the ongoings of my life

Still really upset.

It was a good post. Clever, witty, the whole she-bang. Not sure when that will happen again. So upsetting.

OMG!

I Totally just wrote a 30 minute blog entry about my parents and then it had an issue. I hate it when that happens!!! Now I'm too tired to re-write it, but here is why I was writing. They just celebrated their 37th wedding anniversary. Cool.

Oops, I'm doing it again!

Blogging, that is.

Update on the front yard ---- the sprinkler system is in. Thanks Dad & Nathan! You guys rock!

This past weekend, while my brother and dad were working in the front yard, I convinced my mom to lend me her sewing talents. About 8 years ago, Hanifa and I bought these....really cheap (like $10/ea).
They are absolutely nothing special. Just cheap little barstools that worked perfectly fine while he was in residency and we were broke. Fast forward 8 years and we still have these same stools sitting in the bar of our much nicer house. (And we still seem to be broke, probably because of the previously mentioned front yard.)

At swim team practice, my friends and I often sit in the little cafe looking at home decorating magazines dreaming of days when our homes look as if they could be photographed. My friend, Ellen, noticed these adorable little covers in a photo of a kitchen that had just been redone. I thought, BINGO!, this is what I can do with the crappy little stools! We tweaked the design a little, added some contrasting piping and voila! Of course Mom (I'm trying to get the link to work to her blog, but it's being difficult on my MacBook - to see her blog go here.... www.mythreads.typepad.com) donated her seamstress skills (I could never get those pleats so perfect!)
My Dad says the covers look like little hats, but I think they dress up the stools just right! I spray painted the original brown stools black, Mom made some foam pads (encased in muslin with velcro tabs to hold them on) and the new covers just slide right on.

I'm going through a black/white phase right now. Trying to convert everything I have to a black and white canvas and then I can add or subtract color when the mood strikes. It's probably because I have soooo much brown in my house right now. (Notice the floor and veneer on the wall of my bar.) We also redid a little computer table I had purchased for Grayson 6 years ago into an art table for Lindsey. I'll post photos of that project next time!

Other happenings over the last few days - the fire department paid us a visit Thursday afternoon. Apparently my neighbors saw smoke coming from the ditch that separates our properties in the back yard and after inspecting it further found that the oleanders that border our properties were on fire. (They are on our side of the fence.) Luckily they caught it in the beginning and it didn't spread. The next day, same thing happened. It was then that the firemen realized that the oleanders were hitting a "hot" electrical wire and causing sparks, hence the fire. Now, our 25 foot oleanders that provided us a very private, secluded backyard are 10 feet tall. Seclusion, no longer, a view of Camelback Mountain - at least we have that.

Hanifa and Chase left for Seattle on Friday morning for Chase's birthday trip - Chase chose Seattle because he wanted to go see his aunt Heather and Uncle Ben and go fishing on their boat. They didn't catch anything, but Chase had a blast and Hanifa got to escape the 110+ degree weather for the much cooler climate. They enjoyed going to the Space Needle, seeing the fish ladder (what the salmon use to return to their spawning areas) and the boat locks that allow the boats to go from the saltwater of the Puget Sound to the freshwater of Lake Union and Lake Washington.

Chase also became a pro at ladderball (which I had to purchase for our personal use in our un-secluded backyard). Apparently his appetite for fresh seafood was primed and ready to go and he had his fill of mussels, crab, shrimp and oysters.  I even have a youtube video of him eating oysters, but once again, the MacBook is being problematic, so I have to figure out how to post that.

Ok, I'm done. I have more to say, but this is getting entirely too long.

110 degrees and still kickin'

If you don't live in Phoenix, be thankful. Not that Phoenix is such a bad place, but let's just say that there is an exodus out of the valley for pretty much the entire month of July and often into August. If you've followed my blog at all, you'll know that we always escape to the sandy shores of Mission Beach in San Diego, California. All I'm saying is there are 40 days until we leave. But until then, there are plenty of things that have been keeping me busy and will continue to do so until the moment we leave....

