It's beginning to look a lot like...

Christmas!

My new advent calendar!

Gracie likes cuddling under the tree!

I love coming home with the outside lights on!

 I went with the Wazny family to the Rosson House to visit Santa.  It was a beautiful day that included a train ride and a bouncy house.  We finished up with a picnic in the grass by the Science Center.  It was fun to tag along on a holiday family day.

I have been making a lot of presents while finishing up my semester.  I just found out that I got an A in my really hard class this semester!  I have a final to write tomorrow so hopefully I can get motivated.  I have been lacking school motivation - I feel like the semester already ended though it hasn't yet. 

Last weekend, I also went to the opening night production of A Christmas Carol by the Actors Theater at the Herberger Theater.  It was an amazing performance and it is the last year that they will be doing this production so I was very lucky to go.  It was a musical and very well done.  I loved the costumes!

I went to see the new Harry Potter last weekend.  It was so good!  I wish I would have had someone to go with so we could have talked about it.  They do such a good job on those movies.  I cannot wait for the next one to come out.

Most importantly, I became an aunt for the second time on Thursday this week.  Sophia Hazel was born at 3:54pm on December 9th, 20 inches long, 7 pounds 3 ounces.  She has black hair and the cutest double chin!  I was a wreck all day Thursday worrying about her and Adrienne but she is healthy as can be and practically perfect in every way.  I love technology because I was able to video chat with Age in the hospital and see Sophia.  I cannot wait to meet her in person in just a week and a half!

Speaking of Sophia, I need to get working on some of her Christmas presents!

October mash-up

With the job change at work and the stress involved with that, I have been spending a lot of time in the comfort of my home (mostly stress sleeping).

I have been busy making batches and batches of homemade applesauce and I would like to quote Katherine here, "Aunt Lindsey makes the best applesauce in the world."  I can't really take the credit - it is Kate Gosselin's recipe... please commence the judging now.  It is simple and very good so I'll take that judgement!  I also made apple butter last week (that recipe thanks to Amy Butler - i love her books).  It turned out really good as well - I love the fall and my house smelling like apples!

puzzle started...

... and finished, mostly while talking to my sister on the phone! 

I just purchased another puzzle to work on while watching Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, just like in Kentucky. 

I went to Changing Hands Bookstore to see Vicki Myron, the Iowa Librarian who had Dewey, the library cat.  I loved her first book and she just came out with another.  I think it is called something about the nine lives of Dewey.  It is nine other cat stories and speaking of...

I am on a mission to get Gracie and I on the same page about living together.  I found a wonderful vet's office called Scaredy Cat Hospital in Scottsdale and the staff have been wonderful.  We did some expensive blood work and ruled out diseases that Gracie might have and did antibiotics.  Now we are working on some supplements in her food and putting medication on her bottom and keeping her from getting to that area... which means a different version of an e-collar.  She has been pretty good.  Cross your fingers for me!

The public library book sale was this month and thankfully I did not lose control like I normally do.  I went for the friend's only night on Friday and was sad that Sandra was not here to go with me.  I came home with mostly books for Reese, surprise, surprise.  Amy, Charlotte and I went on half-price Sunday and picked up some other treasures.  Char was having a good time reading the AZ Gun Owners Guide... ugh!

Pumpkins!  Amy's family was in town so I tagged along with their fun.  She also had a Halloween Party on Saturday which was super cute with all the kids from the neighborhood.  I had two pumpkins this year and loved their spooky faces.  They didn't last very long because it is still in the upper 80s here... really November 6th with a forecast of 90 degrees.

Most of my time has been spent right here... school, school, and more school.  I am feeling a lack of motivation this semester which I hope changes soon because I have some pretty large projects coming up in the next couple of weeks.  Ugh, wish me luck.  Only making it through this semester then three more classes and an internship and I will have my master's degree!

My Library

 The Lemon Art Research Library at Phoenix Art Museum

My office... with a window and door!  I am still cleaning it out but it is definitely starting to feel like my own.  I was very stressed last weekend about starting in the Library, but after being there for a week, I am much more comfortable than I realized.  I am always amazed at how much I have already learned in school and can apply.  I counted today and realized that I am managing twenty docents and volunteers who make the Library run.  The place really couldn't function without them.  They are all very welcoming and I am looking forward to working with them.

The view from the back hallway looking towards the front.



The reading room and the Astaire Fashion Library

And the stacks - the library houses about 50,000 volumes!

