It's Monday, So Far...

"A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing." — George Bernard Shaw

 Happy Monday to all. Nothing terribly exciting about today, just that it is another day and what a beautiful day it was today! Some upcoming exciting things in store for us:

Steph and Erin's Wedding. Can't wait to go back to Colorado for their wedding. It will be a great time and great to see everyone again. I'm so excited for their big day! 

 Some of the first pictures of Steph and Erin in 2006

From our wedding. So excited to see them at theirs!

Monsoon Season. Wait, what season? It hasn't been much of a thriller so far, though we still have over 2 months left. Though we have gotten to experience the un-ending heat here in Phoenix. Hard to believe we'll begin to "cool" down in December. Can we say shorts, flip flops and A/C for Christmas dinner?!

Lucy. What can I say about her, she's our life! I talk to her like she talks back, though I really believe she does! She follows me around the house no matter what I'm doing or where I'm going. She's so lively and full of energy, except when she sleeps which is about half of her daily activities. She's ventured out the front door but quickly ran back as she can't stand to walk on the cement being 110+ degrees on those little paws. She loves the big windows we have and the fact that we are on the second story so she can look out the window to all the birds.

Joshy. He's working away out in the heat, poor guy. He manages a sprinkler and landscape crew throughout the west valley here. Getting up and going by 4am helps to beat the heat, but when your day takes you into 4pm it makes it rough. His days off are spent in a cool, air-conditioned apartment. Bedtime makes for pretty early when you are up at 3am. He loves his job though, he's always liked working outside and sprinklers and landscape are just his passions. We've come to collect quite the flora for our house. Aloe Vera plants, about 5 different cactus varieties, a small palm tree, two hibiscus trees, another small palm and an elephant foot plant?! Whew! We may not have a couch yet but we are sure set on plants!

Me. Just trying to enjoy the weather, or lack there of! Learning my way around the office and the locations for which we forecast and how weather forms down here in the desert. Pretty interesting place here in Arizona. I truly love weather and love it more each day. I think I'm finding what I like and dislike about it. Definitely a cloud-lover! As soon as Phoenix gets some clouds, I'll be happy. Ha! I've been excited, though also been called crazy, to experience the hottest temperature ever for myself at 114 degrees twice this summer. Yuck, I know, but an experience nonetheless. I've also been cooking like crazy, coming up with new and exciting things to make. I guess it is a hobby I'm acquiring. Also still love taking photos so I'm going to try to get more into that with better camera equipment as soon as I can afford it. Just looking ahead to what the future holds. I have been watching Phoenix weather everyday as well as Colorado, Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Iowa. Why? Severe weather doesn't happen here in Arizona :) I've gained yet another nickname, Severe Weather Junkie. 

What's next?

Hello Arizona, The Weather Has Arrived!

That's right we have weather here in Arizona! With an increased amount of thunderstorm activity the previous week and even better chances coming up, I'd say the Monsoon decided to show up to this party. I know Arizona is a dry heat, and I've experienced that. 114 degrees does sting when you go outside. When the overnight low temperature doesn't drop below 94 degrees, you know it's going to be a "hot" one today. I can't really remember what it is like to be "cool" outside when it is dark, when I leave work at 10pm it is usually still above 100 degrees. Swimming in an outdoor pool in 110+ degrees doesn't feel cold, cool or refreshing. It is just taking a bath without soap and with a swim suit on. Yes, sitting in a hot tub while it is 109+ degrees outside does sound crazy, it is crazy but it doesn't feel any different than the air temperature, which is also, crazy. When the humidity is averaging 9-12% it is a dry heat, I've never seen humidity that low.

This morning reminded me of Colorado. Walking outside just after sunrise with an almost completely cloud-covered sky and humidity high enough I could smell and feel it. Was I dreaming? Nope. Monsoon season has arrived. Though it technically arrived June 15 as the season is set to start then, but the old legacy way to determine the start of the monsoon would say that it started July 10; with the legacy method being the first day of three consecutive days with dewpoints at 55 degrees and above. That humidty I was talking about this morning, the dewpoint was nearly at 70 degrees! Our overnight low gave some relief as it was only 89 overnight.

Friday was looking to be a promising day, but cloud cover came in for relief and prevented the high temperature from racing to 118; only making it to 113. Cooler weather is expected today and the next couple days, and by cooler I'm only talking a couple degrees cooler :) We have been breaking records with the overnight low temperature being warm. In the last 8 days we've broken 4 record warm low temperatures. Of these, on July 15th the overnight low temperature was 94, just 2 degrees shy of breaking the all-time record warm low temperature of 96 degrees. Our day-time high temperatures have been quite a bit above normal with numerous days in a row of 110+ degrees.

3 days worth of temperature, dewpoint and relative humidty

Storms to come today?!

With the right ingredients in place, we could see some storms in the metro area tonight. Some upper level Easterly winds, precipitible water values above 1.8 inches, a very well mixed boundary layer and the ridge now moving to our East should give way to some moisture advection this evening. Both GFS and NAM 500mb winds showing a directional change from South-Southeaserly to East-Northeasterly, and mixing ratios in the 12g/kg range. Needless to say it will be a juicy day!

