The clock is ticking and we’re mostly going back and forth from our architect to our designer through interminable design meetings. The project isn’t that complicated its just that; 1.) We want to create an incredible impression 2.) We are adding several new elements to the concept, and 3.) As is true with almost everyone today – we have a very tight budget. But finally yesterday we made our final decisions on what the outside of the building and patio will look like, and are very close on an exciting floor plan that does everything we want it to do. Now its up to the architect to turn them into plans that the city can review. I’ll post elevations in the next couple of weeks after we turn them into the city. In the meantime one of our objects is to introduce lots of vegetation to the patio we’re going to build and an “Italian Patio” translates to lots of vines. It may look a little underwhelming but above is a picture of the start of our “vine farm” that Chrissy started in our backyard. We will probably double or triple the size in the coming weeks so we can get a head start on getting some mature plants in place by our opening in the spring. I’ve also been skulking about on craigslist looking for restaurant equipment deals. Here is an antique service desk – perhaps from a hotel that I found and that we will be using in our take-out area, and also pictured below is a retro looking refrigerated deli case that we will be using in our retail section. I found them both in Casa Grande of all places and they’re now safe and sound at the new restaurant. Yesterday I went to central phoenix to buy a used back bar refrigerator and negotiated on some new but liquidated bar stools. I have a list of about 30 items that I have budgeted to buy and my object is to find them for less than the budget calls for, because its inevitable that we’ll have some big budget surprises down the road. So far so good though. We are planning to replace the entire 20 year old HVAC system with a brand new system of three state-of-the-art humongous AC units, and we just got what i think will be the winning bid yesterday. I was going to tell you how much it is for but we haven’t awarded it yet. Weirdly, however, the bid matches our budget almost to the dollar. Hmmmm …. makes me think that I better keep a closer eye on who I let see that budget.