Mall Shopping, Scottsdale Style

We've known about a mall in Scottsdale called Fashion Square and thought we'd check it out. It's a shopping center that the "WHO's WHO" of shoppers frequent regularly.
After waking early due to neighbors getting ready for a Memorial Day get-together, we headed via the freeway to the mall.
One of the anchor stores is Neiman-Marcus and they have Many other high-end stores. Several of them left DW drooling! Kate Spade and Jimmy Choo! Whoo-Hoo!

We wandered around the mall and found a Louis Vuitton store. We thought we'd meander through and see what the store had to offer.
Well, after seeing a $395 pair of flip-flops, we couldn't stop giggling about it! On our way out of the store, a group of four 20 youngen's were asking the price of a Louis Vuitton golf bag. We overheard the clerk tell the group the bag sells for $9,300. FOR A GOLF BAG!
SERIOUSLY!
They have sold two in the last year..... SERIOUSLY????

Unfortunately (or fortunately!), the Tiffany store was closed for the holiday.


The mall had a 2 story wall of rain that was absolutely memorizing!

This mall is crazy insane and the people watching is over the top!
After having enough of the mall, we decided to see what else was in the area. We walked a few blocks away and there were many other shops in the area.
There is a canal nearby which is near Old Town Scottsdale.

There was a very neat sculpture near the canal that was in honor of the Pony Express.


So we wandered around Old Town and found that quite a few shops were closed for the holiday but there were enough open that if you needed a trinket or a piece of art, today was your day!
We found a quiet oasis with a small, beautiful fountain in a little courtyard.



We found these clowns in the window of an art gallery. Wouldn't they look GREAT in your house??!!
DW thought this sign at the entrance to a parking garage spoke VOLUMES about driving in Phoenix!

On our way home, we decided to wander through a neighborhood and see what was there. Here's a view from the road looking toward some homes on the water.

YES, there's water in Arizona!

Hilton Squaw Peak Resort

Today, some friends asked us to join them at a resort for some relaxing water fun.
Here's a fountain at the entrance to the resort.

We had a blast today with great conversation and good laughs as we floated on our innertubes down a lazy river through Hilton's Squaw Peak resort. Lot's of families enjoying the sunshine and warmth.

Here's a view of the start of the lazy river. With the heat returning today, the water felt wonderful.

Here is a photo of DH & DW overlooking one of the many pools this resort has to offer for relaxing.

At the end of the day, we all felt the intensity of the sun and decided enough is enough. DH had to have his photo taken with a Lobster blow up floatie before we left. It was a great day!!!!

THUNDER STORMS - AZ STYLE

Here it is the first day of the three day weekend and we are freezing our butts off! Wednesday of this last week it hit 110 degrees. Today we mustered a whopping 72 degrees and a storm to boot. AZ storms are quite unique in the fact if it decides to storm, the punch and furry they unleash is quite astonishing. The lightning is fierce and the concussions of thunder that follow are awe inspiring to say the least. Mother nature does have the upper hand in life!

Here are some photos showing what rolled over our house and glued us to our windows.

This photo shows the slow moving storm as it approached our house. You could feel the cold wind associated with this storm as it brewed. The winds started to howl around the homes making the storm's presence known.

This photo shows the storm as it passed over our home. It moved ever so slowly and growled like a saber tooth tiger. Mind you, this is the first "STORM" we have had since our arrival in August of last year. We have always wondered what the fuss was about when it rains, but we now understand. We were glued to our back patio door watching it roll across as if we had never seen a thunderstorm. Kinda like kids in a candy store so to speak. It was impressive. The storm blocked the sun and made it look like night. This photo was taken at 5:37 in the evening.

House Hunting Continues

We looked at another four houses tonight and found one we really like. However, it doesn't have a pool and is a bit more expensive. It is bank owned and we think could be bought pretty reasonably. We can add a pool at a later date as the backyard has plenty of space.
DH & DW are mulling it over and have the weekend to decide. We'll take time to do another drive by and to weigh the pro's & con's.
Just so everyone knows, it's BLASTED COLD HERE TONIGHT!!!! Argggggg! Supposed to be a low of 47 we think. NOW whoever sent this cold front our way should be ashamed of yourself! THAT wasn't funny!!! Hope all is well & we miss you all!

