:: steveamann.com

It's getting hot in here - again

That's IV as in the fourth annual Cinco de Mayo party, not IV as in an alcohol drip pumping into a vein... although some believe they are one and the same.

This year's event will be Saturday, May 3. We'll start with six o'clocktails, Margis and passed appetizers served up by our favorite cutie bartender, Hector (who is now a banker by the way!), and our friendly gang from the Barrio Cafe. Chef Silvana is once again cooking up a great meal. Here's this year's menu.

Last year's party weekend was a lot of fun and I'm hoping for frivolity and hedonism once again. You can see pictures from the previous year's parties under the archive section of this page (left margin).

Homevolution

When I bought my Phoenix house it was, from a surface level, a house that many people could move into easily and be very happy. I loved the bones, layout, giant windows and views, but I knew that I'd be doing a lot of changing, decorating and remodeling since I'm not a fan of cheap materials and mucho beige. As it turns out, I'll probably have changed every square inch of this place before I consider myself done. It's March 16, 2008 as I write this, my 3 year anniversary - so I thought I'd try to show some of the bigger projects and the evolution. It's still a work in progress:

exterior

The exterior of the house hadn't been painted since it was built 10 years ago. Although it was well covered, it was faded, and of course, beige! Our HOA finally started to allow more than 2 colors (both beige) and now at least I had 10 shades of brown from which to choose. One shade was a dark sepia with a golden tint so I went with that and a darker brown trim. It now looks different from the other neighbors and adds a lot of curb appeal. Click the pictures link or the thumbnail above for before and after shots. Pictures

Powder Room

The Powder Room downstairs was one of the easy "just get it done" kind of projects that had to happen right away. The previous owners tried an orange and brown wall paint technique that made it look as though someone spread ca-ca all over the place. It almost made me heave to walk in. It's not done... I've done little to it since just to get the basics in. I of course re-painted and changed out the pedestal sink with a glass vessel sink and nice faucet. One day I'll change out the floor and put a little more decor inside. Picture

Kitchen

One of the other first projects I tackled was the kitchen. I hated the Formica countertops, the porcelain white tile on the floor and the shiny black appliances and sink - so I had slab granite countertops installed, and replaced the fridge, dishwasher, and cook-top with stainless steel. I replaced the sink with ivory Silegranite and the faucet with a modern gooseneck. I also replaced a dated built-in desk with two wine refrigerators and then added the finishing touches with ancient Durango stone on the floor, backsplash, and entry wall. Pictures

bar

The 'dining room' has sliders going out to the pool. It's also set up so that if you did put a table and chairs in it, you'd have to walk around all the furniture to get outside or into the kitchen, totally breaking up the flow I like in this house, which is total circulation (great for parties). As a single guy who would rather have a buffet party rather than a sit-down dinner, I don't need a formal dining room. Besides, it's Arizona where we grill and eat outdoors... and I'm an old lush, so I needed a bar!

Pictures

Office

The previous home owners moved the original door on the office. When they did so, someone patched the old hole so poorly that you could always see the door outline on a wall that now went up the full two stories in the living room. It also broke up the office so strangely, that you couldn't really arrange furniture well because there was either a door, a window, or an inset on every wall. They also used a cheap short ugly door. I moved the opening back to the original location and put in an 8 foot tall reeded glass door. We patched up the former spot (but my guy did it so well you'd never know) and I repainted everything. It looks great, seems more natural to the flow, adds a break and some scale to that very tall wall in the living room, and I now have a solid wall where I can build shelving or put bookcases. Pictures

MASTER SUITE

The master suite had a great layout with a balcony, a sitting room and a double-sided fireplace. The issues I had were with the half wall between the sitting room and the bedroom; the fireplace facade was covered in cheap white porcelain tile; and there was the same beige Berber carpeting as was everywhere else in the house. Also, the previous homeowners never used the fireplace (it had gas pipes but no setup). I opened up the sitting room, changed the fireplace facade, put the fire on remote, changed out the flooring and repainted everything. Pictures

