The guest suite bathroom

So to compliment the beach theme in the guest bedroom the adjoining guest bath has a blue color scheme with a great black and white beach photograph print and a candle holder with sand and seashells.  

Worth the wait...

So this afternoon the mattress for the guest bedroom arrived.  After two and 1/2 months the guest suite is actually ready for guests...  I am aiming for a cozy beach ambiance in the guest suite (despite being at least 450 miles away from any real beach).   It still needs some curtains but Drew's Bed & Breakfast is now open for business... Now all I need are some family photos for the frames above the bed and some guests to try out my guest bed...

The great outdoors

Since I finally got my tax refund I had the money to go out and get some furniture for my patio.  I went to Bad, Bath, and Beyond (what is the 'beyond'?) and found this seating set.   I think it works quite well in my cozy little outdoor space.

The view from above:

And the view from up close:

Home Improvement

So a couple of weeks ago I went to the IKEA in Tempe to get some storage shelving to organize the growing piles of stuff that was starting to accumulate in my garage.  When I came out of the store I had a cart full of the GORM storage system shelving.  This storage system is great because it is completely modular and expandable.  Check it out at IKEA.com.  This shelving unit I put together consists of two long shelf sections, one short shelf section, and a corner shelving unit.  It took me about 2 hours to put together with my handy little allen wrench.  It was well worth the effort and keep all of my gardening, painting, and other supplies organized as well as all of my Christmas decorations and other odds and ends.

Beam me up...

So on Saturday Jenna and I took the light rail to downtown Phoenix to go to the Arizona Science Center to check out Star Trek: The Exhibition.  I was in total trek-nerd heaven walking around the sets, sitting in the captain's chair, and seeing the props and costumes up-close.  

CatNap interrupted...

So I caught Snowy hanging out on my bed on Saturday afternoon looking suspiciously guilty... 

Guilty of what I do not know...

More houses going up...

So the developer of my subdivision has begun construction on the final 15 houses in this development.... 2 weeks ago there was just dirt across the street, now there are six houses well under way....

When finished the new homes will be similar to the model homes that are already across the street from my house...

 

My Mountain...

So I decided to share my mountain view with y'all... as seen from the window in the master bathroom water closet (a.k.a. "the poop room")...  It is the only window in the house from which I can see the Estrella Mountains which rise to over 4200 feet and are only about 4 miles south of my house...

Hallelujah!

The 8-year hangover is finally over!   If you are like me you won't be missing the last 8 years of national stupidity any time soon...   I just loved to watch the inaugural coverage on TV and see the MASSIVE crowds of Americans who made the pilgrimage to Washington, D.C. to see Obama become president....  

 

So what does the largest-ever assembled crowd of people in ALL OF AMERICAN HISTORY look like????   Well it looks pretty awesome!

Colors that don't run

I decided to add some color to the outside of the house...  I settled on Red, White, and Blue...  After all, what self-respecting American History teacher does not fly a flag at home?

Snowy gets comfy...

So the other night Snowy decided to make herself comfortable... It was so adorable that I just had to get a picture:

First Peek...

So I went around the house tonight and took some photos... I have posted them into a flickr photo slideshow which you can view by clicking on THIS LINK.  To pause the slideshow click on the pause symbol in the lower left corner of the screen.  You can also slow down the slideshow by clicking on "options" in the upper right and selecting the slow speed button.  The home isn't done yet but I think I have done alright for five days work....

New Year, New Home

Happy new year everyone!  I know that it has been almost a week since I last posted, but things have been a little busy here with Snowy and I moving into our new house...  I am almost done unpacking and putting everything away and once I am I will be sure to take some photos of the house (now that I am living in it!).   Oh, and for all of you who are in the snow belt of Ohio and elsewhere, it was sunny and 72 on Tuesday, sunny and 75 on Wednesday, and sunny and 75 on New year's day... :-)  Winter here in Arizona is really tough... 

Light Rail is finally here!!!

So the METRO Light Rail is finally open!  I arrived at the 19th Avenue/Montebello station around 1:00 this afternoon and encountered a massive crowd of thousands and thousands who were there to see the wonder of the Light Rail....  I waited in line for about 2 1/2 hours for my ride...    

The new light rail route is 20 miles long, took 12 years of planning, 5 years of construction, and cost $1,400,000,000  (that's 1.4 Billion dollars).  But it has definitely all been worth it if the reactions of the crowds were any indication...

