heat rant.

i try not to do a whole lot of bitching on my blog, but this is one that really annoys me.

i'd like to apologize to all you non-arizona people who will have to see photos of arizonan's car temperature gauages, screen grabs of our iPhone weather forecasts and snaps of our outdoor thermoeters from now until september.

a word to all of you who feel the need to showcase our triple digit temps - we get it people, it's frickin hot.  

and here's the thing... the people who live in arizona with you FEEL the heat. we know it's hot. we absolutely do not need your photo to remind us of this. and quite frankly all you're doing by broadcasting these hellacious temperatures is suggesting to the rest of the world that we've picked a terrible place to live. this of course is not true and our winter temperatures rule, but let's not draw any more negative attention to arizona, okay?

it's odd because i have plenty of friends in the south and the east coast that are dealing with nasty humidity on top of the heat, but i never see these posts from those people. perhaps arizonans feel like it's a badge of honor to broadcast our temps to the rest of the world. like a heat battle. maybe at the end of the season we can create an "I Survived An Arizona Summer" t-shirt using a collage of all the "it's so hot" Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pics & status updates.

that's my rant and i'm stickin' to it. and yes, for the record, the extreme heat makes me very cranky.

welcome to the neighborhood... we'd like to introduce you to your new cats.

we're destined to be cat people. the universe has been pretty blunt about this.

rewind to july 2005 - the day danny got the keys to the old, old house (the 1801) - when we found overflowing bowls of cat food on the back porch plus three cats with collars & tags adorned with our new address. yup, we had officially acquired cats with the house. so for three years, we took care of princess, alley cat & garfield. our names for them.

fast forward to our most recent moving day... it was the loitering pigeons that tipped us off. danny went to the side of our new home and sure enough - a big old bag of cat chow and a bowl of water. déjà vu - cats. after some asking around, it's clear that these three - maybe four - felines are ours to feed.

we're totally okay with it. we don't mind cats at all. in fact, danny really likes cats. thinks they're "so smart." and hunter, well, he and the felines are getting aquainted. thanks to the bunches of windows and french doors, they're had a lot of face time and one actual meeting last weekend. hunter decided to bolt out the front door to chase the cat, so danny darted out to chase hunter, i was yelling at danny that it was okay, and poor vicky was in the wrong place at the wrong time and got body checked by danny and almost flew off the front stoop. it was quite the scene. the new crazy neighbors. we must have looked like a comic strip... dog chasing cat. owner chasing dog. wife chasing owner. innocent bistander getting knocked out of the way - pow!

so yeah. this one particular cat in the photos - who's all white with a black mask just like huntie - is super friendly and really wants to just hang out with us. each time you open the front door i think she's going to sprint in. this morning we named her felicia. felicia the feline.

the other cats are grey... apparently a mother/daughter duo. the only problem with the cats are the pigeons. and since the "deal" danny tried to make with the cats - for them to keep the pigeons away in return for their chow - isn't working (despite the conversation he had with them that i heard from the living room - true story), danny's new mission in life is to get rid of the pigeons by only feeding the felines at night - since apparently pigeons don't come out at night... this is all news to me, but apparently ting's been reading up on pigeons and is now an expert. cool.

felicia, the very vocal feline who lets us know when she's hungry. meow. meow. meow.

very friendly. she'd love to just come in and hang out for some warm milk if we'd let her.

this is what most morning's look like. and then all the hair stands up on huntie's neck and felicia hisses.

cooking in our new galley kitchen.

after just a week in our new home, we were feeling settled enough to make dinner and spend the night in front of the TV. we're so over take-out. it's funny how the novelty of take-out and fast food so quickly wears off when it doesn't feel like a treat. at least it does for us. after just a few days you can physically feel the difference.

so on monday night for the first time in our new house, we made dinner together. it was nice to get back to an old familiar routine... home from work, cocktails and catching up, making dinner and then coffee table style eating and catching up on our recorded list of TV shows before reading in bed.

