3/12.
March was BUSY busy.
We’re breaking weather records left and right across the state, so fire season seems to be creeping up on us faster than usual.
Ryan and I have been working around the clock to complete as many home renovations and plan as much of our wedding as possible before we get our first wildfire orders.
It’s baseball season! We took some time off work to take a trip down to Phoenix to watch my Detroit Tigers play the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field — where it happened to be Bark at the Park night! Ochi really didn’t care about game, but he did love getting a ballpark hotdog, singing along to the national anthem, napping during the fifth inning, and sharing a row with his new friends Igloo and Bonnie.
We also made time to sneak in a quick date night at Reformation Brewing down on Roosevelt Row in Phoenix earlier in the month when after my wedding dress pick-up appointment.
Our kitchen is up and running enough that I can use it! My first bake in the new kitchen was these absolutely delicious brown butter miso chocolate chunk cookies. I’ve made three batches of them last month alone and they’ve received rave reviews each time.
One of my favorite coworkers recently retired from our agency. “G” was my Type 3 team‘s operations section chief for the past few years, and he’s such an awesome and inspiring mentor and friend. I’m definitely going to miss his leadership, optimism and enthusiasm.
Ryan and I recently tried this new recipe: a spicy gochujang sweet potato and green bean salad. It turned out really good, and it’ll definitely be in heavy rotation going forward.
My Peace Corps cluster buddy Ryan recently visited Flagstaff with his sweet girlfriend Jess! I hadn’t seen Ryan since right before our COVID-induced evacuation half a decade ago and it was so nice to catch up with him and meet Jess. My Ryan and I grabbed breakfast with them at Toasted Owl.
My friend Katie and I grabbed brunch last weekend at Over Easy.
I was able to dog sit for one of Ochi’s friends last month! Logan was feeling a little sick and couldn’t spend time with other pups, so I got to hang out at her human Lindsey’s house for a bit and spend some time with her while Lindsey was out of town.
It feels weird that it’s already s’mores season… but it’s s’mores season! Ryan and I went to a barbecue at Ryan’s crew friend Ivan’s house a short bit ago. Ivan had family in town so we all had tacos followed by a campfire.
March is also, of course, Arizona Wildfire and Incident Academy month! I taught S-203 – the introduction to public information class — for the second time around. We had such a good group of students, and our simulation day was an absolute blast. I love love LOVE my job, so I always have the best time sharing my love of this career with other students.
We had our all-employee day at work! We celebrated with a barbeque celebration on the Red Rock Ranger District. It was like 90 degrees out, but still an awesome day of food, yard games and celebrations.
My awesome coworker Aaron gifted me this gorgeous loaf of sesame sourdough bread which was almost too pretty to eat… but it absolutely tasted even better than it looked (and it’s a stunner, right?).
I got to get outside my physical office last week for an interview out in the field. I got to spend a beautiful morning just off the Oldham trailhead.
One of the themed classes I taught at the studio last month was a Heated Rivalry class! I decorated with these cute graphics I borrowed from our friends at CycleBar, who held a the same themed class earlier in the same day, and taught class along to a playlist featuring songs from the show.