As you can see, the light rail is as popular as any ride at Cedar Point (I spent 2 1/2 hours in this line... this photo only reveals a small part of this massive line)

And the new light rail trains are still shiny...  Wouldn't that train look great in any city?

Crowds of onlookers standing on the platform at Mill Avenue in Tempe watched as the fireworks exploded overhead at dusk to celebrate a successful first-day launch of the light rail network...

It's official...

Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, and Joyous Kwanzaa everyone!  Or perhaps I should just say happy Christmahanukwanzakah to you!   

So I officially closed on the house this afternoon.  We were able to get everything signed in less than 45 minutes. and when all is said and done I will be enjoying my new home for more than $300 a month less than what my rent here at San Lagos is... (and this is including home insurance and property tax!)  I was able to lock in my interest rate at 5.00% and will get the keys and start moving on Monday the 29th of December.  So now I have five days to get packing and thus far I have packed one box of stuff...  But five days should be plenty of time... right???

Glendale Glitters

On Saturday night Jenna and I went downtown to Glendale Glitters  (check out the link).  It is the kick-off to the Christmas season here in Glendale.  The city decorates the downtown in over 1.5 million Christmas lights and has live entertainment, food, and all sorts of other activities.  It is similar to the Toledo Zoo's Lights Before Christmas but free-of-charge, without the animals, and a lot warmer.  The temperatures were in the mid-to-low 60's on Saturday night when we went.  It is a huge event in Glendale that draws hundreds of thousands of people downtown.  As always, I had my trusty camera with me and snapped a few photos of the festivities.  

First, I decided to avoid trying to drive and park downtown and take the free shuttle busses.  This was the line at Glendale Community College as we were waiting to board the shuttle busses to take us downtown.  Surprisingly, there were enough shuttle busses running that we only had to wait about 5 minutes to get on a bus:

And once we made it downtown we were instantly greeted with the spectacle of lights:

We were able to make it to the upper levels of the municipal building to get a birds-eye view of the live entertainment and the crowds gathered below to watch in the downtown amphitheater.  The mini-Mickey mouses were performing a Christmas song on stage in this photo (I think...):

So what do you decorate in the desert for Christmas?  Why a palm tree of course!  I think it looks quite nice :-)

On the road again...

So here a a few of the random sights from my drive up to the Grand Canyon on Wednesday.  There is absolutely nothing in the hour drive between Flagstaff and the canyon... and I do mean nothing... although this was the first time I had driven on a two lane road with a 65 MPH speed limit... and it still was not fast enough.

We were the only human beings in sight... So we kept driving...

... And driving...

... And driving as we were heading back south towards Flagstaff.  Here we were on US 180 just before we had to drive through the San Francisco Peaks...  Still no people to be found...

Overall it is about 90 Minutes from the valley to Flagstaff and then another hour from Flagstaff to the canyon... and then back again...  not too bad of a drive all things considered.  

Earth's Biggest Ditch

So on the day before Thanksgiving I was able to finally go see the Grand Canyon.  My friend Jenna and I undertook the 2 1/2 hour drive through nonstop rain (yes, it actually rained everywhere in Arizona for 2 days straight) to get to the Grand Canyon National Park.  We spent about 3 hours driving around the south rim and stopping off at various overlook points to get the pictures.  It was quite cold (about 40 degrees, which for us is now considered freezing) and very cloudy throughout the trip but we still managed to have a good visit and see some breathtaking scenery.

Here is the required "me in front of the Grand Canyon with British tourists behind me" picture:

In the middle of this picture you can see the Colorado River which continues to carve out the Grand Canyon to this day...

And finally, this picture was my favorite of the trip.  I took this at an overlook west of Grand Canyon Village with the sun peeking out through the clouds to highlight a small part of the canyon. It is now the new background image on my MacBook laptop.

More potential home pictures...

Ok, so I thought I would post some of the views from the inside....

Heres the inside of the foyer...

And then if you would turn to the right you would be looking at the living room...

And then if you turn around you'll see the dining room and the garage to the left and the kitchen to the right and the stairs straight ahead...

Here's the kitchen from the dining room...

Here's looking up at the stairs... waaaay up....

Could this be the one???

So I have been home browsing all over the valley for the last few months and I think I have finally found "the one."  It is a beautiful, brand new, 1500 square foot, 2 bedroom, 2.5 bathroom home with a huge 2 car garage and a lot of fantastic curb appeal...

I will definitely keep y'all up-to-date as I go through the home buying process here....