Hey internet peoples. I wanted to let you know that I am back with a vengeance. We are moved into our rental house and I’m still not working so it’s time to blog, baby, blog. I’ve had this post sitting in the hopper for a week now so I thought I’d hit publish on this one and hit you after Thanksgiving with some pics from the new place.
Now that we’re (mostly) relocated down to Phoenix, JT and I have been roaming the city, learning the streets and being tourists in our new town. It has been sunny and at least 75 degrees everyday which helps encourage the getting-out-and-about vibe. Last weekend we did a lot of exploring of the outdoors, so this weekend we did a little indoor exploration. Well sort of, let me explain.
Friday kicked off with me trolling Apartment Therapy (this retirement thing is pretty sweet) and happening upon a House Tour of the director of the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (http://www.smoca.org/)
(Image via Apartment Therapy, by Lindsey Nochta)
Check out the house tour – there are some phenomenal images of a well curated space. I have been enjoying the houses around here so much – it’s a totally different housing stock from STL. At any rate, from the house tour I learned about SMoCA and when I browsed over to its site, I found out it’s open until 9pm on Fridays and Saturdays and also free after 5pm. (Good for our budget because moving costs $$).
(Image above via Build LLC blog)
The main architect of the building is Will Bruder, who we are learning is a prominent Phoenix architect.
Visiting in the evening was really nice – the museum was basically ours. One other couple came in just as we were leaving. JT snapped this picture of me in the Narrow Road to the Interior exhibit. He’s always keeping me in line because I have a tendency to get too close to the art. This one had a note that said you could climb in, you just had to take your shoes off first. It didn’t say anything about leaving your purse at the door but I did that too. I love it.
The other really neat thing about visiting SMoCA at night is the James Turrell skyspace. Here’s a daytime shot from the Build LLC blog:
And here’s a crummy iPhone night-time shot of JT. I want to go back.
But before we hit the art museum, we were driving around looking for a dinner destination. I had seen a place I wanted to try on a strip mall sign but when we went back, it wasn’t actually in the strip mall. We had passed a cool round building in the process that looked like some sort of drive-thru/walk-up joint so headed there and ended up at Ingo’s Tasty Food.
(Image via The Phoenix News Time blog)
There was a catch though – it wasn’t officially open yet, they were doing a soft opening to train the staff and work out all the kinks. Turns out this building was also designed by the same Mr. Will Bruder as SMoCA. It was a gorgeous evening so we sat outside and had free (really good) burgers and sangria (veggie for me, some kind of barbeque madness for JT). So far I have to say, Arizona is Amazing.
Have a great Tofurkey Day and I’ll be back soon with some pictures of the new place. Cheers – CT
Living Analog 
Very cool – I’ve seen him lecture several times, and he’s a fascinating (and really down to earth) guy.
Very jealous of your current weather.
That’s so neat you got to see him lecture! I should poke around online and see what else I can find about him. We most definitely are so thankful and fully enjoying our new AZ weather. Cheers – CT
Glad you’re moved in and enjoying your new town…and its warm temperatures. Happy Thanksgiving!
Happy belated Thanksgiving Dana! Hope you had great weather too! Cheers – CT