Love... it runs in the family :)

February. The month o love :) I don't have very many decorations for Valentine's Day, so I just put together what I already had with the addition of some sweet roses from Trader Joe's.
These cute little mini roses came from Traders, but the big beauties? From Zuzu's Petals. The sweetest little flower shop in downtown Mesa. Seriously, it's a must for all your flower needs. The ladies are fab and their creativity is like no other :)

I saw this cake mix at Traders and immediately put it in my cart. So cute right?

And here he is. My sweet lovin man :) We adore each other and have for the last 24 amazing years:) But.....

I'm having....

I am! There, I said it!! I'm truly, deeply, madly in love with my house right now! And thinking I always will be :) And I share this sentiment... with my sister:) Meet Michele and her sweet hubby Rod. Yeah, I know. They're ridiculously good looking!

Anyway, they live in this ADORABLE 1928 Tudor in the Willo district in Phoenix. They have this really cool urban, industrial, clean lined style about them. They're house is awesome I tell ya.

Their Tudor has several original details including the floors, doors, windows and claw foot tub.

And yes, my sister is crazy like me and inviting thousands of nosy people to check out her digs. Her awesome house along with several others will be on the Willo home tour this Sunday.

So what better way to spend your Sunday then looking at some fab houses that you would never be invited into otherwise! Do it! You won't be sorry:)

For more info on this cool home tour- go here!

Mmm....rain :)

I woke up this morning to the most glorious sound. No, not this little bully's heavy snoring (although I ADORE that sound) it was the sweet sound of a soft rain:)

You have to live in AZ to truly appreciate the blessing that is rain. Rainy days are my most favorite ever. And my sweet hubby knows it. This morning he whispered in my ear "just stay home today and enjoy the rain". God bless him. Really. After the home tour this past weekend, I felt so far behind on my "house stuff". So I took him up on his offer and went downstairs and made myself a cup o brew:) And let me tell you about my little teapot of happiness. It's made by Chantal, and see those 4 holes? When ready, it sings in 4 part harmony! Soooo cute right?? You gotta get one! TJ Maxx has em. $49.99 but soooo worth it!

This instant coffee that Starby's has is delish! It reeeally really is.

And reeeally good with a ton of heavy whipping creme and raw sugar :)

I took my little bully and my hot cup of deliciousness outside to check out the sky. Now I know to some of you this doesn't look like much, but any little bit of dark clouds makes this girl happy!

And check out my little ole sidewalk. Love that crack. When we were restoring, our concrete guy asked if we were going to rip up the old sidewalks. I looked at him with a look of "if you touch my old sidewalks, you die". He got the message :)

I made my way inside and wrapped myself in my dad's old sweater. I acquired this sweater one night when I was pregnant (with my now 23 yr.old daughter) with the promise that I'd return it. I never did :) my dad died in 1992 and it's one of my favorite treasures :)

I got caught up on my Masterpiece Theater on PBS. I happened to start watching this series and it has made it's way onto my "top favs" list! I'm a total sucker for a movie with the words m'lady and m'lord in them! And the outfits in this movie are to die for! If you didn't get a chance to see it- it's a must!

Little bully put in some couch time too :)

Then I got that ew I've spent too much time on the couch feeling and headed to the kitchen:) My hubby enjoys him some granola bars for breakfast so I thought I'd make him some. My daughter's boyfriend Chase found this really good recipe at Smitten Kitchen so I thought I'd give it a try.
I added a little more peanut butter than called for and flax seeds cause I love em!

They turned out uhmazing!!

Then I moved onto dinner. My hubby LOVES my chicken pot pie. I really wish I had a recipe to give you, but I just make it up :)

Little bully snored his way through the entire production.

And that's how I love to spend my rainy days :) Oh, and for the record it just kinda drizzled a few times during the day. But that's okay! You get what you get and you don't throw a fit!! :)

Chicken soup and a chicken coop!... :)

I've been wanting to try this recipe for beer bread from Yvonne over at Stonegable. So last week I decided to give it a try. And let me tell you, it does not disappoint!! Yvonne is not kidding when she talks about how good it smells while it's baking!

While the bread was in the oven I made a simple chicken soup. I shredded the leftover grilled chicken (I know, the pic makes it look soooo appetizing!) from the night before.

I started with a mirepoix (sounds so fancy right?).

Then added some chicken broth.

And if you haven't discovered this bomb chicken base- you must! My sis told me about it and it's fab! I picked mine up at Sprouts. I also keep the beef base on hand as well, makes EVERYTHING taste delish I tell ya! I just added a spoonful :)

Stirred in some frozen peas and the shredded chicken, a little cream and a thickener of water and brown rice flour and DONE!

Just in time for my bread to come out of the oven :)

Yummy, yummy, yummy! Chicken soup and warm bread- perfect, easy, winter meal :)

Speaking of chicken- let me introduce you to the one and only.... Lonely Girl. Or Girl for short. She's our last remaining chicken of the 3. One died of heat stroke (imagine that). And the other (we fear) was consumed by our next door neighbors dog. Poor Lonely. She's survived so much trauma in her short little life :(

Lonely no longer thinks she's a chicken. I think she thinks she's more like our dog. She comes to her name, and follows my husband EVERYWHERE. We (Wallace and I) have to constantly shoo her out of the house when the door is open.

This last Saturday the hubby decided to build her a house worthy of his love for her :)

And I swear she knew it! She was right there checking it out the entire time!

And here it is. Cuuuute right??!! Made out of.....the old fence of course!

With window boxes, and REAL flowers! (for now till they die a slow painful death when I forget to water them)

Girl didn't hesitate one bit going in and checking out her new digs :)

Of course Wallace loved it too :)

If you'd like to check out this sweet coop in person- you can! My house is going to be on the Mesa Historic Home Tour this Saturday from 10-4. You can find more info here. If you can't make it, you can check out some pics in the Cool House section of the Arizona Republic newspaper on Saturday :)

Feliz Cumpleanos!!

This last Saturday this special lady celebrated her 75th birthday :) That's my momma (and one of my handsome brothers). She was born in a little village in Oaxaca, Mexico. She came to the United States when she was 17. Yep 17. All by herself. I'm going to stop now or I'll end up getting all sappy :) Anyway, to know her is to love her. So my brothers and sisters and I gave her the birthday party she deserved :)

My daughter Rio was in charge of cupcakes. This girl can bake like no other. She's creative and crazy fast.

Just not the cleanest :( Yeah, that's her (may have diabetes) chihuahua Pozzy eye balling and hoping I don't see him sneak a lick at that sugar. Darn good thing we have that really cool central vac sweep into the suction thingies right there in the kitchen!

Here's the finished cupcakes. They were sooo pretty and tasty! What you can't see is the shimmer glitter on them with these sweet tiny silver beads. And let me mention that the sun was so strong that day the butter cream frosting was starting to melt, so we had to move them into the shade. That's Arizona for ya!

My mom's favorite color is blue. She has this collection of blue and white pottery that she got in Hong Kong years ago. I borrowed some of the pieces to fill with flowers..

Rio glittered up a bunch of 75's in varying sizes and colors for the flowers and plants. Cute right?

A pic of some of the 2nd cousins. Yes, I said some. I hail from one HUGE familia!!

I had to show this pic of my sweet sisters and my cousins. Notice we all got the memo? And there was no memo! My sisters and I always happen to wear the same colors. It was really funny when my cousins showed up in the same color too! :)

And here she is. And that was her happy face- all day :)

Feliz Cumpleanos Mama! I love you :)