Sometimes...

I wear my daughter's hair clips to work. Just for the heck of it.

I look evil. It was tough to get a pic of the bow! Oh well, it's holiday-approriate. Happy Halloween!!

This weekend...

This weekend we are:

1.
Audubon Arizona’s Enchanted Trail/ Sendero Encantado


October 22, 23, 29 & 30
5:30 pm - 8 pm
On four special nights in October, you will find the Nina Mason Pulliam Rio Salado Audubon Center transformed into a wonderland celebrating Arizona’s nighttime creatures. Magical lights will beckon your family to explore the desert night on Audubon Arizona’s Enchanted Trail. What awaits YOU around the next bend?

This will be an experience children of all ages will never forget! Visitors will enjoy seeing live animals, making crafts and solving a mystery puzzle by completing the "Enchanted Trail."

Admission is Free. For more information, please contact Cathy Wise.

New to our Audubon Center? We are located on Central Ave just south of the Salt River.

Nina Mason Pulliam Rio Salado Audubon Center
3131 S. Central Ave
Phoenix, AZ 85040

How cool does this sound?! I know Diella will love it. Plus, it's free. Can't complain about free stuff, right?

2. Library Story time for families -Saturday at 10:15
Phoenix Ironwood Branch Library

3. Going to Fear Farm . Aaahhhhh. I'm going to cry. Good thing we're going in a decent-sized group. Seriously, the names of the different places in the Farm are: Chainsaw Mayhem, The Asylum, Apocalypse, Comdemned and Decimation. I'm pretty freaked out!

4. Phoenix Ironwood Branch Library
Is having a MAJOR book sale. We're going on Sunday to get titles for less than the Sarday Sale ($.50 a piece?!). Again, gotts love a bargain. Information about that sale is here.

5. Finishing the Soprano's, hopefully!

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Russian Circles - Chasers

Saw Russian Circles at Chasers last night. That band is so talented. I love watching the guitarist, he is so clearly passionate about the music they produce.

Here's one of my favorite songs by them, Death Rides a Horse. Enjoy!

I hope to have a before and after posted next week :)

Paranormal Activity

I recently saw the movie Paranormal Activity. It got off to a slow start, and the actual scary parts are few and far between, but I can't shake being terrified every night when I wake up! If you haven't seen the movie, most of the 'scary' activity takes place in the dark of the night (around 1-3 a), which happens to be around the time I wake up every night. Every sound I hear in the night- whether it's my dog, my daughter, a neighbor, or the dishwasher- terrifies me!

Scary movies dealing with Satan or demons ALWAYS do this to me. I must stop watching them. I don't think I'll be seeing PA2, or I'll be in a world of hurt when it comes to the dark. Am I reverting to a 5 year old girl? Have I started sleeping with a night light? Maybe.


Are you a scary movie fanatic, like me? What's your favorite horror flick?

Weekend Re-cap

What a great weekend this was! Diella and I went yard sale hunting on Saturday morning. I made out like a BANDIT. For $15, I got: a vintage-inspired record/ cd/ tape/ fm am radio player, Disney play table and 2 chairs, dog food/water bowl for outside, an embroidered picture, a wicker basket and a pretty ceramic display trinket.

I am most excited for my new record player. It's in PERFECT condition, except for the cd player. Its sound quality is better than my Crosley turntable that I bought brand new! We listened to vinyl all weekend to celebrate the great find, and welcome our new favorite piece of furniture into our home.

It came on a stand that I'm probably going to re-purpose and sell on craigslist. Or I might find another use for it- not sure yet.

Gotta love good deals!!

MY BEST GIRLFRIEND IS PREGNANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!

Veggie Enchiladas

I found this delicious recipe for veggie enchiladas here. I was a little skeptical on it at first. It's by no means an "authentic" Mexican food recipe- it has mashed potatoes in it, after all. But it was delicious nonetheless.

A couple of changes I made to mine: I used home-made enchilada sauce, added sazón, and green chilies for taste. What a 'lish dinner!

Special thanks to my husband for not killing me for making him have Mexican two nights in a row.

Saves the Day

Last night was the Saves the Day show at the Nile Theater in downtown Mesa. I had so much fun!

I love seeing these guys, it brings me back to high school days when I was so utterly carefree! The energy at the show was a-m-a-z-i-n-g. Everyone enjoyed themselves while dancing around, with no anomocity toward one another! Did I mention that they played almost ALL of my favorite songs (they played 50 SONGS total), including You Vandal (they NEVER EVER play You Vandal live)?! I died.

