Greetings from Arizona- Week 2

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, I know you are all dying to know what's going on in my crazy adventurous life... we'll go with that anyway.

Monday was my first day in my new job, and as we are almost to Friday, here's my thoughts so far. I feel like I am in a whole other world/alternate universe/twilight zone kinda place. This new work environment is the polar opposite of where I came from with my last job. My new job will be training new associates as they start their job with the company. For most people this will be their first experience working for the company so my department (which is a new start up as well) will basically be the face of the company. We will mold their minds and give them the tools they need to be the best they can in their new roles and it's going to be AWESOME! When we don't have a training class we can pick our own hours basically, coming in as early as 6am?! Well I won't be up that early but it's awesome to have the opportunity. Right now we are just in training ourselves, lots of new things to learn, looks like that is the plan until June, so we've got a ways to go. I love it so far, not to say there won't be struggles and complaints later but right now it's great! 

Mom and dad leave Saturday morning to head back to IL, then I'll officially have the whole place to myself! Ice cream for dinner and I can run around in my underwear if I want (says OL) I like to not run around in my underwear, but again the option is there. Oh which reminds me of something else. Since this is a new department, and we are training, the dress code expectations while not different, but it's encourage to be a little more presentable than jeans and a tshirt (since we are training new people, and being a new department all eyes are on us) So I'm going to need to up the game in the closet department. I've done well so far this week, but I'm going to need to add stuff STAT! 

While NiBo was here we went to the zoo and then dad and I have gone to a Cubs spring training game (both were awesome) so here's some pictures to entertain you.

Petting the stingrays:

Worst snow cones ever, solid ice. I gave up trying to finish it, but it looked pretty.

Personally I think the St. Louis Zoo is way better, tons more animals. But then again, prolly hard to keep penguins cold and alive in the desert. The zoo even closes like at 2pm during the summer because people don't go outside in the summertime here I guess. 

I have also located a Barnes & Noble for any future book needs

The Spring training game was awesome! You can get so close to the players and they are good about signing autographs. The thought hadn't even crossed my mind so I didn't come prepared for autographs. The stadium is brand new and has tons of touches that remind you of Wrigley. I think they said they attendance that day was like 14,500ish. They even have a mini marquee! 

lots of pretty landscaping outside the stadium

In case you were wondering about Oliver he is settling in great! I hope he'll understand being alone all day once mom and dad leave while I'm at work. He has all kinds of new places to explore though! I promise once I get everything situated I will show you pictures of my place. To everyone who gave me Target gift cards, you money has been well spent. I bought a lovely new computer desk and lots of other little things. Thank you again! So sit tight folks, more AZ Adventure stuff is on the way! 

The Unpacking

The movers were scheduled to be there for delivery of all my stuff between 8 9. So as we are getting up and ready at the hotel (which was right next door remember) I get a call at 7:45 "Hi Heather, this is so and so from the moving company we are here to unload your stuff, are you here?" Um no I'm not it's not even 8am yet, you guys are early, "I'll be there in a minute." I wasn't even supposed to pick up the keys until 8am from my landlord. So we headed right over and met the guys and the landlady to get this fun started!

Boxes, Boxes EVERWHERE! It's amazing how much space not a whole lot of stuff takes up. Everyone was so helpful! Mom, dad and NiBo are the best! 

The boxes have started to arrive! 

Look at all those great helpers! 

The most important (and expensive) cargo arrived safely! And now has a sheltered home in the garage, safe from all those thieves! 

Oliver is adjusting well to his new home, though he is a bit skittish still

Oliver even has his very own cat door out to the garage where his liter box is. He thinks it's his own special secret playground room

The fireplace mantle is lined with pictures from friends. Thanks for the presents! I have put them to good use.

My IKEA couch

Since we checked out of the hotel on Tuesday morning, we had to find a couch pretty quick or someone was sleeping on the floor. We had been using my bag chairs in the morning but you couldn't really sleep on them comfortably. I obviously didn't want to spend a million dollars on a new couch so where else to go but IKEA! 

