Technology

My brother shakes his head in frustration that I still have my CDs and actually want to listen to them. I guess I should download all my CDs and save them to my phone and then wirelessly listen to them everywhere. For an unsaavy tech girl like me, CDs are just fine, thank you very much. 

That's his complicated desk ;)

Words

The start of the 30 day photo challenge led me to posting this quote that piqued my interest: 

I like it because it motivates me to look forward. To forget about the things that worry me. Maybe it fools me into believing that I am in control of today... but I like it. And, sometimes that satisfaction is enough!

30 Day Photo Challenge

In the spirit of motivating myself to blog, I am going to start a 30 day photo challenge! I am killing two birds with one stone, so to speak, and will be posting the same photo on Instagram. But, to my one blog reader out there... Never fear, I will try to write a few sentences on my blog. And, you never know where that tangent will lead! Here is the 30 day photo challenge if anyone wants to join along!!!!!!! Also, it's aptly entitled "gratitude" in anticipation of Thanksgiving! 

Wreaths

So, I did make myself a fall wreath... not typical fall (orange) colors, though! I hit hobby lobby up for the branch wreath and all the 50% off flowers and such. I hung the wreath up inside. Excited to do a Christmas wreath and I think it's going to be a jewelry wreath!!!! Check out the fall wreath I made and the inspiration for the jewelry wreath I found online!!!

At The Car Wash

Life is too busy when sitting in line at the car wash is what you need to finally update your blog! I tried the mobile blogger before and just don't like it as much as sitting in front of a computer. But, let's face it, don't seen to have time for that!
Ok, here is what I would like to mention. Just a little pet peeve of mine! When posting on Instagram, online, whatever... why don't people use there, their or they're correctly?!?!? Drives me cr8zy!
Do you get it? There does not equal they're does not equal their!
They're over there working on their stuff! Get it?

It's the season for lights and glitter!!

Here are the three trees spreading some festivity in my house!

My Blogger On The Go

Good morning! Let's see if I can get the hang of this on my phone. This pic is one of my "little" niece Abby getting dressed for "spirit week" on Monday. She was AppleJacks from My Little Pony (hence the blonde mane).

You Can Have My Cake

I'm up at four in the morning and got NINE hours of sleep because I went to bed, exhausted, at 7:00pm yesterday. It's been busy at work since Wednesday and then, Friday, I left work a tad bit early to go to a baby shower, which I also had to leave a tad bit early bc I had to bake a cake (two, actually). Did I lose you? I should start with where I buy my mom cake decorating classes from JoAnns (the Wilton Method class) for mother's day. I had no desire to learn how to decorate a cake considering I haven't ever baked a cake... but, I was going along for support.

I spent $27 for each of us for the class. Two- hour classes for four Saturdays... not bad... until I get handed a supply list (after I already paid). At LEAST $200 later (remember, double the fun? for both of us attending) I am presenting my mom with her gift. Although appreciative, she actually didn't want to go. I convinced cajoled her into coming to the first class... because, you'll love it mom. She. Was. Appalled. Yes, they put a cup of shortening and a pound of confectioner's sugar into frosting. We know it's junk food people. She did end up sick (not from the class) and wasn't able to go to the rest of the classes with me. I was not going to "waste" that money, gosh-darn-it, so, I ended up soldiering on and my niece, Abby (12, who's in town from TX) LOVED, LOVED, that she got to come to this class in my mom's stead. I... me, myself and I... ended up having to make double the amount of cake, cupcakes, icing and more icing, and did I mention making icing? for this class!

