Hello My Peoples

The last few weeks have been super busy! Kamilah came to AZ at the beginning of October and we had a little bit of an adventure. After showing her the wonderful areas around my place (kind of like a glorified Orland Park with upscale shopping and resorts/spas & don't forget the palm trees...hee hee), we ventured to my favorite place in AZ so far....Sedona. We were really on our way to the Grand Canyon but I couldn't be so close and not give Mimi a chance to see it. The Grand Canyon was pretty "grand". Ha Ha. I would like to go back and do some hiking below the rim. The mule ride down the canyon sounds fun too, but I'm thinking that once we actually got going I might be kinda scared. Not that I'm afraid of heights, but it's different when you're high up on a mule and riding on a little trail and if you fall off, you're falling a looooonnnnggg way down. Yeah, so I probably won't try that. Tho I did sit on the edge of the canyon. Mimi thought I was crazy...she eventually moved closer too :) It's funny because even when we were at the GC, her mind was still on Sedona. We were going to head back to Sedona for some hiking the next day but we decided to chill out instead. I didn't take any pictures, but she did so...add that to the list of pictures that I am waiting on. It was a treat to be able to spend time with my friend. Thanks for coming out!

A few days later I paid a surprise visit to my mom for her birthday. I won't go into details, but let me tell you, she was surprised! It was great. I had been so worried she would find out. That's why I pretty much told nobody except for a few people that were helping me out. Everything worked out wonderfully and I was able to spend a few moments with a couple of my friends as well. I was also able to surprise/visit with my grandparents as we took a trip to Wis. to celebrate the birthdays of my grampa, mom & uncle. Yay!

Since I've been home I haven't done much. I went out to Sedona one day and did some hiking. It was wierd to go by myself but truly freeing. Don't worry, I wasn't off on some lonely trail where noone was and the boogey man might get me. I scoped out the situation before I actually started the hike. There were tons of people there...very safe. Other than that it's been a little boring. That's ok tho. You can't have fun ALL the time :) I need to just sit and relax sometimes. Like right now I'm at Barnes & Nobles. Seems to be my new favorite hangout. As far as work goes, I did hire one event coordinator about 3 weeks ago. She's working out great so far. I have to hire one more person to start in two weeks and in the end I will have a staff of 3-4 people. It's kinda funny to be the boss but I am learning sooooooo much.

And so ends another wonderful saga in the chronicles of Stephanie's journey. Ha Ha!

Pics from Sedona

Sedona

My first exciting weekend in AZ! Sedona is beautiful. What started off as a day trip ended up being a weekend. Let's see...how did I manage that? Heather and I headed there to do the Pink Jeep Tour on Saturday afternoon. We arrived a little early so we scouted out the little shops etc... along the little strip called "Old Sedona". About a half hour before we were supposed to check-in for the tour, we came upon a sign that said "Ask me how to receive a complimentary night stay". Ok. Out of curiousity we had to check it out. Turns out all you had to do was go through one of those 90 minute time share presentations and you could stay at the Hyatt "Vacation Club" for free. Of course we went for it. How often do you get to stay in Sedona for free at a $400 a night "hotel".

The Jeep Tour was awesome. We drove up, over and down the rocks. The only thing holding you in was your seatbelt. I definitely recommend sitting in the back for anyone that goes. Tho, these trips aren't for the people with bad backs. You definitely get jostled around. How fun would it be to drive one of those jeeps? I decided that maybe I would start a new career. Watch out Sedona. LOL. After the tour was over we hightailed it over to the Hyatt for the presentation. I couldn't find the entrance so I asked a lady where the entrance to the "hotel" was. Her response...."Oh honey...that's not a hotel, it's a "vacation club". Yeah, I pretty much was thinking, just tell me where the entrance to this place is, I don't care what it's called. As her little frufru dog was sitting on her desk just chillin. Anyways....so presentation over, we go outside to find that it's pretty chilly. Yikes. We only had shorts, short sleeved shirts & flip-flops. The guy who did our presentation told us about these outlet malls and by the time we arrived they had just locked their doors. I ran to the Gap outlet and asked the lady if I could at least talk to her for a minute. Turns out Wal-mart was at least 30 minutes away so she was so nice and let us in for 5 minutes. We were rushing around the store trying to find pants and sweaters. It was nice b/c they helped us find what we needed. Yay people at the Sedona area Gap outlet.

