Oh Scottsdale, Beautiful Scottsdale...

Chris and I made the journey this weekend to Scottsdale AZ to see if well, we'd even like it out there and if so, to find a place to call home. I love doing new things with Chris. We always have fun together. Of course this weekend was a complete roller coaster of emotions. For some reason (I can't image what, its only moving two states away from everything I know) I was very nervous for the two weeks before we left. I finally started getting excited about 2 days before we left.

We left on Wednesday and drove to Dallas. Chris's dad dropped us off at the airport and we flew into Phoenix at like 10:30 that night. After a very interesting time with our rental car place we finally drove out to our hotel. Chris's mom stays in hotels all over the US so she gets Marriott points and last year for Christmas they gave Chris and I and Meredith and Mike a two nights stay in a Marriott. So Chris and I stayed at the Marriott Suites...talk about a nice room!! We had a living area, bedroom, vanity, Bathtub and shower/toilet area. It was really nice.

Thursday morning we got up and had breakfast in the restaurant (comped by the hotel because Mary is an Elite member) and headed to Scottsdale Culinary Institute, which is now named Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts, Scottsdale. They changed it last Wednesday. We got to go around and see some of the school and some of this restaurant. It is the Mobil 3 star student run restaurant. It was nice.

Then we walked back outside to this fountain. Lisa, the lady who handles all of my stuff for school, was telling me that before graduation everyone gathers around and does a toast around this fountain. She said its a very special time.
She also showed us this: This is the kit I will be recieving when I start school, along with all of my uniform, aprons, towels and all that good stuff.

This is the door to the L'Ecole Restaurant. I just thought the door was pretty.
Meet Jeep Compass. Our ride for the weekend. It served us well and was a very good little vehicle.
This is Ree Drummond, also known as the Pioneer Woman. She had a cookbook signing in Tempe while we were there so we slipped down and got my cookbook signed. We only waited for like 4 hours. :-D
LOOK MOUNTAINS!! REAL MOUNTAINS!!! Our new apt is about 1/2 a mile to hiking trails up a mountain :-D EEP!!
See, more!!

After 1 1/2 days of apartment hunting and finding things we liked, but nothing that was just the right place for us, we were tired and after a not so fun encounter with a lady who made me thing we would never find a place to live earlier that morning, we felt a little defeated, at least I did. So we started talking about how things have always seemed to come for us, me especially. When I got ready to apply to schools for college, it was A&M and that was it, I didn't apply anywhere else. I knew that was where I was suppose to be, same thing with my duplex now and where Chris and I wanted to get married and also for SCI. Things just go *bam* this is it. Since we hadn't had that we were discussing it in the car. I said "I wish one of them would just go *bam* this is it" and we pulled up at Broadstone Ancala. It is set on the edge of town and there isn't much city-ness around, which is nice. Its quiet and the people are really nice. While we were in the office two different people walked in the office with their dogs. They accept Rodderick and that was one of the biggest hang ups for us. He is about 75 lbs so there are several places that won't allow dogs that big. Its sad...but this place does! They started refurbishing their apts a few years ago and got about 1/2 way through and had to stop for a little while. So the set of refurbished ones when all was said and done for us was about $30 more a month. When I say refurbished I mean completely. They have black and stainless steal appliances and granite countertops. Fo-granite in the bathrooms and beautiful light fixtures and door handles. Basically I love it.

Here is the dining room area (looking from the front door)

Here is the living room area looking from the dining room
This is the kitchen. Please note the awesome top shelf above the counter. LOVE IT!!
See, granite! The cabinets have been completely re-done as well.

Even a built in microwave, which means I will be parting with my beloved red one, but at least this one will have a plate!! I also like the room above the cabinets we can display things!

This, my friends, is my new closet!! Its wonderful and I love the corner shelf!!
Vanity area in the master bedroom.
POOL!! I like pools.
This is Chris's favorite part. Two charcoal grills.

After picking out this totally awesome apartment Chris and I treated ourselves to the Hard Rock Cafe! We had a great evening just hanging out. We also walked around the downtown Scottsdale area to find the Sky Bridge Campus of SCI so I would know where I was going :-D

Saturday morning we got up and were going to tackle Banfields to find Chris a job. At breakfast I spilled my apple juice all over my only jeans. Since we both wanted to look decent while trying to get him a job, we found a place to get me a new pair of jeans. After that we visited one Banfield and the girl there told us to visit the hospital (which was number one on Chris's list) and talk to the Office Manager. So we did. Bryant was his name. He was a fairly young guy. He seemed to want Chris to stay with Banfield. He liked that he has 2 1/2 years with them already. He told us if he can't get him a job at that one he would talk to his field director to see where they could place him fulltime there. YAY!! It was cool to see how Father placed things for us. We are very excited to get out there and also to see what He has in store for us next!! :-D