Just because...

Makes a girl feel special. Thank you Sweetheart xoxoxoxoxoxoxo!

4th of July, part II

Happy INdenpence day! Old Glory is waving today on a very hot day in Phoenix, Arizona. Later, very much later, when the sun goes down we will sit in the back yard and watch the firework display from Chase Field, home of the Az Diamondbacks.

We spent today relaxing and enjoying the day off. We cooked some brawts on the grill and watched a flick on TV.

I went by JoAnn's on Friday and found their 4th of July at 70% off. I found this cute Uncle Sam Nutcracker:


This cool floor mat for the front door:

And a three bell door hanger that I added to my wreath on the front door:

Happy Independence Day

and God Bless America!

4th of July, part I

Can you believe I forgot about my 4th of July decor? What was I thinking???! My Sweetheart asked me today if I had planned on decorating for the 4th of July. I said "of course I am, I'll do it next month". Then he said "4th of July is next week....". YIKES!!!

I asked him to pull my 4th of July bin down STAT!!!

I gave this holiday decor about 20 minutes of my time (I was on a tight schedule today)...

The front door wreath:

Here's the entrance way table. Very simple. I have a red, white and blue table runner, some red, white and blue candles and ol' Uncle Sam:

Here's that cute table runner that I got on clearance at Kohl's about 5 years ago:
These cute tea light holders are from the dollar section at Target:


I found these stars at Target on clearance last year. They appear to be doorknobs hangers but they are metal and made too much noise on the doorknobs so I thought they would look pretty good here:

My Sweetheart agreed; they look really good hanging on these candles:

The Declaration of Independence, Uncle Sam and a red, white and blue candle:

A bucket of red, white and blue "dynamite" candles and another little Uncle Sam:

I can't remember where I got these Uncle Sam figures but they sure are cute!:

Old Glory and a blue tea light holder:

Even the Ariel Assault got involved:

That's what I have so far, more pics to post soon!

Quail

I looked out the bedroom window one morning as I was getting dressed for work and I saw this HUGE quail hanging out in the yard. He was perched on top of the trellis that sits over St. Francis. He was what I considered to be really big. I know very little about birds, but compared to the quail I've seen in the past, this guy was huge!

Notice the lovely smog that sits over the city. The picture is a bit fuzzy because it was taken from afar and through the window. Still, it's the epitome of city air. HA!

Grievie and BooBoo

It was 103 degrees in Phoenix today; nice and hot! Because it was so hot we decided to stop by the store after mass today and buy the puppies (not really puppies, but that's what we call them) a swimming pool.

Grievous loves the water! Once in the pool, he walks quickly around the pool until the water starts to whirl then he plops down in the water! He absolutely loves it!


He takes breaks in between dips in the pool and lays on the grass:

Naboo was not sure about the pool. Actually, she didn't want anything to do with it:

So My Sweetheart picked her up and placed her in the pool. But she just stood there. She didn't move a muscle. I don't think she's ever been in water so she just wasn't sure what to think:

She eventually moved around a little. She let me take another picture of her then she jumped out and sat on the patio while Grievous had all the fun!


I'm sure once she gets used to being in the water she'll have a blast. When it gets to 117 degrees I'm sure the water will be a welcome treat!

Happy Sunday!!

A New Tea Pot

What a great weekend we had! We had dinner with my Sweetheart's mom at My Big Fat Greek Restaurant on Friday evening. Then we came home and spent a nice evening relaxing in the patio and enjoying the nice weather. On Saturday, we ran some errands which pretty much had us out most of the day. We came home and enjoyed another relaxing evening in the patio.

On Sunday, we went to the Chinese Cultural Center in Phoenix. We were on the hunt for a Chinese tea pot. When we went to San Francisco we visited a Tea Bar in China Town where we sampled a variety of hot teas and my Sweetheart was hooked! He loves his hot tea. I am not so crazy about any thing with hot liquid (I don't like coffee, tea or soup) but every now and then I will have some hot tea with him.

We went into several stores and finally decided on the one we found at the Chinese Ranch Market. I love the blue and white and the detail on the pot. I also love the bamboo handle.





My Sweetheart likes the set because of the dragons. He's totally into dragons:



It has the mesh strainer in it, which is exactly what we were looking for because we buy the loose tea leafs:
It was a pretty good buy and we had so much fun shopping!

Three day weekend up ahead

We are so excited about the upcoming three day weekend! It's a much needed break and we intend to spend it at home. We took a trip to Cave Creek a few weeks ago and bought some pots for our patio so we will definitely work on that.

My Sweetheart works really hard on keeping the backyard maintained. He's created a nice place to sit, relax and escape! Here's some pictures of the backyard. This is the flower garden area with St. Francis under the arbor. We planted annuals and roses and vines there. Eventually the vines should climb up the arbor and create a nice shaded area for St. Francis and all the birds that love to visit the bird bath:

The two trees are "Peanut" and "Butter". Peanut is a grapefruit tree and Butter is a lemon tree. Oh and there's Old Glory peeking in from the top of the photo :)

Here's Leia. She's doing really well. The winter storms were hard on her but she seems to be pulling through it well:

And here's Luke:

And my favorite bush in the yard, because I love the purple flowers:

Meanwhile, inside the house. I updated my "seasonal frame" with Red, White and Blue in honor of Memorial Day:

Happy Memorial Day!~