Dave's LA Launch!!

LA-Dave's launch!

Matt's friend Dave from Northwestern has been working on a project for the last 3 years or so, but really it seems like his creativity and humor from his whole life has gone into this project. This is why we were so happy to be able to help out with and attend his L.A. launch party! We were also SO glad to be able to have lunch with my Uncle Don, Aunt Jan, Aunt Suzanne, cousin Cammy and her husband Jonas!

Here's Dave blurb on his project:

If you're uninitiated to the lore of USofAnderson, it's a video blog/web series spinning the tale of me taking my former high school foreign exchange student, Nikolai, on a road trip across America. For more than two and a half years I toiled on this project, collaborating with the most magnificent group of artists, actors, musicians, editors, sound folk, photographers, and designers from across the country (okay, primarily LA, NY, and Minneapolis, but where else would you need to go?).

I've launched the site with three videos and will be updating it weekly with NEW videos for 40-50 weeks. Yes, I've got a boatload of good content so that means you'll need to bookmark www.usofanderson.com and visit often, comment a lot, and send me constructive criticism. In some respects, this journey is only now beginning.

Nikki's book is published!!

Nikki's book is published!!

Nikki is so talented, hard working and fortunate that she was able to write a book, find an agent and get her book published all in a year and a half! We are so happy for her! Her book hit stores at the beginning of November! We were so excited to see her book in Border's Bookstore! We diligently moved her books to strategic places through out the store including near Christmas reads, Twilight and Charlaine Harris' books which inspired HBOs 'True Blood' series.

Tempest Rising is a great, escapist read. Be warned there are sex scenes. Check it out at Amazon.

Matt's Mexican Conference

Matt's Mexican Conference

Matt was invited to speak at a conference on Nanotechnology in Ensenada, Mexico. This, unfortunately, cut our trip to Chile short but he wanted to accommodate his work (of course). I was able to join him since I am between jobs and his work essentially paid for it:) We stayed in a nice resort where the conference was being held. We felt foolish most of the time because we don't speak Spanish well enough, or as well as we should. People in Chile who found out we lived in Phoenix were even surprised we didn't speak Spanish (a problem that hindered my job search). Matt's conference ended up being almost entirely in Spanish, even though the official languages were Spanish and English. We attended a lecture on physics and nanotechnology that was completely in Spanish but the speaker was so entertaining and we knew enough words that we still enjoyed it.

After being in Mexico for a few days, we spent one night in San Diego which we loved. It felt a bit like a combo of Seattle (cool neighborhoods and water) and Phoenix (sprawl and restaurants in strip malls). They have an amazing park (Balboa Park) with art museums and miles of trails.

Chillin' in Chile

Chile!!!

Our friend Claire, whom we know from Scotland (who was Matt's flatmate in Scotland for a year) moved to Santiago, Chile 2.5 years ago. She wanted to learn Spanish (which she is know fluent, amongst her other languages, we say with jealousy!) and work for and start an NGO. She was completely successful and we're so happy for her. Now, she's ready for the next step in life, which means leaving Chile. So we wanted to visit Chile 'Claire style' before she left. We used our frequent flier miles for a trip to Santiago in November. And the icing on the cake was the fact that our friend Linda (whom we also know from Scotland, who nows lives in London) was also going to be visiting!

We were surprised how developed Chile was overall. Not pit toliets, modern plumbing, good roads, good signs, drinkable water. It felt much more European/Spanish and even a bit more American than we expected.

We spent a day or 2 in Santiago. It's a modern city with nice markets, a financial district, historic areas, cute shops and interesting eats (such as Peruvian). You can see the Andes mountain from Claire's flat! It's amazing! A huge monument of Mother Mary overlooks the city atop a big hill. We visited the hill during some sort of religious festival where people played music and danced at the feet of Mary--very interesting! Pablo Neruda also has a house in Santiago, we didn't tour it but visited the outside. Claire translated his great poetry for us and we enjoyed the 'graffiti' paintings.

We spent most of our time outside the city. We flew into the southern Chilean town of Valdivia. It was kind of dumpy with a bit of charm. The boardwalk had sea lions so close you could smell their disgusting burps! Most of the charm was found just outside the city with great views of the ocean and our little cabin (cabana, with an enyeah) on the hill up from the sea. There was also a German brewery called Kuntsmann which had great beer. And a wonderful Argentinian steak place! I am not even a big meat eater, but this BBQed steak was delicious!

