The Trip

   Today marks our second week in Tucson. I am not lying when I say we have spent about 12 hours everyday for the past two weeks working on the house. But now almost everything is unpacked and put away, the major repairs are done, we have internet access, and we can sit and take a breath. The past two weeks have been relatively uneventful. We have painted, purchased furniture, ran errands, cleaned, organized, unpacked, cleaned some more, ran more errands, and become permanent fixtures at Home Depot. With the exception of going out to dinner last night and seeing the Dark Knight Rises last week, we really haven't had much time for leisure or exploring. But I digress. The purpose of this post is to do a little bragging....ahem. We made the trip. We did it. Lots of people said we were crazy. We would have to stop. We were going to wreck and kill ourselves. It was a horrible horrible idea. But we did it. Here is the full account.

     We will start with Friday, July 13th. It was a sad, stressful day. We were finishing up cleaning the apartment and getting all of our stuff out so that we could turn in our keys leave out the next day. The pods had been picked up that morning. We were staying the night with our animals at my mom's and would leave there for Tucson Saturday evening. The original plan was for Joey and I, the dog, hamster, and two cats to pile in and make the trip together. That plan had to change slightly. Our cat Rainbow turned 17 this summer. I got her when I was 7 years old from a family that had a "Free kittens" sign in there yard and a truck bed full of cats. She was the only one that curled up and went to sleep when I held her. She had three colors (black, white, and tan) so to a seven year old me it seemed obvious that I would name her Rainbow. At almost 24, I still had a cat named Rainbow. When I was 10, our house caught fire. We lost three of our pets. Rainbow and one other cat survived. When I moved out of my parents after high school, I moved her in with me to my new apartment. That apartment also caught fire (yeah yeah, I have great insurance). She survived and proceeded to move with me back to my moms, into two other apartments, a house, a friend's place, and two more apartments, one of which flooded and she had to live with another friend for a few weeks. She has led a very eventful life to say the least. But the last year things started to change. She started vomiting quite often. She had frequent bladder infections and was losing weight. This spring, things started to get really bad. She stopped grooming and became increasingly lethargic. The week we were supposed to move to Tucson, she barely moved and started losing bladder control. Thursday Joey and I sat down and talked about the situation. We agreed to take her to the vet and get their opinion. So Friday, the day before we left, I took Rainbow in. We explained our trip, our concerns, and the vet was  familiar with her condition. Basically, she was old. Her kidneys were shriveling up and her body was just shutting down. We were told that IF she survived the trip, it would take a lot out of her. Her next illness would most likely be her last. She weighed under four pounds. I couldn't put her through the trip. I couldn't bring her to a new, scary place with nothing familiar. I knew she wasn't going to go to Tucson. We made the decision, and Joey and I got to sit there with her while they sedated her and gave her the injection. I buried her in the back yard of my parents old house next to the other pets I had lost as a child. We left and went back to the apartment to finish cleaning up, realizing we would be making the trip one family member short. 

   The next morning we got up and finished up at the apartment and turned in our keys. I had breakfast with my grandmother and Joey spent the morning with his parents. At my mom's house I tried unsuccessfully to nap (I would be driving the first shift). Later my other grandmother came over and we had dinner with my parents and then began piling all of our stuff into and on top of the car. At 8:30 we pulled out of my parents drive way, stopped at Starbucks, and got on I-40. We had chosen a slightly longer route taking I-40 all the way to Albuquerque rather than driving through the wider part of Texas. It added about an hour to the trip, but there were opportunities to stop along the way and really, what is an hour more when you are going to be driving for a solid day? I had the first shift while Joey slept. The amazing part was the animals. They were great. With the exception of Jiminy crying for the first half hour, we didn't here a sound out of them the entire trip. They either slept or sat there looking out the window as we drove. It was unreal. After about six hours we were somewhere between Ft. Smith and OKC and we stopped to switch off. I tried to sleep but had little success since the sun was starting to come up ( We figure we each got about 4 hours of sleep the entire trip). Our car kept giving us a "low tire pressure" indicator, so we stopped about every three hours to air up the front driver's side tire and top off the gas tank. Finally we threw in some Fix-a-Flat and were able to go about 7 hours between airing up the tire. Six hours later outside of Amarillo (our half-way mark) we switched again. Right before we pulled off the interstate, we got caught in a speed trap we had missed. However the officer was in an extremely good mood, loved Jiminy, and let us off with just a warning while wishing us the best of luck on our move. Joey napped a bit and then we stopped outside of Albuquerque for lunch and he took over driving. I took a little nap, and the rest of the long drive through New Mexico was like any other road trip with Joey and I chatting and listening to music and commenting on the ever changing landscape. 

