One Year In The Buff

Can you believe it?! I can't. It's now been one year since we left the land of the sun for the frozen tundra of the east. And you know, we've actually had a blast. However, there were just a few things we had to adjust to once we began our lives in the Buff....

First of all, the obvious- four seasons! We went from summer green....

to beautiful fall....

to just plain miserble! Yeah, I think I'll just change the name from winter to miserable. It fits.

To Spring! The tulips were wimpy and didn't last through one windy day, but now we have roses a bloomin'!

And right along with nature comes... wildlife! Yes, I'll call it that because I didn't see furry creatures like this in AZ unless we were camping or up north. It was SO WEIRD to me to see squirrels running along the trees like they lived here or something. Trav had been here a week before I moved out, and probably the second day I mentioned to him how I had seen a squirrel and "isn't that crazy??" He said, "Yeah, but have you seen the bunnies?" I laughed out loud. And then I said, "Oh yeah, right! Like there are BUNNIES just hopping around! What, do you really think I'd fall for that one?" Well I guess I should have, because he was telling the truth. It's like living in a storybook or something. EXCEPT for....

these nasty creatures!! Oh yes, this is a centipede. And I have yet to take a pic of a live one in our house, but the dead ones just don't give you the full effect. There is a dead one in our basement right now that looks just like this picture. It's disturbing. I literally have goosebumps all over my body just looking at this! It gives me the willies! I seriously think they are more evil than scorpions. And they are FAST! That's actually the best part about winter, no more centipedes! Blah!

Ok, other adjustments. Well if this gives you any hints.... this is the book section of Walmart. There are maybe two sections of just regular books, then about four sections dedicated to African Americans. I know I'm going to sound naive slash stupid, but after a week out here I told Trav I wish I could take a picture of how many black people are out here! It's just that, living in AZ there are tons of Mexicans and it was weird to not see any for weeks- it's like they switched places. Sorry that this not PC, but it's the truth!

BUG! I HATE toll booths! Just to drive to Palmyra it costs about $7 in tolls. And out here they don't call them "freeways", they call them "thruways". We thought that was weird until we realized... well, they certainly aren't "free", so I guess thats why they're "thruways". Maybe they should just call them "payways". Bad joke.

And this was the price of gas last summer on July 1. Western NY is known for having some of the highest gas prices in the COUNTRY! Ridiculous.

One thing we LOVE about this place is Wegmans (or Wegelmans, as Trav calls it). It's the bomb. And it was rated #1 grocery store in the nation, when compared with 59 other chains across the country. It even beat out Trader Joes. They have the best sub sandwiches and just check out their candy isle! And that's only one side of it. This place will be sorely missed when we have to move. They definitely need to expand to the west coast.A negative aspect of grocery shopping... no corn tortillas! We searched and searched. We're used to the bread isle having a plethera of tortillas to choose from. Not here. A few measly bags of flour tortillas. We finally found some in the sparse "Mexican" section, on the bottom shelf, waaaay in the back. Buffalo is also lacking in good Mexican restaurants. What I wouldn't give for a Gecko Grill....

And exactly one year ago I found out I was pregnant with this little guy! Life has just never been the same since July 1, 2008. What a blessing!