Chandler Transportation Plan Meeting on 6/25

Received this email earlier today announcing this upcoming meeting -

Help shape Chandler’s transportation future:
Attend the Transportation Plan Public Meeting:

Wednesday, June 25, 2008
6 - 8 p.m.
Chandler City Council Chambers, 22 S. Delaware St.
Chandler Downtown Library (2nd Floor)

What direction should the City of Chandler take?

  1. What should our priorities be?
  2. Wider streets and intersections?
  3. Improved pedestrian walkways?
  4. More bicycle lanes?
  5. Urban trails?
  6. Light rail, trains, buses?

For more information call: City of Chandler 480-782-3440

Vintage Video Games Exhibit Opens 6/14 in Chandler


From the City of Chandler website:

June 14, 2008 from 10am to 3-m

McCullough-Price House

Opening day visitors will be able to play modern video games in The Game Truck, a mobile game arcade. Game designs created by students at the University of Advancing Technology will also be showcased, and visitors can meet game design professionals from Rainbow Studios, a local game design firm. California Pizza Kitchen will provide light refreshments. The exhibit is presented with support of the SanTan Sun News. There is no charge for admission and the exhibit is suitable for all ages. There’s also a video game challenge held on 6/19, 6/20, 6/21, 3 age categories.

The Purpose of Staging is To Help Your House Sell


As a professional stager, I found that home sellers were well educated on what home staging is suppose to do. While it does help you to sell your home, don’t think of home staging is a “miracle cure”. It’s not. I don’t mean to burst your bubble, but properly staging a home is hard work - only to be followed by the home sellers commitment to not only keep up the staged atmosphere, but to live in it, as well.

Whether staging your home yourself or hiring the services of a professional, when done properly - the benefits far outweigh the time and labor invested in setting the stage for selling your home.

3 reasons to stage your home:


Recognition - Have you heard that it’s a buyers’ market? Perhaps you’ve heard that there is an extensive inventory available to buyers for their choosing? With this overload of homes, staging greatly improves your properties chances of being remembered. Think of it as key word association of the mind. Enhance the benefits of your home - great structure, architectural niches, upgraded baths, updated flooring - Proper staging will enhance the feature and draw the buyer’s eye to it.


Another great benefit? What chance does your home have if your photos (both in print and on the internet) look less than fabulous? Consider the mere statistic that your home may be 1 in 25 or 1 in 75 that each potential buyer is inspecting. Honestly - what makes your house stand out from the rest?


The Edge - Utilize your time wisely prior to actively marketing your house. Take care of the things that could of/should of/would of been done in days gone by. Don’t know where to start? Ask your family members they are sure to tell you. If in doubt, ask the neighbor across the street who’s been looking at your front yard for years. (Here’s a hint: Don’t ask if you don’t really want to know).


Competition - Instead of being concerned about how well the neighboring homes compare to your property - turn the tables and make them envious of your prime piece of real estate. Would you rather go through 100 marketing fliers or never have a showing? Even if all of the neighbors are taking the fliers - that equates to more than 100x the exposure of advertising your property. (No matter what your annual income may be - you still wouldn’t be able to afford an advertising campaign of this magnitude).

Improve the marketability of your property - instead of depending on the expertise of one (highly qualified) professional real estate agent to sell your property, consider your neighborhood as your advertising dollars at work (pro bono, no less) … Want results? Talk to your agent about a “Neighborhood Open House” and invite everyone to an exclusive showing. It wouldn’t hurt to invite the media along, too. Don’t be afraid of what they have to say - invite them!


The most talented stager can do a phenomenal job staging your home, but without marketing it’s just a mute point. Marketing is merely taking the steps to ensure those who are searching for your home are able to find it - when they want, where they want and of course, in the least painful way.

Need help selling your home?

Sprouts in Chandler is Having a Beauty Fest

In this week’s ad from Sprouts - there’s an invitation to join them for a “magical festival” to celebrate beauty. There will be lectures, product demos, raffles and goodie bags. (Sign up in the Vitamin Dept for their events). Each of their stores have a different festival date - but here’s the info for both of their Chandler stores.

Dobson / Ray Rd Store - Saturday, June 14th from 9-10:30am

Alma School / Queen Creek Store - Wednesday, July 16th from 6:30pm - 8pm

Ever been to Sprouts?

Honestly - Sprouts is the store next door to the salon I go to, to get my hair cut. Yes, it’s been there for years - but honestly with the exception of a visit or two - I haven’t been a frequent shopper. Once someone told me that eating healthy was going to have a negative effect on my wallet - that was about all the reason I needed to NOT shop there. Now - I’m giving it a second chance … I visited their website and read about their core values. Their site talks about valuing the customer (Did I just read an article about how customer service is getting worse?!) and risk taking are encouraged. (Risks? With food?)

Anyways - I digress. It also just so happens that in today’s mail I get all the weekly advertisements (doesn’t everybody?) Typically - I trash them upon receipt. Straight to the round file, do not pass go, do not collect $200. - Today, I went through them (albeit half-heartedly) and took a couple of minutes to puruse Sprout’s ad. I learned that they have pineapple (2 for $4), boneless skinless chicken breast for only $1.99 (GREAT deal!), jumbo cantaloupe at 2 for $3 - this is making me hungry - must stop this! They also sell a bunch of stuff I’ve never heard of or can’t pronounce …

So - where am I going with all this .. I don’t know. Just thought I’d share it with you - just in case you didn’t know.

Schnepf Farms - U Pick Peaches

Just came across an announcement that Schnepf Farms in Queen Creek still has some peaches & apricots ripe for picking. We’ve gone to their peach festival for a few years and have thoroughly enjoyed it - kids , too. Maybe we’ll trying going there for breakfast and see what they have to offer. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Summer Hours (beginning June 1st-August 31st)

— CLOSED JULY 7TH - 22ND –

7:30am to 2pm Wednesday, Thursday & Sunday (breakfast& lunch)

7:30-8pm Fridays and Saturdays (breakfast , lunch & dinner)

Phone number: 480-987-8398

U-PICK PEACH ORCHARDS open 7 Days a week until picked out.

I would suggest you call ahead of time to confirm. If memory serves me correctly, this is a long drive out to Queen Creek and I sure wouldn’t want you to be disappointed. Check out their website, too. They usually have a lot of activities going on.

Ever been?

Eco Friendly Clothes by Quiksilver

Remember you said you wouldn’t laugh, right?

While at the Chandler Fashion Mall earlier today, a tag on a pair of Quiksilver boardshorts caught my eye. The tag said that the company had a commitment to the environment. So, I came home and looked up their website to see just what their commitment included - low and behold - they have an entire line of Eco-Friendly clothing - shirts, shoes, pants. They have some really cool looking t-shirts, too. Be sure to check them out - quiksilver - notice there’s no “c” in quik.

What do you think?

Chandler AZ - The Beginning of this Blog

Just the beginning - Believing in a better tomorrow. Each of us doing our part for tomorrow by making a conscious effort to waste less today. Concentrating on recycling, reusing, frugality and a basic belief that at the soul of human kind is goodness. WOW - that’s deep. Actually, I’d just like to see the world be a better place for my family.

It’s all about Chandler, Arizona - A small part of the world that I’m hoping to make a difference. I’m not expecting a major difference, but yet, I am expecting to make a world of difference in these prime acres of real estate.

ALSO - I’m a total neophyte in the whole GREEN arena. I’ll share what I learn and hope that you won’t laugh at me (too much!) for being a little late to the game. Add your two cents in, too. Don’t hold back.

Deal?