   That was probably my favorite part of the trip- watching the scenery change. It was so gradual but since we saw it all in a 24 hour period, it was like watching a flip book or something. The big deciduous forests of Arkansas turned into the thin sparse trees and grassland in Oklahoma which became bushes and pasture in Texas. Then New Mexico was just shrubs and less grass, then red mesas popped up along the horizon and everywhere was sand and rolling hills. Finally we were in the mountains. It was beautiful. As we were driving into Arizona, we were greeted by the monsoons which didn't clear up until we were in Tucson. We arrived at our house at 6:30 local time, 23 and 1/2 hours after we left Memphis. To be honest, it wasn't that bad of a trip. Not that I would rush to do it again anytime soon, but it did not feel like we were in the car for an entire day. Everything went smoothly, no car trouble save the tire, the animals behaved and no one got grumpy. Success. 

   So there you have it. We made it to Tucson. Now all we have to do is finish getting the house situated and relax a bit before school starts. Hopefully we will be able to post pictures of the house soon. 

The Master Plan

    Behind any major feat of human ingenuity is a flawless plan that is loosely adhered to and/or completely scraped during the actual execution. I am what people like to call "Type-A". I was the kid who had her pencil box meticulously organized two weeks before school started. However, my ridiculously anal-retentive tendencies are more often than not mitigated by my ability to give a (insert favorite word here) about multiple stressful things for an extended period of time. I am not sure what "type" Joey is and I don't know what his pencil box looked like in grade school, but I am fairly certain it had Ninja Turtles on it. He does however have a horribly annoying knack for keeping an even keel in terms of interest and effort when completing a task. So between the two of us, we are usually able to come up with a basic outline of plan and just fill in the details as we go. I get really excited on the front end, Joey keeps us focused, and then I have an anxiety attack and make sure everything is completed...possibly a few weeks in advance. You know. Just to be safe.    As an example, I give you- The Master Plan.

     Ok, so that one is actually DaVinci. But let me assure you, getting two adults, a Great Dane, two cats, a hamster and a household across the country is equally impressive. Here is what we came up with:

We got rid of a lot of bulky furniture. My giant four-poster bed is gone, as is our couch and entertainment center. We will just replace some of those items when we get to Tucson. All of our other furniture, belongings, etc. are being shipped in a pod. Well, two pods, actually. The brand Pod is freaking expensive, but we found another company, UPack, that we are using instead. Their pods are smaller but waaayyy more affordable. That leaves the breathing organisms. All of us will be making the drive (the 22 hour drive) in the new car. We will be taking a suitcase with just enough necessities and pet food to last us the 3-5 days for our pods to arrive. Lucky for us, we are down to just one car (and plan to remain that way for the duration of our grad school careers). Because we will all be in one vehicle, Joey and I can take turns driving, so we can make the trip in one straight shot.  This is of course assuming that no spousal arguments, pet deaths, natural disasters, or other unforeseen events take place. We will leave from Memphis at night, that way we are navigating the most familiar territory in the dark and will arrive in Tucson the next evening and can promptly pass out and go to bed....er...floor. So there you have it. Marvel at our strategy. Me being me, I have had this planned out for about...oh...6 months now. Once we actually start packing the pods and car, the entire thing may very well go out the window. But for now pretending I have a grasp on this whole "moving" situation provides me some degree of stress relief. *begins hyperventilating*

