long weekend

See? I'm doing better about more blog updates already!

It's been nice having a long weekend with MLK day off tomorrow. I've been able to slow down the study pace a bit and enjoy a little time off. On Friday night, we took a "party bus" into Scottsdale, and it was actually quite fun. So many students from Midwestern went (dental, medical, podiatry, etc.) that we practically filled up the entire club! It was also nice because when the music got to be too much, they had a patio outside. Last night, we went into "historic downtown Glendale" which apparently means "the part of Glendale that has a lot of antique stores" to celebrate a friend's birthday. We ate at a restaurant called La Piazza al Forno which has been featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives on the Food Network. The pizza I had was DELICIOUS. If you are interested, here is the clip that featured the restaurant.

My roommate and I have actually been trying several local places that have been featured on this show, and we have never been disappointed. Three down, and most likely several more "Triple D" places to try. The neat part about going into town last night though was that there was a festival going on right near the restaurant. Glendale was celebrating the end of the holiday season with a street fair featuring tons of Christmas lights and hot air balloons parked right in the middle of the street. To keep the balloons filled with hot air, they had to keep shooting the flames into the balloon which would then light up all the pretty colors. With about 10 balloons parked in such few blocks around the park, it was really quite a site to see. I even got to touch one of the balloons, and the fabric was much lighter than I expected. As we sat on the outside patio of the restaurant, we watched the balloons get deflated and packed away as the festival ended. It was definitely very cool.

This morning, Allison and I decided that we would try going for a hike as a way of burning some anxious energy and giving us focus to study later. We drove over to Thunderbird Park and climbed a mountain. It was a little tricker than I thought it would be, as the path was not at all smooth and fairly steep at times. However, the view from the top was SO worth it. We could even see our apartment from the top! (FYI, it is the yellowish/brown/orange cluster of identical looking buildings in the middle of this picture).

Here are the rest of the pictures from our afternoon on the mountain.