It Hit Me...
Every few months, I get this moment, where reality hits me and I sit back, amazed, that I'm really doing it. What am I talking about? Suddenly I realize that I'm surviving as a "grown-up". I know, it probably sounds silly, but it's true. It happened again last night while watching the 11:00 news. I was sitting on my couch, it was about 11:05pm when I looked around my living room and realized it was all mine. The house, the clutter - all mine. I'm a grown-up. I don't have a bedtime. I'm surviving on my own, supporting myself, making my own decisions. Yes, I know, you're probably laughing at me. I'm 31 years old. I've been doing this for quite a few years now - just about 8, to be exact. But, reality never fails to amaze me sometimes. I can't explain the feeling that comes over me, except to say that it's similar to sheer amazement. Does that happen to any of you? Do you ever sit back and think, "Wow, I'm really doing it!"

Anyway....it's another beautiful, snowy day! It's fun being 5 floors up, looking down on Philadelphia. Okay, I know, more of Philly is up!! But, I'm not really in Center City. If I look out the window and to the left, I see the big buildings. But, where I'm located, I get to look out across the northeastern parts of the city. It's beautiful from here. But I'm totally DREADING the drive home.

Arizona
I'm so excited. I've been talking about a quick trip to Arizona this winter/fall. Well, Julie is interested in going with me so I'm even more excited to share my favorite city/metro area with someone. I've shared it with my brother and my mom back when I was working there. Julie and I are going to be conducting scrapbook store research. Like that? A way to justify this silly trip. So, I thought I'd share with you more of my favorite Arizona links:

Favorite Food:
- Oreganos Pizza Bistro - I mentioned this awhile back. It was one of the first restaurants I experienced. Must save room for dessert!!
- Malee's on Main - An AWESOME Thai restaurant in Old City Scottsdale. I fell in love with Pad Thai here.
- Char's Thai Restaurant in Tempe - Apparently they don't have a website and I'm not surprised. It's a hole-in-the-wall restaurant that scares me. It's dark and smells funny. But, it has the best Pineapple Fried rice and Thai Iced Tea. Not to be confused with Chai tea - it's NOTHING like it.
- Cold Stone Creamery - I know, it's not a novelty any longer because they've made their way to NJ. But, Cold Stone Creamery was started and is based out of the Phoenix metro area. The first location was on Mill Street in Tempe. Now I can get a little taste of Phoenix whenever I'm home.
- Chipotle - This isn't necessarily unique to Phoenix, but they're certainly prevalent in the area. It's a burrito fast-food chain. I LOVE this place. The burritos are HUGE. The closest ones to home are in the DC area. I really wish they'd come to Jersey too.
- Ra Sushi - Did you know that I like sushi? I'd tasted it before working in Arizona, but ate it fairly regularly when I was out there. This is a great sushi restaurant. However, there was a really fun drive-thru sushi restaurant around the corner from my apartment. The drive thru was closed during the summer. But, isn't that kind of scary? Drive thru sushi?

Scrapbook Stores:
- The Scrapbook Barn - My FAVORITE scrapbook store in the whole wide world. This is the store I've flown to Phoenix for the day to visit. This is my inspiration! This will be on Julie's tour. Maybe we'll even be able to squeeze in a class. Unfortunately, March's calendar is not yet posted. I love their organization and merchandising.
- Creations Scrapbook Store - this one is in Chandler. It's not far from our hotel. I've never been there, but we'll be visiting it.
- My Scrapbook Studio - The website isn't much to look at, but it might be worth a visit depending upon time.
- A listing of other scrapbook stores in the Phoenix area. Gosh, I'm only aware of 2 in all of south Jersey. I'm so jealous.

HOLY CRAP! WHILE RESEARCHING STORES, I RAN ACROSS ANOTHER STORE FOR SALE FOR $75K in PHOENIX!!!!! But, I don't think I could live off of this store. I need to make more money.

Rental Car:
So, I'm sure you remember my Hummer experience. I want something that's still fun and not at all like what I drive now. So, I've reserved this little convertible.

Hotel:
Finding a hotel was harder than I expected. I want to use points, I am on a tight budget, you know! Most of them were blacked out and I refuse to use extra points to get a room. And, I wanted a fun location. My first choice was near Old City Scottsdale - struck out. My second choice was in downtown Tempe - struck out again. I settled on Fairfield Inn in Chandler. This historic (historic in Kristin's experience) was across the street from the site where I stood at the doors to Nordstrom on Grand Opening day of the Chandler Fashion Center. When do you get to go to the Grand Opening of a new mall??? It was cool! I was on the news.

Anyway, I guess I should really be working instead of playing travel agent. Hope you're having a great day.