The Inflatables

I've learned a few things about Arizona in the past six months.

• While most of us have "desert landscaping" with a yard full of rocks, there are a few die-hards out there who fight for that 10x10 patch of grass in their front yard - and buy a lawnmower to keep it in check.
• No one actually lives in Phoenix, it's a dump.When we say "Phoenix," we usually mean to say, Scottsdale, Tempe, or the proper suburban neighborhood name.
• There are empty shopping centers on almost every corner - remnants of the businesses that used to thrive - yet there are more nail salons than there are Starbucks in NYC and they are all wildly successful.
• And now that it's Christmastime, my favorite Arizona tradition - inflatable lawn ornaments. Everyone has them, even the rich folk. It's as if there are small children in every home begging for the biggest Christmas decorations in the neighborhood when the majority of the residents here are actually retired senior citizens. Gone are the classy white lights and garland. We live in the land of tacky blow up dolls.

How did Grandma Ever Do It Alone?

Will and I hosted Thanksgiving in Phoenix this year. Our dear friends Katie and Steve from San Diego drove up for the weekend and we also got to catch up with an old high school friend and his family since they recently relocated to the area. The actual meal went off as planned but left us all in awe of how any one person could ever pull that off. About thirty minutes before meal time, both Naumans and both Andreottas were busy prepping the final details on all the dishes. Eight hands were barely enough. I'm thankful for so many things this year but on that day I was especially thankful for a husband who is an excellent cook and great friends who jumped right into our kitchen to whip up an amazing meal.

Here's a recap of the weekend from the Nauman's fancy camera:

Stuffing the Turkey

Betty Crocker in my house

Carve that bird!

The Spread is out

Wish bone - Will won. Wonder what he wished for....

Post dinner, the first to fall, but not the last.....

Katie soon followed.........

And we didn't want our guests to feel awkward, so we joined them. The sign of a good Thanksgiving meal.

The whole gang

Post T-day hike. Clearly I'm not the iron woman in this group....

So glad to be on flat ground

A marathon game of Trivial pursuit. Four hours later, after Will quit and went to bed, Katie answered the winning question.

Quick recap: We got married. We honeymooned. We went back to work. I'm not pregnant.

Now that firefox recognizes my blogger dashboard, I'm back to blogging. Stay tuned.

Back to Wedding Blogging..and we're Retreating

Getting married in the Catholic church is everything I imagined it would be. Nothing is left up to the bride and groom, there is a set list of music, liturgy and flowers. They tell you when to come, when to leave and what you cannot do during your wedding. I'm not sure we even have to show up and the mass will go on. Hey, that's not a bad idea............straight to the reception we go! It may be cookie cutter in it's design, but at the end of the day we'll be married and that's all we care about. On the way to blissful marriage, however, the Church requires engaged couples to attend a premarital retreat weekend called "Engaged Encounters." Aside from the air conditioned sleeping quarters, it's just like summer camp. A room full of 20 twin beds and two showers for the girls and an adjacent (but not adjoining) room for the guys. Lest you think that we were actually a step above summer camp with our air conditioning, the girls bunk also came complete with large cockroaches.

We were a little apprehensive about having to stand up in front of a bunch of strangers and talk about our relationship, but to our relief, it was even more uncomfortable than that. We had to listen to a married couple talk about their relationship all weekend long. 24 hours of talks about problems they had and how they resolved them, renewing their vows and even how one of them is unable to "perform" they way he used to. Yep, are you squirming in your seat yet? One guy admitted that he almost left his bride at the alter, then failed to put her on his health insurance until she had a miscarriage and that their son's wife turned into a wifezilla who does not want to have kids so there goes the family name. AWK-WARD. After each revealing "talk" by the lead couple, the engaged couples were commissioned to answer questions on the topic individually and then discuss them together. Will and I took this time to make the most of the weekend by joking about everything. We played rousing games of tic-tac-toe, dots, hangman and wrote each other funny poems and stories. Actually, a weekend of laughing together was probably more therapeutic than what we were supposed to be doing.

So for those of you who are engaged but aren't required to attend a pre-marital weekend, we highly suggest that you do anyway just for the fun of it. And if you're married and want to see how much fun it is you should go too.

Here is an excerpt from one of the letters Will wrote me:

"You are the apple of my eye- although I like the Red Delicious apples and you do not. Your one true shortcoming - being a Redskins fan - but it shows your loyalty, which is good for me since you have no problem rooting for a person or team that shows moments of brilliance followed by hours of stupidity.....What we are about to embark on is a dynasty similar to the ones of the 90's Dallas Cowboys, our team will always win, especially when we play the Redskins. You are my heart and soul, but not literally since I need those to live. You bring light into my life - mostly because you leave all the lights on in the house. You are my one and only, I can't afford another woman in my life."

And then it gets sweet and gushy.

They're Heeeeere

Look - Bon Jovi's tour bus is at our house....errr actually it's my in-laws to-be. But everyone in the neighborhood thought "Renegade 1" was something famous. And we think so too. Packed up in the trailer were all of my boxes and my car which were all safely delivered as promised. And right on time. We had a great weekend riding motorcycles, smoking chickens and laughing about almost everything inbetween. I'm so luck to be joining the Andreotta clan. They are really good people.

Moving Day

I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of Will's parents who have driven across the country in their RV with all of my belongings in the back of the trailer. Will is still at work so his parents and I will start unloading everything as soon as they get here. They are my personal moving company. What a dream come true. In preparation for their stay with us, we had to get the guest room in order. The Italian bed fit perfectly but we had to go on the hunt for nightstands, new bedding and a theme. We settled on solid colors and a sports theme...currently exemplified only by Will's golf ball collection. More to come, but in the mean time we hope it will be acceptable to our first guests!

The Handy Man hard at work

Ta-da! Job well done

Ready for our guests to arrive!

It seems I have a pre-programmed time limit for living in the same place. No more than four years. Four years in college, three years in Denver, four years in Charlottesville and now off to Phoenix for no more than three years. Becoming a military wife with frequent hops to new cities should fit me pretty well.

This is my last week in Charlottesville. Although I'm pretty sure I won't miss being woken up at 2am every night or sharing my home with 24 roommates as a sorority house mom, there are things that I will think of fondly when remembering this place like:

Catered meals
Not paying rent
Arch's frozen yogurt
Always knowing what's in style because all the girls are wearing it
Walking to work

These last few days in this bustling city of undergrads will be nostalgic. Everything will be the "last." I just made my last drive down route 29. Today will be my last GNO with Sarah and Courtney (Girls night out, not get naked outside like Mike says), it's my last day on call at UVA (and I got called in), I'll get my last pedicure with Suzi at CK nails this week and take care of my last labor patient on Friday. You've been good to me Cville. Maybe we'll see you at someone's graduation some day, because God knows we are not coming down for Foxfields!