Christmas Craftin'!

A little glimpse of what I've been up to lately...

Coasters


Stationary Wrap




Mittens made from recycled wool sweaters...

A little remodeling...

The master bathroom shower has always been on the "needing to replace" list. And, we decided to just go for it this winter. Unfortunately I forgot to take a "before" photo, which I'm a little sad about. But here's the final product (it still needs to be washed, but we have to wait for the grout to dry)...

Winterhaven!

Winterhaven is a neighborhood in Tucson that likes to take Christmas decorating to the next level. Here were a few of my favorites...

Christmas lights in time with the music:


The 12 days of Christmas all in one yard!

12 drummers drumming...


11 pipers piping...


10 Lords a leaping...


9 Ladies dancing...


8 Maids a Milking (MY FAVORITE!)


7 Swans a Swimming...


6 Geese a laying...


5 golden rings...


4 Calling birds...


3 French hens...


2 Turtle Doves...


And a partridge in a pear tree!


Where else besides Winterhaven could someone have Santa buried in the sand in their front yard without seeming a bit crazy?


Snow, skiing, ice skating...this person must not really be from Tucson... (please note the oversized barbie doll behind the white picket fence on ice skates)...

Visitors!

Last weekend our friends Will and Orla visited from Boston! It's a fun treat to have people we know so well from somewhere else come visit where we live now. It was also a great reason to stop and be still over the weekend and just live in the moment with friends.

We went to the DeGrazia Art Gallery, one of my favorite places in Tucson. I've probably posted photos here before from there, but I love it so much that I'm going to post them again. :)

Outside the gallery, what also used to be Ted DeGrazia's home:


Outside the Chapel:


Inside the sanctuary:


We hiked the phoneline trail in Sabino Canyon. I never knew the leaves changed color in AZ, but we learned they do!...beautiful golden leaves decorated the taller trees in the canyon.

It's True!

For my birthday, Ryan took me to get my nose pierced! I've been wanting to get it pierced for several years now, but just never quite had the courage to do so. The guy who did my piercing told me that if I've ever had my eyebrows waxed, then I've experienced far worse pain that what it would feel like to get my nose pierced...such a lie...it hurt big time!

Pacing as my jewelry was getting sterilized...


I feel like piercing and tattoo parlors have such a bad rap for being dirty, but it's just not true. I actually would dare to say that this place was cleaner than most dentist/doctors offices...not sure what that says about my dentist/doctor, but it's true. Everything was super sterile, I wasn't allowed to touch anything, everyone used gloves, etc. I was very impressed with the cleanliness.

Before...


After...


I must admit, I love having my nose pierced! Walking around the grocery store, doing laundry, etc...I don't know what it is...but I'm enjoying it. The funny thing, is though, is that NO ONE says anything about it. At first I thought that it was because a.) they didn't like it, or b.) what do you say anyway? But, I'm realizing (through people telling me) is it's because it's not very noticeable...a good thing in my opinion. I didn't want anything big, just a little sparkle, and I think I succeeded in getting just that.

The Great Cover Up!

There is an annual 3-day musical happening in Tucson every year called The Great Cover Up where local Tucson bands take the stage covering other mainstream acts. Ryanhood is participating for the first time this year...their disguise? Flight of the Conchords! I've included a youtube video of one of their performances...if you haven't heard/seen them before, have fun...they're fun...



In preparation for this event taking place tomorrow night, Ryan has been growing a beard, and we bought a wig to try to get the hair looking just right. In the picture online, the wig looked PERFECT for Ryan's character, however once we got it...it looked like a total clown wig. So, to the Hair Tree we went to try to get it cut/straightened/real curled/etc.


This morning when he tried on the wig though, he thought it still needed some trimming. So, it was my turn to cut away. The one thing that I didn't take into consideration when I offered to cut it, was that Ryan comes from a beauty salon family. (His mom owns a salon, his grandma used to cut hair, etc.) I was quickly getting requests for jagged cuts as to not make it look to straight...to thin it out...and to put layers in it...I did my best. :) It was fun, and the wig looks rockin' now!