We pre-gamed at Mango's in downtown Mesa. I get the veggie burrito and salsa/chips. TO. DIE. FOR! I also enjoy the staff, all the men are so friendly and accommodating. Definitely a hometown favorite.

Halloween candy-looking gifts

This craft was inspired (taken from) Martha Stewart's Halloween Crackers. I thought these would be the perfect Halloween gift to give the ladies I visit teach. The following is a step-by-step tutorial.

Here's what you'll need:
- Tissue paper (since I couldn't find crepe) and colored papers

- Scissors
- Toilet-paper rolls
- Glue stick
- Twine/ Halloween-inspired ribbon (what I used)
- Plastic spider or bat rings

- Candy or small gifts for inside the rolls

1. Following MS' instructions, I cut my tissue paper (Target) to 11" all around. Then I cut the adorable scrapbook paper I found in the Target dollar section (8 sheets for a dollar!) to a 4x7 piece.

2. Roll tissue paper around toilet paper roll, glue seems shut. MS' instructions say to have candy in the roll during this step, but mine kept falling out, which was a pain. So I'd recommend adding the candy later.

3. Take printed paper and glue around TP roll. I started at the tissue paper's seam, so that I could hide all of the seams on the same side.

4. Tie ends with twine/ ribbon. I found this skull & crossbones ribbon in the Target dollar section and LOVED it. But alas, it was cheaply made, and broke when I tried to knot it. A note to the wise: be careful, you're working with tissue paper- it will rip/tear easily & frustrate/frazzle you when it does!!

(this is the ribbon I ended up using)

5. Add spider/bat wings where the ribbon is gathered & you're done.

This craft was so easy! it took me 15 minutes to complete. Try it out! It'd be great as party favors for a Halloween party or as decoration. You could also put small gifts in the TP instead of candy. I put some Halloween socks in one of the other favors I made. I plan on making a Christmas version and using as decorations on my kitchen counter.

Linking to: Polly Want a Crafter, The Shabby Chic Cottage, House of Hepworths,Somewhat Simple and Beyond the Picket Fence.

Desert Botanical Garden - Free Tuesday

The Desert Botanical Garden has free admission on the 2nd Tuesday of each month. Yesterday, my little family attended. The Monarch Butterfly exhibit is in town, and I really wanted to take Diella there, so we ventured to the Garden after work. The Exhibit closes at 5, and we arrived at 4:55. So we had to sprint from the entrance to the exhibit to make it. Thankfully, the lovely staff was accommodating and let us in even though were were a few minutes late (running with a baby is tough stuff!).

If you plan on going to see the butterflies, I recommend that you go during the day, as they were pretty docile- most just resting on tree branches and not flying much. I think they were settling down for an evening of rest. So go during the day in order to have the full experience.

(there's butterflies in those trees, promise!) Also, why is the picture of Diella and I so grainy, and the picture of Raf & D so clear? Darn.

Because the butterflies weren't flying around much, Diella didn't really pay too much attention to them. She found much more interest in the pond and the orange caution cones (really, Diella?). But every once in a while, when she spotted a butterfly, she would scream at it. So that was fun!

You should check out the exhibit. The butterflies are so gorgeous and friendly. One might even land on you! Plus, the weather is beautiful outside, so you can enjoy some of the desert's most beautiful and unique plants without nearly dying of heat stoke! Fantastic.

Free Sprinkles & Saturday funtime!

As mentioned in my previous post (the first one today, man am I making up for lost time!), I've been going outdoors now that it's not unbearably hot.

Saturday, my little family and I went searching for antiques. We need a new kitchen table, because the one we're using is a friend's and sadly, he needs it back. So the search was on the last two weeks for a nice-looking, non wallet-breaking table. We started at Goodwill in south Scottsdale, and we found a real gem. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture at the moment, so you will just have to take my word. I am loving the table's shape and carvings. The best part about it is that I bought it on half-priced Saturday. It was priced at $19.95, so I got it for $10!!!!! Seriously, guys. I almost bought a semi-cute, mostly-homely table off of craigslist because I THOUGHT it was cheap. Man, am I glad I held out! More on the table re-do (including pictures) later.

Later that day, we had a hankering for some Sprinkles cupcakes. We're sort of obsessed. I remembered that they do freebies sometimes. So I logged-in to Twitter (which I haven't done in AGES) and saw that they posted a freebie offer an HOUR before. We got two free chocolate on chocolate cupcakes adorned with adorable yellow stars! I felt like a super star. Was that cheesy? Score one for us!

Am I excited? Y-E-S I am!

