Friendship..

Christa heading back to BC....

You can go thru life and make new friends every year, every month practically, but there is never a substitute for those friendships that survive into your adult years. Those are the ones in which we are bound to one another with hoops of steel.

from the book by Alexander McCall Smith

The No 1 Ladies" Detective Agency

Today...

This morning we went for a quick walk to get a couple more cactus photos, and this one, jumped out and bit Christa in the arm and butt. I was laughing so hard taking this picture, as you can see it, really stuck in...but she is fine. We then came home and crafted, learned how to make a tape transfer and we are proud of our efforts. Christa leaves in the morning and I will drop her off and then go to stay with Shannon overnight...I will miss her so much, we have had a ton of fun and laughs.

Christa in the catcus on the way to Tucson....

It has poured here all day, wow, the water has closed roads up north of Scottsdale in Cave Creek, and it really rained on our way to Tucson. We were lucky that the rain stopped for a few minutes when we pulled over to take some photos of Christa amongst the big Cactus along the way. We went to Old Town Tucson and found all these shops filled with local art. Lunch at a local Mexican restaurant and more rain on the way home completed this rainy but good day.

Day 4 & 5....

Two great friends just having a ball...you would not believe how the time flies when you are just hanging out and having fun. We have been driving around seeing some sights, shopping, and today it was nice enough to relax by the pool.....Tomorrow it is suppose to rain, big time, so we are having an excellant adventure heading south to Tucson. I want to show Christa the real desert and how big those Saquaro Catcus really grow. More photos to follow.....

Christa is here....

Christa has been here two days already, and we are having so much fun!!!! Yesterday we went shopping at all the places that I have found my treaures at, and today we went to the Aji Spa, the hotel and the Casino at Wild Horse Pass. Not much $ was lost, and with the winnings, I bought a belt....so you can see that we didn't win big. They allow smoking in there, so we only stayed about 20 minutes. Tomorrow it will be the Flea Market.

Family..

Here we are again. Family.... my sister Evelyne, my brother Heinz, Jim, myself, Marlene who is married to Heinz and Richard who is married to Evelyne.

We had a lovely lunch with them where they are staying in their RV"s at Casa Grande. It was a lovely sunny day and a great time to caatch up. Being able to have 3 out of 7 kids together is pretty good.

Pottery Barn Seminar...

Went to the Pottery Barn Store this morning to take a seminar about accessories and sprucing up the new look for Spring, which is full of colours. I could of moved into that store, it was so fresh and colorful and the other 54 women that attended felt the same....fun stuff!

Beautiful day there today, and great news, Christa will be a grandmother again, baby #5, so excited for her and her family....soon we will be able to visit together, 2 more days.

*************************************

Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Desk ...

This desk area was featured in this month County Home magazine, and we decided that it would be a great project for the desk in the guest room. Jim is going to build it and hopefully I will have a similar photo to post when it is all done....I will keep you posted on the progress.
Sunny here this week, but it has turned cool for down here at this time of the year, although I am not complaining. I watch the Canadian weather daily, brr, it is surely cold in some provinces.

Christa will be here on Tues, yeah!

*******************

I remind my self daily, this is my life, pay attention, make it sparkle!!!!

Look what I found today......

As you can see I had a fantastic day, and look at the treasures that I found to enhance my crafting.

Cindy, you will recognize my McCoy, this is a smaller version of the one that you gave me that started my McCoy collection...what a find!!!!! The other is a McCoy pitcher, and it is the first of its kind in my collection. I also got a bag of sample fabrics, Polo, Cowan & Tout, and look at these yummy looking ribbons, each roll was only 10 cents....and the vintage sewing patterns...who knows what they will be come. It was the best Treasure Hunting Day that I have had so far, and I got about 10 great balls of wool...more later.....

Aussie Christmas

Thanks to Laurie and Shane for sending along their Christmas photo, so great to see them looking so happy. Christmas in Australia without snow must be like Christmas in Arizona, different but really good. They have just come back from having a holiday on the coast road in Australia, their own country, and it sounds like they had a wonderful time.

********

The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one's own country as a foreign land.

~G.K. Chesterton

Up & Away...

I took this photo out our car window and wished that I was in that balloon. It is definitely on my "Bucket List" of things to do in my lifetime.....planning underway.

And for those of you counting....yipee!!! 9 more sleeps until Christa is here.

********

The air up there in the clouds is very pure and fine, bracing and delicious. And why shouldn't it be? - it is the same the angels breathe.

~Mark Twain, "Roughing It"

Bulletin Boards....

I made this bulletin board from a ceiling tile (24 x 48 @ Lowe's) and covered it up with fabric, ribbons and buttons. I stapled the fabric to the back, and then glued the ribbon over the raw ends of the pockets to give it a finished look. I hot glued buttons on to clear push pins, to make them stand off the board and that way it is easier to loop things over them. It isn't all straight and perfect, but that is why it is handmade and why I love it

********

Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.

~William Morris

Welcome

Annmarie and Harvey are friends from Grande Prairie ,Alberta. They came down for a visit and bought a new home about 500 yards from us. We are so glad that they choose to live in our lovely "Solera" community. Evelyne and Richard came over to be with us as well. They had built a log home for Harvey and Annmarie in Nelson on the lake a couple of years ago. We had a great time helping them shop for furniture in the past 3 days. We look forward to seeing them back here in February.

PS...only 13 more sleeps until Christa arrives.

**********************

It takes a long time to grow an old friend.

~John Leonard

18 more sleeps.....

Counting the sleeps until Christa flies into Pheonix for a week long visit, we are so excited we can barely stand it. We have lots of fun things planned, a spa day, just hanging out and having a great visit....counting down to Jan 22....
******
A friend knows the song in my heart and sings it to me when my memory fails.
~Donna Roberts

Scrapbooking Calendar...

I took this course yesterday at Scrapbooks Etc., in Mesa last night and nearly finished up this 12 month calendar/journal. It was really interesting and thanks to Melissa who sat beside me and shared her tools that I needed to complete this. I still have a couple hours of work to finish off all the embellishments, and now I want to get my own Zutter, to bind small journals/books together.

Keep some souvenirs of your past, or how will you ever prove it wasn't all a dream?

~Ashleigh Brilliant

Happy New Year

Looking forward to 2008, to be filled with Health, Happiness and Adventure.

********

On New Years Day we will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day. ~Edith Lovejoy Pierce