A Girl's Gotta Do....

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Sometimes, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do!
For me, this means taking a break from the Hive and getting down to serious wardrobe organization!

No more procrastination ~ get to it!!

Since retiring from teaching, I've pared down my wardrobe so that both seasons of hanging clothes fit in my closet.  (Yes, that's right, we have 2 seasons in southern Arizona!)

Of course, I use the connecting hangers for maximum efficiency.

The journey began 2 hours ago....

Slowly, the winter clothes were organized and tucked away....

And then the summer clothes....

Well, that's it for today.  There's still the project of tee shirts/shoes/handbags/miscellaneous on the shelves and other side of the closet....

But that will wait for another day!

I finished this lovely "Queen's Ransom IV" for a very special friend....

We celebrated our 44th wedding anniversary on May 1st with a delayed dinner on the 3rd at Opa!
The girls joined our celebration, which is always a delight.

I was late on catching the "flaming presentation" but this was our Saganaki

My low carb gyro

Ron's chicken souvlaki

My sweetie treated me to this new baby....

Now I can step away from relying on my fantastic iPhone photos and look to take more "professional" photos of my jewelry.  Not ready for the SLR monsters yet...not sure if I ever will be, but this little guy is promising me a lot of fun!

Lots going on this week as I approach the big night on Saturday.  The Tu Nidito "Remarkable Moms 2014" will be celebrated at Loews Ventana Canyon Resort.  

Off to clean the Guest House as baby brother, Erik, arrives from NYC on Friday!

Blessings my dear friends and family!  Thank you for sharing your time with me....

Hoedown Roundup!

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It was a glorious night for a Hoedown ~ although we had our doubts early on......temps dropped from the high 80's to the high 60's, the wind blew like it does on the open prairie, and rain toyed with our plans throughout the afternoon....

We were all set to celebrate Kiki's birthday ~

Both Kiki and Shotzie had been planning, prepping, and primping for the past month.....

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The skies cleared....the wind abated....and tho' it was nippy for Tucson in late April, we partied on!

So, sit back pardners (but watch out for those spurs!) and enjoy the show!

The "barn" was set up outside on the gals' new patio....

 Inside the "barn" was decked out too....

 Once again, I forgot to take pictures of the "grub."  Guess I was having too much fun!

But I will tell y'all the vittles were dee-licious....

Calamity Jane’s

Roasted Corn

Dirty dingus McGee’s

Corn Fixin’s

Painted Pony

Pulled Pork

Sliders

Miss Belle’s 

Mac n’ cheese

Carson City

Chow Mix

Kickin’ 

Cowboy Beans

Cattle Drive

Coleslaw

Pecos Bill’s 

Pasta Salad

Slewfoot Sue’s 

S’mores

annie oakely’s

apple pie

Silver Dollar Saloon

Sweet Tea

I don't think any buckaroo went home hungry!

We had quite a few who were camera shy, but here's sampling of the shenanigans of the night ~

Joe and Walter

Ron and Joe

Megan Allison and Drea

Lacey and Ashley

Me and my pardner in crime, Nancy

Jules and Eddie

Ron and me

Cousin Jen and Megan Allison

Gloria and Heather

Gloria, Allison, and Drea

All my sweet belles ~ Shotzie, Lacey, Kiki, and Ashley

Kelly, Nan, and Lacey

Nancy and me

Shotzie and Chiara 

Megan Allison and Kiki

Walter, Chris, Monica, Kiki, and me

The proud papa and mama

A very special "shout out" to 

• Monica and Carlos (a real cowboy!) for the loan of the cattle skull, saddle, hay bales, horse shoes, and bridle
• Chris for building the direction sign you saw at the beginning of the picture show
• Our extended Phoenix family "sisters," "daughters" ~ Nancy, Ashley, and Lacey for the apple pies and s'mores and for hauling so much fabulous decor to add to ours ~ not to mention their helping in getting set up for Hoedown
• All the wonderful camera-shy guests who also helped to make the hoedown so awesome ~  Jeremy, Abe, and Cindy ~ sorry I don't have your pix

Getting ready for visit tonight from #1 brother, Rich, and then some jewelry on the bench the rest of the week....classes start soon and I'm THRILLED to be taking a 6 week class on precious metal clay next month!  Details will follow.....

Sending you sunny skies, sunflowers, and blessings for a spectacular week!

Thank you for sharing this visit with me....