We rented a car and drove to Northern Patagonia which is Chile's lake district. It's a beautiful area of lakes and volcanoes. We spent an afternoon in these amazing hot springs! They constructed them very simply with a bit of a modern feel. No electricity at all. Just wood beams and flat rocks to pool the water. It actually looked Japanese. We spent one night in Pucon which is a touristy town that could be in Colorado not Chile. We had nice walks to a beach and on a farm since Claire found a great cabana on a farm! The cabin sat on a big farm with cute sheep and views of 3 volcanoes! We only saw the bottom of one because the weather was pretty rainy and chilly--the landscape was amazing nonetheless!

Although it was so wonderful to be in a new country, the best part was being with friends! On the first night in Santiago, I got a job offer over email! Being with friends and finally having some employment relief was more than I ever could've asked for! Celebrating with another bottle for Chilean wine was a perfect way to celebrate. We can't believe our next reunion will be our wedding!!!

Hallow's Eve

Hallow's Eve 2009

Matt and I weren't together on Halloween this year. He was in D.C. for a conference. I just wanted to quickly mention my friend Kelli's party because it was such a great idea. She had a themed Halloween party: Come as Art (watch out friends, I may copy this one day). You could come as an artist (painter, singer, etc) or a piece of art. People were incredibly creative. Kelli, the host, is pictured here as Frida. And our bowling team (yes, Matt and I are part of a bowling league), Juliann and Kent, came as Jackson Pollock and his painting. And I went as 'The Girl with the Pearl Earring' mostly because I didn't have to buy anything and just used stuff in my closet.

Introducing Phoenix

Phoenix shots

As many of you know, living in Phoenix has been a challenging transition for us. It is both weird and wonderful and mostly just really different than anything we've ever known. There is obviously a serious lack of water and green, but also the car focused, consumer culture is also a bit foreign to us. It does remind you of how difficult it is to define 'America' because each region, state, city, town can be so different. Here are a few interesting experiences/things that make up Phoenix.

We listen to the radio frequently, everything from NPR to the local R&B station. Within one week we heard two interesting radio highlights. First, on the R&B station, a club in Scottsdale (a wealthy area in the Valley, which I recently heard described as our 'Los Angeles' because it's image driven) was advertising for people to come to the club because they were offering paternity tests courtesy of a local lab. Yep, that's right. Come, boogie on the dance floor, and find out who's your baby daddy.

The second story was on local NPR which talked about how a local church was beginning to offer drive-thru prayer/confession. In some ways this seems forward thinking for the church to realize how fast paced America can be, why not 'prayer on the go'? On the other hand, it shows how disconnected and fast paced America can be--can we not even take a spiritual moment? Along the lines of spirituality, I actually saw a car with a big sign painted in its back window with car paint. No it didn't say 'Just Married' or 'Congrats Graduate,' it said 'RIP John Doe 1975-2009.' Okay, it didn't say that specifically, but you get the idea. Someone was mourning and letting it be known to the world from his rear window. Both of these things don't surprise me here in Phoenix and I think it speaks volumes.

The last experience I wanted to mention was the fact that Matt and I had a black widow spider living exactly one foot from our front door. In case you don't know much about a black widow, it is the most venemous spider in North America. It has a red spot on its stomach which helps you identify it. They love the desert. We tried to kill it by dumping hot water on it, and although we don't see it anymore, I am not sure we were successful. Sometimes I feel like we're living here blind since I know nothing about black widow spiders, turantulas (which we saw on a hike), scorpions, rattle snakes and other scary creatures.

Ok, ok, all that negativity aside, Phoenix does have pluses. It is in the 70s and sunny everyday in the winter--finally relief. However, it does make you feel like you're in a time warp since there are essentially no seasons all year long, unless you consider 'hot' and 'really, really hot' seasons. The hiking is great. And the mexican food too. The best part is being closer to family and friends and living in a sunny place that people want to visit. I think Phoenix would be a great place to vacation because it's guaranteed sun and warmth.

And now for something cute...
Here's Seattle Syd

From Phoenix shots

Here's Phoenix Syd

From Phoenix shots

Hiking the tallest peak in AZ

Humphrey's Peak

We hiked Humphrey's Peak a few weekends ago. It is the tallest peak in AZ at 12,637 feet. Humphrey's Peak is just outside Flagstaff and the climate in Flagstaff greatly differs from Phoenix. I think on this particular day it was 103/40 in Phoenix and 80/27 in Flagstaff. We climed up 4.5 miles with roughly 3,500 feet elevation gain. And of course, Syd, the dog, joined us! We tried out his backpack and he carried his own food and water. It was a great hike with fields, cedar trees, evergreens, and the only bit of tundra found in AZ. From the top you're supposed to be able to see the Grand Canyon in the distance, but unfortunately we were greeted with high winds and hail/snow!!! It was actually fairly welcomed since Phoenix is still so hot (it's 106 as I write this). We hope to explore more of AZ and the Southwest!