Flooring

There was cheap beige Berber carpeting everywhere in this house both upstairs and down. Although I had it cleaned before moving in, I could barely stand the idea that I was living with the hair, dust, skin, and who knows what else of the previous homeowners buried beneath my bare feet. I also couldn't stand the look as it was semi-worn and loose in some spots. I put Malasian Merbau hardwood floors in every room downstairs and replaced all the carpeting upstairs with a thick plush. Pictures

POOL

A pool in Phoenix is a necessity. The back yard of this house was nothing but dirt on top of rock. It was a hard dig (requiring 48 hours of massive jack-hammering). It's a custom design but a familiar look. You'll see similar pools in Arizona that are meant to blend into the desert atmosphere. I added new touches by using Flagstone in some spots and real granite boulders (rather than cement faux rocks). I had a heater / cooler installed, cleaner jets, a waterfall, and added a built in bench with spa jets. Pictures

landscaping

The cost overruns on the pool obliterated my land- scaping budget. After getting a ridiculously outrageous bid of $10000 for a few shrubs, I decided to do the yard myself. I wanted a desert xeriscape to go with the look of the pool. I put in mixed cacti and succulents, blended with some Ocotillo and purple fountain grass. I covered it all with decorative rock cover, and installed landscape lighting. Pictures

Road Trip

May 19-23 2006: My boys Rich and Walt came to visit. It was their first time out west so we took a great road trip. We started out around Phoenix, and then headed on the road to Sedona. We hiked up Cathedral Mountain, found a watering hole, then took an incline hike through a Pine forest. We finished out that day with a picnic and headed out again toward Flagstaff for a big steak dinner, drinks and music.

Next, we drove to the Grand Canyon. We hiked in, camped out, came up and then headed toward Hoover Dam and Las Vegas. In Vegas, we stayed at the Luxor pyramid and had front row (wet) seats to see Cirque du Soleil's "O" at the Bellagio.

We rode the rollercoaster at New York New York, hit the pool at the Luxor and the shopping trail at the Venetian, Caesar's Palace and Paris. (I saw Celine Dion in the Venetian, heading into one of the restaurants). I walked the entire strip and won $480 on the slots for my effort. We ate at Postrio our last night and while I headed toward bed, the boys ended up at MGM Grand to hit on the girls. Pictures

Grand Canyon Adventure

Oct 26-29 2007: Jim & Joey flew in from Ft Lauderdale and Don & Rodney came in from Dayton. The five of us packed up our backpacks and headed North for our big Grand Canyon adventure. We started at the South Rim and hiked down into the canyon, loaded up with water, Gatorade and plenty of salty snacks.

It normally takes twice as long to get back up as it takes to get down, but we made it back up in about the same time. We didn't stop to take so many pictures on the way up, so we made good time. I was unfortunately the weak link in the chain gang this time as I racked my knees on the way down. The impact of putting my body weight into every step down just inflamed the tissue in my knee caps. I was in quite a bit of pain for the climb out. It started getting a little scarier when I would stop and my knees would lock up.

Anyway, after eating 'Aleve' like candy, drinking plenty of vodka, and getting in the hot tub, my knees got a little better.

That's Jim standing out on the ledge in the Thumbnail above. You can click on the thumbnail to enlarge it. See the slideshow of all our pictures here (or by clicking the headline above).

vaca cruise

Mexican Riviera

Oct 28-Nov 4 2006: I took my first gay vacation cruise. I was on the Diamond Princess through the Mexican Riviera with 7 other friends. After flying into Los Angeles, the ship took us to Puerto Vallarta, Cabo San Lucas and Mazatlan. It was a seven day RSVP cruise on one of the largest ships in the Princess Cruise Lines fleet. The ship had 4 pools, lots of restaurants and bars, a spa and many other amenities. It offered an eat-anywhere-anytime service which was dangerous after losing a bunch of weight, but I did very well and kept it off.

