Happy Fourth of July! Definitely one of, if not my favorite holiday of the year. No gifts, barbecue, parades, fireworks, and everyone is included. What is there not to like about this holiday. 

We always try to do something or go somewhere for this holiday. Last year it was the high country of Colorado where we rolled our Highlander and nearly died, the year before that we were in San Diego, and the year before that right here where we are today, Deer Valley and Park City, Utah. Always such fun to chill with the family and since my clients are all doing the same, I find it to be one of the quietest weeks of the year so I always make a point of getting away somewhere. Even though I am technically “on vacation” I did manage to squeeze in six meetings yesterday but enjoyed lunch on Main Street in Park City with the family and then a Los Lonely Boys concert enjoying the mountain sunshine and fresh air. I love it!

This week also marks the 10 year anniversary of this blog! This is my 250thblog! Amazing and we have had 106,285 views of our blog as of this morning! First and foremost, thanks for all the views, posts and comments. Very appreciated for sure!

So, it’s not like my blog is some viral blog with millions of viewers or anything, and so why do I do it? I enjoy it – it’s as simple as that. Some guys golf, I blog, write, paint, sketch, travel, and of course cook – oh and once in a while work with my amazing team and design a house or two….actually we have now designed over 2500 homes in my 36 years, so let’s just say, I like to stay busy. My mom and dad will attest to the fact I have always been this way and have been writing and drawing since I could hold a pencil. I was the Sports Editor of my school paper (40threunion in Durango, CO in just three weeks) took drafting as early as I could and have always had a multitude of little projects of some nature always going. Thank God we had a basement where I could build mega cities with my legos and matchbox and hot wheels cars. Then I started drawing cities and those that know me from my high school days will remember those city drawings! So, it is who I am as I like to say.

I am always amazed at how many times someone will ask me a question or for a recipe and I simply send them the link to one of my blogs that has everything they need. I find them fun to look back upon and see what we were doing or what I was cooking or thinking at the time. So, in essence it is kind of a public diary/journal I am more than happy to share.

I have been through a lot over these past ten years and a lot of it is revealed either directly or indirectly in these blogs. Many ups and amazing moments like getting married to Isabel in 2013 and the tough times of 2008 when I started the blog through the great recession and the struggles we all fought our way through. Of course, there was our experience last year supporting my wife Isabel with her so far successful fight against breast cancer. So many experiences, so many fantastic recipes, trips and travels – it’s all there. It really doesn’t matter to me how many read it or who reads it but I love sharing what me and my amazing team are doing and thinking. It’s our story and we are happy to share it! I hope you continue to read and share your thoughts on my thoughts – I love the exchange of thoughts, feelings and dreams. That’s what it is all about. 

So what lies ahead in the next ten years??? 

Well, I will be 67 years old…. That’s kind of hard to grasp and digest. My company, Candelaria Design will be nearly 30 years old. I currently have one junior partner, my dearest and sweet friend and collaborator for nearly 20 years, Vivian Ayala, and it is my hope to have several more partners in the firm in the next ten years and that is all in the works. WE have built a vibrant, prolific and inspiring organization and I am so excited to see where it all goes in the next ten years. The team coming on are full of energy and vision to carry my passion and dream onward and that so rewarding to me and why I am so proud of what we have created. 

My hope, God willing, is to continue to be a part of Candelaria Design as the founder, and spend my time on design, more travel, speaking, writing books – several in process now, writing music, painting – several paintings underway now, cook, and of course enjoy more time with my lovely bride, Isabel and my girls and family and dear friends and cook for you all! Oh, how I wish I could cook for you all!!! I will keep trying J.

I have to say, I am more excited about these next ten years than any of time behind me, which I wouldn’t change as they have all shaped and molded me into who I am today. The ups and downs, the loves and loves lost, all of the projects and people I have met along the way… it’s all been more than I ever imagined when I graduated from high school and thought about a life as an architect. It has been beyond my wildest dreams and I know the next ten will far surpass then last 57 years especially with all I can see on the Candelaria horizon.  

So, get ready, this ride is only beginning and these blogs will only get better and better. Ok Blog 250 is done and I am looking forward to the day I write my 20-year anniversary blog! 

Have a great fourth of July everyone! Love ya’ all!