What and where I purchased.

• >Coffee each day at local coffee shops like Hava Java, Lux Cafe…+

• >Bread at MJ Bread on Roosevelt and 7th St.

• >Chocolate at Catham’s Chocolates which is closing soon due to a lack of chocolate eaters.

• >Two Tacos at a local place on Camelback and 3rd St. but the name slipped my mind.  They were good though with organic ingredients: a real value.

Besides food I did buy a book but it was not local store – they did not have it and I wanted it now.

• >Ordered real estate signs from a local printer. bp-graphics

• >Got a bike repair at a local bike shop: Slippery Pig Bike Shop

• >Purchases a gift of art supplies at Arizona Art Supply

• >Had an awesome time with really good music on Thursday at Bomberos Wine Bar in Sunnyslope.

• >Purchased produce grown in AZ on Wednesday at the farmers market at 24th & Camelback.

I did buy some grips for my bike which were $49.95 but I later saw them at REI for $28.00.  Not a bit deal but it’s quite a difference and this is one hurdle with buying at locally owned independent stores but just the same things are often less expensive in independent stores plus for somethings it just makes sense to buy locally especially things that will need to be serviced or just if you care about the community, its growth and health.

Many of the farmers markets are closed during the summer and rightfully so.   What’s the pleasure of going through some fresh lettuce while your head is burning from the sun.

So just as with almost another activity in Greater Phoenix the living season is starting now.

There are quite a few farmers markets throughout the Phoenix valley and there are several new farmers markets coming in Glendale, Surprise and Buckeye.

See the additional links below.

Downtown Phoenix Public Market Food and more

Our primary blog is Phoenix Market Trends and we average about 10 posts a week there focusing on Greater Phoenix real estate and more precisely Central Phoenix Core.

In the near future you will see that Real Estate Confluence begins to grow and expand and of course it will be updated more often with real estate and non real estate news related mostly to Midtown, Downtown and Uptown Phoenix.

Were also considering some print advertising in Hoozdo Mag. and  North Central News: you may see us there starting in 2009.

Perhaps you see “free time” as luxury, but your main focus is always to move FORWARD in all areas of your life.  Looking at a long shelve with self-development books, you just know, it will take  too long to read all books you crave.

Brian thought of people like you:

“In less than 15 minutes a week, we’ll get you thru the Big Ideas of 25 of the best self-development books ever written—you’ll get a 6-page PDF and ~20-minute MP3 for each title so you can decide if you’d prefer to read over a cup of tea or listen on your way to work, on a hike, at the gym, doing errands or whatever’s best for you!”

And he continues:

“We’ll gain mastery in spiritual economics (we MUST learn how to integrate our spirituality/self-actualizing with our bank accounts, no?), health and fitness (how can we possibly live at our highest potential if we have a hard time getting out of bed?), and relationship skills (love, love, love!!). We’ll learn a bunch of ways to discover our purpose/dharma, how to follow our bliss, how to feel the fear… and do it anyway and how to live the 7 habits of highly effective people. And, we’ll study the science of getting rich and the magic of thinking big. And all kinds of other goodness.”

I have to say: I do like it.

In some cases- before you finish a second cup of morning coffee (or green tea : ) you read one Summary, (sometimes it takes longer) you mood is set, you are energized – that is how Brian writes, and you just learned something very practical  that you will be able to apply immediately to many situations throughout the day.

Click on the icon here in the post, and start reading and enjoying!

(What I have read this morning:  a Summary of ” Self -Actualizing People” A. Maslow)

Get a 6-page PDF and >< 20-Minute Mp3 for each title.   Click on the icon or here.

Previously we could implant chips in our dogs, now we can chip the recycling bins. But not for the purpose of tracking them, if they get lost (what happened yesterday to the greatest astonishment of my  clients in Palm Valley) but to monitor weight of the recycled items.

Allied Waste and RecycleBank  are launching a program that will encourage people to recycle.

“Participating customers in communities served by Allied Waste will have radio frequency identification codes imbedded in their recycling bins. RecycleBank Points are then awarded to the community for each pound of recyclable material, with the total amount evenly divided among participating customers.

Households can redeem RecycleBank points for gift cards and discounts to more than 400 brand name national and local retailers. Recipients also can convert rewards into donations for select charitable organizations. ” Source: Phoenix Business Journal, July 8th, 2008

The program will start in 2008 in just 3 metropolies and will expand in 2009.

Isn’t it nice to be rewarded for something that.. we should do anyway?

(Central Phoenix home without landscaping)

It is clear to me, when I show homes and I see what kind of excitement a home with a great landscaping can create or when quite decent homes with not a single thing planted in the front yard (or a dying king palm) creates just an undecided.. ehhmmm. Of course it is easy to see when the emptiness is amor vacui, contemporary, minimalistic landscaping, and when it is simply overlooked.

(Central Phoenix Home With Landscaping)

A few reasons why I would encourage some plants, strategically placed and maintained:

1. We live in the desert- so landscaping improvement can be really easy, affordable and low maintenance, and with right shrubs and trees chosen- our water expense will not increase. Quite contrary- when changing from grass to desert landscaping- this expense will decrease.

2. It adds value. In “101 ways to Massively Increase the Value of your Real Estate without Spending Much Money”, Dolf de Roos writes in the first 10 chapters:

“Mow the lawns, for heaven’s sake! I am always delighted to inspect real estate where the grass comes up to my waist, as I know that I can deduct thousands of dollars off the price, even though the cost of cutting the grass may only be a couple of hundred dollars”

“What I am suggesting is that you pay to have mature trees delivered and ‘installed’ on your property. naturally this will cost a bit more , but if spending $2,000 on trees can increase the value by $10,000, than this is a good trade off”

It also has been noticed: there are more trees in affluent neighborhoods.

If you plan on living in a house for a while you can buy a very young desert tree for about $35.00. In 3 years this tree will be large enough to make a positive financial impact on the value of the home.

3. It will make you feel better. There is a difference between walking to your home between a heated to 170 degrees driveway slab and not much cooler rock front yard embellished with 2 cacti, while spending just few seconds close to a shade giving tree and a quick glimpse at violet or orange blooming shrubs can only relieve stress and put us in a calmer mood.

I really enjoy photography.  One thing I noticed years ago is that I enjoy the process of photogrphy more so then the results.  Good result are a satisfying by product of the process and I kinda like the results of the fashion photo above.