I am very excited about my new position and feel like after this job, I will be able to work in any library.  I can't wait to show it off when I have visitors next :)

I also won tickets to see The Color Purple at the Orphium Theatre this weekend! 

Trick or Treat Bag for Reese

I decided on a whim in the middle of a trip to JoAnn's last month to make a trick or treat bag for Reese.  I don't know how it happened but it is already October, so I decided that I needed to get my bottom in gear.  Of course, I had a vision and thankfully I have Amy to help me make it a reality.  She helped with ideas, vocabulary ("you know, block letters" "applique?"), supplies (fabric, glow-in-the-dark ric-rac, ribbon) and talking me through the details.  She promised that I would have this done by Mad Men and sure enough, I put on my list stitches five minutes before Mad Men started!  Here is the process...

And the finished project...

the font

the back

stripes inside...

My wonderful friend, Maria, sent me a package to celebrate my new job!  It contained this bag and package of postcards.  I laughed out loud when I saw them!

Thank you, Maria!

Exciting Changes

On Friday, I cut 5.5 inches off of my hair. 

It was definitely time for a trim and though it is a little shorter than I hoped, I know it will only grow.  Adrienne suggested that I get long layers, so that is what I did.  It still feels really short but so much better.

The really exciting change is in my career.  I accepted the position of Assistant Librarian at Phoenix Art Museum last week!  This means that I will be running the Lemon Art Research Library and I will have an office with a window!  I am nervous but I was able to play house in the Library a couple days a week over the summer and I really think that I have what it takes.  It comes with a raise so hopefully I won't always have to have an ulcer about money anymore!  I don't know when I will officially transfer over to my new position but it is so exciting to be beginning my career in libraries!!

Also, I start an Irish step dance class at the Irish Cultural Center next week.  I can't wait to get my feet dancing again!

Nightstand

I have been talking about the need for a nightstand since I moved back to Phoenix in January.  I have missed a couple good ones on Craigslist and didn't find anything high enough at Ikea.  I put Amy on the job and she sent me to Lizabel's, the antique store down the street, yesterday. 

The one she sent me to look at wasn't tall enough but right next to it was a desk that had been marked down in price and was the perfect height.  Amy and the girls came down and I made the purchase.  It is perfect and I couldn't be happier!

So this morning, I was looking through the ads from the Sunday paper and in the Best Buy ad I saw the cover of the new Brandon Flowers cd.  Any sure as shit, there is my desk!  Little did I know that I bought a famous desk for my nightstand!  Funny little world...

My Roommates

I thought I would introduce you to the friendly faces I get to see everyday!

This is Girlfriend.  She came with my new house and lives in a casita in the backyard.  She eats a lot and Gracie enjoys trying to attack her through the backdoor. 

Just snoozing in the backyard...

Katherine and I went to the pet store last week and brought home four goldfish which she named Nemo, Dory, Charlotte (after her little sister) and Saul (after a family friend).  All four have made it a week which is a good sign.  I forgot to buy rocks so it looks a little barren in their tank but they seem happy.

And of course, Gracie!

I was eating breakfast and reading for school yesterday and I looked up to her sitting across from me.

My Wonderful Home

This is my wonderful new home.  I am completely grateful to have the opportunity to live here and I love living just four houses down from my friends.  It is especially nice when you don't have any copy paper and a ton of reading for school or you realize that you have no toilet paper :)

The view from the front porch - the sky was amazing this night.

The library bookshelves gifted from Sandra!

The extra bedroom which I am using as my office/craft room.  It will be perfect for my Mim's sewing table when it moves out here from the Midwest hopefully next month.

My bedroom with my brand new-to-me nightstand.  I just bought the desk from Lizabel's today.  I had to pull the trigger on this purchase and I couldn't be happier!

The backyard.  I can't wait for Sunday Blues Dinners on the deck and reading on a blanket once it cools off. 

I can't wait to have visitors now that I have the perfect house!  It is starting to cool off so plan your trips soon!

These are a few of my favorite things...

This picture is busy but so am I these days. 

My coffee table is covered with my favorite things - magazines and a new craft book (Wee Wonderfuls by Hillary Lang - which is completely amazing), the Sunday paper (only the sections that I read), the beginning of a crocheted bib for the new little one, a drink from In-N-Out (which is what I had for dinner after buying an obscene amount of fabric at JoAnn's), library books (basically anything by Amy Butler these days), remote controls (to watch Glee from Netflix - I'm obsessed), and even little Gracie made it in the picture.