home. The last 3/4 of a mile was along a creek side with big boulders.

But it wasn't all just sceneary. The actual trail was a huge excersice push for me. I was still sore in areas I never felt sort before two days later. When I completed this trail it felt like I had accomplished something much larger than a hike. I'm so ready for more and can't wait to go again.

Happy 1 Year Anniversary!

Handsome.

Fidgety.

Cute.

Smart.

Active.

Creative.

Wonderful.

Loves Me.

Happy Anniversary baby! You are everything I could ever imagine. I love you.

Amir and I just celebrated our 1 year anniversary as a couple. We didn't do anything over the top as we are going to Las Vegas in 2 weeks to do a full celebration, but we wanted to do something fun and simple.

We ended up going back to the same restaurant we met. Kabuki in West Gate. It was not planned, nor expected. We were on our way to a haunted house to get our thrill for the month since we are not celebrating Halloween this year and Kabuki just fell in our laps as we were walking through West Gate wondering where to eat. I know it's in West Gate and everyone shuns that place, but Kabuki is amazing! The sashimi is more than generous and extremely fresh. I had the seafood pasta. Mussels, calamari, shrimp and scallops in udon noodles. Mmmm.

Next Stop. The Nest. One of America's top 10 haunts.

I don't need to go into the gory details, but let me just tell you that their was one moment where I was so terrified I did something pretty embarrassing. But like I said, we don't need to go into the gory details.

Anyway, I had a fabulous evening with my very awesome boyfriend. It was a great 1 year anniversary and I can't wait till we hit the 2 year mark.

Damn It!

I knew it wasn't right. I knew I wasn't playing fair. I knew it was cheating. I felt guilty while doing it. I can not believe I just stopped by the McDonald's drive thru on my way home from work and got a Hot N' Spicy McChicken sandwich today! Jenny...please don't be mad. I promise I am trying really hard to stay focused.

Ugh!!!

Suzie is such a brat!

I am so obviously not ready for motherhood. This morning Suzie decided she would throw an absolute temper tantrum to get her way and guess what? SHE DID!!

I guess I should start from the beginning.

Every morning I have the same routine when getting ready for work. I drag myself out of bed, walk downstairs and let Suzie out, stand their with her till I know she went, take a shower and go into my room and get ready. While I'm getting ready Suzie will lay on my bed and go back to sleep. When I'm done I go give her a kiss on the head and say "Be a good girl" and I'm off to start my day.

Well...that didn't happen this morning. This morning she messed up the entire routine! And I totally fell for it. Everything was going the exact same as always until she decided to NOT lay on the bed and go back to sleep. Instead she parked it right in front of where I get ready and stared at me with her big puppy dog eyes. When I left I put her on the bed, kissed her head and said "Be a good girl" and closed the door behind me. She then proceeded to yelp at the top of her lungs. I could hear her all the way inside my car in the garage! I mean really...who does she think she is?!

So I then proceeded to get out of the car, walk upstairs, grab the leash and bring her to work with me. Therefore, I've decided I am not ready for motherhood due to my lack of saying "NO" and Suzie is such a brat!

She definitely is one happy little princess today and whenever she is happy...well that makes me happy. :-)

Tonight I Jogged...

...and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I think it makes you think about the day you had and sets you up for the day you will have tomorrow. It's a great end to the evening. I jogged for the first time in I don't even know how long and I can assure you that I will start to jog a lot more. I always see those people walking, jogging or even sprinting down my neighborhood streets and think to myself...I want to jog. I like to jog. Why don't I jog?

Tonight I jogged and I loved it.

Saturday Night @ The Drive Ins

Seventy seven years ago the New York Yankees won the World Series, the Mars bar is introduced, singer Johnny Cash was born and a man named Richard M. Hollingshead was building the first ever drive-in movie theater from his backyard.

The drive-ins are a great way for family and friends to get together and enjoy a good, relaxing night out. Last night I went to the drive-ins for my friends birthday with Amir. We had this wonderful idea of putting our couch cushions in the back of his pick up, went to Walmart and bought a $15 FM portable radio and cozied up with a bottle of wine.

It was so cool seeing all the strangers around us. The family behind us brought their grill and were cooking up some burgers, the old couple diagonal from us brought a card table and were playing poker, dogs were running around the enormous dirt parking lot, and me and Amir were just enjoying each others company and didn't even notice that the selection of movies were just mediocre. Before we knew it all our friends had left for the evening and we looked at each other and thought we could easily stay here all night. It was truly a wonderful experience and I can't wait to do it again.

Next time though I'm bring Suzie. We missed her.

You do what? Blogging?

Blogging. I never thought in a million years that I would start a blog. Writing to me is something I struggle with and therefore have still not gone back to school for my MBA due to my lackluster writing skills. But last week something clicked...I guess I will start from the beginning.

Since moving out to the desert (i.e. Arizona) about a year ago I have tried everything in my will power to keep my friends and family in the loop on my life. I've had an extremely hard past year, probably the hardest year of my life to date, so they of course, as friends and family would be, are extremely concerned about me and ultimately just want me to move back. Back to Colorado to be with them and poof! My life will be better again. But I moved here to ultimately just figure things out. I needed to realize what life is like without the crutch of family and friends. You know I have moved back to my mom's house 6 times since the first time I moved out when I was 18. I think that pretty much says it all. Anyway, I can go on and on about my past before moving to Arizona, but ultimately I just needed something different. I needed to grow up. So why not Scottsdale, Arizona right?

A year has passed since that huge life altering decision was made and I've come to the realization that as much as I love calling my friends and family back home a lot of those phone calls are me venting about my life out here. Most of that has to do with how hard is has been since living here...and don't get me wrong, as much as I think they should be there for me through all this...the good and the bad...I'm sure it hurts them to hear me hurt so much. One thing they don't know is I do have a lot of fun adventures out here as well. I've met some amazing people along the way including my boyfriend Amir. We are celebrating our 1 year anniversary next weekend!!! So now I've came to the conclusion, after having a not so hot conversation with my best friend Nicole, that I needed to show them the good about my new found Arizona life. At that point I still didn't know how I was going to do that.

I got this amazing job in Tempe, AZ at a company called FetchBack. The people that work there are totally amazing and I see myself starting to build some totally amazing friendships. Melanie is one of them. Two days after deciding that I needed to change my conversations around to a more positive and happy me with my friends and family back home, Melanie was showing me her blog. I thought, you do what? A blog?! But wait...aren't those just for informational purposes, and reasons for businesses to market themselves? And ultimately, I knew and have known what a blog is, but never thought in a million years that blogging could me my ultimate savior to exposing the happy times of my life to my loved ones. Not only that...the more I write the better I will get, right? So does that scream an MBA in my future?!?!

And so the journey begins...