Summer recap so far:

We all know that Phoenix is in the middle of the desert. Saguaro cactus, coyotes, prickly pears, the whole enchilada. What you don't know is that in the heart of the valley is an area that was once many miles of citrus groves and green lush lawns. As a matter of fact, my house was the only one in the entire neighborhood that had desert landscaping in their front yard -- and looking at the original plans circa 1951...that was how it was planned to be. However, 57 years later, my boys are way into playing basketball, football, volleyball, skateboarding, rip sticking, etc. It's really hard to do all of those things on a gravel driveway and rock and cactus front yard. Therefore, after batting my eyes for about 3 years at my father and brother, they finally agreed to redo my front yard. Here's a photo of my dad after my brother completely leveled everything that was in his way. (Don't worry -- I donated all of those cacti so they didn't end up in a dump.)
See all the green my neighbors have? The idea is to have a nice big driveway where the kids can fall and scrape their knees, stub their toes and hit their heads. Then, have a nice big uninterrupted lawn where they can play football, volleyball, croquet...whatever flips their lids. And then, I start thinking...ooohh...wouldn't it be nice to add a little courtyard here...knock down this wall here...repaint our trim brown instead of burgundy...put a little area to store the garbage cans in here....and then the dad says, "when I die, just spread my ashes over your front lawn." hmmmm...is he trying to tell me something?

So mid-43 yards of concrete (that's 2,600 square feet).. this is what it looks like.

It was a five day process....three for grading and forming and 2 days of pouring concrete. Luckily, Dad and Nathan work for a structural concrete company and we just hired his crew to come over for a while to finish concrete. (I bet they were ecstatic at getting to work 2 jobs those 2 days!)

When all was said and done on the concrete front, it took another day and as the directions stipulated, 6 adults (or 4 really strong ones) to assemble the basketball hoop and stand it up. Here are the men attempting to show Grayson how great they were in their prime...

I'm not quite sure how much the boys can learn from their aging uncle and dad, but at least they are showing an effort!

In the middle of all of the construction, Lindsey had 2 nights of dance recitals. Here is Lindsey and a couple of her friends dressed up in their costumes...

After a day's hard work at swim team, summer camp and the like...we go for snow cones at the Water Connection...Here are the kids with their closest friends...the lebers.

And to end this long, rambling post...this is what we gave my dad for father's day.

no one has ever accused me of over-blogging.

with that in mind, this post will be painfully short.

since france...

*completion of baseball season

*volunteer for elementary school golf tournament

*hanifa's birthday

*party for hanifa's party at a local watering hole. out way too late on a thursday night.

*chase's birthday

*tough time for a couple of days after the kentucky derby. not a horse racing fan, but it bothered me.

*chase's birthday party with 50 of his closest friends (i'm crazy)

*mother's day

*trip to new york city (to see a yankees game - it was rained out :()

*trip to boston for jonah's graduation from brandeis

*110 degree weather in phoenix

*lindsey's end of year parties and last day of preschool ... ever!

*65 degree weather in phoenix

*lindsey's birthday

*construction begins in the front of our house...we're finally putting in our driveway and getting a grass lawn. yes...we are taking out our desert landscaping. flw is probably turning in his grave, but i want grass! i have to put some oxygen back into the atmosphere somehow and this is my contribution. :)

*lindsey's birthday party ... spa day at my house for 8 little girls (siblings and parents were also there...pool party in the backyard))

*clean up of said party and construction mess. fun.

I do promise to put some photos up soon. the boys are out of school as of the 28th and maybe then i'll have more time?

this is me missing you.

ok, so maybe you have to turn your head to the side to see it. this is the eiffel tower. daddy and i have been here before. i can't wait to show each of you how beautiful it is during both the day and night. at 9:00 each night it starts twinkling with loads of little lights. it's phenomenal.

if i have time i will post more photos tomorrow --- i miss all of you and can't wait to see you on Monday! xoxoxoxoxox

a few photos for my kids...

hey little people! i just wanted to show you a few places that we have been...
this is chateau de chambord. it was huge! it had over 365 fireplaces and a cool staircase that two people could be on at the same time but not see each other (designed by leonardo da vinci).

this is chateau de cheverny (and a little bit of tena sprenger). it is a privately owned chateau that was lived in until 1985. the cool part about this chateau was they had about 80 dogs that they use for hunting that we visited.  and on to chateau de blois...

this is kimmy and my friend laurie, who is traveling with us. she's super cool  and has a daughter who performed in a stage production of high school musical. :)
uh oh. it won't let me put any more pictures in. i'll try one more ....

this is for you sam.....

we are smack dab in the middle of our french adventure. driving in the french countryside turned out to be a snap thanks to our gps "margaux". the road trip back to paris was eventful - it only took us a few wrong turns to find the car return.
for a play by play of each day -- please visit kim's blog. i will download the photos tonight and put them up here.

a bientot!

I know I have a lot of updating to do...

but, I just wanted to mention...

bling kit!

Bling Kit!, originally uploaded by bebe beaux.

we've added some stuff to our etsy store! we're fighting our way through the cob webs to pull out the good stuff. these crystals are so yummy! and i would love to see what you do with the test tubes...

keep your eyes on our shop...some new aprons to be added soon!


lulubellas etsy shop!