World, Meet Dining Room. Dining Room, World.

It goes without saying that I am a fan of all things eating. And having a new house only gets me even more excited to have dinner parties. Just a few weeks after moving in, we had six people over for dinner. After bumping elbows and accidentally sharing water glasses all night, It was blatantly obvious how necessary a larger dining table would be in the near future. For months I have had this table picked out from Pier 1 Imports. Not that I've been a little excited or even slightly anticipating moving or anything. I like the deep, dark color. I love the length at 84 inches. But the best thing is how wide the table is at 42 inches...the standard width is only 38. I feel like I cheated the system out of four more inches, and I certainly need it considering how much I usually make for parties! I have always wanted room to actually place food in the middle of the table, and this beautiful baby provides just such an opportunity! John weather-proofed our old table to put on the patio until the dining set we want becomes available again. It was a complete shock to me that patio sets are seasonal in Arizona!

We got the table about a month ago and continued to use our old chairs with it. Have I mentioned how much patience I am learning through this whole home-ownership thing? I waited a whole month to get six garwgeous chairs to go with. I carefully searched until I found these at World Market, one of my favorite stores. They are wide, comfortable, easy to keep clean, and very solid. I have been in love with them for about four months, but I had to convince John they were right for us. Being such the no-nonsense creature that he is, all I had to do what get his butt on the chair for a few moments. He was in!

We bought two chairs two weeks ago because that's all they had in stock. On sale (not an accident)! We were able to get a rain check for the remaining four, and I got a call today that they had finally arrived. Sweet, sweet bliss to have these beauties in my new home. It is all starting to come together nicely, one room at a time! I love how low they are that I can still enjoy the fireplace. Most importantly, they don't block any sunlight from the windows, which was a big deal for me. It's not like I lived in a basement for two years with no sunlight or anything.

In the interim between getting a table and chairs, I accidentally went to Crate and Barrel, my favorite store in the world, to get some fun accessories for the tabletop. I would have purchased everything in the store but kept it under control until I got a safe distance of ten miles away. I got so many ideas and loved everything I saw. Things always look differently in the store, but I am pleased with how it all ended up in our house. It helps that I love blue and green so much...those seem to be the colors in style this season! Lucky me.

So now we have the perfect setting for having dinner parties. Wouldn't you know I am on the road the next month at least?! Having people enjoy the new furniture with us will have to wait. But, as I have only been discovering now, most things are worth the wait!

The Rain Rain Rain Came Down Down Down

I guess you could say we got a bit of a storm yesterday. Four times. Bringing along enough fun that Sky Harbor Airport closed. Four times. It looks like Monsoon Season has finally arrived, and nobody bothered to tell him he is a few months late!

I was driving home from some errands when the first storm hit. As I pulled into the garage, pouring rain and winds like I have never seen before hit hard! I almost couldn't get the garage door closed in time! Thankfully, our roof holds up like a champ. I did discover a little leak in the office window, but with that much rain, I think it was a miracle that half the house wasn't filling up with water! The streets sure did...a river almost a foot deep ran in front of my house today. Four times.

I absolutely love weather like this. Especially when I can stay inside and enjoy it from the couch with some Stephen's Hot Chocolate. John arrived home from work just a few hours later (just before Storm #3 hit). During his drive home, the outer lane of every road was buried in rivers of water. It made for quite an adventure getting home in a Corolla. We opened windows that were protected by patio overhangs and let the cool temperatures inside. Yesterday was the first day in over five months that we didn't reach triple-digits, so it was a joy to have the house so cool. The only downside? We filled our pool the night before with the hose to keep it at the proper level. The water is supposed to be about three inches below the lip of the pool, and we are meticulous about keeping enough water for the pump to operate (I'm not bragging...it's about the only thing we do well in regards to our pool). Our little monsoons yesterday brought too much water for the pool to handle, and it was soon overflowing! When the storm was really raging with gusty winds, I temporarily owned a wave pool!

More thunderstorms are forecast today. It will be fun to just stay in and work on projects inside while the tempests rage outdoors. I feel so safe and warm in this wonderful home. I love this place. Have I mentioned that?

Fuzzy UFO

Notice anything? Perhaps a fuzzy unidentified object in the upper left-hand corner of each photo? It's been going on with my Canon for the past two weeks. Despite cleaning the lens and even giving my camera a stern talking-to, I have experienced no success in getting rid of the ever-present fuzz in every picture. Considering how many pictures I take in a week, it will no doubt drive me crazy if not resolved. And quickly!

I discussed the option of replacing my camera with my husband. He was all for it, probably because I wasn't suggesting to replace it with the Canon T2i Digital SLR camera that I have been drooling over for months. My idea was to certainly stick with Canon, since I've been more than happy with this SD1100is series. I bought it over two years ago and have taken 10,634 pictures with it. I usually average about three-hundred pictures a week when on the road, and this little baby has stayed up with the insane pace. I carry it with me everywhere and am pretty demanding, so I am not disappointed at all in having to replace it after such rigorous use over such a long period of time. It has been a faithful and loyal companion these twenty-six months, cranking out some pretty fantastic shots along the way.

Here's my new baby...arriving this Friday from Amazon. I always research like crazy before making such a purchase, and this little guy is tiny but comes packed with features and has rave reviews. I ordered another blue camera...of course. And I can hardly wait to get it in my hot little hands so I can get back to my normal photo-taking schedule. With so much fuzz these past few weeks, I have lost my desire to even use my camera to document what's going on around me! What's the point if all I get is a blurry corner of mystery? It will be wonderful to get some fuzz out of my life and return to way too many pictures being taken.

From East To West

The week continued from Philadelphia to Teterboro. Honestly, I just love this trip. I usually have time to spend a day in New York City for the price of an all-day subway pass. That didn't happen this week, thanks to arriving late in New Jersey. Teterboro is a reliever airport for the big three airports of the New York area - JFK, Newark, and La Guardia. It's really tough to fly corporate airplanes into those three busy airports, so just across the Hudson River was developed into an airport to accommodate all the needs of the business men and VIPs using private jets. Teterboro Airport is one busy place and always packed with beautiful airplanes! The only downside comes when they slow traffic at KTEB first if the weather gets bad to give priority to the three big airports. As long as thunderstorms don't move in within three hours of departure, it's a joy to fly here. I love Teterboro.

I tried a different hotel for my one night. They are all expensive, so I went a little further from the runway into Sacaucus, New Jersey. My Hampton Inn was next to about six restaurants and had some stores to wander just a half mile away. It was a fun evening, but I was zonked and went to bed early!

The next day, Boss #2 kept moving up our departure time. We ended up leaving KTEB at noon to fly west. After a pit stop in Salina, Kansas for more fuel, we continued on for the last stop of the week at Jeffco Metro Airport in Denver. Boss only needed to be here for about half an hour, which gave me time to get more fuel and admire an old Stinson bi-plane on the ramp. We were then off to Phoenix, landing at Gateway-Mesa Airport a little before five. Not too shabby for another week on the road.

Mesa, Arizona - Addison, Texas - Owensboro, Kentucky - Northeast Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - Teterboro, New Jersey - Salina, Kansas - Denver, Colorado - Mesa, Arizona