Tomorrow is our one month anniversary living here in Mazatlan. We really do love it here, and discover wonderful people and places every day.

We continue to become more and more comfortable in our home - a desk for the office is wonderful - no more plastic table and things scattered on the surface. We have drawers! Today we bought two inexpensive chaise lounges for our upstairs terrace since now that the evenings are cool we thought it would be wonderful to stretch out there and watch the stars.

Our house back in Washington finally closed, and we were happy that we were able to do all the paperwork without either one of us flying home. The closing documents were emailed to us; we printed them out and then went to the US Embassy for notarizing. Then to DHL and the rest is history. They emailed us the final documents this morning....and I made a few calls on the Vonage phone to turn off the power and other closing items. We are so totally HERE it seemed strange to think we still had a house THERE.

We bought a number of pieces of furniture from a Mexican couple who were selling almost everything to move to a condo in town. All of the pieces are pretty old and kind of funky but we are really happy with them. Two rockers, a settee, an Eastlake table with a stone top, a hall tree/seat, and the office desk and chair. She told me how she rocked her babies in one chair, and that they come with all the love of her family. We had heard about them from ex-pat neighbors of ours, and told others of their furniture and know they made at least one other sale. But it was fun to get to know them, and have a little practice with all those social graces here that take a little bit of time to learn. Kissing beside the cheek, how to say no to coffee without insult - that kind of thing.

We are really loving living in the city. We take the dogs for a long walk in the morning - and some mornings this includes some splashing in the ocean. On the way back we sometimes stop at the bakery for a pan dulce for breakfast. We have our espresso - and have found great coffee here in town - and read the Noroeste with our dictionary close by. We do our chores in the morning and then explore the city in the afternoon and evening. We can walk anywhere. Excellent food. The ocean. Drinks. Tienda. Laundry. It is great.

The house is wonderful. We hear the sounds of the city around us - whistles, honks, laughing children (two schools on our street), the workers doing a remodel next door, etc. But they are happy sounds, and we enjoy all of it. I even hear a rooster once in a while.

I know it is our honeymoon here, but it is wonderful to live in a place you love like crazy and that you know you can live with. We are happy!