Happy Halloween! You better believe that I'm wearing my darling new charm bracelet from Saucy's Halloween charm bracelet swap. Boy have I been getting a lot of compliments!

These "wicked" charms were my contribution.
I hope you all have a safe and fun Halloween.
Best Witches!

We are leaving today for New York and Connecticut for our fall break trip. Have a great week!

It was my month to host my "Annual Fall Bunco".
This was my first time preparing appetizers, drinks, salad, dinner and dessert while working fulltime. I planned our date on a school half day to allow myself extra time. There's never enough time for all the details though.
We had a blast. I love having everyone over.


I served sugared-pecan salad with poppyseed dressing.



Homemade chicken salad on crossiants.



Fruit Skewers



Kettle Chips (I had to put something in this huge bowl)



Mini Pumpkin Muffins



For dessert, Banana Chocolate Chip Cake and Glazed sugar cookies

We rented FIVE DVDs this weekend. It was my husband's birthday yesterday. We had plans to go out both Sunday and Monday. We were so looking forward to it. His sinuses and allergies had other ideas. So we stayed in, ordered pizza and watched movies. I am such a sap. I really enjoyed this movie and wanted to give it a thumbs up. Unfortunately I can't give the other four movies good reviews. I've been wanting to watch Coraline with my daughter for awhile now. My daughter thought it was "disturbing". Seriously, I really don't see the need to use overinflated balloons as female body parts, especially when they only have flowers over a very tiny amount of the overinflated balloons. This movie was rated PG! Anyway . . . I highly recommend "New In Town".

It's all Tricia's fault. I wanted to go to Art Unraveled, but I "NEEDED" to stay home and get caught up around the house. She and I were going to hook up so that I could buy some of her awesome junque that she finds on her fun trips. Didn't happen. We were both too busy. So instead, I "HAD" to go to Art Unraveled. I woke my daughter up and "MADE" her go with me. After we exited the 101, we realized that we were passing Scottsdale Road and that Sprinkles was nearby. We went to Art Unraveled all right, but that was just one of our many stops and we didn't get home until 8:30 pm. We "NEEDED" a day like that. Our lives are so busy around here. I'm always shocked when I have time to reflect at how little down time we have.
I have two favorite booths, Tricia's and Hannah Dry Goods. This year, Beth Quinn had a booth! Here are a few of my goodies from Tricia.

She had a sample made for us to show us what she did with this charm.


Cool charms

Vintage "T" game piece
Cute little labels


A few cuties from Hannah's, where darling Maija, was helping out.
I fell for this birdcage.

Look how tiny it is.

My first "Charlotte" dollhead

More charms

Replacement earrings from darling Beth. I bought myself the same pair at Blissfest, but then gave them to my mother-in-law for Mother's Day.
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After leaving Art Unraveled, we spotted an Islands Restaurant, our favorite lunch spot. Had to stop there. Then we worked our way over to Sprinkles.
I see myself in the window!
Yummy cupcakes!

I had a black and white, Tay had a strawberry. Did I say "Yum"?
Now, just as I was pulling out of Sprinkles, I noticed that Anthropologie was right across the street at Scottsdale Fashion Square. Of course we went. Of course, I found another dish towel that I couldn't pass up.

I have a thing about monograms. Found these cutie-pie file folders.

Guess what we spotted when we left Anthropologie?? Crate and Barrel. From there Taylor spotted Tiffany directly across the mall. Then Juicy was two doors down.
We finally left Fashion Square. Guess what you see when you leave Fashion Square?
Scottsdale Waterfront shopping center. We had to stop at Urban Outfitters. Found an awesome compass necklace for me.
Only two more stops after that. Ever have one of those days???

We went to the beach 7 out of the 8 days we were here. We rented snorkel equipment, boogie boards and a surf board for the week. Mark was so excited to teach our kids to surf. I'm happy to say that they both got up!



They all three were in the water alot more than I was. They are stronger swimmers than I am. They would keep dragging me back out though. It gave me plenty of time for beachcombing, my favorite pastime. I happened to meet a very nice (handsome) guy on one of my strolls that asked me if I was having much luck finding shells. I said no and that I was really hoping to find an area where we could see sea turtles. He told me that he had lived on Maui since he was 8 and that he was going to tell me where his secret sea turtle spot was. I couldn't believe my luck. As soon as my family came in, we drove to the beach, swam out and saw 5 very large sea turtles. It was difficult to even stay away from them. They wanted to swim with us. They are endangered and you are not allowed to touch them. We were so excited. Mark and Taylor even saw an octopus. We all got to see the turtles and several tropical fish. I need to get the underwater camera film developed. Can't wait to go back!

The turtles were swimming around these lava rocks.

We celebrated my birthday at The Hula Grill. Location is everything! Of course, the wonderful food, sipping a Blue Hawaiian drink, live island music and fresh leis help.


We also attended the Hyatt's "Drums of the Pacific" luau.
It started to rain as we were seated. I was certain that we would be caught in a storm. The wind was blowing strong and it was definitely sprinkling HARD. My hair was ruined. There went our Christmas card picture, but just when we thought the evening was ruined, it stopped. The show was phenominal. We especially enjoyed the fire dancers.



Of course you can't see us, but somewhere on that stage is my daughter and I taking a hula lesson. Yes, she drug me up there with her, but she fulfilled her promise to me and took a hula lesson.


As we were leaving, one of the dancers was available for photos. Let's just say that I'm happy that my daughter is the one to the left. The dancer's little coconut bikini top is about the size of the one I brought my daughter back from Maui the last time I was here when she was about 4!

We made it, driving of course, 10,000 feet. We drove through upcountry Maui to the top of the Haleakala volcano. We were above the clouds and in the clouds. It's awesome to watch them float by you.





We spotted several of the beloved, endangered Maui nie-nie birds, as well as the silver star plant that only grows on Haleakala.

Maui - Day 1
We arrived in the evening on July 3rd. We were up and ready to leave by 7 am. Those 3 hour time changes kill me. After walking across the street (gotta love that) to the beach exploring tide pools, we began our day at the Maui Swap Meet. A friend of mine is married to a native Hawaiian and she informed me that I "had" to do my big shopping there. We wouldn't have chosen that for our first activity of our first day there, but as luck would have it, the swap meet is only open on Saturdays. We were not disappointed. The flower vendors were fabulous.
The jewelers booths were amazing. My personal favorite! My husband bought me a beautiful Hawaiian Heirloom bangle bracelet. Cole bought Taylor a sterling flip flop necklace and matching earrings which totally stunned me. That's my boy!


When you are in Hawaii, everything seems to be in technicolor. There was a framed print of this flower in our resort suite. It was one of the many that we saw growing at The Tropical Plantation in Maui.
The Tropical Gardens were filled with incredibly lush flowers.

Wish I could grow this blue one in Arizona. Not a chance!


We had a picnic lunch in this charming gazebo.
We moved on to Kaanapali Beach, changed and spent the afternoon at The Hyatt.

I have a tradition of only having a Pina Colada when I'm at a tropical location. We were entertained by a patriotic parasailer.

To end our evening, we celebrated the 4th at an oceanside table at Bubba Gumps, watching the fireworks over the water.