Wow it has been a hectic month, especially over the last two weeks, which is why there has been a lack of updates. My apologies. For the past week, I have been on what I call my Awesome East Coast Reunion Tour. I had to travel back East for work so I decided to also take some extra time off and visit my family. It was my sister Angie’s prom weekend, and since I was unable to be back for her high school graduation, and I hadn’t seen them in a few months, I really wanted to see the fam.

Last Thursday evening I arrived in Pittsburgh. I had a terrible experience at the airport, which I think is unusual for Pittsburgh but was just the icing on the cake. I found the signs to baggage claim to be horrendous. On top of that, I sat there for an hour waiting for my suitcase. Finally, I headed to the office to inquire, and saw tucked away in a corner you can’t see, my suitcase off to the side. It appears as if someone checked to see if it was theirs, and when it wasn’t, they set it aside instead of putting it back on the conveyor. Soon, I had my car though and was ready to go.

There was an IxDA Pittsburgh event going on at Games ‘N ‘At I heard about through their local leader, so I thought I would drop in. I got there a couple hours after it had started, but still was able to have a couple hours of hanging out and socializing. It was nice to see Jack again and to visit the infamous gaming location I hear about from my Pittsburgh coworkers. Additionally, I got to meet some of the Viz crew that I hadn’t had the chance to meet yet. Being handed the Yuengling I was craving made everything much better. I stayed a little longer than I expected, and forgot that you had to buy liquor at a liquor store in PA so I wasn’t able to bring back any Yuengling to ship either. I headed to Dover and arrived about 1am.

Friday I discovered my dad had taken off work to spend the day with me, and I was insanely happy. I went with my parents and my sister Maddy who was home from college to run some errands in the morning. I was then getting really excited that it was almost time for the girls night we had been planning for weeks. Maddy, Angie, Julie and I have not spent quality time together in ages. Earlier in the afternoon, Julie said she’d be over around 5 because she had some errands to run and had to take her boyfriend to work. When she got there we had some amazing dinner my mom made which included a cake that failed in the oven and the broccoli cheese noodle soup I LOVE. Julie said she could only stay a few hours. We had planned this for ages and she said she was in it for the night. I was really upset, considering we hadn’t seen each other in almost a year. It ruined the night a little bit. I had to leave the house before she saw me cry.

Saturday my parents and I along with Charley went off to Amish country to hit some wineries before prom stuff started. We ended up not going to any of the wineries we planned on. First we hit Silver Moon winery which is new and right off of 39 on the old route. This is one of my new favorites. I bought quite a few bottles to ship back, including a Fire & Ice ice wine that is truly spectacular. Next we headed to Broad Run Cheese House which I never realized made their own wine too. This meant I also picked up a few bottles there. Afterwards we rushed back to take tons of prom pictures and hope that the rain held off until the kids were on the bus. Prom walk-ins will be explained in the next post. The night ended with fam game night.

Sunday, I had to rush from church to head back to Pittsburgh. I was ecstatic to receive a 2010 mustang convertible to occupy me for the less than day I was going to be there. After I checked in, I went to a coworkers for a barbeque and to start on some work. Monday we rushed to get some work in during the morning and then hit out flight to Miami. The rest of the week was pretty rushed. We got some great work done although it was storming in Miami for almost two days. I was able to have Colombian and Argentinian for the first time. The last night we were there, it was finally a nice night and we had some free time so off to Miami Beach we went. Ended up at a great dive bar, Zeke’s that had an amazing beer selection. Then we walked around a little bit, followed by dinner at a nice little pizza place on Lincoln. We did make it to Miami Ink, but a little too late to get a tattoo. Afterwards I had to walk along South Beach, even if it was midnight.

Thursday was a mad rush to the airport as it was impossible to find the Hertz rental return with all the construction. The signage would end and put you on an infinite loop back onto the highway. Ugh annoying.

However, I did make it home mid afternoon and it was nice to get back. Now to play catch up

The full photo stream is available on flickr.

I’ve officially spent 6 months in Phoenix.
Monday will be my 6 month mark at my current job.
Today marks 6 months of this blog.

Once I realized how long it had been, it made me surprised it had been that long already, while other people said it felt like I had been here longer. Whichever way you see it, I can say without a doubt that I am completely satisfied with the decision I made to accept a position here and am happier than I have been in a long time. Of course I miss my friends and family back in the Midwest dearly, but this has been a good move for me. I’m the farthest away from home I’ve ever been, and have really worked even more on my independence, happiness, courage, and life balance.