Let me just tell you, the icing tastes bad. I tried to tweak the icing, but that ruined the "consistency" I needed for the class. But, my last cake (for my last class, yesterday) actually tasted great. It just didn't look great because the icing was too soft :( So, I currently know how to bake, level, layer and ice a cake to perfection. The decorating part definitely needs some work! Part of the reason I just "free- handed" the cake in class is bc I didn't have time to make "drop flowers" and all the pretty stuff I should have been doing the day before. After the baby shower on Friday, I had to run and get the 9-inch cake pans and my mixer from my mom's house and stop at Albertson's for ingredients. (Or as Theresa from Real Housewives of Jersey would say.. In-greed-E-en-ces.) Did I mention I was sooo tired from work that day? I got home at about 10pm and just decided to wake up early to bake those cakes. So, 5-o-clock in the morning, Saturday morning, I'm tearing up the kitchen. For our last class, my cake was a lemon cake with lemon filling. For Abby's cake I made a white cake with one layer of  vanilla custard filling and the other layer I mixed the custard filling with a can of cherry filling, and I must say, it tasted great! I think the slight "tangy" taste of the cherries balanced the sweetness of the icing. Here's some pics. Mine? Pathetic, I know! I loved Abby's! 

MY Black & White Checkered Floor

Sitting in my new (to me) home and actually feel like writing a blog post! I've been busy... yes... that excuse again. However, I did find time, in the past few months, to peruse the HGTV site or just browse through whatever my current obsession is on google images. It's been searches for "black and white checkered floors", "living rooms", "painted cabinets", and even "pink kitchens" :) And finally, after searching (days, at least) for the perfect (i.e. inexpensive) black and white tile.... I now have my dream (literally) at me feet. I'm so glad I didn't cave in to that sage "advice" and go with "something neutral that everyone will like". So, how about some before and afters??? Mmmm.... life is Goood!

It started with ripping up the nasty, dirty carpet. Then came tearing down a pony wall (on the left side) and cutting into that 3/4 wall on the right side to make one, open great room.

This is the hallway on the "other" side that consists of the "den" straight back, the small, laundry room on the right, and a wall that I decided to close up on the left. (There was a small linen closet that became part of the bathroom on the "other" side and a doorway, part of a jack-and-jill bathroom, that is no more.)

Tada. My. Lovely. Floors. This is just the beginning. A good layer! (And the gray on the walls is Martha Stewarts "sharkey gray" which I think was just right... says goldilocks.)

No trim yet... but looking good hallway!

A couple more pics.......... still don't have the curtains, the paintings, the coffe table, the "other stuff"... but that will all come with time. I am right happy with it so far. I just know the "more" is yet to come!

Lygia's House

So, if you haven't checked out this blog... it's a must see :)  http://hilldalehouse.wordpress.com/

These are some "decorating the corner" ideas. I don't necessarily love the colors, etc, but I think the gist of the space you want to create is reflected.

Love that they brought in some lighting!

Isn't this a great idea for those vintage suitcases?

This is a "before and after" I saw online.

No Excuses!?

I figure I'd better keep up with the blogging as best as I can so I don't disappoint my fan club! (Party of one, anybody:) )

Monday was my parent's 38th Wedding Anniversary. Here's to committment!

Super Tuesday results mean Mitt is looking like the GOP candidate. Let's get Obama outta there. But Ron Paul.... now we're talking! That's all I'm gonna say about politics right now. Did you know that GOP stands for Grand Old Party? I didn't. Now we know.

Wednesday aka hump day. Picked up a Z-pack so I could get over these flu-like symptoms. Looks like I'm heading over the hump!!!

Thursday. Today. Tantalizing. Terrific..... Tomorrow... TGIF!

Seriously

I've never heard of Pantone before this past week. All of a sudden, it's everywhere! OMGoodness! Like, we need to have someone, like, pick a color for us because how are we ever going to "communicate" the "right" color between industries? How will my orange rug match the throw pillows if everyone doesn't know it's "tangerine tango"?

I like the color, don't get me wrong! Just hate the "trends" we are going to be spoon- fed everywhere you look. Just a bit of sugar to make it go down, right?

Sedona

I've lived in AZ since 1995, been to the Grand Canyon only three times, driven through Sedona a couple of times, and just recently actually stopped and visited. Oh, the things we take for granted! GORGEOUS day for a hike in Sedona. Gotta do this again, soon.