Box Canyon Cliff Jump

Here is the video of my cliff jump at Box Canyon on June 20th. Thanks to Jon Meyer for helping me flip the video right side up. What a rush of adrenaline, but so worth the jump!

Songs That Spoke To My Heart

End of the day and getting ready to head home for the night. Plug the iPod into the car and get ready to jam out. iPod is on shuffle, best way. Can get a mix of songs I like, skip the ones that I'm not in the mood for and get a good mixture of music. Only this time the iPod knows what I want to hear. I don't have to skip any of the songs on the way home. Short drive home, but every song got me there and someone knew just what I wanted, and more so what I needed to hear. 

Here is the mix from last night.
Hey Soul Sister by Train...while some people may say this song is cheesy or over-played or whatever, it has special meaning to me and makes me happy. I can sing every word and I dance every time it comes on, no matter where I am or who I'm with. This song almost makes me feel like it talks about me.
Love and Hate Collide by Def Leppard...I could listen to this band all day. Great song, love the lyrics!
Catch My Disease by Ben Lee...A good driving song, good to sing along to and makes me smile. Talks about random things, life, love and various adventures. Almost like a story.
Under Heaven's Skies by Collective Soul...I picture myself sitting out in a field looking up to the stars at night. I used to do this at the middle school by my parents house when I was younger. There is something about watching the clouds or stars, just staring up to the sky.
You and Me by Dave Matthews Band...First off I'm a big Dave fan. Yes, yes I know I get the grief from many people for that. Oh well. I'm an odd person anyway so go with it. This song makes me think of the future and adventure. "When the kids are old enough we'll teach them to fly", reminds me of my Mom teaching me things as I grew up. "Take a boat to the end of the world", travel, adventure, the unknown of what lies ahead; I dig it!
Life Less Ordinary by Carbon Leaf...I like the way this song flows and I feel that I live a life less ordinary and people come in to my life and I'm sure I come in to other people's lives for a reason and it blows "away [the] storm and strife".
Two Steps Behind by Def Leppard...I told you I like this band and apparently my iPod knows that! I believe that at any given moment someone is thinking about you and that makes me smile. It warms me to know that someone is always thinking about me and that I have touched someone's, or many people I can only hope, life in that way. I believe that you must be a follower for so many years in your own life before you begin to lead, and in order to be a good leader you must have a good leader to follow. "Magic running through your soul..". For those that we've lost and those no longer with us, I know they too have lead and we must now follow in their foot steps, or better yet lead a new path but they are no more than 2 steps behind to remind us how we have got here.

Pretty impressive for an iPod, right?! Made the end of my day better than the whole day itself. What can I say, I love music and I believe it makes for a better day when you can start off with some good songs that really get you moving.

Secrets to Life

Be a best friend
Tell the truth
Overuse 'I Love You'
Go to work
Do your best
Don't outsmart your common sense
Never let your prayin' knees get lazy
Love like crazy

-Lee Brice "Love Like Crazy"

Above all: Smile, laugh, sing, dance, love those you are with, tell your friends and family you love them, spend as much time with friends and family as you can, stay an extra 10 minutes at work to learn something new, say hello to someone you don't know, learn something new, get up early, stay up late....just a few secrets I've come to know.

And some pictures (chosen pretty randomly) of my life.

Here Comes The Sun

Images that are not mine were found here

Phoenix has had a high temperature of 114 for two days in a row. The overnight low temperature today was 90 degrees. Yep I said 90. When I left work last night at 10:15pm it was still 105 degrees. Don't get me wrong, I love the warm weather. I love the fact that you can be outside and it is nice and warm. But at 10 o'clock at night? Wow that was crazy. We've had dewpoints in the mid to upper 50s for the last few days, inching up the moisture in the atmosphere. Looks like Monsoon season is fully underway. We've seen some very nice looking thunderstorm clouds off in the East, on radar, satellite and outside, and have even seen a drastic improvement of clouds in the sky since we've moved here! It has been nice to see the clouds. The wind: hasn't blown much at all. Now and then, yes there is a breeze and we may get gusts up to 25 for a period of time during a day but not very often. And when it does blow, I'm not kidding when I say it is like a blow dryer.

So far, I've experienced my hottest temperature, 114 degrees. I went outside yesterday to actually feel what it felt like. It stung! I could almost feel it in my eyes. It wasn't instant sweat, but very warm. Like when you open the oven to check on dinner and that wave of heat hits your face. Only it wasn't a wave, it was constant. When I left work and it was 105 degrees, that felt like when you are trying to sleep on a summer's night and you don't have a fan in your room and no matter what you do you can't cool down. Only that was outside.

Image not mine but found here

I'm bracing myself for the rest of the summer. Though, I'm not too worried. I do have some luck, not having to work outside. Nonetheless, still excited in a sort of sick way to see how hot it will get here. And even more excited to see some thunderstorms, dust storms and lightning.