Dear Phoenix,

You a bizarre city. Big and small at the same time. Talking with my cousin, I tell him if I started a street style blog in Phoenix, I would call it L.A., Jr. He tells me that I just slammed both L.A. and Phoenix so hard with just 4 letters. Phoenix: learn to keep the right secrets.

I anthropomorphize your weather often; it seems to be the only way I manage to stand it. I compare your weather to bad service. Like I am in a restaurant and have a horrible waiter who is rude, almost barbaric, and continuously getting my order wrong, unapologetically. The light is too bright and I can he has dandruff on his shoulders and I wonder how much of it is in my food. I keep coming back though, it's the only joint in town.

You are also like a teenager just discovering her body, wearing all the wrong things, showing me all you have all at once. Short shorts on short legs, exposed belly- like a baby. I can see it all- there is no mystery and I am disappointed; I can see into your future and you will be dressed in a more vulgar version of what you already have because it's the only thing you know. I want you to put on some pants, cover up your shoulders, save your cleavage- let me wonder what you will grow into. Right now- I already know.

I long for the rain and when it happens I am jubilant and grateful- I give myself away and you take notes. Rain makes the brown mountains orange and the green look verdant instead of fake.

But when the climate takes a chill pill, things get civilized. The temperature drops and you are inviting and entertaining, interesting and enviable from afar. I want to be outside every minute of the day- wandering down the streets that the heat keeps from me. I want to stare out the windows of places I don't go because I've been there too many times and I want more from them. My daily bike ride to work is invigorating, the wind sweeps across my face and I can smell the beach somehow. It's happened a few times. I don't know where it comes from. But I know that smell. Florida taught me well.

I love when I have the energy to explore what you have, when the heat doesn't suck it all out of me. I remember a time when the weather broke and I wanted to walk everywhere. Nowhere seemed unsafe or too far away. I felt connected to you, and not unimpressed and bored. You really have a lot to enjoy- you can be charming, sweet and familiar. But I wonder if you even like that side of yourself. You will always be slightly off the right track, but on a track nonetheless.

I won't be here forever, you've seen to that. But for now, I can handle it.

Love,
Chloe