Desert lovin'

Aren't there any songs about that? It seems like there are songs about loving every other place/person/idea/thing in the world but I can't think of any about the desert. Well, I'll have to write one, I guess.
Sam and I were both pretty sure that Phoenix would be 100 degrees year-round, before we moved here. Why we thought that, nobody knows. But the really awesome truth is that it DOES get cool here. Today it only got up to 80-something, which was beautiful (I know, it still sounds miserable, right? but it was so nice.).
Even when it was over 100 at night we would go for walks around our part of town every couple nights, so now it is just wonderful because we can be out so much longer and only have to take ONE bottle of water with us! hehehehe Today we walked through some older housing developments a couple blocks over and everyone was out washing their cars and playing with their dogs and grilling, and every person we saw waved and asked how we were doing, etc. It was just like being back in one of the various small towns I'm from, rather than being in this huge, sprawling city. We think that's where we'd like to eventually buy a house. You know, in a million years. hehehehe, we're good dreamers.
I feel like I've already told everyone and their cousin about this, but I have not blogged about it yet, so here it is for posterity: I have the best job I could ever possibly imagine. In fact, I'm not totally sure that I could have even imagined this. It is just so wonderful. Everyone I work with is so laid back and we have stuff in common and the jokes just fly all over the office. My boss takes me our department (all three of us) out to breakfast/lunch ALL the time. I guess it doesn't hurt that the president is part of our department and he thinks we are more creative when we're eating :) :) I can't really decide what the best part is, yet, although I have given it serious thought. On one hand, I love that I am getting paid to create and design; on the other hand, I would clean toilets at this place and probably still love it. Thankfully I don't have to choose between those fine points. :)
I can't stop comparing this place to my last job (which was absolutely awful) and it just makes me even happier to be here. My last job was maybe 20% creative, 80% cleaning up after people. Here I don't even have to answer a phone- EVER. You have no idea how happy that makes me. And everyone is really supportive and grateful for what I do, even though it is just what I'm supposed to do. That just blows my mind, when I hand somebody an article I wrote for them or a set of photos I edited and they are thankful that I did that? Whaaaat?
Gosh, in so many ways I feel (prepare for sincere cheeziness) like a flower that was shut tight against the cold and now the sun is shining down on my cold little noggin and I can open up and unfold and be alive again. Oh the happiness and toasty-ness. :D