December is taking forever to get here!

This summer seems very long, and time felt like it actually stood still in September. Carlos has been working very hard and needed to get away... he hasn't really had a vacation all year. We found a cheapo 7 day cruise (last minute) from Miami and couldn't resist. Luckily we also had enough points to use for our airfare! And so we packed our bags and headed out. The ports of call were Carnival private island, St Thomas, San Juan, Puerto Rico and Grand Turk Island, not to mention two sea days. We love to cruise and view the ship as the vacation.... the only land excursion we planned was in Puerto Rico. This is Carlos' place of birth and both his parents are buried here. We would only have time to visit the National Cemetery in Bayamon as Carlos' mom is buried in Yabacoa which is further away and the opposite direction. My first photos taken at the cemetery when Carlos found Papa Charlies place of rest where a little spooky...I think his spirit was happy with our visit!

Carlos found Papa Charlie's stone

We brought some fall flowers

San Juan

For the first time we visited Turks and Caicos and it was just beautiful...The people were very nice and the beaches were wonderful!

Grand Turk

While we were cruising, the building of the casita and pool continued and progress continued forward. We had a skype call yesterday and received a few updated photos:

Another leap forward..

Today was our day for a conference call with Roger, our esteemed architect. It's time to choose the pasta tiles for the new project, as well as some of the colors to be used on the walls. Carlos and I also needed to discuss the pool as we wanted to fine tune some of his design to what we thought might work better for us. Before we skyped, Roger sent us some updated photos and it sure is looking good! I'm really happy that they have started the dig for the pool! He said that the workers had hit some rock, but thought that it would be OK. In the photos you can see the workers digging the pool by hand and besides a pick ax and shovel, I only see one semi-automatic tool, the jackhammer. In my head I imagined a small bulldozer doing the work. I should have known better!

You can see the peanut shape of the pool emerging

The facade has been taken higher

The arches are done

first coat of cement on the walls

As far as the pasta tile floors go, we told him that we would like the same design that is in the study to be used here in the new master bedroom and he could choose for the bathroom and the covered terrace. As far as the colors of the walls, he has carte blanche. After all that's his specialty!

Holy Moly...construction is going gangbusters!

Yesterday I received several e-mails with photos attached from Roger, our esteemed architect. Wow! Talk about getting things done. I never imagined that two weeks later we would not only have walls but a roof too. And he is already working on the arches and we have some of the added height on the perimeter walls.
Now Roger tells us that he is ready to start on the pool so he can finish the need to have the wall open...I guess he wants to get the hole dug using a bobcat or some such man toy. So now Carlos and I have to choose from pool design A or B and tell Roger which one we want. Carlos will be home from Houston this week and we will sit down and decide... In the meantime here are some of the new photos... Thanks, Roger!

View from the main house upper level

Building Commences....again

Carlos and I thought long and hard about building the casita...on one hand we thought two bedrooms were really not a large enough home and on the other hand we knew we had some under utilized space were we could make due with some hammocks. One of the deciding factors was the my brother-in-law accepted a position at Harvard Med School. Why was this a decision? Well it's in Boston and they currently are in Fort Lauderdale....my sister-in-law hates the cold and she was suddenly saying the Merida in the winter was sounding wonderful. As she home schools her two elementary age kids, this is entirely feasible that she and the kids would spend winters in Mexico! At our house, of course..

Maia, Sebastian and Ana. The two older are the kids who are home schooled.

So now we are starting the building of our casita which has changed into a master retreat (don't know yet what to call it) and have received the first photos of the construction.

The back of the property has been a blank slate!

The neighbor gave us permission to break through the wall to bring in materials and heavy equipment!

looks like a building site!

materials are in and the building has commenced

And the east wall is going higher!

So our architect and his chief engineer say that the majority of the work will be done by December..keep your fingers crossed...the kids are coming and really want the pool to be done!

Creating a Courtyard..

My house has a courtyard that is a total blank slate...really! Right now it is a dirt rectangle that just does not have any redeeming features....no trees, no plants, nothing! I have spent some time researching courtyards and plants on the Internet and playing with some ideas. Here is what I have come up with.

First the courtyards that I like:

Carlos does not like the look of green between the pavers

He does like the design!

And the type of fountain I like:

And the somewhat basic design I came up with:

The choices of plants will come down to low maintenance, natural mosquito repelling (citronella grass, lemon grass as well as rosemary!) and beauty. Some of the plants:

Bougainvillea

Bougainvillea of another color

Citronella

purple wandering jew

areca palm

rosemary

lemon grass

With a beautiful bench added around the fountain for relaxing, (love all three looks!)

I could add some pots of colorful flowers or aromatic herbs to the courtyard. 

And either pavers, stones or stamped concrete for the base...I have to discus that choice with Roger! I am really excited about some of the final decisions here in my courtyard! So whats in your courtyard?

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!