Glamourpuss

Jerry & Julianne

Isn't this the coolest thing? My friend Jerry Popolis in New York does hair and makeup for the movies. He's worked on the sets of Spiderman, Stepford Wives, and many other movies that we've all seen, and makes the celebs striking and unforgettable. He gets to rub elbows and dish the dirt with people like Bette Midler, Glenn Close, Nicole Kidman, etc. Here he is doing Julianne Moore's fabulous red hair. What a glamorous life! His equally gorgeous partner Alberto works at the United Nations in NYC. Jerry is currently working on a Martin Scorsese movie in Boston.

Rick

My super talented friend Rick flips houses and always does a remarkable job. Unfortunately, the market in South Florida has turned (as it has everywhere else) and he's got a real challenge to sell them quickly. Luckily he has other skills and great looks, so he's done some commercials and has done some recent fitness and lifestyle modeling. Click the link or thumbnail to see some of his professional pictures.

A True Original

If you've been in my house and admired the artwork, chances are you have been admiring the work of my friend Jim Kiselica (sounds like Kiss-Lick-uh). I fell in love with his work when I first moved to Ft. Laud and have been lucky enough to get 8 of his originals. All of his originals are oil on canvas and represent everything from the realistic architecture of Key West and Europe to Hollywood icons and impressionistic landscapes. Click on the headline above to go to Jim's site and see his work. Most of the originals are gone, but you can still get prints and giclees of almost all of his work. Did I tell you that Jimmy and his partner Joey are as beautiful as Jim's artwork? Hey, we've got to admire our friends who add beauty to the world, be it from art, or from just standing there. You can see their Christmas picture here. Jim and Joey are great friends and I'm very happy to have them both in my life.

Introducing Abigail Lynn Hurwitz

March 29 2006: My niece Christin and her husband Sam brought Abby Lynn Hurwitz into the world to join her sister Madison. My brother Vince is a grandpa, and my parents are great-grandparents. For me, I've just officially received the title I've deserved all along, which is "Great Uncle". Pics: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Nick is so butch

West Snide Story

Well this was just too funny to pass up and not publicize... Many thanks to Allan Fetherolf for passing this on. It's a photo stored away in the Arts Council in Ohio of our dear friend and matriarch rehearsing for "West Side Story", sometime back in the late 70's. Somehow I don't remember the Anglo Jets or the Puerto Rican Sharks wearing "Daisy Dukes" - or is he playing the part of Maria? That would be more fitting. I mean, just look at the luxurious silky hair and shaved legs. Natalie Wood eat your heart out.

Click on the thumbnail or headline to see an enlarged version.

Mini-ing

The Mini is now over a year old and I'm still having fun. It's taken me on quite a few road trips to Sedona, Vegas, Flagstaff, etc. and of course takes me to work every day with a little style. What's best is at the end of a hard day at work, my little Mini puts a smile on my face... At least until I get on the road and face traffic once again. Click on the thumbnail and headline to see a fairly accurate representation of the car.

Steve Simpson

There was a Burger King website promoting their tie-in with the Simpson's movie last year. It allowed you to take a picture of yourself and have it 'Simpsonized'. I posted my take here. I think Steve Simpson looks quite a bit like me, don't you? You can click on the thumbnail above to see a larger version of "Steve Simpson".

My Big Fat German Ass

Yes folks, I was up to 236 pounds in mid-October '05. By April '06, I was holding steady between 155 and 160, which is 75-80 pounds lost. I've actually gone lower here and there but when I do, I usually splurge on a cheeseburger or some ice cream. No need for manorexia! It's 2 years later and I've kept it all off. I've attached some fuzzy pics that I took in front of the mirror. Before After1 After2 After3

Cute Commercial

This is an ad for the website gay.com. I'm not one to pay attention to ads, but I'm sure this one will get the attention of anyone. Click on the button to

Paul and Frank

I found this while surfing one day and thought I'd share it here. Paul and Frank are two good looking guys who are a little bit in denial. Click on the button to