The next day we got up and drove up this road that you really shouldn't drive unless you have a rental car or SUV. We had a rental so it was all good. :) It was a pretty neat drive...the road was rocky and bumpy but well worth it once we got to the top. The view was amazing. After that we went hiking in the Coconino National Forest. Great hike. The trail was not mapped or marked so we only knew we were going the right direction when we saw other people. That's how crazy it was. Not your normal trail. It took us about 2 1/2 hours to get in...well all the way to the first end of the trail (it ends at little creek that you wade through to get to more hiking) and we got out in 30-40 minutes. We're supposed to go again tomorrow for more hiking. Can't wait!

Ok...so can this post be any longer? I am sure you didn't want to know EVERY single detail...so I spared you. Ha ha ha.

What's the Dilly Schmilly?

These past few weeks have been crazy! I moved into my apartment Saturday and have been doing furniture shopping galore. It's wierd because I like it and I don't...the furniture shopping that is. I like being able decorate but when you can't find what you're looking for it's frustrating. Work is going well. I've been working from my hotel/apartment since I arrived because my office isn't completely set up yet. Hopefully by Monday I'll be able to get in.

I met a girl at the pool one day and we've been hanging out sometimes. She's only here until the end of September. Last night I went with her and some of her colleagues to a baseball game. As if I haven't gone to enough this summer right? I was actually very disappointed when we walked in and found out their dome doesn't open. I thought I had heard of indoor stadiums where their roof opened. I felt like I was watching the game on tv....which I don't like to do. Part of the fun of baseball for me is being outside, not closed in a bubble. I don't think I paid very much attention to the game at all. After thinking about it I figured it's probably best that they have an air conditioned stadium for the at least 100 degree weather. It probably wouldn't be so fun to sit out in the hot hot sun and fry to death.

There's not much else going on here. Just trying to find a good church and some fun stuff to do. I am starting to find my way around pretty well so that's a plus. Hope everyone is doing well. Miss u guys!

Sorry I Broke My Vow

(Night out with some girls from the Springs)

Ok..so it's been waaayyy more than a week since I have posted. Things have been crazy busy. I have been in Arizona for about a week now. That's crazy in itself. I got an apartment yesterday..woohoo! I move in next Saturday. How exciting. Furniture shopping time. There is an IKEA in Tempe so I will definitely be checking that out. Oh yes, I am in Peoria about 15-20 minutes from downtown Phoenix. It's a nice little suburb that might remind you a little of Orland. Everything is in one area which makes it pretty nice for me not really knowing my way around.

Wowee...I have done so many things since my last posting. I went camping, whitewater rafting, went to FOUR baseball games in one week (of which I payed for one), watched some movies outdoors at Red Rocks and much more. When I found out I was leaving Colorado I had to fit in everything I wanted to do very quickly. Now here I am in AZ trying to figure out what to do. I'm sure there is tons I just have to find it. Had lunch with Yolanda today. She was in from Chicago visiting some relatives. It was definitely nice to see a friendly face from home.

Sorry if I seem a little scatterbrained. So much is going through my mind right now. I officially start in my new position on Tuesday. Say a little prayer for me if you think of it. I think that's it for now. Be on the lookout for more pictures etc... soon.

ps. Special thanks to a great friend.

Extry Extry Read All About It

Arizona here I come! In a few weeks I will be leaving Denver to become a project manager in Phoenix. This came as quite a surprise to me as I was just starting to get settled in here. If you remember, I've written about things here being super slow and possibly not having anything to do until November. Rather than have me sit here doing nothing, they decided to promote me and send me on my way. What an exciting opportunity. Colorado was fun but I guess it's on to new adventures. Stay tuned for more info...

