Arizona

So, last week I went to Arizona with my lovely and fantastic co-worker Melissa. I have been to AZ for work a few times and a combination of my near-paralyzing fears of getting lost/people thinking I’m not nearly as funny as I think I am/love of sitting by myself somewhere so I can get fully wrapped up in my own social anxiety (Remember that time in 5th grade I told a joke and it didn’t land and no one thought I was hilarious?? I do! It has scarred me for life and now I have this teeny moment of terror before something comes out of my mouth that I think will be funny) has usually kept me from doing a lot. Also, I’m historically an indoor kid. I believed I was not made for nature. I was made for books, video games, naps, bad teen romance movies, and doubting myself. Ya know, typical inside stuff. But THIS trip? This was like a whole new world. Melissa was like Aladdin and I was like Jasmine. We were on a magic carpet ride. It was magical. Is this weird yet? Melissa and I are just friends and as far as I know she’s not pretending to be a prince via a genie in hopes that I’ll marry her. We were more like two Jasmines. Still a whole new world though. The great thing about Melissa (there are lots of great things but we don’t have time for that) is that she has this really fantastic way of making you not feel weird about all your weird shit. I have so much weird shit. I feel weird about my hair, about my voice, about my ability to exercise, about how the only thing I really enjoy eating is chocolate chip cookies and ice cream, about what shoes I’m wearing or will eventually wear. Just. It’s a lot. But in Arizona, with Melissa being all supportive and kind and encouraging, I was this adventurous, semi-capable grown-up who was NOT afraid to leave her hotel or go on a hike or have fun. Admittedly I was fueled mostly by anxiety BUT there was definitely some new found confidence and badassery involved as well. Here’s a brief rundown of all of the things I/we did.

Hiking! 

Let’s take a second to discuss the last time I went hiking. Actually, let’s not. I can’t remember! It’s possible the answer is never. Not once! Not this trip, though! I totally hiked. In 105 degree weather!  I hiked the shiiiit out of North Mountain. For like an entire hour and a half. It was beautiful! Look!

We did not see any snakes, gigantic bugs, or scorpions. We did keep saying we wanted to touch a cactus, but we also kept forgetting to actually touch a cactus. There was also a brief moment where we couldn’t figure out which part of the trail we had taken when we were walking back to the car and I might have convinced myself we were about to die in the desert. Who can say, really?

Sedona!

You guys. Have you ever been to Sedona? Even if you have you should go back. Everywhere we turned there was something beautiful to look at (other than my FACE). It was insane. I have approximately 400 pictures from in the car, before we even got out and did anything. It felt fake! Also, we did SO MUCH STUFF there.

We found a little brook, visited two vortexes (masculine AND feminine), went to a church built into a mountain, went hiking near the airport (Melissa also basically ran up a mountain while I waited in the car and contemplated my own mortality), bought some crystals from a lovely but incredibly slow woman who would really love to visit Salem, MA and has a brother in Massachusetts, and she’ll be done in one second, she just has to spend the next 1-3 hours looking for the corresponding info sheets for every crystal, ate at this ridiculously beautiful and delicious restaurant called The Hideaway House (thanks, AJ3!), saw the fanciest Starbucks and CVS we’ve ever laid eyes on, and got ice cream. We could have stayed for days and never run out of places to go and things to see.

All of the fun and food!

I have a favorite place in Phoenix. It makes no sense because people bring their dogs there and it’s outside in the 250 degree weather but I love it SO MUCH. I make everyone go there at least once every time I visit because I am both bossy and have superior taste in hang out spots. It’s called O.H.S.O.  and they have the BEST grilled cheese I’ve ever eaten in my entire life, every song they play is my favorite song, and it’s got gigantic, cushy benches, to sit on. It’s lovely and it also always has delicious hard ciders and appetizers (RIP pork wings).

Have you ever had Mexican food? I disagree, unless you went to this specific street taco place my co-workers Doug and Ryan took me to. It’s called Paquime and it was heavenly. I’ve had dreams about it since we left. I had a carne asade torta and I am not even kind of exaggerating when I tell you that it changed my life for the better. I had some kind of food/life epiphany and now I can never go back to the way I used to be. I am a changed woman.

The absolute best food related thing that happened on this trip (and possibly my entire life up to this point) though? My new favorite place in the whole entire world? The one thing that I would sacrifice everything for? The Baked Bear.  Holy crap, this place is everything I’ve ever wanted in a dessert shop. They make ice cream sandwiches with cookies or brownies or a combo of both, then your choice of ice cream, then they heat up your cookies/brownies so the ice cream melts a little and it’s easier to eat. If I ever move out of Massachusetts, it will be to Scottsdale, as close to The Baked Bear as I can possibly get. Possibly to a tent in the parking lot or like inside the walls of the establishment so I can sneak out once it’s closed and everyone has gone home and make all the ice cream sandwiches I want.

I also had amazing bbq, Chinese/Mexican fusion, Pei Wei, a TON of delicious sushi (like a metric ton), Mellow Mushroom Pizza (meatball and mushroom 4lyfe), and Korean BBQ. OH AND the hotel we stayed in makes these ginormous Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup cookies and one night we got one fresh out of the oven. SO GOOD.

Pat (and Tim, too)!

Last but definitely, not even close to least, I got to see one of my all time favorite humans, my cousin Pat (her husband Tim is pretty great, too I guess, even though he always makes me promise not to hug him). When I started working for MassMutual, as I’ve mentioned before (That Time I Got Fired) I had a lot of anxiety and struggled in the beginning. The one thing that got me through everyday was hearing from Pat. We would send each other ridiculous pictures, talk about our anxieties, our shared extreme love of blanket forts, reading, being alone, and just generally got to know each other better than we ever had the chance to do before. Turns out we’re basically twins. We want the same pizza, we get stressed out by the same things, we have the same type of nightmares, and we are both really freaking cute and funny.  Someday we’re going to be neighbors and we’ll send our husbands away, gather all the blankets and pillows we can find, build a GIGANTIC fort and spends days quietly reading. Also, she doesn’t know about this part of the plan but she’s also going to bake me cookies on a regular basis.

There was a bunch of other really great stuff, too. I got to see friends I missed a LOT, hang out with co-workers I just met (hey Ryan, so great to meet you for the first time ever in our whole lives), go swimming every day, learn that I am stronger and braver than I thought I was, get to know people I love even better, and just generally remind myself that I am lucky and I am happy and I know some pretty awesome people. Arizona was pretty good to me. Here’s one more picture because Melissa and I look hella cute in it and it makes me happy.