A small slice of heaven...

today i was a little late leaving my office
which means i missed my bus by approximately 30 seconds
i literally saw it pulling away as i waited at the crosswalk
boo. 

so i figured, i might as well walk. i've done it before and it would have taken just as long to wait for the next bus. i headed down the street and the sky started to look a little eerie.

i don't know if you all know, but we have this thing out here in arizona called a haboob which is essentially a big dust storm / wall of dust / scene from the mummy. and after saturday's splendid display of haboobiness, i got a little worried for my face.

saturday's haboob - as taken by my friend

i decided to run away take shelter in a small strip mall on the way home and happened to find myself in a cute little pizzeria. i was unsure how intense the dust would end up being, but figured might as well order a slice and wait out the bulk of it.

turns out there was no haboob... just dusty sky. BUT the fact that i delayed my walk home meant that i got to see a stupendous sunset! if you follow me on instagram, you already know i'm a bit obsessed with clouds, but the clouds tonight were legit. 2 legit 2 quit, if ya know what i mean.

please enjoy a small slice of heaven, courtesy of arizona. (all of these were taken with my iphone, no filter... and even more glorious in person).

(not my house... just FYI to you stalkers)

Santa Monica Instadump

as promised yesterday, here's some pics from my santa monica adventure
this adventure was fairly last minute
but when someone says "hey, do you want to stay in my beach condo for the weekend?"
you don't say no... am i right?

shirt my brother got me - seemed appropriate for the roadtrip 

saying good bye to arizona and the sun

not a shabby view

frank the turtle who resides in the courtyard

santa monica pier at night

(taken by @okfnjesse)

santa monica pier during the day

the dinos in cabazon - i have to stop every. single. time.

windmills remind me of going to my gma's as a kiddo

the weather was lovely, i spent most of the day reading and soakin in the scenery
sat night we went to sushi with my good friend tijana and her man
(known that lady since 5th grade, whaaat?)
and then we all walked down to the beach for some night time wave watching
after returning to the condo, my friend nicole from college came over with her man
and i realized we had a lil ucla party going on
(2 ucla undergrad students, 1 ucla masters student... go bruins!)
we chatted into the wee hours of the night (aka midnight... i'm old now)
then sunday was more book reading and sight seeing as we drove home

not gonna lie, all this traveling is fun. but its great to be home.
sleep in my own bed. use my own shower.
unpack my suitcase (two loads of laundry done!)
and it'll last a whoooole weekend.
because i'm road tripping out to san diego in two weekends.
somebody stop me.
or dont. i like the adventures.
so i better rest/catch up while i can ;)

have you guys been traveling lately?
anyone gonna be in sd in two weekends?
anyone else love those dinos?!?

I don't even know where to start.....

...i feel like i haven't stopped running full speed since a month ago.
i spent a weekend in california,
then two weeks in iowa,
then the next weekend back in california.
4 weekends in a row outta town.
17 out of the past 24 days either traveling or in another state. sheesh!

and to top it all off, i didn't unpack my suitcase the whole month. 

sure i did a few loads of laundry, 

but the clothes went from the suitcase to the washer back in the suitcase.

everything else stayed packed up.

i suppose it made traveling easier for the month, 

but living out of a suitcase for a month added a lil bit of stress. 

since i am still in the process of returning to a normal life (unpack, laundry, groceries, etc) 

i will leave you all with an insta-dump of my iowa adventures. 

iowa 

 mexican food at the airport before take off

 the barn "with character" at his parents farm

 view from the back porch at his brother's

my first time at the races - waiting for "the biggest fireworks display in the state" to begin

old courthouse and town square, complete with brick streets

getting malts at the pharmacy in the town square

the bridges of madison county

they may be weeds, but the thistle fields were so purty!

the swinging bridge (much scarier, and less sturdy than it looks)

i'll dump some santa monica on you tomorrow, 

then hopefully have some real stories to tell you. 

if i ever get caught up with my life. 

what have you all been up to??