Then we went to h&m (because really, what sort of shop-aholic would I be if I didn't check-in EVERY time I'm in or around Scottsdale). And got some goodies. That place is like mecca. We came out of Disneyland of shopping to find that the person who parked next to us (after we were already in the store) was REALLY good at driving. As exhibited below, they had to CLIMB OUT of the passenger door to get out. Seriously? Seriously?! We had to wait for this jerk to return before we could leave. hahaha People's driving makes me laugh.

See you next time, lovelies!

Also

This week marks two of my favorite bands' shows!

I will be seeing Saves the Day and The Chariot on Wednesday and Saturday. HOW EXCITED AM I?!?!

Also, I'm trying on new blog names. Must find one that fits!

Hello Bloggy landia!

Long time no see. I've been busy with fall crafts and actually going outside now that it's cool! I've missed you so.

My most recent crafting adventure was making a Dollar Store wreath. Mine didn't come out as adorable as Allison's!! It started out so... blah. I was really enjoying the fall leaf colors, but it needed some more harvest love! I've actually added a couple more pumpiekins since taking these pictures. I'll upload those later.


We're all about cheap frugal crafts in our home!

I have several upcoming projects to share in the coming months. Stay tuned! :)

HTC Evo (4G)

This weekend, Rafael and I got new phones. We both got Sprint's HTC Evo (4G) which has been solidly SOLD OUT everywhere since its release in July (?). We've been on call lists, waiting lists, stalker lists, etc. But FINALLY, we own them!

Now, Phoenix is not yet 4G capable, but since the phone itself is 4G capable, it runs faster than any phone I've had. I haven't experienced any problems with freezing, lag, etc. According to the adorable salesman at Sprint, Phoenix is next for the 4G upgrade! Swoon.


The phone took a little getting used to. I'm really not very good with touch screen phones. I previously had the Samsung Instinct, which I had mass amounts of trouble texting with. That phone also froze constantly, where I was forced to remove the battery for a hard restart. But none of those problems (yet and hopefully never) with my Evo.

One of my favorite things about the phone is when I remove it from standby mode, and the forecast is cloudy, partly cloudy, etc; the phone has clouds that hover over the applications for a few seconds. It is so charming!

I also really enjoy the wide array of free "apps" that HTC/Sprint have to offer. So far I have downloaded: a Task killer (which stops applications from going on in the background and draining your battery- which runs out REALLY fast), Barcode Scanner (which was cooler in theory than in real life), Craigslist Notification (which I am IN LOVE with), Foursquare (I WILL become Mayor of Venezias), Friends Trivia Quote Game (♥), Gospel Library (loves it), Kindle (duh), and Ron Burgundy (current notification tone: "Easy, compadre!"). I am an app FIEND.

So far, the only problem I've had with the phone is that the battery dies pretty quickly. Besides that, it's running very well. :) GET ONE!


(via Slashgear)

Twenty Days!

This may be weird, considering the content in the show, but Law & Order: SVU is one of my favorite shows on TV. The 2-HOUR season premiere is in twenty days! I am ecstatic.
Seriously, Ice-T, Mariska Hargitay and Richard Belzer, what's not to love?!

Happy Thoughts

Dear Diella,

You are the funniest little girl I have ever met, you make Mommy and Daddy laugh so, so much. Waking up every morning to see your bright, smiling, laughing face really makes me feel complete. I can't believe how much you are maturing and growing- you're so smart! You are my happy thought today, and every day.

Rough start

I am off to a not so great start with morning. I got to work this morning and had a laundry list of clients who had problems/ needed help/ wanted answers. I burned my bagel, to a black crisp and now have no breakfast. I forgot to do something last week that was really important, and remembered it this morning...

BUT "You Vandal" by Saves the Day came on my iPod just now, and none of that matters. This song can cure anything!

Have a fantastic day, all.

Adventure-filled weekend [picture heavy-ish]

We had a FANTASTIC weekend! Most of our time was spent with Ramelle and Jayk.

We went out to eat at one of the best Mexican food restaurants in the valley, La Casa Blanca in Chandler on Friday. It was 'lish. Then we introduced Rams to The Waffle House on Saturday, because she had never partaken in the goodness that is Waffley Casa. Ramelle and Jayk got me Jake (Twilight) Sweethearts. How well do they know me? I drooled at the picture of him on the box for a long time. You can see Diella above admiring the box as well. I'm teaching her young ;)

Saturday night, we had a picture-taking extravaganza, as you can see above. I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend! <3

Also, as an update to my "no negativity" campaign, I am doing well. I'm combating bad feelings with good ones! Today's positive thought is that I have the best family in the world, and I am SO grateful for them.