La Casa

We got a house! Our first house together! For those of you unaware of how incredibly excited we are about this, let me put it in perspective-
   We first lived together in a house with no less than four other people. That's right, six people, two cats, a dog, some fish, and one house. It was fun for the few months we were there, but there was no way that was going to be sustainable. So we went from there to a 3-bedroom apartment with two room mates. I was able to move in my dog and cat that had been staying elsewhere, so I was pretty stoked about that. The tally came down to 4 four people, one dog, two cats, a fish, one apartment. We were there for a year and during this time realized two things- living next to a dog park made our lives infinitely easier, and the apartment management hated our guts.So after our year was up and the roomies went their separate ways, we decided to stay in the same complex and just move into a one bedroom unit. The convenience of the park eclipsed the crankiness of the management. So for the past year we have been two people, two cats, one dog, and a hamster in a one bedroom apartment. Needless to say, we were ready for a little more space.
    Because we were ready for a little more space and knew we would have to be in Arizona for about 5 years, we figured we would find some type of house situation rather than an apartment. We weren't sure what the parks were like in Tucson, so it would be nice to have a back yard for Fender. We were also hoping to have a little more privacy and a extra room or two. While we were visiting Tucson, we got the chance to ask around about places to live and housing prices and what not. We were surprised to hear that a few people had actually bought houses rather than rent, and when we started checking out the market there it became apparent why. The average two bedroom house in good shape and a decent area there was going for around $900.00 a month and that number may likely rise over the next few years.  Five years of paying that rent would equal $56,000.00. Meanwhile the real estate prices there aren't very expensive. Just to give you an idea, we decided to not even look at anything over $90,000 and found lots of options, and the house ended up buying was even more affordable. After doing the math, we decided buying was probably the best option for us and got some recommendations for realtors.
  But where to look? That was the big question but it ended up being an easy answer. Tucson isn't very large, but because we will be going to school and working at the University of Arizona we knew that that was the commute we would be making most often. Also, Tucson is very bike friendly, and since we will be sharing one car and one motorcycle not to mention the need to save on gas, we wanted to be within biking distance of the University and hopefully some other areas of interest. So that gave us about a four mile radius around the campus. After talking to several people, it became clear that the North and East sides of campus were the better areas. We did some more digging, some more asking, and we finally narrowed it down to two general areas that seemed like they would be a good fit- Jefferson Park (North), and the Reid Park area (East). From what we could tell, the Northern area within our parameters was mostly rentals and ergo populated mostly by college students. While it didn't appear to be too raucous, we weren't sure we were willing to chance ending up with frat-partyers for neighbors. Also, we found out that Reid Park is pretty awesome. It's huge, has ball fields, play grounds, a zoo, and a dog park. After explaining to some people what we were looking for (residential neighborhood with families, near the UofA, near a dog friendly area) most people immediately recommended the Reid Park area. So that's where we ended up! We are 3 miles away from the campus, a couple miles from a major shopping center, 5 miles from some special groceries and the like that we shop at, and two blocks from a dog park. Perfect.
   So what is the house like? I plan to post pictures once we move in and get it set up. It's a 3 bedroom one bath 40's style ranch house that has been completely remodeled. A lot of walls were taken out to create a huge open concept space that serves as kitchen, dining room, and living room. The bedrooms are small, which is par for the time period and perfectly fine for us. The bathroom has a brand new tiled shower. The house is all tiled except the bedrooms. There is a covered front porch, a back patio, a one car garage, and a utility and storage room. There is a fenced back yard for Fender and plenty of room for a vegetable garden. For us, it's perfect! It needs just a few minor repairs that are already underway. Once we move in in July, it will be in tip-top condition. Can't wait to post some pictures!

We're moving to Arizona!

   In case you didn't hear, Joey and I were both accepted to Ph.D. programs at the University of Arizona and will be relocating to Tucson later this summer. Ok, wait, let me back up.
   Joey completed his master's degree in Management Information Systems (business-computer stuff) in December of 2010. His plan had always been to go back to school and get a Ph.D. so he could teach full time at a university, but because we went off and got hitched a little over a month before his graduation, he decided to wait until I was finished with my M.A. in Political Science (no I don't want to run for office). I also decided I wanted a Ph.D. but I'm more of a make-it-up-as-I-go type person. But I love school, love learning, and teaching is probably the only job I could keep for an extended period of time without going bonkers. I completed my degree this May (2012), so last fall we applied to programs in no less than 7 different cities. Only one school accepted both of us with graduate assistant positions (meaning we will have jobs while we go to school with tuition completely paid for), and that was the University of Arizona. Lucky for us, that was our number one pick anyway. It is an incredible program for Joey, a fairly good program for me as well, and Tucson was the city we wanted to live in the most. So needless to say, we were psyched.
   So what does this mean? It means Joey and I will both go back to school in Fall of 2012 to begin our Ph.D. programs.
   How long will we be gone? The programs can take anywhere from 4-5 years, but Joey's strongly encourages a five year track and I'll probably use the extra time to pick up an additional minor or two.
   What will we be doing, exactly? The first couple of years will essentially be us doing the same thing we've been doing for the past 19 years-going to class. At the same time, we will be working as graduate assistants. I will be a teaching assistant and basically assist professors teaching their courses. Joey will be a research assistant and assist professors with their fancy schmancy research projects. After our courses are completed, we will begin our dissertations. Basically, we have to write a book. And while we are working on this we will be teaching classes. Once we are finished with our courses, finished with our dissertations, and teach some classes, we get a nice Ph.D. degree and everyone has to call us Dr.
   Will we come back? We want to. Well, we at least want to get close to Memphis again. We both grew up here, most of our family is here, and I want our future children to be as close to our families as I was growing up. However, where we end up is essentially a crap shoot as to where we can get jobs, so we will see.
   So you're going to be teachers? Pretty much. Joey wants to teach and research for a university. I want to as well, but I'm also a certified yoga instructor and am planning to get certified as a doula when we move to Arizona (more on that later). I would love to do all three, so I am open to any combination of the above. But yes, in a nutshell, we want to be professors.
   So there you have it. We are going to Arizona!