Today I went back and read my first blog post, and I have to admit, I am tearing up some, especially when I think about how the name for my blog came about, and re-reading the text message from my mother, and thinking about how important that message was.

“Been thinking of you all day. I am so proud of your courage and independence. Go far and be happy. Call when you get home to Arizona. Love, Mom.”

I don’t think I ever focused on the use of the word “home” in that message as I should have. Now that I think about it, I don’t recall another time that my mom has said home in any other manner than to mean my parents’ house.

Home. I truly am home here. I am also comfortable saying that now. I cannot describe how blessed I have been since I’ve been here. All my friends and family have been truly supportive even though we really miss each other. Likewise, I’ve been able to make some new friends, and lots of new acquaintances. Slowly but surely, I have pushed myself into the Phoenix scene.

I am home here because I was able to start a local group in Phoenix for the Interaction Design Association (IxDA). It was challenging, seeing as I didn’t have many connections here. Most of my connections were back in the Eastern Time Zone. It’s been very rewarding. We are already having our second meeting in a few weeks!

I am home here because I am thinking about actually becoming a first time home buyer.

I am home here because I have already had adventures that you truly only have when you are home; especially those embarrassing adventures.

I am home because I truly enjoy my job and look forward to going to work every day (almost).

I am home here because I can easily call it home. I see myself here.

I want to thank everyone for giving me the courage to start a new chapter here, and to everyone that welcomed me into Phoenix.

In Novmeber, I posted an entry about everyone here assuming I’m married. So I guess it shouldn’t surprise me now that I am getting an influx of people asking me why I’m single. Sometimes it’s in an accusatory way and sometimes just an extremely surprising way.

I get the feeling some think it’s embarrassing to be in your 20s and be single. I don’t necessarily agree. Being married isn’t the only meaningful accomplishment in someone’s life. I also am very dead set against divorce. I’ll make damn sure whomever I am involved with is someone I can see myself being with past a few months. It did make me start to think about why I am single though, and I have come up with a few ideas.

1) Moving:This is a recent reason. In the past two years I have lived in four states. What can I say, part of it is circumstance and part of it is getting bored with where I currently was. I was in a serious relationship before my move to Arizona. However, I didn’t think we were at the point that I was comfortable with him moving 2000 miles with me. However, I think that I am now somewhere that I can see myself staying for awhile. Hopefully this will no longer be an issue.

2) Career: I have been very career focused since undergrad, but even more so since graduate school. I have always planned on having a career, and a career I enjoy. The slight downfall is that HCD is still a little hard to find jobs in, and so I am limited a little bit to most major cities. Not sure I could ever be a happy housewife the rest of my life. I love my career and I love the challenges and success I have at work every day.

3) Children: The past two times I have been in a serious relationship, the other half always got upset when it came time for the “how many children do you want to have” talk. Oddly enough they are the ones that want all these kids. As for me, it’s not the number of children, but the fact that I don’t want to have children. I have had my mind set on adopting ever since I started thinking about children. I never really thought that would be an issue with guys, but apparently it is.

4) Independent: I’m a very independent person and while I love being with my friends and family, I also enjoy (and need) my own time. I have to have my space and I am very comfortable with who I am as an individual and will not let that go. Sometimes I will want to do my own thing. Sometimes I will want a girls night, and there may be times I just want to hang with my guy friends. I need a guy secure enough to handle that.

5) Type Mismatch: Other than that, I think it comes down to just not finding the right type of guy at the right time. Does this mean I’m picky? It’s quite possible, but I also think I have that right. Maybe I expect more than the typical date too. I appreciate people that put effort into relationships, this holds true for my friends as well. Sometimes I think guys only want girly girls and while I absolutely love dressing up, adore the color pink and anything that sparkles, I am not a ditz and I also love football, beer, going to sporting events and kicking everyone’s ass in Mortal Kombat.

So there, I’m single and I don’t really mind. All you other single professional women out there should feel the same. Don’t tell me about my biological clock and all that psycho nonsense. I have the best friends and family anyone could ask for, a great career, and a rockstar social life. I’m perfectly happy with that too. When a guy comes along that can deal with that, then we’ll talk.

Peace Out!