I am in love with school supplies this year. It's always exciting, picking out new crayons, colored pencils, notebooks. But now, we're in a whole new ballgame. Every store that we've been to for school supplies has these new hip, gorgeous patterns to chose from. Impossible to resist. A few of these items or mine!
We were thrilled to find "Chloe" notebooks as well. We refer to everything Cavalier as "Chloes". So many fun choices. I have a few returns to make as each new store seems to have something cuter than the last. My son is so easy to shop for. (But not as much fun). I'm so blessed to have one of each. I remember being thrilled with a new bottle of paste, a new box of Crayola crayons with a sharpener in the back and a big chief notebook. Office Max brought back the big chief's last year. I tried to find a few, but they were gone in a flash.

Have you heard the news? American Girl has released their latest movie starring Kit. The previous American Girl movies were TV movies. Kit was their first feature film. We loved it. The movie was set during the great depression. I couldn't help but think of my parents. They were both young children during the depression and their families were gravely affected. It's amazing how just living during a depression or recession can have such an impact on families.

Kit is sporting a new crown now that she has reached star status.

Her friends Samantha, Nellie, Felicity and Elizabeth are allowing this vanity and are not jealous because they, too, have reached star status in their earlier movies.
I love looking at the catalogs right before viewing their movies. It's fun seeing the doll-sized clothing and furniture brought to life in the movie.

After the 4th of July parade, we went to the art fair. I fell in love with this whimical piece of art. The artist graciously posed by her creation for me. You can click on the photo to enlarge it. I would love to have this in my dining room. I love the pink boots and all the vintage china. On our way home we stopped at the Petrified Forest National Park, which by the way, is in the Painted Desert National Park.
I love visiting National Parks. We have a passport book that we have stamped at each visit and the kids participate in their junior ranger programs.
We travelled down Route 66. We stopped in the town of Holbrook where I found this painted on a wall. Just in case you wondered where you could get your kicks on Route 66. My kids tell me I sing to everything. I think they're right.

We just took a little vacation to Pagosa Springs, Colorado. My inlaws rented a house for the month of July and invited us up to take a reprieve from the heat. We Arizonans love to escape to the mountains or the ocean. Hopefully we will make it to the ocean before long. One of the highlights of Pagosa Springs is . . . their hot springs. We girls spent Sunday morning relaxing in several of their 18 pools of mineral hot spring water. They named each of their pools. Two of my favorites were Tranquility and Clouds in my Coffee. I was the only one in our group to brave the many steps and the high temperature of Clouds in My Coffee. There are 18 healing minerals in the springs. I must warn you of the aroma. If you look up the ancient meaning of Pagosa, it means "smelly water".
Needless to say, we took showers before we headed back home.
While we were spa-ing and shopping, the boys were fly fishing. My boy caught this beautiful 17-inch rainbow trout. Grandpa said my husband was just as excited as my son. A photographer took his photo for the town's website.
We had this beautiful sight every morning from our deck. If I hadn't all ready taken a balloon ride, I would have joined them.


My father-in-law convinced/coaxed/prodded (woke us up early) our group to arrive an hour before the 4th of July parade to ensure front row seats. This little guy was one of our favorite contestants.
They have a charming downtown. We met a business owner that invited us to watch the fireworks from his balcony. We took him up on it and along with about 50 others, had a wonderful view of the town's spectacular fireworks show.

It all started with these darling little vintage honeycomb bells that I found in one of my favorite thrift stores in Scottsdale last week. I almost missed them. I was in line and they caught my eye. I bought an entire package for $1.00. Of course I had to make something with them. Probably several somethings. I whipped this up last night. Guess what? At that same thrift store, in the window, I spotted this lighted house.
Everyone that has seen it since I bought it wants one. I searched on Ebay and found them. If you want one, they are listed under "fiber optic house".
I remember finding this flag banner at a yard sale a few years ago for $.25. Love it too.
I love everything that Bethany Lowe designs. I found this tree last year.
I hope you are all having fun displaying your festive decor and getting ready for the Fourth.

"Bop bop bop . . . bop to the top" and "We're all in this together" keep going through my head over and over again. We went to see the Broadway production of High School Musical this weekend. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. It was great. Loved the music and dancing. I snapped this photo of the stage before the copyright police (not really) came over and told us there were no photos allowed. I was mortified, then noticed that they were running all over the place telling others the same thing. I wasn't the only one after all. My friend and I went to get the tickets months ago and I almost forgot about it. About 4 months ago, we got up early the morning tickets were going on sale. They announced that tickets would be available early one Saturday morning four hours before they would be available online or to ticket vendors. When we arrived, much to our surprise, several local restaurants and shops were there with complimentary coffee, muffins, jamba juice and goodie bags. We were also on the "Good Morning Arizona" television show.

We went to the ever so fun Scottsdale Fashion Square a few days ago. I couldn't resist taking a photo of this gorgeous window outside of Tiffany. You can see by my reflection that I've had some retail therapy lugging my Crate and Barrel and Anthropologie bags around. Check out the girl watching me. She must not have a blog or she would understand how I couldn't pass up this opportunity. We even browsed around inside passing by the armed guards at the closed doors. A girl can dream!
Stepping into Anthropologie is like entering into a magical world. I'm like a kid in a candy store, carefully deciding on a limited few purchases. I've been eyeing their kitchen towels online thanks to my friend Dianne. That woman makes me want to shop. I take that back. I want to live in her house! I decided that the rooster one would work best in my Country French kitchen. The rick rack bordered cupcake one took a close second place.

Notice the black and white theme? I picked these up at three different stops. The kitchen towel from Crate and Barrel, the monogrammed cup from Anthropologie and the monogrammed glass was on clearance at Urban Outfitters. Fun accessories there! I love their graphics. Their dress forms were black and white toile.
I had a difficult time limiting my jewelry selection there as well. I finally decided on these regal crest/crown earrings to add to my collection.
I love this little door. I would like to faux paint panels on our playhouse door.
"Mom, Can I run down there and look through the fountain?" Sure, why not?
One last stop on our list before the long drive home. A visit to the famed "Sprinkles" of Beverly Hills. Yum! Worth every cent. Their cupcakes were delicious.