Rock Pile

Went to the Rockies/Brewers game, ate tons of stuff that should make you sick, Brewers lost, nuff said...

Taste of Cherry Creek

Right outside of the hotel there is a biking/walking path that leads to downtown and other surrounding areas. Everyday I look at the bikers and imagine that will one day be me. Yes, I am in the market for a bike. There are trails everywhere around here. Anyways, this path intersects with a small park that was hosting the "Taste of Cherry Creek". I had seen signs for this all week and wondered what it was. Especially because the sign said free food. So, last night I decided to walk over and check it out. Needless to say it was a complete waste of my time. They had one area with hotdogs, chips and pop and then booths set up here and there that really didn't carry much information. The only interesting thing was that there was a section for kids to make birdhouses...well really the parents made them and the kids watched. I thought about making one myself for the fun of it but changed my mind when the lady asked me how old my child was. I only hung around for 10 minutes...plus it started raining...the park is surrounded by trees and a creek and I didn't feel like getting struck by lightning.

Our hotel offers a free membership to the 24 hour fitness center located across the parking lot...pretty cool eh? After the "Taste" I went there and was about ready to hit the Elyptical (sp?) when I noticed a class was about ready to start. I love going to classes. Turns out it was a dance workout class. It wasn't all dance movement but it was nice to do some of the basics again. It's been a year since I have actually been in class...sad. So, Yay for something to help keep me in shape for when I DO go back.

Peace

Copper Mountain Fun

Copper Mountain is a lovely ski resort community. During the summer they have activities such as rock climbing, go karts, boating, and more. What originally peaked my interest about the place was that they have something called a "Diggler" that you ride down the mountain. Come to find out the diggler is an off road scooter...to me it's like a skate board on larger wheels with a handle bar and brakes. What a ride! We took the ski lift up to about 11,000 feet and rode the scooter all the way down. It was so much fun. The first time we went down it took longer because we were stopping along the way to take pictures etc... but the second time went by way to fast. You're pretty much coasting the whole way. It's bumpy but the first time you don't really feel it. At least I didn't. I think I felt every bump the 2nd time around because my body was worn out from everything else I had been doing.

We climbed a real rock. I'm saying that b/c I've only ever done rock climbing on those fake walls with the grooves in it for your feet. This was the real deal and I was so proud of myself because I made it to the top. It took me about 5-7 minutes. Emily was like spider man crawling up the wall. She's a pro...well semi pro. The quad jump was fun (that's the contraption that has you hooked to bungee cords and you jump on a trampoline). The guy had me flying....and I mean flying in the air. He wouldn't let me off until I did a flip so I overcame my initial fears and pulled off 2 or 3. Woo hoo! Let's see...what else did we do? Oh yes, we did bumper boats (we felt like we were 12 again) and wow did we get soaked. I didn't know they had super soakers built into the things. After that we rode the go karts to dry off. It was a generic track which was one circle.

After about 4 hours of non-stop activity we headed home. I was beat. What an exhilarating day! I almost forgot to tell you about the drive there. It was beautiful. Remember I said the drive to the Springs was pretty? Well that was trash in comparison to this. I didn't know any better. Mountains were on every side of us. I would love to live in one of the little mountain towns...probably super expensive. I don't think I can adequately describe what it was like so I guess I will leave it to your imaginations. If I hadn't been driving I would've taken more pictures. Maybe next time :o)

Pics of the Mountain

The ride up

It's snow in July! Dirty melting snow at that.

The "Diggler"

Helmet Girl

After the bumper boats

Where I WAS staying

Here's where I stayed when I first arrived. Actually, this is the 2nd place I stayed because when I first got into town the hotel didn't have the room that I was supposed to be in available. Someone had extended their stay and they didn't have any availability until August for the one bedroom suites. I'm glad because I didn't like that place very much. This place was nicer and just up the street from the first place. The only thing was that it was 1/2 hour from work with traffic, even going back roads. The drive was getting to be really annoying and Emily (the girl from Wisconsin) wanted to move closer to work as well. We searched the areas by work and finally found a place that was nice and within what we thought would be our budget. It took 2 weeks but we now live not even 5 minutes from work and across the parking lot from a Super Target. Woo hoo! I will have pics and details of the new place soon.

