So here we are...knock knock knocking on Satan's door {well what feels like Hell's door anyway} and i find myself for like the 10th year in a row, since i've lived in the Valley of the Sun, dreaming of busting a move out of this insufferable state. Its seasonal depression inducing, only instead of clouds, its blaring-oven-like sunshine. I have friends who LOOove it {and we all forget just how hot it gets} but basically, come June, you can't go outside without your face melting off, and sweating profusely out of every pore. Allow me to be frank when i say, its no fun when your crotch starts to publicly draw attention to itself.
I dream of Portland!...or the surrounding areas anyway. The trees, the hydrangeas, the farmer's markets. My Grandma lived in way Northern Cali....I remember being little and wondering why she'd apologize if the "weather was dreadful" when we came. I loved it! still do. I hear it all the time "you think you like rain, but it is SO. MUCH. RAIN." Which leads me to wonder if i'm only hemorrhaging from the grass is {quite literally} greener syndrome. But the way i see it, I have paid my AZ dues, if nothing else, i'm ready for a change...and a new thing to complain about ;)
*my saving grace...
.
I am notorious for having this 52 oz. ice cold "baby" attached to my side (6 months of the year). It is quite honestly like a baby in that i even find myself inadvertently swaying side to side or gently bouncing my knees while i'm holding it. Old habits :)
23 comments:
I've never been to Portland, but it's on my list of places to visit/live. Have you ever seen the show No Reservations? It's on the Travel Channel. Anyway, they did an episode on Portland and ever since, I've decided it looks like a little piece of granola Heaven.
Plus, I'm pasty and don't do well in direct sunlight. :)
although i would miss you playing your flute and gathering all the neighborhood kids to sing/read to them, i would get the h out of here if i could. i like the rain too. i don't subscribe to the leave az or die idea anymore, maybe cause i don't have a choice. you, on the other hand could be a free bird, lucky girl.
what's the magic ingredient in your 52oz. baby???
I have got to say...I love summer heat, but not Arizona summer heat!! Walking outside and feeling my bangs stick to my forehead...UGH! I live in Northern, CA... It gets hot but not too hot and there is always a breeze! Not to mention I think its gorgeous where I live. Its about an hour from Tahoe and an hour from San Fransisco. Seriously, I couldn't handle AZ heat... My husband would hate me too much from all of the complaining!
I agree 100% about the weather. For me, it is only my family and friends that keep us from leaving AZ! There are so many beautiful places to live, why live in a place where you can't go outside for 6 months of the year(ok maybe just the worst 3 months). On the other hand, the winters rock (maybe not cold ENOUGH)but that is the thing that keeps me going through the summertime heat...that and air conditioning.....what would we do without it?!?
Also, it looks like some of our music tastes are the same.
I came across Bright Eyes in a used cd store a couple years ago and bought it solely because the cover artwork, then I immediatly fell in love with their music.
And, the Yeah, yeah,yeahs are coming to Tempe in june...I hear they put on a pretty good/funky show.
I feel your pain! Paraguayan summer time is at its hottest in December. 115 degrees is the average temp at Christmast time. It's beyond depressing, even the cold water in the shower comes out hot. I stay locked up in my air conditioned living room (no central air) with my two small children, and we basically drive each other crazy all. summer. long. I hate summer. Summer in New Hampshire however, is beautiful. It's warm, but no humidity. Bliss.
sweet, Holly! thanks for the concert tip...i think I'd be in heaven at that show!
About moving...in my dreams, my whole family moves with me ;)
OH! jackie your is worse, wayyy worse! CHRISTMAS?? We have 3 air conditioning units (to the tune of $450/month mind you) and a basement.
...i can't even imagine two kids/one room living!!!
I love Seattle and Portland! Some are trapped by the rain, but a true Pacific Northwestern-er has a rain jacket and knows how to use it!
yes yes yes, move to portland. so far so good for me. and we'd be automatic pals. i love how you throw in things like sweaty crotches to make me laugh every time i read.
