This week's Top 10. What's Hot ... and What's Not!

Well, we are now 6 weeks in to our new life in Arizona and so I thought it might be good to compile my 'Top 10' of what I am loving about life here so far and what I could live without.

What rocks ...

Waking up to blue skies and sunshine every day.  It can't help but put a smile on everybody's face (although check back with me on that one in another 3 months when it has been in the 100s for days on end!)
Beautiful mountain views in pretty much every direction, and some of the most stunning sunsets I have ever seen.
Free wifi nearly everywhere you go - essential with a 13 year old who can't survive 5 minutes without checking Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. Oh wait.  Sorry, that's me.
Civilised shopping hours - most shops open till around 9pm and are never crowded.   We are absolutely spoiled for choice in the supermarkets (although this also features in the negatives!) and our local Safeway even has a bar!
Free parking everywhere, with plenty of spaces (and no requirement to fit your car into a tiny space the size of a postage stamp) 
Happy Hour cocktails on a Friday evening and a family catch up over dinner. 
Going out for Sunday brunch - blueberry pancakes with maple syrup and a side of bacon is my current favourite ... in case you were wondering :D
Friendly locals who genuinely want to help you.  (The only rudeness I have encountered since we arrived was when we were in New York!).  We have made some great new friends as well as catching up with old ones :)
The Sprinkles Cup cake ATM - seriously. We discovered one just round the corner from us, so if you have a craving for a red velvet cupcake at 3am then they have it covered!  Apparently at night it has flashing lights and plays 'the Sprinkle Song' (no clue either) when you buy a cake.  Will have to check that out (purely for research purposes obviously).
Having two Mother's Days!

What sucks ...

1. Tipping.  I totally get tipping for great service when you are paying for a meal in a restaurant for example, or the cable guy that also assembled and set up our new TVs but don't understand the logic behind tipping for something I have already paid for.  For example, I get my hair cut by the owner of a salon. I pay them for cutting my hair, then I am expected to give them a 20% tip for doing what I just paid them for??
2. U.S. TV - don't get me wrong, I love some of the shows but the constant commercial breaks every few minutes drive me mad!! Can't wait to get into our house with DVR so that we can get back to recording the few things we like to watch and skip through adverts! 
3. Wastefulness - portion sizes are HUGE and whilst you can have leftovers boxed up to take away with you, depending on what you were eating this is not always practical (Ok for a dessert, but who wants to eat congealed pasta or half a cold hamburger? .... bleugh ).  In my experience when we have brought home leftovers, they sit in the box for a while, then end up in the bin! (Unless of course it's dessert, but I don't usually get that far as generally too full to order any!)
4. Too much choice! - it takes twice as long to get the weekly shop done as there are so many decisions to be made in every isle.  Take bread for example, what's wrong with white or brown?   Now I have to decide on whether I want sour dough, rye, wheat, spelt, honey, old fashioned, pumpernickel etc. etc.,  and who needs a gazillion types of cereal to choose from? Exhausting!
5. The U.S. banking system - I had assumed that this would be far more efficient and high tech in the U.S.  Wrong!  In the UK I could send a payment from my online banking directly into someone else's bank account in minutes and free of charge.  Here, this has to be done via a Transfer which not only incurs a hefty fee but also if the amount amount is more than $1,000 I have to set up a whole new process!  Therefore in order to pay a Bill or set up a regular payment (e.g. for our rent) the process is I set up the payee with name/address etc., then instruct the bank how much to pay, who then ... issue a check, mail it to the recipient, who then has to go to his bank and pay it in (oh, and wait 3-5 days for it to clear). Incredible!
6. Any government process - whether it's getting a visa, a social security number, registering a motor vehicle etc.  The process seems to be the same - wait in line, register with a clerk, take a ticket, wait some more, see another clerk, wait again, see different clerk .... Zzzzzzzz
7. Zero credit rating.  Despite having an excellent credit rating in the UK for decades, it means absolutely nothing here in the U.S. and you have to start again from 0.  This means invariably not only do you have to pay over the odds everything ... car, phones, insurance etc, but also a hefty deposit in order to get anything set up, e.g. utilities, cable etc. 
8. Driving - as if having to come to terms with driving on the opposite side of the road wasn't bad enough, it is perfectly legal here to overtake on the left AND the right which means you really have to have your wits about you especially when driving on the freeways and looking for the exit ... aaargh!
9. Recycling seems to be very sporadic.  In the apartment we are currently in, there is none at all, which seems criminal given on the amount of cans, bottles (ahem ...) and plastic we get through.
10. Missing friends and relatives.  Whilst modern day technology such as Skype and FaceTime, allows you to now see each other whilst you chat, it's still not quite the same as being together in the flesh.  And NOTHING can replace a hug from loved ones! 

It will be interesting to revisit these lists in 12 months time to see if anything has changed!

In other news, our furniture is finally due to arrive on Wednesday and so next  week we will get to move into our house at last ... YAY!!!