a little urban beautification

the project: a little guerrilla art installation to brighten someone's day
the plan: make uplifting signs & martha stewart's pom poms, hang them in a not-so-happy-place, (clean them up 3 days later before rain)
materials/cost: crayons (had them at home), 1 pack of construction paper (dollar store), 1 pack of ribbons for hanging (dollar store), 2 packs of colored tissue paper (dollar store), floral wire ($2). total spent: $6!

we walked along with our finished signs and pom poms until we found the perfect spot - a walking bridge. this worked out so well since it could be enjoyed by pedestrians above and by drivers below. and especially well since apparently the kids had never been in one but always wanted to. :)

here is the bridge before our urban beautification project.

and here it is during, and after:

we spent all morning drawing signs and writing positive messages.

this one was one of my favorite's, done by r:

we spent the afternoon making the pom poms. such an easy project, and so cheap, too. i have a feeling i will be making these a lot in the future.

the bridge was transformed. so transformed. it was such a happy place to walk through. a group of neighborhood boys even came up to check it out as we worked. i/we hope someone's day was brightened because of it, or that someone saw a message they needed to see. :)

the sun was going down (so early these days!) as we left, so the last photo doesn't show all the bright colors of it all swinging in the wind. we went back the next day and we so amazed at how nice it looked from the ground.

sleepover

our 1 nephew and 3 nieces stayed with us for a weekend. we took them to silver bells. we missed the Christmas parade and the fireworks, but we still had a good time walking around the capitol and the giant tree. since we live pretty close to it all, we rode the city bus/trolley. it was b's first time ever on a city bus (so she got to pull the stop string). fun.

the next day we declared it "random acts of kindness day". we talked about different things we could do to show kindness to people we don't know. one of the activities we chose was to go through a mcdonald's drive thru and pay for the person behind us. they were so excited to do this! we were all on a little kindness-high while we waited for a car to pull up behind us, and as we told the cashier what our plan was. we hope the recipient (who you can sort of see behind us, below) enjoyed it. :)

we spent the next part of the day preparing for the next kindness activity. i will post about it separately after going through our photos, but here is a little preview:

later in the evening, we made gingerbread and the girls tried hot tea (chamomile w/ a little honey) for the first time. h liked it okay, r wanted to like it but didn't really, and b didn't want anything to do with it. so impressed that they were open to trying.

we finished the night playing grand circle match, mad gab, apples to apples, and scattergories. love that the youngest are able to play and keep up with the oldest now.

luke & t went to a spartans game. the spartans won, so they had an extra good time.

we had so much fun hanging out with them. hope they will return soon.

sad (for us and for them)

remember when we won free food for a year?

we've gone faithfully to cash in on our our sub/pizza/or breadsticks each week. we've only missed 2 weeks out of the year (once, when we had a baby, the second time, we were out of town).

in early november i was driving to toppers to cash in on that week's freebie. i kept calling to place an order but no one would answer. as i pulled up to the pizza place i realized - they've gone out of business! just like that, in a week - no sign of their business ever being there. so sad!

the good news is we did get free food for 10 months out of the year. maybe the worst part is that luke's been saying they wouldn't make it from the beginning. a pizza place went out of business just before they moved into the exact location, right in between a little caesars and a pizza hut.

now we feel bad for never ordering anything extra. :(

thankful for (by l&p)

:: pie :: a happy family :: starting and finishing a book on a roadtrip to pa :: home :: a completed conference :: traditions, the old and the new :: a beautiful little baby :: more time spent together :: ipods :: wool socks (p) and warm slippers (l) :: blessings galore :: the desire to be a better version of ourselves :: finally finding a rug for mateo to play on and finally crossing that off the list :: family weddings next year in phoenix, new york and mexico :: re-grouping and re-evaluating :: driving through mountains :: a perfect little pup :: lovely old and new friends :: these slow, lazy mornings :: getting through the hard parts and working to make it better :: the generous library :: twinkle lights (year round) :: a shelf full of tea :: being concious of the seasons :: big family holidays :: a new and free refrigerator :: sweet potatos :: christmas at home, for the first time :: kindness :: a new year's celebration in az :: finding the good :: each other ::

these mornings and these nights

i want to remember:

that these mornings, when mateo wakes up a little early and i want to get a little more sleep, i bring him into our bed and nurse him while we both fall back to sleep. i wake up an hour or so later to his little hands squeezing my nose, softly touching my eyes and mouth. i say "la nariz!" for nose, "los ojos!" for eyes, and "la boca!" when he touches my mouth. he laughs each time and we keep playing for awhile.

and that these nights, well, really many of the nights since he was born, after nursing him to sleep in the soft lights of his room, i look at his face and can't imagine ever being happier than at this moment. i think of some of the times in my life where i felt like i was really living, really taking advantage of life, whether in college or while traveling or whatever it may be. and then i look down at his face, at this little one that was knit in my womb, through the love of luke and i, a gift and miracle from God. and i think "wow. this is really living."