We started our IKEA adventure off with a little breakfast. Let me tell you, for $2.99 it was delish! This trip was just kind of a look around trip since there wouldn't be room in the car with the four of us. So we looked and looked and decided on this brown couch, plenty big enough to lay down on and stretch out (a must!) As we meander through the store we picked up a few little things. Then when we get to the area where all the items are we located our aisle and bin number and looked up. No way that is going to fit in the car. We went to go check out a few others places to see if they deliver and had anything better priced.. no go.

So mom called IKEA and they said if you purchase before 4pm they can deliver the same day for $60. Not ideal but ok. So we get to IKEA and turns out we were looking at the wrong box which will totally fit in the car. So we pile this rather large box on the flat cart and make our way to the check out. As we are checking out the nice lady was like oh this is a very nice couch I have the same one, just one small problem, there are 2 boxes. (Crap) But she assured us the 2nd box was not as big, oh ok, I'm thinking a smaller box. I've never IKEA'd before so I'm not familiar with these whole pick your own box and put your own crap together situation. So she lets us check out and rings us up and just tells me to come back through her lane when I'm done. So mom is watching our box 1 of 2 while I go back for the other. When I locate the 2nd box it is the exact same size as the first box. Well Crap! 

Mom and I make eye contact and we have a mind conversation that this isn't going to work and we are going to need the delivery anyway. So she is heading over to the deliver counter. As it turns out whoever answered the phone told her wrong about the time to get same day deliver, and we were an hour late. Double crap. So we asked if there is anyway they could hold a box for us to come right back and get, luckily that is an option. So mom and I wrangle this giant box into the back of my car and we head for home with box 1 of 2. Dad and NiBo went back to pick up box 2 of 2. Nothing can be easy for us. We made 3 trips to IKEA that day.

Once we got 2 of 2 boxes back to the condo, it was time for the assembly to begin. Dad and Nibo did the assembling and I read the directions while mom supervised. It went together surprisingly easy. NiBo reports that it sleeps comfortably, but don't worry PT and OL, I have a nice futon for you ;) 

I'm sure you're all dying to see the full pictures of my decorated new home. But you'll have to wait a bit longer. I'm still unpacking a few boxes and getting everything to their place.

Yesterday we went to the zoo and hung out with the animals all day.  It's going to be weird to live in a place that has sunshine most of the time. Everyone I've met so far seems to really love it here, and came from elsewhere. So far we've talked to people from Ohio, Chicago area and the Best Buy man tonight was from North Dakota. The Best Buy man said monsoon season is coming soon, so that should be interesting.

The Drive

My poor Ford Escape appears to have much space... well when you are moving across the country.. not so much. We loaded that bad boy up to the very tip top and had things shoved in every open space we had, we even ended up holding a few things on our laps! Ugh! We were so full up that we actually ran out of space and I had to play household goods survivor and had to vote a few things off the island; that and I forgot a few things to boot (like my hairdryer) But luckily there was room for myself, mom, dad and NiBo and all our essentials, oh and don't forget about Oliver! 

Oliver enjoying the views.... well sort of. He was a good little cat for the loooooong 2 day drive. He was a little meowing at first, they he realized it was no use and just sat in his carrier and chilled out, not a peep! He was a little freaked out when we stopped and probably a little overwhelmed about all the newness of the hotels, but he was a champ! 

Dad, NiBo and I all took turns driving. We'd drive and drive and drive until we got tired or needed a break. I was surprised how much of Route 66 we saw, it runs parallel to US 40 is which was carried us from Small Town to my new home. Here is what Texas looked like...

NiBo was driving as we went through Amarillo, TX. I had mentioned before that maybe we could stop and look at some roadside attractions (turns out we all just wanted to get to our destination) but I had mentioned Cadillac Ranch before our trip as a possible stop but didn't think much about it again. But as we were driving through Amarillo, NiBo noticed there was a bunch of cars pulled off along side the frontage road of US 40, then he was like "oh look, there are those cars buried in the field" ... so I demanded we stop.

