Sharon Lord - Argent Decor - AZ Vacation Home Furnishing Service

We had to run to Sports Authority today as Nathan is coaching baseball for his sons' teams. The closest one to our home is at Pavilions at Talking Stick, at Indian Bend and the 101.

We knew there was a Spring Training Game at Salt River Fields (there's one EVERY DAY through April 4th!), but we were surprised to find a FREE Family Street Fair on the south side of the complex!

There were booths with local favorites like honey, salsas, buffalo meat and more, plus jewelry, apparel, farmer's market, and LOTS of food and food trucks! Some basic games/rides for the kids, too!

Above is a photo from Nathan's favorite, where he had an AWESOME Indian Fry Bread taco - I would've posted a photo of it but he demolished it before I had a chance! Emerson's Fry Bread - $8 for a massive, delicious Fry Bread taco!

The Pavilions Street Fair will run every Sunday, 10-4, through May 2012. FREE Admission! Learn more about it and other events at Pavilions here: Scottsdale AZ Pavilions FREE events

The City of Scottsdale offers some fantastic FREE workshops for landscaping in the desert southwest!

Landscape Container Gardening - TUESDAY MARCH 6, 6PM - Kirti Mathura shares the basics of container gardening for patios or yard accents. Learn to select plant size, shape and color to create intriguing arrangements. With the right container plants, you can even attract hummingbirds!

Caring for your Desert Garden - TUESDAY, MARCH 20, 6PM - This class will shed light on misconceptions commonly associated with desert gardening including proper techniques for watering, fertilizing, pruning and other maintenance tips. It's important to know how to properly care for your landscape after you've selected the right plants and installed them correctly.

Program Your Irrigation Controller - TUESDAY, MARCH 27, 6PM - Take control of your landscape watering with step-by-step instructions and hands-on practice setting and adjusting the timer.

Irrigation Maintenance, Troubleshooting & Repair - SATURDAY, MARCH 31, 10AM - Get the basics on good maintenance practices, advice on problem solving and techniques you can use to keep your landscape irrigation system running smoothly.

All classes held at the Granite Reef Senior Center - 1700 N Granite Reef, Scottsdale AZ.

Register online at www.scottsdaleaz.gov/water/conservation or call 480-312-5690.

I've been on Active Rain for a few years now, but last week, I finally made one of my "Virtual" friends a "Reality" friend!

Juli Vosmik with Dominion Real Estate has been following me, and I have been following her, for some time now. We finally decided to meet up to view a listing together, up in Cave Creek. If you haven't visited Cave Creek, it's a quaint, 'Old West' style town north of Scottsdale - definitely worth a trip!

Juli and I had lunch at Harold's Corral - a Cave Creek legend - and bounced ideas off each other for marketing, real estate, staging - you name it!

It's great to finally have a "real" friend that I met on AR!

If you are looking for a home or real estate investment in North Scottsdale, Cave Creek, Carefree, Desert Mountain, Troon, etc - DEFINITELY give Juli a call! She lives and works in this area every day, and has a great feel for the real estate market!

I had been driving a decade before I moved to Arizona, and in that time, I had had 1 windshield chip EVER on my vehicles.

When I moved to AZ, one of my new friends referred me to an insurance agent - he gave me VERY sage advice - ADD GLASS COVERAGE to my auto policy!

Why...? AZ roads don't see regular and/or heavy rainfall, snow plowing, or other methods that might remove small rocks and debris. This means it's much more likely for "stuff" to get shot up by another vehicle onto your windshield! It can also be dusty here, and all that sand in the air can wear down on your glass - kind of like sand paper.

It was quite windy yesterday, and while I was driving home, a large rock hit my windshield - UGH. Big 'ol crack on the driver's side. This will be the 2nd patch/replacement (I think because of how deep it is, they'll have to replace it tomorrow!) in less than a year for me. Luckily, I have $0 deductible for glass. It adds maybe $2/mo per vehicle to our insurance, but it's well worth it!

While most of the US is still under the icy grips of winter, we here in Phoenix are delightfully basking in the best time of the year here!

This is a photo from our trip yesterday to Lowe's in Scottsdale - even though we don't NEED any more plants, I couldn't resist and picked up a few more flowering annuals.

I'm guessing not many other locales have this much color in their garden section yet...! One more reason why living in the Valley of the Sun ROCKS!