Pino's Pizza al Centro

We are beyond excited. Our neighbors Kim & Tom - our lifesavers out here - took us downtown for dinner Friday night to celebrate Shawn's birthday. We started with drinks at Tom's brother BJ's house, then we all headed to Pino's for dinner. It's crazy - a local place that's only open weekdays from 10-2 and 5 - 8. Lots of good Italian food and quite possibly the BEST pizza I have ever had out west. I am a big fan of our local thin-crust brick oven place, but Pino's had that east coast flavor that is hard to find anywhere else. Haven't had their regular yet, but I'm sure it won't disappoint. Pino took good care of us (Tom & Kim lived nearby before moving to Verrado a few years ago) and we will definitely be back.

(Not Pino's but close...actually thin-crust at a local spot in our village of Castellina in Chianti, Italy, September 2006.)

Hometown Holidays

Verrado always has something special going on, and this past weekend was our Hometown Holidays celebration. The bloodmobile was here all day taking donations, there was a pancake breakfast in the morning, and a vendor gift shopping fair during the day. At night the town square was lit up - palm trees included - and they had all kinds of activities for big and little kids alike including making 

gingerbread houses, roasting marshmallows and making s'mores, two snow pits for the big and little kids to enjoy snowball fights (hysterical), a horse-drawn carriage/hayride around the square, the middle school band and chorus performing,  the tree lighting, and, of course, Santa. Vendors had soup, hot chocolate, and other winter favorites, and it was cool enough out to enjoy them. Definitely geared more for families, but a great event even without kids.

A New Career

It is safe to say that NO ONE will guess what I am doing in my new position, but it's an amazing, growing company with great people and valuable work that the employees can really get behind. Check us out. 

East Coast Reunion in the West Valley

Thanks to Facebook I reconnected with a classmate from middle school who moved to Arizona a few years ago. I had seen that she was out here back when I thought we were a couple of years away and reached out, then we got in touch again when we knew we'd be moving out here sooner than planned. Jean and Steve live about as far across the valley from us as possible, but we recently got together with them and other friends of theirs from the west valley at Westgate, the outdoor shopping and entertainment area that was built next to the stadium before the last Superbowl.  We hit Margaritaville and The Brew House and had a great time.

 

   

"Won't you miss the seasons?"

In a word, no.

Long Overdue Update!

I can't believe how long it has been since I last posted. Somehow, from the time I got my job offers until I accepted and started working again, weeks passed.

Where to start? I guess I'll do a few entries starting with some great pics of our camping/off-roading trip in Sedona/Oak Creek/Camp Verde. We met our friends Eric and Kristen for a great weekend at a favorite site and took three separate off-roading trips, the first being the Broken Arrow trail in the red rock country of Sedona. This is where the Pink Jeep Tours go - amazing stuff.

We came down this one - "The Steps". Check out the above link to see what it looks like with a vehicle on it!

"Chicken Point"

Founder's Day 2008

It's been a while...job searching and settling in is keeping us very busy, and we've managed to fit some fun in as well.

Friday night we walked over to Main Street to check things out - Verrado's annual Founder's Day weekend was here and they were setting up in town for the next day's events. Just about everything was ready to go, and they were doing screen and lighting checks. It was pretty quiet with very few people around - less than 24 hours later it would look completely different.

Saturday was incredible - perfect weather and the celebration right in the town square and up Main Street. The festivities started at 2 and included vendor tents with all kinds of food, drink, and things for sale, classic Woodies (following the "beach" theme), and a different band playing every hour up until 8 when The Beach Boys would take the stage. They even set up a "beach" of sand alongside the stage (third pic above). Shawn and I had been kind of bummed since the bands that had played in the past included Train, Gin Blossoms, Blues Traveler, The B52s, etc., plus I had seen TBB several times at Great Adventure as a kid, but they put on a great show. Our friends Mary and Val and my goddaughter Julia and her exchange student Mina from Korea joined us, and it was fun to share the experience with Mary being from California and never having seen them before.

The lawn worked on the honors system, so you just showed up earlier in the day, laid your blankets down, and wandered in and out throughout the day. It worked out well for us since we were invited to our neighbors Tom & Kim's place later on in the day. Great wine, friends new and old, and the concert ended a great day. Sunday was the closing event of the weekend - a BBQ lunch in one of the parks - and then we headed off to see friends in the east valley for dinner. The weekend is designed to foster a sense of community, and it really works. We met some new people at the concert who are also new in town who pushed us to join clubs to meet people, and we have our first dinner for one next week. Everyone is so friendly here that it is almost impossible to NOT meet people.

That's the latest news. We're hoping to get away for some camping with our friend Eric up in Sedona this weekend before it gets too cold up there. We'll keep you posted.