The "Living" Room

Kitchen & Dining Area :o)

Bedroom

Update

Howdy everyone! I'm sorry it's taken me awhile to give updates. I have been having computer problems. Hopefully it will be fixed soooooooooonnnnn. Since I last wrote I have moved hotels (closer to work and nicer), rode a scooter down the mountain (whee!) and been bored out my mind at work. Things are somewhat slow there right now because of technical difficulties. Wednesday I go to a Colorado Rockies game against the Brewers. My brother will be so jealous. He's definitely a Milwaukee fan and is trying to pattern his kids after that. LOL. Tho I think Jacob likes the Cardinals now. Speaking of birds I never want to eat at Red Robin again. I went there like 5 times in two weeks. I love their french fries but they don't love me. You get sick of them after awhile.

Soon I will have updates with pictures of where I am staying and what I've been up to. I, Stephanie, do solemnly swear to update my blog with pictures and/or writings of what is going on here in Colorado. I promise to do this at least once a week no matter what problems I encounter. Should I fail to keep my vow I will not do anything fun for the rest of my time here. That way you will know exactly what I am doing...........nothing.

The Mill

There's a church in Colorado Springs that has a great 20 Somethings Ministry. Of course being only about 45 minutes away I had to check it out. I was originally going to head over there by myself but Michele wanted to come with me. She had been before and loved it. She also said she never wanted to leave. The drive was pretty....except for the rain. It has rained almost every day since I have arrived. Thankfully it is supposed to stop by Tuesday. The web says that the service is supposed to start at 7pm, but it's a lie. LOL They were luring us there early to fellowship and drink coffee. Ah yes, lots of Starbucks, pop, and a table of breads, brownies and bagels were available..for free. Over 100 people of all ages show up to this thing. The music is by the Desperation Band. Holly uses some of their songs with Ignite. ("From You" is one of them). I loved it! The speaker talked about Grace. During his message he used a flannel board. It took me back to my Sunday School days. He tried to say they were coming back in style. How hilarious! What was even funnier was before he spoke they played an announcement video and at the end of it the guys did their own music video to Backstreet Boys "As Long as You Love Me". I so wish I had it to send to you guys. I'm still laughing. As it turns out we came the same night as their "Welcome Shindig". At this "thing" we met two girls about my age and talked to them for awhile. We were all hungry so we went to eat together at the Village Inn (it reminded me of a Denny's/IHOP kind of place but better).

Michele, Debbie, Sarah & Me :o)

Whistle While You Work

So I started work this past Wednesday...finally. What's funny is once it actually started I wished I had more time off. Go figure. Didn't do too much the first day...or really the first three days. Once things get going I will be pretty busy. There are some fun opportunites coming up. For instance, we will be going to New Mexico, Vail (sp?) and possibly New York for some of our events. Traveling to new places definitely makes the job more interesting. If working in the basement of the Mexican Consulate is not interesting enough.....Yeah.

Pics from the 4th...details below

This was how dark the sky was..it was not even 8pm yet...

I loved watching the violinists (is that a word?). It reminded me I want to take lessons.

The end to our evening @ Denny's :o)

Happy 4th!!!