New Year's Resolution

I like this for my inspiration for this (2012) year. I especially like the first three items!!

My Christmas Tree 2011

Since I'm back- tracking with my blogging, thought I'd include my Christmas tree of 2011. Here's the ornament that started my "purple & green" theme years ago. About 5-6 years ago, I went after Christmas shopping and picked this ornament at 75% off.... and so the tradition began to go shopping after the holidays for purple and green ornaments at 75% off prices!

Here are the new ornaments I had purchased and would be hanging up after a year in storage:

And the tree before:

Step 1: add some trim.

Step 2: stick things in the top.

Step 3: add the ornaments.

And wa la!!

Step 4: find a new theme for next year because there's no more room for ornaments on this tree!
So, for next year.... it's going to be an Americana Cristmas!!!

More San Antonio

Btw, anyone watching Top Chef Texas?? Definitely think Paul should win!

Since Dad and I didn't know what was going on with the car (see previous post) on Monday, we took the day to visit the San Jose Mission in San Antonio. I had been to San Antonio before and had of course toured the Riverwalk, the Alamo and the touristy spots like Sea World, the San Antonio Zoo, and Six Flags Fiesta Texas. Well, I definitely enjoyed visiting The San Jose Mission and would love to go again. If you were like me and didn't know too much about the Missions, here's the quick breakdown. There are five mission "complexes" in San Antonio and The Alamo is actually one of them (and then famously became the Alamo during Texas' fight for independence). The San Jose Mission was built in the early 1700s. These missions were small communities that were built in "The New World" to bring Spanish culture and well, forced conversion to Catholicism, to wherever the Crown conquered. They were built by the local Indians of that time under the command of the Franciscans who founded the Mission. The tour of the mission was impressive and informative. I learned that when it was founded, there was a Franciscan priest that ran the show and lived in the rooms adjacent to the church. The Indians were given a one room home to live in and the whole community was surrounded by fortified stone walls with a large courtyard center that held their daily activities (farming, milling, schooling, etc). Eventually, disease and local fighting with other native tribes killed off the Indians. That's it in a nutshell, but the tour was beautifully done! And here are the pics  (taken with my iphone):

The little homes for the locals:

And one side of the Church being restored:

The "rose window" is shown below. It is quite famous and has a good story to it if you care to google it. I am quoting from the San Jose Mission site here, "The window, sculpted ca. 1775, has been the object of both legend and admiration. It is considered one of the finest examples of baroque architecture in North America. The meaning behind the name is currently unknown, but legend has it named for Rosa, the betrothed of Juan Huizar who many believe created the window."

It was such a peaceful, "perfect weather" day when we visited and I'm so glad these missions are preserved!

Thanksgiving

I knew we should have taken my Buick to San Antonio. Dad and I decided to drive the apx 16 hour trip from Phoenix to San Antonio for Thanksgiving. My argument was pretty much that my car has a bigger gas tank (18 gallons to the RAV4's 13 gallons) and I didn't care about adding the mileage. Yes, the Buick's older.... but it's reliable. His "under warranty", 65K- mile, car ended up giving us trouble! About 250 miles to go, the check engine lights came on and he could tell there was something up with the transmission. We took it a little slower and made it to my sister's house OK, but to the dealer the car went (on black Friday) and instead of leaving on Monday as planned, we rented a car to get us home on Tuesday. And the transmission on his car had to be taken out and replaced. Two weeks later, he finally got his car home. That was the only trouble of the trip and otherwise it was a weekend filled with Thanksgiving, putting up the Christmas tree and fun times with Esthera, Alex and the kids.

Here's our day putting up the trees. I made Ethan pose for me.

The angel on the right is a cowgirl with wings completely made by Abby (10y/o) and her friend. If you look closely you can see the braid on her back, the cowgirl hat on her head and that's a lasso in her hand. Brilliant!