If you are looking for me...

I will be in the 1870s.  I recently got my hands on The Bloody Benders from Rick Geary's Victorian Murders series which is about a family in Kansas in the 1870s who were discovered to be killing people left and right.  Then, I picked up the first season of Deadwood from the Library and proceeded to watch the entire thing in the past 24 hours.  And despite the fact that I own enough unread books to entertain me for the rest of my life, I picked up Cottonwood by Scott Phillips which is a novel that takes place in the same era.

It looks like without conscious effort my obsession has switched gears to post-civil war wild wild west... go figure!  If you are looking for an expert, I am definitely on my way.

Summer Embroidery

I am interning at Chandler Public Library's Sunset Branch this summer.  I work there on Mondays and Saturdays and then work at the Museum Tuesday through Friday ten hour days.  It is a lot of being on-the-ball which is tiring but I knew that I would like something to motivate me in my down time.  (Also Amy and her girls went to Michigan for three weeks so I am a little lonely.)  I am taking a web embroidery class through Wild Olive (http://wildolive.blogspot.com/) called All in the Details.  I love her blog and embroidery patterns! (I am a member of her Pattern of the Month Club, too.)  The class started this week so here is what I have made so far...

A jar lantern with a firework on it.  Simple and super cute!

Then, this was supposed to be a wreath but I don't really have a place to hang a wreath so I made a door-knob hanger for the 4th of July!

I also bought some bunting for the front of the house.  I don't have a photo and it is dark outside now so I will have to share that later.  It is smaller than I imagined but still festive!

Summer Solstice

The summer solstice was this week and on a whim, Bryan, James and I walked over at lunch time to witness the light effects created on this day at the Burton Barr Library. I had heard about this and thankfully Bryan remembered so we were able to experience it. I wasn't sure what to expect and I kind of feel like my photos look better than it did in real life but I am still glad that I went to experience it.

What happens is that the ceiling of the building is actually floating and the light comes through along both walls and the sky lights cause the tops of the columns to looks like they are candles that are lit.

Payson never disappoints

As my semester ended, Lani and I headed to Payson for a weekend at her family's cabin.  We accomplished some awesome thrifting and ate an amazing dinner.  I operated the charcoal grill which I was pretty proud of.  We grilled veggie burgers, potatoes, peppers, and onion in foil and corn on the cob.  It tasted so good.  Of course, we worked on a puzzle in the evening and slept-in in the morning.  The next day we headed to the Tonto Natural Bridge which was amazing.  I had never been before and the beauty of it took my breath away.  We saw a rattle snake (thank goodness Penny did not) and had a picnic in thee grass.  Afterwards we stopped in Strawberry for some ice cream and then closed up the cabin and headed home.  It was a perfect recharger weekend.

Jerome Home Tour

Oh, how I love Jerome, especially the home tour. This year I was able to share the experience with my Aunt Karen and Uncle Bob.

I finally ate at the Asylum at the Grand Hotel.  The food was good and we were able to sit outside on the porch and the weather was beautiful.

Original wall paper in a closet, which was beautiful.  This one is for Layla!

The Methodist Church was on the tour and they had cookies and drinks in the basement which was adorable. 

Beautiful flowers everywhere!

Billy Elliot

I went to see Billy Elliot!!  It was SO good!  My Aunt Karen and Uncle Bob came and had lunch at my house then we went to Gammage on ASU campus and sat way up high in the balcony.  Bryan and Michael sat behind us.  I loved the tap dancing and the music.  I am so glad that I didnt miss seeing the musical!

Out of Africa

I know that I have been slacking on my blog. So I will play catch up now.

At the beginning of May, the Wazny family and I went to Out of Africa which is a couple hours north of Phoenix. I was a littler nervous about going there but then once we were there, it was really easy to see how much the staff cared for the animals and how they had gone out of their way to rescue the animals from bad situations. We went to the Tiger Splash show and Matt and Katherine fed a tiger. It was chilly up north which was wonderful! Matt took some great photos so you will be able to tell which he took and which I took :)

We were all exhausted at the end of the day! 

We fed the giraffe carrots from our hands.  The girls got a kick out of it.  The giraffe was so nice and wrinkly!