Summer Fun!

It's been quite awhile since my last post! Well quite a bit has happened since then including two weddings and a surprise visit from my best friend! One of mine and Truman's very good friends got married to the most amazing girl! We already loved her and she has fit right in with everyone for quite awhile. The wedding was held at a beautiful Tucson hiking area and it was at sunset looking out over the desert. Gorgeous! It was a very fun and lively event with a ton of our good friends. It was so nice to see everyone and spend time with those we don't get to see much.  The other wedding was for one of my best friends who was expecting her first baby. It was a beautiful ceremony and the dinner afterwards was very intimate and fun. She's just recently had her baby boy and he's a doll!
My best friend from California showed up at my door with her daughter not long after that! I was so happy I burst into tears. I hadn't seen her much in the last 6 months and was missing her terribly. It was wonderful to get to see how much her daughter has grown and she even took her first steps at my house! Can you tell I'm a proud auntie ;-) Hopefully I'll get to see her next month when I'm in California.
Next was a staycation at a local resort. Truman and I love a good staycation and we love good food. This mixed them both with The Tucson 23, a mexican food extravaganza at a local resort. It was a great time and we got a room that overlooked the city with a lovely little patio. A wonderful way to spend a night if you ask me. Then something that I have been looking forward to for months, my sister, BIL and nieces came to visit!!!! I was so excited to see them! I see them on FaceTime all the time but it's so different to get to actually see them in person and talk and hang out! It was a blast and they brought the first of the monsoon with them too. Thanks for that! This past weekend was the Fourth of July and we got to attend a couple of celebrations. First at my cousins where we brought the fireworks! My husband is Asian afterall ;-) I'm glad he did too since I didn't see any other fireworks at all that weekend. The next day we spent a relaxing night with some friends in a pool with great food. It was a nice way to top off the weekend.
In craft news I am obsessed with planners! I have been happily gathering and creating until my hearts content. Maybe it's because I like a list and it's such a pretty and inspiring way to keep them. That's what I've been mostly doing though I am still going strong on the pocket letter swap and I just adore my partner! She shares my name so how could I not?! Tomorrow brings a craft night at my house with friends and I'm ridiculously excited!!! I hope it's the first of many! I must be off to finish the preparations...

Riding to the wedding

The boys

We saw Captain America on opening night, amazing!!

Mother's Day

Next wedding

Congrats friend!

Surprise!!!

Tristan's 11th birthday!

Staycation

Family time Arizona style!

Fourth of July Friends

Time for giant sparklers!

Mixed media pocket letter for swap

Vintage puzzle piece PL for swap

Planner crazy!

More planner love

Altered boxes for my studio

March and April Madness

As usual it's been a very long time since my last blog post. It's been a busy couple of months and I've been trying to do art but right now it's mostly for swaps. I did however go to my spring scrapbook retreat so I guess that counts, right?! Before the retreat the hubby and I found time to go see an Ice Cats game which we have actually never done together. It was a ton of fun (even though we lost) and we found a great little old bar in the area that had a live jazz band. Not long after that we attended the Air Show and saw the Thunderbirds perform. It was awesome though I was ridiculous and didn't wear sunscreen. So I had a pretty awful week with second degree burns and sun poisoning! Lesson learned. Sadly we didn't do much for St. Patricks Day this year but Roxy pup got in the spirit anyway.

Then in early April I got to go to my scrapbook retreat. It was a blast as it always is. I decided to start with an inspiration page of my favorite football player to get me in the groove. Then I did a pocket letter for my cousins birthday. It was pretty nice to actually finish more than one project on the first day. I think I'll be doing that again when I go back in October with my sister and cousin. Yes we already bought our tickets ;-) Just this past weekend Truman and I attended Beerfest at the county fair and I must say it was a great way to spend a beautiful Arizona spring day. The weather was perfect and we got to go to the petting zoo and play games and ride rides all with the perk of delicious beer and complementarily food.  The next day we attended my cousins wedding where the weather was once again perfect. It was lovely and I think wedding #40 or so for Truman and I. Seriously one of these days I'll have to sit and count them all up. We have another one to attend this weekend.

As far as art news is concerned I received some very cute pocket letters from my three month swap and of course my sister. I did a few for the St. Patricks Day holiday and an art journal page for my friend Shauna. I also recently signed up for a six month pocket letter swap that has all sorts of different themes. The first was a double sided one so I made one side about coffee and the other about cats. My new PL partner loves them as much as I do. I also managed to make a few for my sister. I've been trying to do more mixed media and art journal pages though I haven't gotten very far yet. My sister and her friend recently (and finally) joined the mixed media train so I'm excited to share all that fun stuff with them. I even decided to try my hand at making videos since I love watching them on YouTube so much. Mind you I just have my I-Phone and I'm awful with computers but hopefully I'll have my first video up soon and then can figure out more videos to make. Take a peek if you'd like. I have a link that hopefully works off to the side here now. Enjoy the rest of April and I hope to be back a little sooner next time.

Beer and Donuts at the hockey game

One of the police dogs at the air show

Roxy on St. Patrick's Day

Ready for retreat

Special gift at retreat

Working on my first project

Kathy's first layout

Heather and my first projects

Getting her scrapbook on

One more layout done!

Beerfest

Enjoying the weather at Beerfest

About to ride the Tilt-A-Whirl

A crafty bachelorette party

The non perfectionists might have been enjoying it more

Not fired but done

The cutest attendants

My cousin and his bride

One of my best friends and I

More friends

My love and I

Having fun in the desert

A St. Patrick's Day PL I received

The PL I made for my sister

The PL I made for my swap partner

The last PL I made in a different swap

The special tags I made for the pockets

The kitty side for the new swap

A retro PL I made for my sister

I like how I was able to wrap it

The coffee PL side, I also made an extra for my sister

The PL I made for my cousins birthday