If you are in Tucson and want to come...Saturday night (Dec. 13)...10pm (please note the time change)...Club Congress.

200!

Well folks, this is my 200th blog post since it's conception in March of 2006. I originally had thought that I'd do something fun and list my 200 favorites...but to be honest all I have time for is a short post. :) A couple of friends have had this video on their blogs, and well, I like it...so I wanted to share it with all of you!

Hike!

Ryan and I went for a hike last week on the Finger Rock trail in the Catalina Mountains. It's a beautiful place to hike at sunset. We got off to a bit of a late start so we didn't get to hike as far as we had hoped to...yet the view was still breathtaking.

Happy Birthday Vitale!

Today was Vitale's first birthday! Having Vitale and all of his family in our life has been such a joy! I have been wanting to go to Africa ever since I can remember, and I am soo excited that we'll be heading there in a few weeks!! But, Ryan brought to my attention today how cool it is that God has brought Africa to us by means of having wonderful friendships with people from there all around us. It's true, if it weren't for God sending Liz to my doorstep (literally) 5 years ago, we wouldn't be going to Uganda this month. And if it weren't for God urging us to the ESL camp this summer (that we were so on the edge of not attending), we wouldn't have met our friends from Congo! It's been a gift to be apart of their vibrant community, and we got to see an even bigger picture of that today at Vitale's birthday party! The church community that Bienvenue, Elodie, and Vitale are a part of was having a house warming party today for a place they were just able to purchase to hold community gatherings, ESL classes, etc in...and it just so happened to coincide with Vitale's birthday, so they threw a party in celebration...this was the first traditional American birthday party that any of them have ever been to! Bagimba, the pastor the church, is from Burundi and just came to the States 18 months ago as a refugee...he has accomplished sooo much in such a short period of time, it humbles me. He has started this entire church which now has over 100 people, mostly consisting of refugees in Tucson...it just goes to show what a need there was in Tucson for such a gathering place.

Here is a video of some of the music that was sung at the party...


Prayers for Vitale...


Birthday cake...


Piñata...


Onlookers...


Candy Gatherers...


Presents and Vitale's acceptance speech (he was a man of few words)...


Sound asleep...


While at the party, I saw some great ways to carry babies...can't wait to have some vibrant colored fabric and a baby on my back!

Happy Baby Shower Melissa!

On Saturday Melissa's sister, Valorie, and I had a baby shower for Melissa at our house. It was a wonderful gathering of girlfriends sharing in tea, food, crafts, laughs, and hugs. We are so excited to have Baby Giambelluca join our community of friends and family in Tucson!

Thanksgiving!

Sorry I am a little slow with blogging lately. We have been thoroughly enjoying our time at home in Tucson. This afternoon we are planning to have lunch at one of our favorite little spots downtown and then go for a hike in the Catalinas.

We had a wonderful full day of thanksgiving last Thursday! I ran a 5k cross country race in the morning with Ryan's Uncle Terry. It had rained earlier that morning so the typical water pit and hay bale lain course was also covered in mud and rain-filled washes...it was a sloppy adventure...luckily our car wasn't clean so we could get in without any worries of dirtying it any more. :)


After the race we went over to Grandmo and Grandpo Green's for brunch! Ryan has a lot of cousins on that side of the family, so it was fun to be able to see a lot of them and have a non-turkey meal to start out the day.

Lori hosted a wonderful Thanksgiving meal at her house with Grammie, Sara, and us. Having just a small group was really nice to get to chat with everyone and have some meaningful time as we shared what we were all thankful for.

And then in the evening we went to Chris and Melissa's to celebrate with friends!

Matt and Abby making the mashed potatoes...


Ben carving the ham...


Elodie and Vitale...


Marie...


Filling plates...


A wonderful celebration with friends!