we made pesto pasta with spicy chicken sausage and roasted brussells sprouts using a modified version of this recipe (we replaced the pasta with trader joe's pesto-filled mini ravioli). yum.

and a bonus of the meal was making danny clean-up and put the dishes away so he could "learn where everything goes" since i unpacked the kitchen.

iPad with our recipe on the dining room table

one of my favorite parts of the kitchen. an open nook above the microwave for accessible recipe book storage

i'm also loving having a few glass cuboards

hooray! a gas stove back in my life

a big 'ole kitchen sink

our delicious and totally sinful meal.

woah, baby!

it was weddings weddings weddings and now it's babies babies babies.

in may and june, four of our dear friends have welcomed their first child into the world.

... plus we have a handful of friends with buns in the oven & due later this year...
donna + chris   //  stephanie + ryan  //  shmer + dan  //  tiffany + dan

my oh my. lots of baby love.
congratulations to you all.

little things i'm loving in our new home.

moving is an adjustment and sometimes both d and i feel like we're losing our minds. currently the #1 phrase in our house is, "hey babe - do you know where <blank> is?"and it's not me asking the question #drivingmecrazy!

we don't have a spot for our keys. boxes are still unpacked. the cable isn't working. we have the world's smallest toilet and a tiny refrigerator. no idea what switch controls what light. i drove right past our house the other night. yup, our routines have been rocked. but it's all totally worth it and we're loving our little home. some of my favorite things.

the original glass door knobs throughout the house.

windows. windows & more windows allowing huntie to be part of the willo block watch.

our dining room nook with three perfect windows.

our bedroom. i'm kind of obsessed with it. it's so cozy and relaxing.

awesome interior light fixtures. 

high ceilings, curved hallways & original chandeliers in multiple rooms. 

original hardwood floors and a sunken family room. 

our lush backyard and paver patio ready for some strung lights and a BBQ.
and so much more...

i'm excited to get even more settled in this weekend, start decorating and have some friends over.

okay, so NOW it's official...

when we got the offer on our house, i was given strict instructions by our realtor, my husband and our escrow agent that i could absolutely NOT say our house was sold until escrow closed and the sale was recorded and final.

well folks, as of a few minutes ago it's official...

adios, arcadia.
we're closing the red door & the tings officially downtown dwellers.

 

we've been craving a change and we got one.  

it is pretty surreal to think that we'll probably never walk in that house again. 

home is where the heart is.

{moving day}

a lot of people have been asking me how i'm doing with the move and leaving our home. there have been a lot of questions. i'm not going to lie... in the beginning, despite danny constantly reminding me that it's just a house, i had a really hard time wrapping my head around leaving the home we remodeled and loved so much. i was super sad. after some tears, a few good conversations with close friends and family (big thanks to each of you!) to help me see the bigger picture, absolutely falling in love with our new little house and the idea of being downtown, i'm in a much better place and really excited! like for real couldn't be happier. 

and you know what, i get more than ever now that home truly is where the heart is (dad, aren't you happy it finally sunk in?). as i packed everything up, i realized that all i'm leaving behind are some walls, windows and flooring. i get to take all my favorite people and things with me to make a new house our home. 

thirty.

in the midst of a move, we managed to celebrate mr. ting's thirtieth and it was just fine for my mister.

leading up to june 16th, i had grandiose plans for d's 30th - a trip to europe, a big backyard bash, a music festival, a camping trip, my list went on and on but each idea was quickly squashed by d. and looking back - thank goodness because i don't know how we could have pulled it all off.

i'm a birthday girl. birthdays were a big deal when i was growing up. i love to celebrate and spoil the birthday girl or boy. danny, not so much. and i'm starting to realize he means it... it's not just him saying he doesn't want a big to-do, he really would rather just celebrate in a low key way.

so that's what we did. after a long day of cleaning and unpacking the new house, danny threw on his new birthday kicks, i dug out jeans & a t-shirt (conveniently his favorite look for me) and we headed out to a cozy downtown spot for drinks and appetizers. we reminisced about his 20's, talked about how goals and life wants/needs have changed and chatted about hopes for the future.