Pretty random and kinda not all that interesting, but it's a piece of Americana and now I can say I've been. The sad thing is all the spray paint cans that people leave behind. It's encouraged to spray paint the cars, as you can see. But come on people, there was a garbage can on site, for the love of Pete, RECYCLE! We saw lots of people that came prepared with their own shade of paint to add to the display of Cadillac's from yesteryear, we took pictures and selfie's instead.

New Mexico is a state of pretty views, but not much else. We had like no cell service for the duration of our trek through the state, unless you were near a big city. So here is New Mexico...

Then we finally made it to Arizona! The Grand Canyon State Welcomes me! 

Oh, thanks for the warning, welcome to AZ! 

The Arizona leg of the trip was my turn to drive. Once we got to the state line we still had about three hours left until we got to the hotel for the night (which was right next door to my condo, perfect!) We made it to the downhill mountain climb of our trip after the sun went down, I'm sure it was pretty views but at night, eek! 6% down grade here, another 6% there. I didn't realize how far down we had to come, it seemed like forever! Trying to keep within the speed limit you had to pretty much ride the brakes the whole way down! Whew, that that is over.

Once we arrived we settled into our hotel room for the night. We an across a 24 hour Subway (and it delivers!) and had dinner in our room. The movers would arrive the next morning so we had to get our beauty rest. Check back tomorrow for all the unpacking details! 

I managed to make it all the way through Illinois winter without getting sick, then day 2 of living in Arizona, I'm sick! Ugh! I'm achy and have runny nose and just plain ole don't feel good, hopefully we can still get some fun things in before NiBo leaves on Saturday! 

The Goodbyes for Now

The hardest thing about moving to another state is saying goodbye to your dear friends. I have been in the same department for the past seven years, and it's the same department I started the insurance company at. Seven years is a long time to spend 5 days a week with people. They become your very best friends and then they become family. I am seriously going to miss all of these people, and these are just a few of my extended work family.

I knew I had friends at work, but I was completely overwhelmed by their graciousness. On my last day, which was last Friday, there were so many people who gave me gifts and cards, which was completely unexpected, a goodbye hug would have been enough, but being the people they are, they wen't completely above and beyond.

Here, is myself and skinny on his last day a week prior with Pat.

These people know me so well! I got my favorite guacamole and chips! 

Pat was very sad that I was leaving so we decided to pack her up and take her with! 

My Screaming Pumpkin buddy and I have planned to meet up (when we are both in better shape) to do a very awesome race since we won't be around for the annual running of the Screaming Pumpkin race at Halloween this year.

My girl T and I on the last day

... and this is what is left of the awesome '6 Pack' the others have moved on as well. You can kinda tell from this picture that the tears are starting to build as Pat is getting sadder and sadder. Don't worry for Pat though, I have made her my IL secretary. She will be the first one to get updates and then pass them around. She had already done an awesome job with her first assignment! 

It was hard to say goodbye to friends but I hope they will look me up if they are ever out in AZ. 

The other surprising thing is how much stuff you accumulate in your little cube after 7 years. I tried to consolidate it down to 1 box, which I kinda did, but ended up bringing another box home with me, which as you'll find out in the next post, I didn't have quite as much space as I thought I did in the Escape! 

But thank you again to all my friends who have been so good to me since I have began in the department at the insurance company. I will miss you all very very much! Words cannot express how thankful I am for each and every one of you! Love ya lots! 

Tag Line

As you know, I'm moving soon to the great state of Arizona! I've mentioned before that 'North of 10th' will stay but 'stories, dreams and random thoughts from the brick streets of a small town' just won't work anymore. So I'm in need of something new.

When I got to work the other morning Arizona (blog Arizona not the state) had an email waiting in my inbox with some suggestions, #bored.

Stories, dreams and random thoughts...

~ from the west side of the Mississip
~ from the Midwest to the Southwest
~ from corn to cactus and everything in between

I think I liked the last one the best, because it ties back in with Illinois. Which led me to think of this one.

Stories, dreams and random thoughts from the Land of Lincoln to a Grand Canyon state of mind.

But I need your help! Do you have a favorite from those listed, or do you have a whole new idea? Leave a comment or click the handy 'email North of 10th' link on the top right and let me know what you think!