We have the new design... and it makes me happy!

We sent Roger the photo of the bathroom I found (and was loving!) and some other suggestions. We had a 1 and 1/2 hour skype call and discussed everything. I walked away with some good feeling and I think we are going in the right direction. Both Roger, our architect and Arturo, our friend, property manager and adviser are on the same page as Carlos and I. Two days later and we have a new plan!

Notice we now have a master suite with with sitting area (or my computer area) dream bathroom and walk in closet! This is very different than the two bedroom with jack n jill bath of the previous design. Yes, I like the new design! Now we're talking!

Of course we are still in the preliminary design as the finishes have not been chosen! We did discuss the bathtub being made out of stone as well as ticul vs. creama maya for the shower. I have thought of maybe a chandelier over the tub could be striking! Time to start building...again!

I will miss St Louis...

Carlos and I have lived in St Louis since May 1979...that's 34 years. It's longer than I actually lived in my home state of New York....but I still consider myself a New Yorker! I think because we moved to St Louis as adults and do not have the roots of of growing up here and attending local schools, it has just never felt like our home. Don't get me wrong, I do like St Louis and love many things about it. St Louis has been good to us, we have had good careers, it's been good to bring up our son and we have met some fine people here who have become close friends. Recently I have come across two fine videos that really help me see what I will miss about St Louis. Take a look! The first one was done last year...It's called Here is St Louis and the second is more recent and called Here is St Louis Two. These were done by some excellent local filmakers and their firm is called Grain, Inc..
I have always considered St Louis to be part of the Midwest...like Iowa or Kansas. My sister who lives here also considers it the north South...like Kentucky or Tennessee. Soon we will be moving to Merida, Yucatan, Mexico and I have heard that many consider it closer to part of the Caribbean and others closer to Central Americas! Whatever it is, it has some of the finer attributes just like St Louis. It's easy to get around, it's a great place for families and I know there are many fine people looking for friends like us.

Casa de Huespedes

Original Plan

 Now, after much thought, we are back to building the casa de huespedes. As we do not have negative connotations about the title we are calling it the 'casita'. We were told by some that in the past, a 'casita' was the small house that was provided for a mistress by her provider, thus it's not used often here in the Yucatan.
But anyway, we have received some plans from Roger and they are good plans. However after much discussion, Carlos and I are thinking of making it our master suite and redesigning it as such. First we thought of just making it so we could convert it later. Than we discussed just going ahead and making it our 'dream' master suite. So after a week or more of discussion we have decided to go to Roger and friends for input and thought.We hope to skype with Roger this coming weekend and in the meantime I will continue to ask for thoughts from friends and family. So if you have any input, please comment!
Our reasoning:
There are no stairs to the casita..this may be important in the future
We can walk out in the morning and jump into the pool
It will be larger than our current designated master with another walk in closet
There is space for me to have small sitting area as well as desk...my own reasoning...remember Carlos has the huge study and music room upstairs
I can make the bathroom both spacious and add a bathtub as well as a washer hook up for the future

My primitive notes to Roger

Bathroom of my dreams!

What a Summer!

I have two weather bugs on my desktop, one of St Louis weather and one of Merida weather. Recently the temperature and humidity has been neck and neck. The last couple of days St Louis has pulled ahead! Of course we have central air and air conditioning in the car  It won't be so in Merida. But I have been talking up getting solar system so that we do not have the budget busting electric bills. So when we go to Merida in December we will be talking to whatever experts we can find. I may just have my brother-in-laws father visit us as he has installed it in his house in Puerto Rico and gone from a 750.00 dollar a month electric bill to receiving a check from selling power each month. Santiago Sr is an retired engineer and does major research before he buys anything. I know he would be a great resource for us. Now I know that CFE will not buy my excess power, but it sure would be great to have a zero bill! And you never know, perhaps that could change.... So if anyone out there has some experience with solar in Merida or the Yucatan I would love to hear about it!