Keys Vacation!

I thought as a way to keep links of everything I would put them here:

Steve and My Photos are here:
Steve and Stacy Photos

Uncle Tom and Aunt Betsy's here:
Tom and Betsy's Photos

Uncle Rick and Aunt Janes Photos are here:
Rick and Jane Photos

Uncle Tom in the Kayak


Franz's will survive! Video



Uncle Rick, Uncle Tom in the styles of Santana


JetSkiing in Holiday Isle

The weather here has turned beautiful, seemingly overnight. We had that bout of cold and rainy, but all the sudden it's 70 and sunny.


I've been walking the dogs every day, it stays light long enough to get a good 45 min. walk in when I get home from work. These pics are from this past Sunday.




Bentley is definitely a puller on the leash as evident here. I brought the camera because I wanted to get photos of how green everything is!


The desert is usually different shades of brown and rust but leaves, weeds, brush and flowers have smothered the rocky scape and the smells are wet and mossy now instead of dry sandy.


I am sure by the time we hit June it will return to the dusty dry, but I am enjoying the green.


So are the doggers, I do walk them in the heat, stopping to pour water over them but they like this spring season! There are more dogs/people on the trails too, but for the most part it's very quiet and we feel we have the whole trail to ourselves!

It's crazy to me that there are so many homes lining these paths with full access to this beautiful trail, yet we normally only pass 1 or 2 groups or people on our walk.


If I time the walk right, the sun will set and turn these mountains a red-orange that seems to glow.


The dogs do not pose well while on their leashes, this is something we will have to work on.

Niko does give her best smile whenever asked.

Here's a good patch of flowers! Watch for the bees, they love these little yellow ones.


It's as if the cacti are throwing their arms in the air to say"What's with all this grass?"

In one more week the purple ones will be out, and more of the reds.

Some pictures of the new place...


Hey all, we have yet to adorn the walls with art but here's some in progress pics of the new place.


Waking up to let the doggers out I catch the sun breaking through the peaks of the McDowells

Still need to look up the names of these purple flowering bushes (view of house from front entrance looking east)


We found this cool woven fiber pendant lamp from the great indoors. We're trying to sell all the exisiting fixtures on Craigslist, we'll see how well that goes.


Dining room table, this room is still pretty cluttered with boxes we're hoping to get these cleared out today.


We really like this lamp we found to replace the kind of coutry iron chandelier they had... and we found these vases on sale that match the chairs we found at Pier 1.


Here is the old lamp, and we are still debating whether to paint this blue wall but not sure of color. I like it on camera but it is normally very dark and looks too navy. (Table modeling by Cheri Najim - Steve's mom)


Steve's dad, Ed and sister Suzanne modeling our chairs for the front nook.


This is the kitchen/family room area. Dogs and cat have christened the new rugs already, must be some right of passage... new rug has to be puked on.


Steve adjusting the TV speaker while Venus cleans herself.


We wanted to be able to see the TV from the kitchen so we got a swivel mount, it looks precarious to me but Steve says it's made strong. That wall repair is the electrician's work he had to rewire the outdoor fan.


This is the main guest room, my computer is in there now but will probably move.


This is going to be my paint room, as you see there is no room for a computer yet.


We'll have a futon in here, but for now it is the ice cream/doggie room. The stripes remind me of an ice cream store, we're hoping to have this painted by the time Heidi is here.


Guest bath, not too exciting :-)


Master bedroom, modeled by Niko.


Master bath.


My favorite part... the pool. It's saltwater so it's not as rough on the skin, or the dog's bellies when they drink it. There's a little round spa in the back we need to figure out how to turn the jets down as they are now set to volcanic forces.



We just put the rest of the patio together today so I'll get pics in the next update, but here's half.. we got chocolate colored cushions for these.

Skyscapes
Rest of the shots are skies. We're not as far up in the ountains as Suzanne, but we see some great skyscapes....


Storm coming in over McDowells. Steve and I grabbed a beer one Friday and just sat and watched the clouds wrap around the peaks, was pretty relaxing.



Then we get the monsoons... that person is our neighbor, Jeff and his toddlers.


...shirtless and storm watching.


This was last nights cloud show.



We'll post more when we're more done. So far it's been a lot of work but very rewarding.

It seems like since Christmas, or I guess I should say halloween? Things have been ... well busy. It's not a bad busy, we're starting to get into a groove with friends, family, vacations and events. I might just make a list for now, so I remember to come back and post. edit: the list is become fully descriptive, and may contain photos by end of evening.

January
Rio Sabor Brazilian Steakhouse for Kelley's birthday. My aunt Glennie and Uncle Jim came out for a visit. The superbowl happened, which was my last non-dog post! I hate this pic of me but everyone else looks good, what can you do. All of us hamming it up at Rio Sabor.

Happy hour for leaving employee...


February
My Grandpa Franz died. Very sad, but very good to return to Michigan and be with so much family. He was many things to many people. He owned gas stations for some time, and some of his employees talked about growing up learning life lessons from him. He also was part of the Barbershop preservation society and the two times I lost it at the funeral were when I had to ask the barbershoppers a question about their introductions and wait for them to finish "Amazing Grace", and when the taps were played and his veteran flag handed to my aunt.




I was very sick this month so it seemed like 2 weeks away from work almost. My boss also left and moved to Pittsburg, I've been bossless since.

March
Steve's sister moved here from Houston and his parents came out to help, we ate at 2 of the best steakhouses in 2 days, I felt like a food critic. I went to Las Vegas a GlobalShop convention for work. These are some lamps from the Wynn Casino.

And me on some motorcycle.


April
That month was been the busiest of all, boasting a trip to Tucson, some video set design for work, Rocky Point, Mexico vacation, and a trip to Dallas to celebrate our birthdays with family.
Tucson

Video Set


Rocky Point





Dallas Trip




May
Now it is May and we've just bought a house up in the mountains further. We don't close until July, and it reached 105 degrees today so I imagine July might get a little toasty. Although they've been calling it a buyers market we've had a tough time finding something for a reasonable price out here.






I was in a photoshoot with Bentley and Niko for the Pawsidential Suite at PetSmart, and Niko had her first birthday. I have also organized a Boston Terrier meetup that will occur this weekend!





I have been working on some paintings, and finished a nice piece for my sister using some foiling methods. Looking forward to moving into the new house and very much enjoying life.