Downton Abbey

In case you didn't know I am a complete sucker for period dramas and no one does period dramas like the BBC. I was excited to see that Downton was coming to Masterpiece Theater last year. I enjoyed the first season with its beautiful costumes but could have done with a little less drama and a lot more Dowager Countess.


I like the character of Matthew, he reminds me a lot of Gilbert Blythe but Dan Stevens has not reached fiction boyfriend level.

He played Edward Ferris in the Sense & Sensibility mini series. So if he is a fictional boyfriend you might want to watch it.
Speaking of The Dowager Countess did you guys see that I can now add her to my paper doll collection. (Thanks Chelsea for pinning it for me)

 I am so sad this season is over I loved having something to look forward to on Sunday. But if you are like me you won't have to wait long because Masterpiece Theater is starting the second season of Sherlock on May 6th.

If you didn't catch the first, I think there are only 3 episodes they are on Netflix.

Happy Birthday Arizona

Today my favorite state turns 100, Happy Birthday Arizona! 

My friend Jenny has done four posts about 100 things she loves about Arizona. They are awesome you should check them out! 

In response I would like to show some of my favorite things about Arizona

The Grand Canyon at sunset, overwhelmingly beautiful

Desert wildflowers in spring

The Mesa Arizona Temple especially the Christmas lights & Easter pagent

Lo Lo's Chicken & Waffle

 The big creepy baby on the way to California

Our sunsets

 Ballet Under The Stars

 Joe's Farm Grill & Liberty Market

 I love my library and that it is surrounded by Riparian Preserve

 The Superstition Mountains, my favorite mountains ever.

 The drive to Sedona/Oak Creek Canyon

 Arizona Citrus, others just can't compare

There are so many others but these are ones I had pictures for. 

Pinning and Winning

Actually I did not pin this on Pinterest, my sister Debbie did. I didn't like the picture they choose to make so I didn't pin it.

Source: themetapicture.com via Debbie on Pinterest

But I did make my own and used it to make the cover of Mimi's book. See I promised I would eventually post about the cover.

I used a pen to carve my take out box.

I also just used a sponge brush to paint. 

If you put enough paint on then you only need to lightly press the paper on. If you want to use again later, wash out the excess paint you won't want it to dry in the grooves. 

Debs Freckles

Saturday I met Debbie and her kids at Joe's Farm Grill for breakfast and to start her birthday off right. Joseph thought it was hilarious to feed me, I was actually stuffed but he just kept feeding me.

After I took the kids so Debbie could celebrate her birthday by spending the day all by herself! 
I told the kids we were going to a park but not one with a playground one where we could be scientist and have an adventure.

 We observed ducks

Dug for dinosaur bones

We also went exploring to see what birds we could find. We crossed paths with a group of adults with binoculars and walking sticks, you should have seen them whip into action when William pointed out a humming bird. 

Then we headed back to Debbie's house to get ready for the surprise birthday party. My mom came in to help me get ready. We cleaned, I made cheese trays while she got the fruit and veggies ready. We had to wait for Debbie to meet up with Russ to be sure she wouldn't stop at home. 

Russ wanted to roast Debbie because she had enjoyed their friend Kayleen's so much a few weeks earlier. I made some decorations for the party.
I am going to be honest I was kind of at a loss of how to decorate for Debbie's party because she is who I go to to help me with being creative. Here you can see the the banner and cross stitch hoops I made. When I went to the scrapbook store to use their die cut machine to cut the letters out guess who was there also using the die cut machine. Yes Debbie! Thank goodness for Melissa who was with me I was able to use her son Gavin's birthday as an excuse.

I have always loved Debbie's freckles I remember there was a little boy who we loved to babysit and he asked his mom "why does Debbie have sparkles on her face?" At a cousins wedding all the little cousins were running around when one ran up to her and said "you have so many angel kisses" and ran off just as fast. 

A Face Without Freckles is Like a Night Without Stars.

I used a book page from a used and warped copy of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince then using permanent marker outlined the block letters, moon & stars then colored the negative space. I then sewed the book page onto black material using my sewing machine. After I put it on the embroidery hoop and hand stitched the white stars onto the black and a few black stars onto the book page. 

 I was really happy with the chapter I used it was called Birthday Surprise, hopefully you can see it. I then just hot glued the extra material down on the back. I have no idea if that is what you are suppose to do, I don't like to read instructions.

Big thank you to Jenny was nice enough to make this adorable little cake along with cupcakes (I had two that night).
Another big thank you needs to go out to my brothers Brett & Eric for helping out in the kitchen. Also Russ's parents who helped keep Gracie and Joseph busy while I was running around like a chicken with its head cut off.

Debbie was thoroughly embarrassed by it all and I hope it wasn't too bad and I hope she had fun in spite of it all. And as away of apology to Debbie I am going to even the field here by posting a picture my friend Lindsey showed in her video she made for Debbie in which she not only shared embarrassing photos of Debbie of Russ & I as well.

For those who don't know I served a mission for my church The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Funny enough I served in Utah and in my first area there was a lady who worked at the Target photo center and she told us we could come in and she would take our pictures for cheep. The pictures were only ever a joke and I had completely forgotten about them till Lindsey held it up, Lindsey you would have loved the reaction it got. And yes Chelsea I am going to look and see if I still have a copy for you. Also the Book of Mormon I am reading was one they had on hand for a prop.

They Say It's Your Birthday

Dearest Debbie
How lucky I am to have a singing, dancing, laughing, creative, artistic, scheming (in the best sense of the word), adoring, considerate and funny sister. I often find myself blown away by your love and friendship and I  really hope that I find enough ways to make you feel as loved and appreciated as I do. Because sis in my book you are the bee's knee's!
Love your guts
Connie

My Trip To Nerdfighteria

You may think I am joking here but I am not, it is real and I went.

I stole this from Urban Dictionary dot com.

On Wednesday night(this is over a week old now) I went to a book signing for John Green's The Fault In Our Stars. I have read two of his other books besides The Fault In Our Stars, An Abundance of Katherine's and Paper Towns.

Besides being a writer John also does youtube videos with his brother Hank, their channel is called vlogbrothers. Here is a video they did together to explain nerdfightrers etcetera.


I have a lot of respect for the nerdfighting community, they do a lot to make the world a better place. I also have extra respect for John because of this video he did mentioning how he loves Stephanie Perkins Anna and the French Kiss.

I was excited to experience the nerdfighters first hand and lets just say they did not disappoint.
There were programs catered to each city.

There were all kind of nerdy things like a sock puppet show...

Songs by Hank this one is about John's book. He also played songs he wrote about Hogwarts & fish. 

There were also costume changes

and some human electrocution

Then I got to get my book signed and told John that Hank & him are like the boy versions of the Dashwood sisters from Sense & Sensibility. Basically it was just obvious that having Hank around relaxed John and I was happy to see the brothers interact.

Hank drew the fish.