Today was my last chill day before I start work tomorrow. I'm starting to get accustomed to sleeping in a little bit....sad..oh well I am anxious to get started. It was a beautiful day for the most part. Around 5 I went to Christi's house and we had a little cookout. Their dental hygienist friend Tara came over too. She's on the left. After cooking out we left to go hear the Aurora Symphony outside at their municipal center. When we got there the sky was dark and rain was definitely in the forecast. We had no sooner set our blankets down when they came out with an announcement that the music was going to be delayed at least 20 minutes and we needed to evacuate the park. So, we decided to go sit in the car and wait to see what happened. Of course it rained... We still had hopes we would hear the orchestra. It turns out that the orchestra moved all their instruments inside and played in the center of the municipal building. It was quite the experience. I spread the blanket on the floor and people were camped out in chairs everywhere..we just brought the outside indoors. When the music was done they said the fireworks were going to start. It was pouring down rain. We found a good spot though underneath a tent. We saw some members from Christi's church standing by us and one of the guys was very loud, especially his commentary when the fireworks started and during the whole show. If he shouted one more time....LOL. Before the show started they were playing depressing music. It almost made me cry..could we get something a little more uplifting please? It was cold so it was decided we go to Denny's for some hot chocolate. Tara was dropped off and Christi's sister Michele was picked up. She had to work so she wasn't able to join us for the rainy festivities. What a nice way to top off the evening. When Fabian, Christi and Michele get together they are super silly. All in all it was a great day. I should probably go to bed now so I can be refreshed and not cranky in the morning for work. Pray for me :o) Hope everyone had a stupendous day and saw awesome fireworks!!

Day of exploring

When the day started, I was super cranky. Lack of sleep, good food and a few other things combined caused me to be that way. Denver wasn't exactly what I was expecting. I thought nature would be right outside my door. Not that the mountain view isn't wonderful. So, with this being said, after a good lunch (Yay!) we headed towards the mountains. We just kept driving until I saw a road going up a hill. I was determined to find this road b/c I thought it would be so fun to drive it. It was a twisty/turny kind of road. We finally came to a parking lot by this fun center. They had a ferris wheel and little shops, etc... At that point I realized that I wouldn't be able to get to this road. I was really bummed as I sat just staring at this road. All of a sudden I realize there is movement on this road...but it's not a car. I turned to Courtney and said "It's not a road, it's a slide!!" That was funny. So, of course we went on the slide. We had to take this little rickety ski lift up to the top of the hill (pictured below) and there were these little carts that we took to slide down. Mine was a little slow, other than that it was great. After that experience we drove around and found lookout mountain. It was pretty there. I have some pictures below of that as well. Oh and we also saw Buffalo Bill's grave site if that's anything. That evening we met up with Christy and her husband for dinner. The end of a beautiful day :o) Ps..if you can't tell..it's a baby deer below. So cute!

The Drive = 14 hours...

Hey...it's the mountains!!! NOT...that's some stupid hill we saw on the drive. It was probably in Iowa because Nebraska was as flat, as long and as stinky as a state can be. Seriously, it was the longest stretch of the trip. If you can make it through Nebraska you can make it through anything. My wonderful friend Courtney rode with me to keep me company. Nothing too exciting happened on the way, at least that I can remember...LOL. We arrived in Denver around 1:30am Thursday. Phew..It had been a long day.

Goodbye for now..

Pat and friends threw me a wild (and I mean wild..LOL) going away party. My close friends and family were there..some didn't make it..hint hint..I missed you. I really appreciated everyone coming out and spending some time with me before my journey. They even brought gifts! I wasn't expecting that but it was very thoughtful. The thing I will miss the most about being in Chicago is the people and relationships. So...come see me :o)

I love you guys!!

"Ain't No Sunshine When She's Gone"

Ah...the Town Center Bank gang. What a great group of people to work with. They started singing this song to me a few weeks before I left. We had fun pretty much all the time. From the left we have Andy, Seema, Baby Steph (BS), Karen, Joan (Andy's wonderful wife), Mary, Schnepper (Dave), and Dave (Ficus got treated). I will miss those guys...

Car Trouble

My brakes started squeaking/grinding last night. I was praying that it was just an after effect of the rain or something but no...they sounded worse this morning. I was driving to work thinking, oh my goodness what in the world is happening to my car. I dropped off my car to get it checked out and it turns out that my brake pads are worn and it's affecting the rotors. Oh the fun...not...but it's better that it happened before I got to Denver. Imagine..Stephanie in Denver..driving down the mountain...brakes fail...there goes Stephanie over the cliff...

Everything's a go

Alright...my official moving date is June 28th!