3rd Quarter Quick Takes

See ya, 3rd Quarter ~ 

You've been good to us in so many ways!

JULY
We headed off to the best coast beaches, the east coast beaches!  This has been our summer retreat for the past 16 years.  Time with family and friends on Fenwick Island, Delaware.  Added attraction was a concert with Straight, No Chaser.  Life is so good!

AUGUST
Home again, only to leave 2 days later for Art Unraveled in Phoenix.  Classes with the incomparable, April Bower, and creating 35 charms for the annual charm swap!

Book Club with our guest, Father Nathan Castle, author of the book And Toto Too ~ A spiritual journey.

Celebrating our Amy's first birthday with her family in Tucson

SEPTEMBER
Back to the Convent and reconvening our Daughters of Immaculata with the first meeting of our fiscal new year.

Our Rosary Board fundraiser was a near sell out on the first weekend of sales!

A special trip to Pennsylvania to celebrate the 70th birthdays of the class of '66 from Muhlenberg Township High School!

A heartbreaking task as we laid a dear friend, boss, and brother to rest ~
Eternal rest grant unto him o Lord, may perpetual light shine upon him, may his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed rest in peace. Amen

 ~Rest in Peace, Don Medoff~

Thank you for sharing our joys and tears with us.  I hope to see you in December when we wrap up this year!  Have a blessed quarter!

2nd Quarter Quick Takes

We've closed the book on the 2nd quarter of 2018 and are 3 days into the 3rd quarter!  Is it just me, or do you find this passage of time simply incredulous?  

I really wanted to keep this post short and to the point ~ you know, just "6 quarterly quick takes," but as I went through photos and the calendar I found there was much more to share.  So, please humor me as I take you through the past 3 months (I tried to collage most of the entries for efficiency sake!).  

April ~ 

Having finally recovered from the all upper respiratory nonsense of the past two months, life was back to normal.  

Easter is my favorite celebration of the year!  After a fantastic Holy Week retreat at our parish, we rejoiced in the Resurrection at Easter Mass.  Following Mass, a traditional brunch was hosted by Amanda and Melissa, with Dan and son Drew joining us.  
 

 Our bimonthly Bible Study continues as we study Mark's Gospel ~ 
I hosted my annual Spring Trunk Show,

and Ron and I enjoyed the Broadway in Tucson show, Neverland.
   April concluded with celebrating our first born's birthday with dinner at Charro Steak.  She's preparing for a fabulous trip to Germany in September!

May ~ 

Wow! 

48 years of holy matrimony celebrated with this man, who shows up Every. Single. Day!  How did I get so blessed?  I get chills thinking that the "big one" is just 23 months away!

We had a wonderful surprise visit from Pennsylvania friends, Jo-Ann and Jeff Moyer, I had dental surgery which now means I have all my teeth!

dear friends Nancy, Ashley, and Lacey hosted a trunk show for my newest creations which brought new and old friends together...

 
As many of you know, I'm President of our Daughters of Immaculata at our parish.  One of the big fundraisers we hold is in the Spring for our nuns, the Sisters of Charity.  This year we raffled off a one-of-a-kind necklace, gift certificates to The Window Depot, a Skin Spectrum premium service, Trader Joe's gift card, and a $25 cash prize.

We held the drawing at our home where we presented the Sisters with the check, followed by a brunch which the Daughters hosted...

If that wasn't enough excitement for one day, Ron and I headed out later in the evening to celebrate Tucson's newest Remarkable Moms!

June ~

If May wasn't busy enough, June got even busier...
Our beautiful goddaughter turned 9 

The Daughters of Immaculata hosted an altar for the parish's annual procession honoring the Feast of Corpus Christi

I had a double Mother's Day celebration.  In May, the girls prepared the most incredible dinner for me in their home.  I couldn't have asked for finer dining!

In June, I was treated to a Spa Day at the fabulous Ritz-Carleton Dove Mountain Resort!

Now, I ask you, how does one follow that when it comes to Father's Day????  Well, here's the thing ~ you tap in to what a man loves and that = Blues, Brews, & BBQ's at Loews Ventana Canyon Resort + all new beach duds for the upcoming annual east coast getaway!!  I think this dad felt very, very celebrated! (because this "Pops" couldn't be loved more than by this crew!)

Our parish celebrated it's Feast Day for Sts. Peter and Paul at the end of June.  Traditionally, our Knights of Columbus host a dinner, following the Saturday night Mass.  This year they put together a Chili Cookoff, open to all groups from the parish.  Of course, the Daughters of Immaculata wouldn't miss this opportunity since we have a retired fireman hubby in the wings!  

It was a great evening with 9 groups competing, made especially great as we won the grand prize with our "Daughters of Immaculata A Lotta Firehouse Chili!"  Thanks go out to chef Andy Gerrish, his wife and DOI Secretary Tweety Gerrish, and sidekick server Alison Smith!  Well done!!!

 

And so June drew to a close, along with the 2nd quarter of the year.  I hope your summer is comfortable, exciting, and filled with love and wonderful memories!

I'll see you in cooler temps in about 3 months!

Happy Fourth of July!

6 Quarterly Quick Takes

I've been struggling in the new year to keep up my blog.  I've even toyed with the idea of putting it to bed for good.  Something prevented me from doing that, so here I am...hopefully with a new format that's a good fit for me and for you.  Instead of a monthly post, I'll be giving you 6 Quarterly Quick Takes of life as it happened.

JANUARY ~

1.  My sweet friend Kathy came down from Colfax, CA to spend Gem Show with me.   We took classes at Art Retreat in the Desert, shopped the shows, and generally yacked our faces off!  Amazing good times!
Dear Kathy gifted me with this fabulous Bench Polisher, which has made work in the studio life-changing!

2.  I was privileged to take 4 classes from the most accomplished artists I have the pleasure of knowing.  I set my first cabochon ~ created the most complicated ring to date with success ~ created a tri metal, duo cabochon cuff ~ and fold formed fine silver and copper into the most beautiful cuff bracelets!  Whew!

 FEBRUARY ~

1.  It was a very confusing time for the Catholic Church! ~ Ash Wednesday and Valentines Day fell on the same day, but we honored Ash Wednesday on the 14th and celebrated Valentines Day on the 17th.

2.  My Valentine won the Senior Olympics All Around in Scottsdale, AZ!!!  What a man, what a man, what a very fine man!!!

MARCH ~

1.  We officially moved into the 21st century with a new entertainment/audio/video system and a 65" monitor.  We hated to part with our beautiful armoire, but the old eyes are enjoying sports and movies a lot more with the larger screen, and I think the old ears really appreciate the sound bar and all the new speakers!

2. I had a bout with 2 months of acute bronchitis which played havoc with our social calendar and forced a number of cancellations.  What we really missed the most was a surprise Birthday Brunch at Ventana for our Shotzie.  We missed celebrating with her, Kiki, and their many friends.

2.  As the month closed, I was on the mend and well enough to do some serious metalsmithing in the studio.  With two Spring Trunk shows on the horizon, it was best to get busy!

Well, we're into the second quarter of the new year and I wouldn't really call it Spring in AZ.  It appears Mother Nature thought there was no need for Spring and has moved right into Summer.  We are fortunate in that we don't have anything to shovel.

Wishing you happy times in the new quarter and pleasant weather in the months ahead!  Thank you for sharing your time with me today!