The Best Kind of Weekend

Saturday was Stephanie Perkins signing (along with other authors)! I picked Debbie up and she had made lunch for us to eat in the car, little asparagus pizzas. She also held the plate like that for me while we drove to Phoenix. She really is the best sister. 

After the panel all the authors taught classes on things other than writing novels. Steph and Matt de la Pena divided the room and then helped us write a love song. 

Debbie and I were sitting on Matt's side of the room and our group wrote a verse about teenagers finding love in the library. It took us awhile to agree on things because everyone had good ideas but I really liked the final product, I wish I would have taken the lyrics home with me. I can only remember a line from the song but it was about a girl at the library looking for the cute boy she sees there she gets sad when she doesn't see him but turns around and runs right into him. And I am sure there was some kissing in the library later :).

The cute girls in the picture sang it for us and did a really good job. And later we gushed about Stephanie's books together!

Lisa McMann taught us about food display and then did a competition to see who did the best, this is Debbie's plate after we ate some.

Here is my cute friend Jen talking to Steph during the signing.

And here Debbie and I are with Steph, in a very happy making picture!

Sunday when I went to my parents for our regular Sunday dinner I got a surprise from my brother & sister in law who went to Harry Potter land! I am one happy girl!

Monday Debbie, Stephanie and I attempted to go see a movie but being a holiday we ended up shopping instead. After we met up with Mimi for an early dinner/late lunch. It was so much fun to be real life friends!

Potter Party

A year ago I gave William the movie Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone and can I just say my plan worked out brilliantly!
This year William invited a few close friends to his Harry Potter birthday party. There was way to much awesomeness for me to document so I will just share a few pictures. Keep an eye out at Debbie's blog for a full report.

The Quidditch Pitch

This is just Debbie's pomegranate tree, it made me happy so I took a picture. 

I saw this lady made a Marauders Map of her house for a party & William is obsessed with maps so I stole her design and made one for the kids. My hand hurt the next day, it was a lot of writing, but totally worth it.

Here is Professor Snape & Professor Joe teaching Potions.

The surprise of the night was when William got the Elder Wand he was literally speechless, finally a little dazed William said "it's good." 

My favorite part of the party was when I was pretending to be Professor McGonagall I was speaking with a British accent (I know it should have been Scottish but it was impromptu) then for the rest of the night when he was thinking about it William also spoke with a British accent. It melted my UK loving heart!

Here is Gracie playing with the potions kit I gave to William for his birthday.

Joseph loved it as well. I bought the box at Hobby Lobby and painted it myself & found all the bottles, jar & little caldron at thrift stores. Yes I did know the kids would want to drink out of them don't worry I washed them. 

Camping 2011 Edition

This is the fourth year our family has gone camping at Oak Creek Canyon just past Sedona and again it was great! We get to enjoy cooler weather, great food, each other & nature. 

You know what happens when you let your niece borrow your phone? It gets sticky finger prints on it & you get a lot of picture of her making funny faces. 

Unlike other years we interrupted our trip to go see the new & concluding Harry Potter movie. Here is William waiting to have his mind blown!

After the movie William was so excited he kept saying he was Harry Potter & was casting spells left and right.  My favorite was when we were walking out he went to a door and said "alohomora" which of course is the unlocking spell. 

I didn't take any picture except on my phone and only had it while going to the movie & didn't pull it out again till we were packing up to go home. To see more picture you can go and see Debbie's posts. Oak Creek Camping and The Creek

Is it just me or is this guy just to cute to handle?

I was so shocked the first time I handed him a wand he started to wave it around and jabber up a storm. 

Here is a video in case you missed it on facebook.

Gracie really is my best friend, she even slept in the tent trailer with Vaeh & I. She even told me about her plan for when she grows up to live with me. Debbie had told me she had told her but it made me smile to hear her say it. She even let me braid her hair, something she hardly ever lets me ever do. 

You're a Wizard Harry Potter

I am going to share how to make your own shirt/bag using freezer paper. 

First step is to transfer (I traced) your design onto the freezer paper. 

Next you cut out your image with an x-acto knife.

You will also need to decide if you want to use the negative or positive

See when I made my Muse bag I painted the negative.

For this you need to buy the spray fabric paint.

Then you put the shiny side of the freezer paper down and iron on your freezer paper template. 

Next you paint your shirt.

White on black takes several coats but any mistakes can easily be fixed with a black fabric marker.

Once you have applied as many coats you desire you remove the freezer paper

and voila!

You can even put the left over cut outs to good use!

Alright I am out tomorrow so let me wish you all a very Happy Harry Potter!

Oh Yes!

