Phoenix bound - Volume 3

My vacation will be quickly winding down this week and I'm already getting sad about leaving this beautiful city called Phoenix. And more than the city, I'm going to miss the people I've met here. However, don't cry yet...I will return once I "get my affairs in order" and begin the process of causing major upheaval in my life to relocate 1600 miles away from all of my family, my birthplace and nearly everything I've ever known. Why? I like it here and I really like the people I now know. When I lived in New Jersey for a brief period of time, I felt claustrophobic because most of the city seemed to be entirely vertical. It was so "busy" that I couldn't get comfortable, but Phoenix doesn't give me that feeling. It's so spread out that it reminds me of the openness of the midwestern farm country. If I don't move here, I will regret it for the rest of my life.

So what have I been doing for the past few days? Well, let's see. I've been given tours by my oh-so-cute-and-adorable friend Mikey. (He try to deny the above description, but trust me gals...he's a keeper!) He's been so giving of his time in order to cart me around everywhere that I can't even begin to express my appreciation except to say Thank You! and fill up his gas tank several times over.

Other than a lot of driving around, meeting friends and family of the Top7+ (and of course, members of the Top7+), we went to Lil'Sheila's comedy performance on Friday night. She's so funny! It was her second time performing in this comedy series and I have to say, other than the last comic who has been in this profession for many years, Sheila was the funniest one! She's VERY good.

Yesterday, Mikey invited me to a housewarming party at one of his friend's house so we spent several hours there. It was a good time, although I got the sensation that I was being analyzed at first..."Who is this girl?" etc. lol I like his friends - they seem to be a fun group of people. We had to leave early in order to make it across town to the Fondue/Belated-Birthday-for-Ben/Mikey-got-a-new-job/Ben-got-a-new-job/Becky's-getting-married/Sonya's-visiting party. We had a lot to celebrate and we did our best to empty several wine bottles, as Mikey can attest to if you read his blog. I think most of it went into Mikey! The food was delicious and everyone was laughing. Later in the night, when everyone was kinda tipsy (okay, Mikey was drunk and I know that I, at least, was tipsy), we broke up into groups and just chilled. One group was flirting quite outrageously, which I admit made me a little comfortable (third wheel and all), so I escaped to the patio to suffer the drifting swirls of cigarette smoke. --- My lungs aren't going to know what to do with all of that clean midwestern air (okay, "clean" only if I can avoid driving near hog confinement operations) when I return to Iowa. --- By the time the party ended, I was fine to drive, so I carted Mikey back to Becky's where we could keep a close eye on him. Mikey was sobering up at this point. I know this to be true because he was criticizing my driving afterwards. I don't think a drunk would have cared! Fortunately I counted to ten, reigned in my temper, and successfully resisted the urge to smack him. You got off easy, buster!

This morning we all crawled out of bed fuzzy and bleary eyed, not ready to face another day but unable to prevent it. Mikey worked on his homework, Becky went to a meeting, and I checked my work email only to discover I had some emails that had to be composed to one of my Committees. The downside of accessing my email remotely is that I can't use my personal contacts to bring up my distribution lists....so I had to pull up an old email and retype the recipients. What a pain! Other than work, I emailed a friend and emotionally vomited on her. LOL Sometimes I girl just needs to vent and purge. I'll have to apologize later. What else....Mikey went home earlier this morning and I'm now waiting for Becky to return so we can go get some Italian food for lunch, go do girly things for her wedding preparations, and head to Ben's for a superbowl party. Should be an eventful, but I hope rather calm, day!