Good Morning & Hello Friday!

Arrived in AZ on Wednesday. Staying at the Hotel Valley Ho which I love! What I can’t get over is how ridiculously hot it is (heatstroke weather for me). And how much traffic there is on the roads. It’s also my first time renting a car and driving myself places in over two years – thank God for muscle memory – yikes!!

But I did want to check in with you because I love the Friday morning exchanges I have with so many of you (always gets my day off to such a great start). And I wanted to remind you to keep an eye out for ZandlSlant next Tuesday when I’ll be covering my AZ discoveries/must-sees, e.g., all the new downtown Phoenix restaurants and bars, the boom in luxury retail (so many stores at Scottsdale Fashion Square have adopted a velvet rope entry strategy), the coffee shop car scene, and much more. My itinerary is a mile long. Ultimately, I’ll be sharing my overall impressions of AZ and how it’s changed to become one of the four fastest-growing states in the country.

PS: Pics above are with Brad at his show in Tucson (which is spectacular) and from the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix (where I almost got heatstroke on Wednesday afternoon but was so obsessed to see it all, I headed back early the next day to visit in a more doable 70 degrees).