SHOW AND TELL

I have so much to tell you and even more to show you. It's been a fun five days since I last posted. (I think it's been 5 days anyway!) Frank and I returned early this evening from 3 days in Prescott and Jerome, AZ with three other couples. The guys golfed, the girls shopped, we all took a train ride, ate delicious food, drank margaritas and had a wonderful time hanging out together.
So let's start with the important stuff........SHOPPING!!!! Here is the jewelry that I purchased at two different art galleries in Jerome from local artists. This necklace and earring are made by Christy Fisher from recycled glass. So colorful and I love the bent wire chain she has made.
I had a hard time deciding on the next purchase. At one point I had three different pair of earrings at the cash register until Frank finally helped me make up my mind. These clay earrings are made by artist Kim Caisse of Bee Design. I wear a lot of orange so opted for these. I just love the whimsical design of each being a little different.
Here we all are enjoying a scrumptious breakfast at The Prescott Resort. The view was amazing.
The second day we took the Verde Canyon 4 hr. train ride. The restored train rambled along at about 12 miles per hour which allowed us to sit outside in the warm air and take in all the landscape. Here's my dear friend Rosie taking in the beauty of the Verde River.
We spotted eagles, a fox, hawks, the red rock, old farm buildings from the early 1900's and much more. Here is the back half of our train. You can see the open cars where you can come out and sit.
Here's some of the gang enjoying the sights. We went in the first-class car and were served tons of yummy appetizers along with champagne!
This morning we headed to Jerome and spent the day going through all the shops in the VERY OLD mining town built right into the hillside. So cool!
So I promised to show you the results of my glass fusion class, so here they are.
This is the dish I made for myself. I think it came out pretty good. I wasn't able to get a good picture of the actual color of the light reddish-looking rectangle between the two black stripes. But it is really an iridescent white and really pretty.
Then there is the ACCIDENT DISH!!!! I was bummed as this is the dish I was making for my mom and I guess unbeknowest to me, there must have been a hairline fracture in the lavender piece of glass, since it broke during firing.


Then to make matters worse, the lady who was firing it accidentally dropped it on the way out to the car and broke a big piece out of it that shattered all over the ground. So now what do I do with this??? Good thing she is allowing me to come make another one at no cost to me!!
The night before we left for Prescott I had a few gals over for a lipstick party. Through a friend I came across this lipstick that literally stays on all day! It comes in a tube in liquid form.
Here's Pam showing a couple of the girls how it works. It's called Lip Sense. Of course, we all bought it.
On Saturday Jami and I are hosting a table for our church's Women's Ministry Tea. I thought the hostess information pamphlets were so cute that I had to show you.
Here's what's leftover from my packing some gifts for our guests!
Oh, and the first half of Monday, I spent several hours in my studio filling some special orders for my canvas art.
And finally, my sweet little granddaughter, Hanna, gave me her treasured Tinkerbell outfit to sew up an accidental tear while dressing up. I hate to admit that she asked me to fix this several weeks ago and I finally took care of it. She will be so happy to get it back, I just hope it still fits her!!
So that's the last few days in a nutshell. Tomorrow I will put the finishing touches on our table decorations, work on laundry, stop by the grocery store, eat dinner with our daughter and her family, love on our little granddaughters and hopefully get to talk to our favorite (and only) grandsons..................and life continues to be good!!

CREEPED OUT!!!!!!!!!

Ok, so today Frank and I were driving home from church and turned the corner onto Recker and right there laying in the street (on the road right beside our development) was a big, long, FAT, SNAKE....EEEEEEEK! We weren't sure if it was a rattlesnake or a bullsnake, but it didn't matter as I was completely CREEPED OUT!! I absolutely HATE snakes. Even writing about them makes the hair on my arms stick straight up. Frank suggested we turn around and go back to see what kind of snake it was. Is he crazy??? What was he thinking. NO WAY! I can only hope that a coyote or a big dog finds him and drags him off out of sight since I drive that street atleast twice or more a day.
Meanwhile, I got to go to my first fused glass class today. Other then the place being completely crammed with everything imaginable for ceramics and glass (and totally unorganized) we had a great time and I was able to make two dishes. They still need to be fired so I won't get them until the end of the week. I can see myself wanting to do a lot of more this. Yikes, another craft to add to my already overloaded cache of hobbies. The bummer part is that I took my camera and then forgot to take pictures. Next time.
Frank and I enjoyed a BBQ chicken dinner on the patio tonight. The weather was perfect. We are excited to leave with three other couples on Tuesday for 3 days in Prescott and Jerome and taking the Verde Canyon Railroad trip.
Time to watch my Sunday night shows. Hope your weekend was wonderful.
XOXO

Oh, Happy Day!

I'm sewing again!! Ya-hooo!! It's been forever since I have used my sewing machine and made a piece of clothing. When I saw that Blissful Living Studio had added Minnie's A-line skirt class to their calendar I was so excited. Figured here was a good opportunity for me to get back into the swing of things. Besides, I'll find any excuse to take a class at Blissful....it's one of my most favorite places to create. So last night about 8 girls were in attendance for Minnie's class. She showed us how easy it was to make our own pattern for this cute little A-line skirt. The only hard part for me was having to measure my wait and hip size...UGH!!! My skirt looked like it was huge when I cute it out, sadly, it fit.
Anywho...here's a picture of darling, smiley Minnie giving us some instruction. She is as sweet as she is talented.
I decided to adorn the bottom of mine with ruffled tulle. I think I got a little carried away since Minnie gave me three strips to put on and I ended up needing 6 strips to finish. It's a little foofee on the bottom, but I figure that will help to draw your eye downward away from my large bunners.
And here it is finished!

