Home Sweet Home.

So, this is a long time in coming, but I thought I should go ahead and post it anyway. When we were in Ecuador, we told F's family out there about our new home in Arizona.  And we were like, Oh! Hey! We have pictures on the BLOG! Yeaahhhh, except that we only ended up having the before and the during pictures, but not a single one of the after pictures. Well, hmph. So, last May I vowed that I would post pictures of the after. And what better time to follow through on that, than one full year later? {Whoops.}

So here's a few pictures of the before, just so you get a little reminder:

 In front of the island is the back of our old table top (we were still moving in, ya know)-- so just picture it all that dark brown color.

Also, the kitchen and dining room were a peachy color, and that half bath to the side of the dining room was yellow.

And the after pictures: 

There are still several a few things on the To-Do list, but for now, this looks so much brighter and better than it did. Next up, we'll post some pictures of the living room.. Just as soon as I can get it clean enough to be posted online. ;-)
So now that you've seen it in pictures, come see it in person! The Sarmiento Hotel has been revamped and updated, and we're ready for some visitors!

The Dangers of IKEA.

So, we were shopping at IKEA on Saturday; what better way to spend your weekend, right?  We absolutely love that store.
And then we heard this over the loud speaker. "Will the owner of a blue, Toyota Camry, Arizona plate number ASF4387, please report to their vehicle immediately. Again, the owner of a blue, Toyota Camry, plate number ASF4387 please report to their vehicle immediately."
I smiled when they said blue Toyota Camry, just jokingly... but then when they announced the plate number I was like, "Uh, Freddy, isn't that our car?"
He was like, "I don't think so..?"
And I was like, "No, I'm pretty sure that's our car.. You want to go check it just in case?"
So he left, and I didn't hear anything from him, so I called to ask and he said, "Uhh, you probably want to come out here." Oh boy.
Well, here we go:

So from what I understood, and I came out just as the other car (a big, white pick-up truck) was leaving-- (she had young kids and they were getting restless..) she was trying to back out of the space and her brakes gave out, which resulted in this:

Whoops! There goes our (driver side) mirror... 

 

So, let's review the things that we're grateful for:

1. Neither Freddy or I have ever been in an accident, so this was pretty minor for our first ever.
2. Aka, it could have been worse!
3. It wasn't our fault, at all.
4. She didn't just drive off. (Which, from what I understand, she could have, but someone saw it happened and threatened to call the police. She's an illegal immigrant and didn't exactly want to get the police involved, so she was more than happy to notify the owners.)
5. She has insurance. I think AZ has the highest number of uninsured motorists in the country-- not my favorite stat, so we're lucky that she wasn't one of them.
6. We made it home safely, even without a mirror. (It's a bit of a drive to our only IKEA, but it's worth it!) Although it is weird to look left to check your mirror and there's nothing there--
7. The claim was filed just fine, and we should have someone coming to evaluate the vehicle either today or tomorrow, so that we can get it fixed as soon as possible. :)

So, we're down a side mirror, and up a huge dent, but hey, things could be worse! I'm glad that in times like this, I know I can count on Freddy to stay calm and keep level headed.