I'm playing alone with Sandy's "It's Friday and I'm In Love".
Here's what I love:

My Children and Husband
Beachcombing
Listening to The Waves
Vintage Treasures
The Hunt for Vintage Treasures
Shopping
My Outings With Carmen and Tina
Vacationing With My Family
Hawaii
The Outer Banks of North Carolina
Beach Houses
Babies
Pedicures
Wearing Sandals
Reading a Good Book
Finding Time for Crafts
Rare Dates With My Husband
Peonies, Lilacs and Wild Violets (none of which grow here in Arizona)
Doris Day Movies
Gone With The Wind
It's a Wonderful Life
Home Decor Boutiques
Decorating For The Holidays
Piano Music
Fleur de Lis
Gazebos
Red Kitchens
Black and White
Puzzles
Chandelier Drops
Reading My Favorite Blogs

We celebrated the Fourth of July this week. It seemed like it anyway! My husband got us four incredible tickets to the Diamondbacks vs Phillies game Friday night. I'm not a huge baseball fan, but I love going see the Dbacks play. We sat in Row 9 right behind the dugout. It was fun watching the players run in. They had five homeruns and we were pretty close to the swimming pool to watch the waterfall go off during each of the homeruns. Casino Arizona was hosting the fireworks after the show. It was so nice out. Fourth of July is miserable in Arizona, so we decided to catch our fireworks early.

I had the honor and privilege of listening to this wonderful woman, Helen Handler, speak this week. My dear friend, Angie, invited me to attend this event entitled, Our Story, The Life of Survivors at Xavier High School. I don't think there was a dry eye there. Mrs. Handler was a Holocaust survivor. She was actually imprisoned at Auschwitz. It was inconvenient to attend. It was a 45-minute drive and I had to deal with the usual carpooling, dinner, homework, kids, etc, and not to mention it was a school/work night. However, never before in my lifetime, have I had the opportunity to actually listen to a Holocaust survivor in person and I suspected that I never would again. I am so glad that I went. She was amazing. She is 82 years old and full of spunk and wisdom. There were four speakers but she was, without a doubt, my favorite. She told us of the atrocities that happened to her, but she also said that her message wasn't about getting her audience to feel sorry for her for being tortured and starved, but to encourage us to know that there is always hope. There were so many young people in the audience. However, this high school is private and full of privileged kids. I know that Mrs. Handler also speaks at underprivileged schools and I loved that she also shared that she came to America with her husband with $5 and couldn't speak the language. Her husband died when her son was in high school. She opened a business and put him through college and law school, so she wanted everyone to know that there is no excuse for not furthering your education.

We also heard from a second survivor and two young men that were part of The Lost Boys of Sudan. Phoenix has a chapter hear. I have heard them speak before and their stories are also amazing. I hope to put the Holocaust Museum on our list when we travel to DC this summer. I've heard that it is not to be missed.

My daughter and I put together this fun Dr. Pepper gift for her friend's birthday party. She said all the girls loved it. We made it from the book "Candy Bouquets". This is our second project from this book. I highly recommend it. The instructions are easy to follow and they make a great presentation.

Happy Easter!
We had fun making these darling "bird's nest" for one of our Easter desserts. I was generously given a set of the darling lavendar cupcake digital Easter toppers. I new immediately that they would work perfectly on my new "Target" cupcake stand.
This little blogging world of ours is too fun. Another blogger shared these darling kitty tags.
I attached it to a little Easter gift.
Every year, we try a new way to color eggs. The past few years have included writing on the eggs with a wax crayon before dipping into the dye, tye die eggs and last year's chalkboard paint eggs. This year, we attempted - note the word attempted - Martha's plaid method using electrical tape. Didn't work. What a mess! Please share any tried and true methods with us! I'm off to start my au gratin potatoes and then get ready for church.

Happy Easter! We are enjoying absolutely glorious weather here in Arizona and I hope that, wherever you are, you are too! As many of you know, I work for the school district. If I must work, this is the best choice for me, as it allows me to have the same vacation breaks as our children. We just enjoyed a two-week and one day spring break. We returned to school for three days and were off for Good Friday. It was a wonderful way to ease back in from our break. Now we are in for the long haul until Memorial Day. Because my husband works in the golf industry, he cannot take time off on our spring and fall breaks. Lucky for us, they are both the best times of the year to enjoy being outside and inside with the windows open. We stayed home and I couldn't be happier. I had all of that time to play Susie Homemaker.
We planted flowers in 18 flower pots. Cole fixed my fountain - yeah! I love hearing the water. Went to opening day of Alice in Wonderland in 3-D. Loved it. I took the kids out to lunch - twice. We went out to dinner - twice. We had company from New York, California and Colorado. We rented Whip it, Old Dogs, Couples Retreat, Time Travelers Wife, Did You Hear About the Morgans and The Amazing Mrs. Beeton. We went shopping more than twice. I read three books. I made strawberry jam and a home-made strawberry pie. I decorated and shopped for Easter. I went to seven upholstery fabric stores to find fabric to get our living room sofa recovered. I planted zinnia seeds to bloom in our hot summer heat. I washed everyone's comforters, sheets and mattress pads and hand-washed all my sweaters. I cleaned, and cleaned and cooked and cooked. Having all of us home during the day equals running the dishwasher twice a day. On the days that we were home, my husband came home for lunch. I did our taxes - we owe over $800 to the IRS - ugh! I worked on the kid's school albums, made Teresa Collin's paper flowers from her blog. I went to the dentist and took Cole to the dentist. We went on countless bike rides, played ping pong, several games of Bunny Jenga and took Chloe for walks. We are off to a spring training game and then coming home to color eggs. This year, we are attempting plaid eggs using electrical tape from my beloved Martha Stewart magazine.
I loved every minute of it!
Happy Easter - He Has Risen!