I had so much fun making it (except for the hour it took to sew the ruffled tulle on) that I had Minnie cut another piece of material for my next skirt.

I finally got all my Easter decoration taken down and put away and some Mother's Day decor up.
These soft pink chiffon gloves belonged to my grandmother. I just love them and display them every Mother's Day. They are in perfect condition and look so cute laying next to Frank's grandmother's sterling silver mesh purse.
I'm not really sure what she could manage to fit into this little tiny purse. Maybe her calling card and smelling salts....cause there wouldn't be room for much more. This little purse is a perfect example of how simple purse life was back then. No space needed for a cellphone, sunglasses, checkbook, credit cards, planner, etc.
This morning I finally took myself to the CVS Minute Clinic for a sinus infection and ear infections. I caught a lousy cold 2 weeks ago and couldn't shake the sinuitis. Sure enough, I had it. I was in and out of there in 15 minutes with a prescription called into my pharmacy. Then I ran to Tempe to Jerry's Art Arama to pick up some watercolor supplies. Meanwhile, Jami and the girls stopped by the house. Hanna found some leftover fabric and decided to create a scarf. Didn't she do a great job. So original!
I couldn't close this post without squeezing some pictures of Sofia and Hanna in. Our little baby granddaughter is growing so fast. She is such a good baby. All you have to do is look at her and she smiles.
My two Sweetie Pies.
So this has been a Happy Day! Tomorrow is church and then I am going with a new friend to try a class in fused glass. Can hardly wait! Have a wonderful weekend.
XOXXO

I'm Back!

You know how you wake up one morning and realize that a week just went by and you can't remember where those 7 days went? Well, that's kind of what has happened to me lately. Seem like I have been on one of those hamster wheels and I just keep running and running and going no where!! Today I stepped off and refocused. Actually, I have been productive all those days. I finished up eight of these flower pots for the upcoming church tea the beginning of May. I was having so much fun creating them that I just kept adding to them.
I'm using the large lavender bird in the centerpiece. Isn't it pretty.
Then I was going through some new pictures that I had taken of my granddaughters and came across this sweet one of Sofia. I just couldn't resist making a canvas art of her.
This morning I headed back to Art Group after missing about a month. I haven't painted in two months so this was like starting all over. Our group is such fun and everyone is so supportive that I think you could paint blind folded and still get applause for your finished piece! Here is our fearless leader, Erica painting a friends dog on Upo paper. (I'm sure I probably spelled that paper wrong). I just love it. Erica is giving it to her friend as a surprise. How lucky she is.
Sandy is the one who taught us all how to paint on this Upo paper. Her creations are all amazing.
My friend, Teri, is painting her cat. I think her picture is wonderful. She is painting it off of a snapshot of her cat curled up in a blanket.
And then there is mine......Hmmmm..... I did this free hand after two months of no painting, so cut me a little slack when viewing it. My poor little bird had to keep getting fatter and fatter in order for me to try to correct a wing that I had accidentally made into a tail (don't ask me how). Anyway, I decided to get crazy with it and started splattering paint on it to try to add some humor to the picture. I added humor all right.....now it just looks silly. Oh well, I have to remember it was only practice!
This past 5 days we have been hanging out with Jami's family since her father-in-law has been in town. We have had BBQ's, been swimming in the pool, the guys have been golfing, I did some babysitting, helped Jami with some chores around her house and played with the kids. Here's some pictures of Frank and Hanna in the pool.



Jami put Sofia in the pool for the first time and she loved it. Here she is with Hanna.
She spent most of the time with me holding the back of her head and just floating around on her back sucking her fingers.
Tonight we are going to Hanna's music recital. Should be a hoot. Tomorrow get to go with some girl friends for my first experience eating Thai food. We are going to some really good Thai buffet so I can try several different dishes. Then we are going to a big grocery store that carries food from many different countries. Should be interesting. I take my mom to the airport in the morning to head back to Washington state for the summer. She will get to see her 6th great-grandchild born in June.
OK, I feel better now that I have got caught back up on my blog. Time to go do the laundry. Have a great day!

A WILD AND CRAZY WEEKEND

WHOA, WHO IN THE HECK IS THAT???? Oh geez, it's us! Yikes!! This is what happens to you when you live in such a wild and crazy place as Trilogy!!! It just seems to transform you over time! Actually, it's just our annual White Trash Party craziness. Frank and I hosted our 2nd annual party this past Friday and it was a hoot. Everyone came in full costume. We drank cheap booze, ate bologna sandwiches, cheese puffs, jiffy pop, pickle loaf, velveeta cheese and had a spam carving contest, bubble blowing contest and a gift exchange. Lots of laughs were had by all. Below you will see some of the pictures and most of them speak for themselves!!













Now we don't normally have children at this party but my daughter and son-in-law weren't able to find a sitter so they put the kids down at our house.......AFTER the party got started. Hanna thought the whole thing was "so funny". But really I think she just loved being able to put on a ton of my red lipstick!!!
Good thing we only throw this party once a year as it takes us that long to recover! As you have seen we all had a really good time.
This was a very full weekend for us with this party, Jami's birthday on Saturday and Easter on Sunday. Whew!! But we made it and still have a smile on our faces. Tomorrow I'm back on my Nutri System diet since I fell off the diet (badly) this whole weekend. I told you I don't have any discipline....UGH!!! Go od thing I am not the one on TV for their add!
Good Night All!
P.S. I just found out that Lola B's is hosting a fantastic giveaway on her blog if your interested:
www.lolabboutique.blogspot.com