Sue G's Visit Part 1

 

I only had the chance to post one new item this past week - this beautiful turquoise and coral chip inlay cuff bracelet with a blanket pattern by Navajo artist Gibson Gene. The artist signs his work with a simple peyote bird, as shown in the second photo. This piece is available for sale!

Four pieces of jewelry were sold this past week - three on Poshmark and one on Etsy. One piece was this beautiful 8-strand angelskin coral necklace by Desert Rose Trading. This is the second of three necklaces by DRT which I have posted online which have sold. I have a big, heavy box filled with DRT jewelry and the successful sales have encouraged me to be patient and post them online individually instead of liquidating them.

The non-jewelry item was this stuffed tree that we used as a display for vintage Christmas pins back in the store days. Mother had attached this to a wooden base but I do not know what happened to it so I sold it as is. I am glad that it has found a new home and I do not have to store it for another year. Because of its size and the materials it was made from, I tried shipping it in a pair of poly bags. I bubble wrapped the trunk, then wrapped the whole tree in white tissue paper and then used my roll of mover's plastic wrap to hold the first layer of wrapping in place. I am waiting on pins and needles to see if it arrives safely but it should, it is only going to California.

It has been a months-long project, ever since we came back to Arizona in late September to recover from the influx of items from Mount Prospect. My goal was to get it all put away before Sue G's arrival on Thursday evening but I did not quite make it. She is very easy going and understood. At least I was able to get my bedroom, bathroom and the sitting room squared away for her. Sue flew into Mesa-Gateway Airport which is 45 minutes each way. We were able to park in the parking lot right across from baggage claim (at $1.00 per half hour) and walk right in to wait for her there. After pickup, we tried Sage & Barrel Craft Eatery in Queen Creek which was a couple of miles away from the airport. It was our first time to Queen Creek. We all enjoyed what we ordered and the Christmas decorations were still up because the owner had been out of town. The decorations were very unique - inside the restaurant the theme was Christmas elegance with a white and gold color palette. Outside the entrance to the dining room was an entire Home Alone theme, including the pizza box from Little Nero's Pizza. I should have taken a photo!

On Friday, we surprised Sue with her first Waymo driverless car ride. It was Kuochun's idea, he made the plan for us to go to Barrio Queen for lunch which is a Mexican restaurant in Old Town. After lunch, we popped over to the quirky candy shop across the way but did not get anything. We did a little walking around this section of Old Town and made our way to Jeni's Ice Creams. It was our first visit and we all loved it. They sell their ice creams by the half scoop. There were many flavors to choose from - I decided on a curated selection in a waffle cone which was Brambleberry Crisp, Gooey Butter Cake and dairy-free Lemon Bar. It was fantastic and I expect no less from the sweets around here! We ate outside because there was a gentleman performing and it was a really pleasant experience. To get ice cream from a shop is a splurge for me but I will definitely go there again. I took Sue to my local TJ Maxx and she found a beautiful pair of peacock chandelier earrings with rivoli crystals and we also made a Costco run.

On Saturday, we did some thrift shopping including my first experience at a Goodwill Clearance Center, commonly known as the "bins." The reason why I posted the bins photo as the main photo this week is because Sue was really looking forward to going there. The clothing items that do not sell in the stores are sent to the clearance centers, where they are sold by the pound. It was not in a great neighborhood (I should have left my jewelry at home!) but things went without incident. After a few minutes of shopping, the employees kicked everyone out of the room while they changed out the bins, which looked like big plastic gurneys on wheels. It reminded me of an estate sale the way people just dropped items they did not want on the floor. Sounds like they change the bins out often to minimize the mess. Sue found a beautiful green sequined dress (she looks for sparkle while digging which makes zeroing in on what she wants easy) and I was not shopping because I have tons of items at home which I need to sell. Her dress was only $2.20, the cost per pound was $2.29 which is a little more than they charge in Sue's area. After the bins experience, we ended up at a TJ Maxx in Laveen. I had never been to Laveen, a southwest suburb of Phoenix. The area looked nicely built up and the TJ Maxx was new, well-lit and beautiful. I was able to find 6 jars of jewelry cleaner and one of those fancy scalloped headbands influencers use to pull their hair back while doing makeup or skincare. We went because a friend of Sue's wanted a pair of peacock earrings as well but they did not have one. On the way out, I spotted Aldi on the map which was on the list of places Sue wanted to go. The closest Aldi is 17 minutes away from home so it was a good opportunity to go get the mochi ice cream balls she was looking for. I spotted a compact paper shredder (I had to donate mine in the move) so I scooped it up. I introduced Sue to Lesser Evil Space Balls and she introduced me to Choceur Raisins & Hazelnuts Milk Chocolate Bars which she says are just like the Chunky bars we had growing up. Saturday evening we ordered Lou Malnati's carryout which we thought we would enjoy during the Bears game but they must have been very busy and it took over an hour and a half to complete our order. We ended up taking a break at halftime to eat. Sue watched an entire Bears game for the first time, she picked a good one to see!