RANCHERS RESERVE BEEF CHUCK EYE STEAK

We stopped at the local grocery store because we had an urge to grill some steaks. We looked over the meat section when a butcher approached and asked if he could help us find anything? We said we were looking for Fillet Mignon. He chuckled and said I don't know of a single butcher who would take that home and serve it to his family. DH & DW kind of looked at each other in amazement. We said "REALLY, why is that?" The butcher explained that the Chuck steak has the same texture as a fillet, but much more flavor and you certainly can't beat the price.

We were amazed to pay under five bucks for a pound and a half of beef. He said try them and if you don't agree, come back and I will reimburse you the price of the chuck steaks. "GAME ON" We thought for SURE we had a free meal coming to us.........
We came home, wrapped some bacon around the steaks and threw them on the grill.

The butcher was right on the money! These steaks were delicious. Only the smallest amount of fat had to be discarded. They truly were flavorful and tender in every way. To think we can buy these steaks for little to nothing.
Eating good in the neighborhood. :-)

DICKIE'S DOGS

After a long morning and early afternoon of House Hunting, DH & DW visited a quaint little restaurant called Dickie's Dogs for lunch. DH was directed to this place based on his love of Coney Island "Chilli Dogs" that he enjoyed as a child in Duluth, Minnesota.
He had mentioned his love of Coney dogs to a co-worker, Hank, & was pointed in Dickie's Dogs direction. DH and some co-workers took time out from work 3 weeks ago and visited Dickie's Dogs for lunch for the first time and DH was hooked!
Today, DH took DW to Dickie's Dogs for lunch in Scottsdale, AZ and we had a fabulous lunch!
DH has FINALLY found the 1st Street "DULUTH" comparison!

DH will be spending many lunches at this quaint little restaurant!
DW was impressed with the food-the cheese dogs and fries are AWESOME but what most impressed her was the fact that every employee AND the owner, Dickie, were absolutely meticulous in making sure the tables and overall restaurant were clean! Not less than 30 seconds after a group left their table, someone was over to wipe everything clean! It was great to know that they took pride in their business! We appreciated it!

Is this the future home of the "HARPINATORS"

This is a continuation of the previous blog regarding house hunting!!

DH & DW did finally find something that interested them more than they thought it would. This home kind of struck a chord with the both of us. We are STILL talking about it this evening and we're not sure why. I guess it has soooo much potential for us and with a little hard work we could see living here for a very good long time. It was a refreshing moment for the both of us to think we might have found the one. We are not jumping right in and saying this IS the place. But it does make one think of the "what if" ideas.

This is a photo of the front of the house when we arrived. Compared to the photo on the internet, it was exactly as it was posted. It's a corner lot with a HUGE backyard and it has a pool with a water feature to boot. However, the interior has carpet through out the whole house with the exception of the kitchen area. We would have lots of tile work to do if we purchased it.
This is the pool area. It's not filled because the city of Phoenix has helicopters that fly over neighborhoods and write tickets to home owners that don't maintain their pools. Our understanding is it's a pretty hefty fine. The reason is that they don't want an explosion of mosquitos hatching and raising havoc with home owners. We have been here since August of '07 and haven't been bit by a Mosquito yet. We would like to keep it that way. However from our previous post, I see some neighborhoods in the future having a HELL of a time with the skeeters.

This photo shows the other half of the back yard area. It truly is a large backyard that would allow our four legged darlings to have plenty of play area.

This would be our view from the master bedroom. French doors to the large back patio and a full view of the backyard. The picture doesn't do it justice.

Here's a photo of DH looking at things in the Kitchen area. The wallpaper would HAVE to go, but that's what makes this property so appealing to us. With a little work, it could be a GEM!! We welcome any comments you might care to share.

"TO BE CONTINUED"