for the table

just when you think luke and i have participated in everything our neighborhood center has to offer (free bread tuesdays, garden in a box program, urban gardening class, and a weatherization program) they offer something else we can't pass up! this past saturday they had a free make-your-own-thanksgiving-centerpiece workshop in the gardenhouse.

ruth, our neighborhood florist from bancroft flowers, brought in baskets and baskets of fresh greenery, flowers, leaves, vases, etc. we brought a few gourds. she told us what to look for and how to professionally assemble a centerpiece. then we were free to create our own, with her help. so, so fun. really. now i totally want to become a florist someday.

mateo had fun with joan, the director of the allen neighborhood center who's a really dynamic and inspiring new friend of ours. and he also had fun with his papi, of course.

here's our centerpiece! can you believe it is all from completely living plants? no plastic, no fake stuff. and most of it is from things we can already find and/or grow in our own backyard.

and it still looks the same a week later. *hoping* it survives the road trip to PA for thanksgiving.

hiking camelback

we found time to hike camelback mountain with our friend, patrick. it was always on our list of things to do while living in phoenix but somehow we never made it happen. now, after two years of living in a mountain-less area, we finally made it a priority.

the hike was so breathtakingly beautiful. a mountain in the middle of the city, views for miles, desert life all around us, and perfect weather. we totally sounded like tourists on the trail, pointing out different cacti and asking patrick questions. funny, especially considering i was born there and worked for the visitor's bureau. it just all seemed new again.

i carried mateo on my back in the mei tai. which worked out great, until we got near the top and he fell asleep which made his head way too wobbly for my comfort. i decided to head down the mountain (slowly) bent in a 90 degree angle to keep his head safe flat on my back and sent luke and pat up to the top. (seemed like a great plan until my back started hurting the next day... and it still does. praying about that).

here's a few shots of us on our way up.

patrick was an awesome tour guide for us with all sorts of knowledge on what we were looking at. (thanks, pat!)

and here's luke & pat at the top.

mateo and i waited for them at the bottom of the mountain on a beautiful golf course. not considering the 100+ degree summers, i was dreaming about being a mama in az and him being able to feel grass without wearing a jacket. it was nice.

all in all, it was a beautiful day, with a great friend, on an incredible mountain. just what we needed.

la comida

so we ate a lot of food in arizona.

we can't really find any (authentic) mexican in michigan, so we really took advantage. we went to our classic place, our dive-y place, big places and little places, we had it homemade and we had it for take-out. all super yummy. um, we may have even purchased some for the plane ride home.

everyone we know in phoenix has their classic family mexican restaurant. we hit up ours, la parrilla suiza, a few times. we have the ordering down after years of family get-togethers. #6, a giant tray of bubbling cheese, and #43, veggies and beef with homemade tortillas to wrap it all up in. apparently, we were so excited about it we couldn't be bothered to take a good photo before going in. i think it's perfect that way.

my girlfriends met me for lunch at pane bianco. they make their own mozzarella and use all local ingredients and their bread is made on site in a wood-fired oven. and you can tell.

we don't really do fast food burgers much, but we made an exception for in and out.

another phoenix classic: carolinas. they always get awarded "best tortillas in phoenix" so you know we had to take a dozen (for $2) home with us.

we miss it already.

our arizona people

the hard part about visiting az is finding time to see everyone we want to see. we thought we'd made up a pretty good schedule, but it seemed like we were rushing from one person to the next. wish we'd had more time to relax with each of them, not to mention the friends we didn't even get to see. next time, we hope.

here's sar, above, posing with the gigantic dog bag we brought her from toronto's chinatown. she's great.
and her parents, below, who are also pretty awesome. we ate mexican food together at their classic family spot.

dean & kathie, below, super cute as always. love that we got a photo of them in their backyard, where we were married. dean made us his famous crepe-like pancakes - sooo yummy.

we spent some time with my phoenix cvb friends. sara (who is expecting a baby in january!) had a baby shower. so, so happy i could attend! so good to spend time with them all. (maria, can't believe i forgot the thing.)

rachel and mateo:

and maria and mateo:

we went to one of our favorite spots in phoenix, the farm at south mountain, to have lunch with luke's aunt and godmother. she's so beautiful, inside and out, and asks really good questions. loved seeing her.

we spent our last two nights with my aunt and uncle. usually we see them at big family events, so it was really great to spend time with just the two of them. can't even express how much we laughed with them. seriously, we had so much fun. (mateo as well, obviously).

luke (and me, a little bit) also got some quality time in with his friends from his nau days: pat, janet, ryan, lindsay, and little corbin. we did the artwalk together and luke went with them to a greek festival in scottsdale. love seeing him so happy with his good friends.

so amazing seeing you all! love and hugs till next time!