All I can say is WOW!

Is it 10:30 yet?

I never thought it would be the WOW experience it was. We met Roger at the house on Monday. We arrived on Saturday night, and  spent Sunday out of Merida celebrating CQ's b-day and hadn't actually seen the construction yet. (I can't believe we actually waited more than a day!) So we walked from the Hyatt, over Avenida Colon and down Reforma to our cross street of Calle XX and soon arrived at the house. There was noise and workers in action but we patiently waited outside until Roger and Arturo arrived (promptly) at the prescribed time of 10:30 am.

The original floors are too damaged to use

The vista will be stunning

And the rest of the casa really seems to be about the arches.... they are everywhere! On the first floor:

As well as on the second floor!

This walkway is 6 foot wide..

And wait till the arches are lit up at night as each column has a spotlight at the base to light them. I think it will look spectacular! Yea, we were really having some WOW moments. What FUN.....

Happy Birthday, CQ!

Our first full day in Merida,, Sunday  Oct 9th,  happened to be CQ's birthday... not any run of the mill birthday, but a genuine milestone birthday. Yes, we had to celebrate. I thought being in Merida should be celebration enough, but you know how this goes... he really needed a party. He needed to drink and he needed to laugh. So with the help of Roger and David, our architects and their families and Arturo, the best property manager and his family we had a group large enough to make a party. And we did! We went somewhere out into the country and went to a place under a huge palapa and listened to about 3 hours of music and a comedy show.... and ate and drank!

What a great birthday! Thanks for helping everyone!

Surprising Roger!

I managed to pack the bathroom sink in my suitcase along with the 9 GFCI outlets and covers and enough clothes for 6 days. The sink just made it in! Even an iota larger and I would have left it behind in STL. My suitcase made it through customs without even a question, though the guy before me had to declare a large stereo system. I didn't tell Roger Reyes Gallareta, our architect that I was bringing a sink. So when Carlos handed it to him when he picked us up at the Hyatt lobby he was a little surprised.... well let me restate that.... he was mucho surprised!

Handing over the sink

At first I'm sure he was thinking that I was trying to redesign something of his.. you know some of these artistic types can be very sensitive! But as the week continued I know that he was getting fond of this copper sink, he carried it everywhere in the backseat of his car and he took it into many of the stores we went into. 

The sink goes to the paint store

He started to redesign the half bath in his head and started talking about the lighting the sink deserved and how he could accomplish that! Yes, I think that Roger has been the right architect for us (accept for paint colors and that story will come) He's creative and flexible and extremely patient and yes after this trip I am bringing down the rest of the plumbing fixtures! (at least all the faucets, shower heads and handles)

Trying to pass some time!

Well, it's only Tuesday and we do not leave until Saturday afternoon. Carlos is in Ohio this week and he keeps reminding me of things I need to do before we leave... but he is the one that discovered his drivers license expires while we are gone! So I've called the DMV offices multiple times and have still not reached a human. The recording wants me to leave my name and number and someone will call me back. Yea, right! Only some of the offices renew drivers licenses on Saturday so I have to call many. What a waste of time. We arrive back home on Friday so the backup plan is that he will renew it than, because he goes back to Ohio on Sunday and he has to have a current drivers license to rent a car.
Yesterday I picked up the GCFI outlets and covers (9), and today I had a haircut and picked up chocolates and mints for Arturo and David. I have already wrapped a baby gift for our architect Roger who had a baby girl in the spring. The bathroom sink is ready. Clothes and toiletries are on the list. Now Saturday needs to get here! (and I do have to get the house clean and the pantry stocked for the kids)
So this afternoon I have been playing on the computer while Maia naps. I have been thinking about changing the name banner on the top of the blog for each season... So I have spent some time in Picnik and trying out some ideas... here is one of them....

and another

Yes, a real way to make time pass... along with farmville, scrabble, housework and not to mention hanging with Maia!

‘Casa del Gato Azul’ Meets ‘Imagine Merida’

Today was one of those wondrous days we occasionally have in St Louis. The sun was bright, the sky was blue and the humidity was low. The breeze off the sparkling Mississippi was refreshing and constant. A few of the trees are starting their turn from green to yellow or red. And the icing on the cake was that I got to enjoy it all with Lee from ‘Imagine Merida’, one of my favorite blogs.

We met at noon on the tops of the stairs that go from the arch to the edge of the Mississippi. After sitting awhile and exchanging 'stories' we walked to Lacledes Landing, the old historical part of the city. Here in a shady sidewalk cafe we had lunch and talked of Merida for an hour or more.

Truly a magical day in St Louis!

Ten More Days! (and new photos from today!)