On Sunday, we hit three estate sales - two of them located in Scottsdale were closing at noon so things were at the tail end and there was not a lot to choose from. I did pick up a very pretty set of four ice cream bowls and four dessert plates in a heavily textured glass for $16. This particular estate sale was 75% off, the regular price was $8 for each piece. The third estate sale was in Fountain Hills, which is a very lovely northwest town about 35 minutes away from home. It was on the bubble as far as places to take Sue, it was only going to happen if we had extra time. There were very nice items at the Fountain Hills estate sale but they were only at 50% off, prices were high, there were virtually no customers and they were not negotiating. Sue asked the dreaded question "what happens to what's left?" We could tell the person working there was kind of annoyed at being asked but he gave the same answer I do, it is up to the client to decide. It is definitely a shame to have so many nice items left over when they could have been sold with more reasonable pricing.

We then headed over to Fountain Park because I wanted Sue to see the tallest fountain in the US, which runs for 15 minutes at the top of each hour. We arrived shortly before 2:00 but the fountain did not go off due to wind. We did see a bunch of smaller vulture-like birds that were looking for food, with a few mallard ducks mixed in.

I heard that the Goodwill in Fountain Hills is a great place to go because it is such an upscale area, very nice items are donated there. Fountain Hills is considered the Lake Forest of the Phoenix area. One of my realtors lives there so we toured several homes when I was in the market. However I wanted to be more centrally located, close to the action but not too close and near the airport so I stuck with my original plan of Scottsdale. The Goodwill lived up to the hype - it was very clean, the clothing did not smell and it was all color coordinated and perfectly arranged by size. I purchased a brand new with tags Chaps corduroy sport jacket with a retail tag of $175. I also found three J Crew dresses for my mannequins - one in leopard print and two in black - one with a lattice design and the other in velvet. I picked up two Hawaiian shirts for Kuochun which had pink tags so they were 50% off. The cashier kindly gave me an additional 20% discount on everything, if I knew I would have bought more. I will definitely go there again next time I am in the area. I tried to take Sue to my favorite gift shop, Sunset Gallery but they were unfortunately closed. We were hungry so we ended up driving out of town and over to Jersey Mike's.

Our final stop for the day was the Mercantile Market which was going on at the Scottsdale Civic Center which is very close to home. The grounds have been recently remodeled and it is a great place for an outdoor event. We arrived with about a hour and a half left to go and many of the vendors were packing up. It was the first time the show was held in this location and I know from much past experience that people packing up early is a bad sign. This means they not only did not fare well, they will not be coming back as many event promoters strictly forbid packing up early and could go as far as banning vendors who do. There was still live music going on, '80s which was perfect for us. We had some amazing ice cream bars and both chose the same flavor - vanilla ice cream dipped in chocolate, rolled in crushed pretzels, drizzled with caramel and sprinkled with sea salt. Like Jeni's Ice Creams, these ice cream bars were worth every penny!

Next week we have lots of activities planned including the Desert Botanical Garden, day trips to Cave Creek/Carefree and Sedona/Prescott and to wrap things up, Chandler for the Lavender Farm at Chateau de Vie and American Way Smokehouse for an amazing lunch, fabulous cookies and a tour of the attached antique mall. We will also need to squeeze in The Local Donut!

I approved the fabric to recover the dining chairs for Prescott as the existing fabric does not match. The chosen fabric will blend well with my orange club chairs and the dramatic floral mural which will be applied to the wall behind the dining set. Unfortunately the fabric is indigo blue and my dining set is stained black but the hope is it will blend enough with the other elements to work. I will be using the coffee table, pair of nesting tables and floral lamp as well from Mount Prospect's living room. We are going to try the china cabinet but I am not so sure it will work.

The epoxy floor color has also been chosen for the garage. It is looking very grey in the photo but I have been assured that it coordinates well with the brick pavers on the driveway. I was also informed that there are some water issues that will need to be addressed before monsoon season hits this June. There are no gutters so water has not been flowing away from the home as it should. It will be a combination effort between the folks who are building the Arizona room and the landscapers to solve the issues. There have been a couple of unexpected hiccups but overall I feel great about the way things are going and I am confident that in the end we will have a cute little dream home.

That is all the news for now, see you next time!