I think you know which one I voted for! :) You are not moving ANYWHERE my friend! I'm thinking the splash pad trip needs to happen before the rug rats are out of school and take over the joint? Whatcha think?
i MISS northern california! i HATE the FREAKING HEAT here! I am with you, i long to move... but then summer passes and i change my mind.
be a free bird, move where that wonderful wind blows you... but you are in arizona and there just isn't ANY wind blowing for the next 4 months!
I found you through rockstar diaries. Portland is sasasasaso dope. I am thinking of going to grad school there.
p.s. I love your playlist!!! Kids by MGMT rocks my world.
i am so glad to hear it! thanks for your Portland insight...my husband just laughed when i told him what my blog poll revealed.
"well by all means, we've got to go if that's what it says!"
he thinks i'm blogging ridiculous....i think it's destiny!
Forget Portland. Milwaukee is where it's at! Like you say the grass is always greener. I was so friggin ready to leave AZ summers but would have gone back in a heartbeat a couple months ago... it doesn't help that I moved from one extreme to the other. Hmmm maybe Portland is the answer.
just found your blog...and i am a fan!
happy to see you're a fan of the Northwest....cause dats where i'm from. Seattle to be exact. I Love love Portland too. And summers in the NW are the best. Gorgeous (lakes, mountains, trees)and it gets hot (good hot, not AZ hot)!
If you went to Portland for no other reason than the hydrangeas, it would be totally valid. Now the other thing you mentioned... well, people are probably a lot more relaxed there, so that's a plus!
P.S. I just got "mismsho" which is a lot less fun than yours. Pop-Tarts would make it better...
so amy is in portland and tessa, and hopefully us in 1 year...enough reason to go??
i was starting to get second thoughts about portland, but after reading some of the comments, my mind is getting reenergized for the northwest.
a select few are trying to talk me out of it. and i really do like heat. strangely enough.
ahhhhhhhhh!
Girl, you know you belong in San Francisco! Stop fighting it. If you build it, they will come :)
i'm totally on team portland! levi grew up outside of portland (in lake oswego), and he's always talking wistfully about it. i've been, and i just love it. i think we might end up there one day. maybe we can be neighbors!!!! haha! :)
By the time you move to Portland, maybe I will have moved there too and we can be in-person friends! Along the lines of sweaty nastiness, my husband and I were at church and he's all like, "man, I stink, bad" and I said, "no honey, it's me." We gave each other a hug to mask our mutual pit smelling and he breaks it and says, "sick! It is you and I'm going to barf."
Everyone moves to Portland cause they think Portland is the answer. I did too. But believe me, even if you LOVE RAIN SO SO MUCH (I have all my life) there is TOO MUCH rain in Portland. The year I moved it rained from January through June. No nights with light sweaters, no T-shirt spring days. Sure, the flowers bloomed and things LOOKED beautiful like it was spring, but it was fur coats and scarves and mittens every single night. Except for the brave native girls, who, just because the month was called "May" would wear their high heeled sandals and spaghetti strap dresses out into the 45 degree night. Trust me, Portland is an amazing place to visit. Also, the economy is the worst in the nation. It took me weeks to find a job, and that was 2003. I hear now, you just can't find one.
Plus everyone is SOOO much an artist, everyone is SOOO creative but simultaneously broke and trying to sell their art, after a while it gets old. I have found (after watching many friends move their and then return from there) that the people that hang best in Portland are from other pretty dang cold states (colder than Cali's and AZ's winters by far) states such as Idaho, Michigan, North Dakota, Montana, Washington, Illinois.
I live in Northern Cali in the Sierra Nevadas...there are 4 beautiful seasons, a taste of snow- a taste of 95 degrees, beautiful fall colour, glorious springs, rivers to swim in, mountains to slide down, just when you are sick of one season, the new one begins! I say MOVE HERE!
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