{i surprised ting with a fridge full of beer with custom birthday labels from Pinhole Press}

{little things to celebrate - in our new backyard}

{exhausted, but we're going to celebrate damn it}

movers are my new favorite people.

ever. we will never ever move again with hiring movers. packing and unpacking is annoying and exhausting enough. having the experts roll into your home and load everything up, move it, unload it and then put each box and piece of furniture down where you direct them to is ah-mazing and "worth every single penny" - something danny and i must have said to each other about 75 times on friday afternoon.

this is what our world has looked like the past 10 days. 

{no more gallery wall}

{huntie on edge wondering what the hell is happening}

today is father's day.

a new decade.

i got most of your 20's and i'll get all of your 30's.

and while it's hard to imagine that this next decade could get any better, 

i know it will because life continues to get sweeter and sweeter with you.

i could not be any happier with our life and our love. 

as you start this next chapter, i hope you feel the same way i do because it's pretty damn awesome.

love you, donkey kong.

xoxo le wife (& huntie, too)

forget the boxes today. it's time to crack open a beer for breakfast and start the celebratin'.

last year's birthday post here.

--

guess what....

we're moving!

into a 1930's english style tudor in downtown phoenix's willo district

...today!

isn't she darling?

it's all happened so fast and there's been such a mix of emotions.

more details coming soon. things have been a little hectic.

this past week we've operated like a well-oiled ting machine dividing and conquering everything to get this move done in just 10 days. danny's been the ultimate craigslist deal maker selling a ton of our furniture, handling all the home paperwork and together we've been purging, organizing & packing into the wee hours of the night. you should see my bubble wrapping & danny's label making skills.

by late afternoon today we'll be moved into our new home - well, all the boxes and furniture will be there. then the unpacking and decorating begins, but we're going to ease into that and celebrate mr. ting's 30th tomorrow!

we've always had a soft spot for downtown - especially the historic willo district (where we attend the home tour each year) - and are so excited to live in & explore a new area. new restaurants, new coffee shops, new dry cleaners, new vibes, new neighbors. change is good.

waking up tomorrow am will be neat... new home. a new area. a new decade for danny. a new chapter for us.

---

makaela's first time on the beach.

danny's sister tricia, our brother-in-law earl and sweet makaela flew out to california to keep joe & vicky company at the sandbox after we had to head back to arizona. last wednesday was a big day for makaela - her first airplane ride and very first time on the beach. i'm glad we were there to watch her explore for a little while.

the sandbox.

some more photos from our trip to the sandbox, the name of the beach house we stayed at last weekend (more snaps from our trip here). it was so nice to be back on a beach. however, i was reminded why i love beach vacations with my girlfriends and their husbands - because us girls can simply layout, chat & read while the boys entertain themselves with their non-stop activities. why can't guys just sit still and relax? i was reminded how much i missed having dewey, jake, troy, quinn and the rest of the guys around as i was forced to chase around the crashing kite, untangle and re-launch for ting. next year :) 

 {sitting room with an unbeatable view}

{the dogg and danny picking out some avocados for fresh guac}

 {more fresh fruit}

{there were gorgeous and huuuuge succulents everywhere}

{private beach}

{that girl with jeans on the beach}

{fresh sunflowers on our dining room table all week}

{ting, the kite runner}

{teri, the kite launcher}

{watching the sail boats cruise by}

{dolphin watching}

{post-laying out... afternoon sunshine, wine & a book... 50 Shades of Grey}

{my view while ting did his activities}

{very focused kite flier}

{more reading... those of you who have read 50 Shades understand}

{braid to bun and gettin' some sun}