It's only ten more days before we land in Merida! I am so excited by the idea that I will finally be able to explore  and discover. Will we have enough open air spaces for socializing, lounging, or sleeping. Will our personal space be satisfying? Will the portico and colonade shelter us from the sun and rain? Will the design elements look as stunning in 'real life' as they do in the photos..... oh my, the questions really just run through my head.
Tonight I received some updated photos taken just this afternoon by our good friend Arturo. He has really done a great job keeping us updated. His e-mail today said, "The electrician and the plumber have installed pipes and electric ducts. The roof is already on and they will be pouring cement on it tomorrow. The walls are also being cover by what is called "Richado" witch is the basic coat of cement to cover the block. There is two more layers of cement after the richado."

So take a look and enjoy the photos!

Everything and the bathroom sink!

Via skype I broke the news to Carlos last night. (he's in Chicago this week) Yes, I am taking the bathroom sink. And when he's home next week he can change it out for me so we can take it with us in October. Why? I'm taking it because it's Mexican and I love it as well as when we I redesigned the master bath we I made a major mistake. Here's what I did. I changed the vanity to an adult height vanity which is 36.5 inches high with granite top.  At 5 ft 9 inches I was tired of hunching over a sink. And than I ordered the hammered copper vessel measured 8 inches high and 17 inches in diameter. (huge) So the total height of the vanity and sink is 44.5 inches tall. And that makes it almost impossible for anyone less than 5 ft 6 to use the sink comfortably. I can't imagine trying to market the house to folks over 5 ft 6in, it's tough enough right now and for the near future I think it will be the same. I'm taking the sink back to Mexico, returning it home so to speak and I'm sure it will look really lovely in my guest bath. I just have to let the architects decide how tall to make it!

How I'm Feeling Now!

Materials have arrived!

We've got our arrival dates for the second week in October. As it's Carlos' birthday that week, we are splurging (actually using points) to stay at the Hyatt Regency. I received new photos from Arturo (Thank you so much) last night. I can hardly wait until I can do a walk through myself. I'm not really getting a feel for the size of the rooms through photographs (or measurements from the plans), it's not the fault of anyone, it's just me. We arrive on the Houston to Merida flight Friday night and on Sunday having a birthday lunch so it will be Sunday afternoon before I will get to do a walk through. I'm sure Arturo and Roger, our architect will be leading us! I wonder if the stairs will be built by then? I can't see me climbing up scaffolding! How will I get through the 23 days until we leave?

Kitchen looking at outside terrace

First doorway is where the stairs will be

Looking Majestic!

Looking into Carlos' study from upstairs terrace

Second floor walkway

The arch straight ahead leads to my roof top laundry hanging area

Master Bath

Master Bedroom

Master bedroom looking out french doors

And this is what I have been spending time on. I have been scouring the internet looking at furniture I like and saving the photos so I can see if it can be made in Merida!

Copper topped table

A Few Updated Construction Photos!

The upper level is starting to take shape. In last nights conference call it was said that the columns are now done and the upper arches will be worked on this week. Today I only have some photos taken of the upper level walls going up. I can still see the changes taking place. We will be going to Merida, the second week of October to choose toilets, sinks etc. (maybe even flooring and colors!) Plus they need  GCFI  interrupt outlets that I want installed in the bathrooms, hallways and kitchen and roof. I am bringing them down from here. I will be so excited to see the house. It's been difficult not being able to see the daily progress.

The master showing french doors as well as small balcony

There will be concrete beams across the top here to make a pergola

A good view from the back

Upper terrace outside of CQ's study

Master bedroom

looking from the lower terrace (outside of kitchen)

The courtyard

From the terrace looking into CQ's study

Construction Continues!

Last night (labor day) we had a Skype conference call with Arturo, (our real estate agent/property mgr) and Roger (one of our young architects) to discuss progress. I like these calls. It gives us some time to ask questions and to request further information which the plans do not make absolutely clear. Roger wanted to discuss the columns in the first room to the second. All along we all felt they were ugly and they should be removed. However Roger found out that the structural beam above them is short and removing them may compromise the integrity of support, meaning the ceiling could collapse! The first suggested solution was to fill in around the columns and just make them disappear.

The doorway in question

If you look at the photo and imagine the doorway filled in around the columns, you can see how visually smaller the space would become. We really wanted the site line to go all the way through the house. Both CQ and I had the same idea of, OK we can live with the columns but make them less ugly and match the rest of the columns out back! Than Roger came up with, if we are going to keep them let's make them a stunning visual element! Now the ball is in his hands and he's going to come up with a few design elements which will take these ugly columns and make them visually stunning. Stay tuned!