Let’s start from the beginning.

My partner David and I decided to leave Seattle, Washington and move to Arizona. We were disappointed in the difficulty of living in Seattle — the weather, the high housing prices, the high density of horrible traffic and horrible homeless crisis. The pressure and stress was too much for our values and we decided that Seattle was no longer a fit for us. On January 2nd we packed our cars and left. Our trip was a great one because we decided to drive down to Redwoods via the Oregon coast and the Avenue of the Redwoods. It was an amazing drive!!

One of the surprisings find on the trip was Trees of Mystery Park.

From Northern California we drove down into .. Southern California and stayed a night in Hollywood, CA. We walked the blvd and found some of our favorite stars! First, let me just say there is an insane mountain pass coming out of Central California into Southern California into Hollywood. It is filled semi-trucks, fear and madness. I feel like there should be a sign that says, “Speed limit 70mph but 20 mph above the limit is recommended to not die”. So we come into Hollywood with our rage meter running trying not to die with the semi-trucks coming down the mountain around us at super speeds. So pulling into Hollywood Blvd was like a relief.

Then we pushed on to Corona, California to visit my dear brother Ronnie and his mini-me Sam.

From Corona, we pushed through to Joshua Tree National Park. For those of you who have never visited Joshua Tree and don’t know what the heck a Joshua tree is.. they kind of remind me of a palm tree that had a baby with a thin oak tree and some where down the line a cactus. The palm fronds are very stiff and sharp as needles and the bark is kind of normal looking. Not like a palm tree but more like an oak tree. But the really cool thing about Joshua tree isn’t the trees at all but the rock formations. The formations bubble out of the ground like lava but instead of ooze its rocks.

From Joshua Tree to Phoenix is a day drive. We arrived in Phoenix and there we stayed! Beautiful place to live and much better conditions compared to Seattle. The weather in Phoenix is considerable better (except July-late August), the job market is strong, and the general mood is relaxed and fun loving. Truth be told, I have family in Florida and the idea was we would eventually move to Florida.

Time to get a job

When we landed in Phoenix, our goal was to find remote jobs and choose an official place to live. Job searching was kind of hard and for me kind of easy. I applied to a lot of jobs (some in Florida) with no responses from January to beginning of March. But then by mid-March, I began to receive several offers. One of the most enticing offers was from PetSmart. On April 1st I started as a packaging production artist and 3D artist. It required I stay in Phoenix, but it is not something I regret at all.

Lucky thing because it was in my 3rd month with no job and my savings surely took a hit from that. On the topic of money — During the pandemic, student loans were paused for interest which empowered me to make interest free payments on one of my loans. I fully paid one of them off in 2021! Woo hoo!

I was incredibly happy to begin work at PetSmart and overall it was and still is an awesome experience and particular experience I feel I truly needed in the next steps of my career.

One of the difficult things about being a designer is that if you work in house as the only designer then you kind of have to think of everything yourself. Up until this year, I worked for smaller companies with less structure (not always negative thing because the business was still profitable) and less employees to help accomplish goals. The issue with less employees is less support and less brain power, less experience, and less in terms of how to argue for what is needed to level up. What I have learned working for PetSmart is that I can rely on teammates, these teammates know a lot and I have a ton to learn from other’s experience.

Another thing I have learned working for PetSmart is the company’s support for getting work done. First, PetSmart has incredible project managers who work across teams to make sure the flow through of a job is successful. I used to think having a project manager would be scary because it would be someone over me micromanaging my every move. But that is not the case at all. A project manager can actually be a strong ally in your success.

Last thing to share about my experience this year with PetSmart is learning Keyshot 3D technology. OMG! 3D work is incredible fun!! At first, I kind of had panic attacks when a 3D project would pop up on my calendar in Workfront (project management software), but then after about a month of work I started to get a feel for the program and enjoy things thrown my way.

Family time

Living in Phoenix enabled us to spend more time with David’s parents Mike and Helen. They are awesome! We often cook amazing dinners and have recharged ourselves with great conversations at the dinner table. David and Helen tag teamed an epic birthday cake for me this year. I told them I wanted a cactus cake which honestly I expected a plain cake with a cactus draw on it but they went all out!

While the Sonoran desert can be punishing, but the beauty and wonder of the desert is fascinating. I fell in love with the Southwest! From Phoenix, it is roughly a 3 hour drive up to the Grand Canyon, one hour drive to other smaller but beautiful rock formations and surprising beautiful landscapes. David and I made several trips up to Flagstaff this year and also over to Las Vegas for gambling.

Starting a business

In August 2021, I started a photo booth business called PartyPix Photo Booth. This journey is too much to talk about in one blog and perhaps I will start a bit of writing on this topic, but all that to say that starting a business is difficult. The combination of investing in the materials, drafting up the designs and logos, purchasing the website and advertising can all be overwhelming but once it is done it all starts to take shape and form. And it is quite a joy to

From August through to December, I was especially busy with work from both PetSmart and from the photo booth and the past 4 months were a blur. But we were so impressed with Las Vegas that we decided to treat ourselves to Vegas a second time for Christmas. We wrapped up this awesome and transformative year with a fun weekend. In front of the Belagio hotel David asked me to marry him!!!!!!!!!! I was shocked. What a romantic guy! 2021 has been a great year despite the challenges of the pandemic and fears and anxieties with job changes.