I am getting ready to go on our families yearly camping trip up by Sedona that is later this week. I feel more relaxed just thinking about spending four days up in the pines reading and having fun with my family. My brother Mark and his family will be leaving for Nebraska so soon and I am extra glad for this time to spend with them. I am going to miss them terribly.
Some of us will be taking a short break to drive to Flagstaff and see the new & final Harry Potter movie. Debbie text me on July 5th and asked if I thought it was possible to finish all the Harry Potter books by the time the movie came out. I gave her my ipod that had all but the third book on it so she could listen/read. Last I knew Debbie was on the fifth book, but she may have finished it today. I know this will sound silly to some but I am so proud of her. I was thinking I would like to make a shirt for the movie and was glad when Debbie had the same thought and was already working on it. I think I am just going to do simple and I really liked this idea.

Here is a link to other Harry Potter t-shirt ideas I liked over on Pinterest (why are you not on Pinterest yet?).
I had to steal this from Debbie's blog it was just to cute.

As much as I love Pinterest, Blogs, Twitter, Facebook & Instagram it is always nice to take a break. So if you don't see me around Thursday - Sunday you know why.

And for no reason at all here is Gracie as a princess witch (witch like Hermione), while I had to be Darth Vader.

Some November

I don't have any pictures of Thanksgiving but it was really nice. I got up to watch some of my family members run in some Turkey Trots & helped Debbie a little watch the kids since Russ was running. Then headed out to my moms where our turkey feast was well under way. That night some of us watched Home Alone. It was Williams first time watching & man did we all laugh really hard. We watched this part a couple times :)


Debbie, Russ & the kids decided to spend the night at my moms since Russ had to work Friday morning & William talked me into staying over as well. So Friday I spent the morning & most of the afternoon in my pj's I also watched Harry Potter with William. Who says he is going to be a wizard when he grows up. :)

Saturday was the family reunion on my dads side, it was great to be with family & catch up. I especially love talking Muse with Kelly, John & Chris.
We met at a park in Scottsdale that has a train, I waited so I could get a picture of my family on the train but did not see them. I was about to turn my back when I hear "Grandma, Connie" I turn to see little hands stick out of the cattle car. My brother, sister & brother in law are in there as well. Debbie has pictures which I am sure she post some day.


Here are my nieces Vaeh & Gracie after the train ride.

That night was Chelsea & Rajiv's wedding reception, which was at the Phoenix Art Museum. It was just beautiful & fun to catch up with friends. Here are some flowers from the reception.

I was over at Debbie & Russ's the other night & William showed me this.

It is a lightning scar he drew on his forehead. I can not even tell you how much I love talking Harry Potter with him. He is always asking me for spells (sometimes I make them up) and I was just told while taking Christmas pictures he did not say Merry Christmas he said Happy Christmas. Way to go my little brit-o-phile as Melissa likes to call me.

And then there was this little guy, isn't he just the cutest? His little pointy chin is just so cute, I just want to kiss him all the time. But he doesn't like it when my hair tickles him.

23 christmas time (is here again) by ConnieOnnie

Where I have been

Like I mentioned in the previous post I finally decided to read Harry Potter. I started listening to the audio books in July and finished on August 23rd. I felt a lot of pressure reading since so many of my friends are HUGE Harry Potter fans (especially Mimi). I was afraid that I wouldn't like them enough or maybe too much. Does anyone else worry that you might steal a friends thing? I enjoyed the first few I loved Harry but a motherly kind of love. I teared up when he had his first Christmas at Hogwarts and got his sweater from Mrs. Weasley. I have a very soft spot in my heart for Mrs. Weasley since she reminds me of my mom. But my mom is way better, my mom would never have had a crush on stupid Lockhart. But she is the mother of six sons, two redheaded children and has always welcomed friends into our home and family. But it wasn't until the last three that I actually started to get really hooked.

I did accomplish operation Trifecta on my birthday along with reading Mockingjay. I went to Joe's Farm Grill for breakfast, some of my sister in laws along with some nieces & nephews, my brother & sister Debbie were able to come. We had fun and I had a delicious waffle with strawberries & blueberries.


While there I also got these amazing pillows from Debbie & my sister in law Ashley, they made them! I love them a lot, they remind me of pillows my grandma had & they have Debbie's vintage touch to them.

In case you don't speak French this say yes (think we).

I love the French & British pillows since they fit in nicely with my London & Paris theme I have going.
After breakfast Debbie came over and we both sprawled out on my couches and began reading Mockingjay. Soon we had to break to grab some lunch at Liberty Market
where Debbie and I split a picnic salad & a favorite the best chicken sandwich (I think that is what it is called). We were joined by our friends Jenny & Mimi both of whom we knew had finished Mockingjay so we were free to speak about what we had read so far.
After we went back to Debbie's to read and had a hard time pulling away from reading to go to dinner. Here is a picture of me reading & Gracie watching Peter Pan. We went to Joe's Real BBQ with my parents. Mark, Ashley & Sam, Russ, Debbie, William & Gracie. It was really nice and my parents brought me a present from Mary MONSTER COOKIES!!! It not only made me really happy but everyone else it was a great treat. Thank you to Joe's for the free breakfast, lunch & dinner I was full for days.

In between reading I have been trying to listen to the new Arcade Fire



and She and Him




I also discovered that Stars & Metric sound a lot a like when my ipod played these back to back