Congratulations are in order

My last post was all about a party.

Now I happen to love a party,

but I forgot to acknowledge WHY we were partying!

Oh, I know, I told you it was Mike's birthday

and Rafael's graduation.

I mentioned it......

But I forgot to say how proud Mike and I are of

Rafael and Jenny.

These kids sacrificed alot to get that piece of paper.

Rafael worked nearly full-time while taking

a full load of college credits for two years.

There was homework.....alot of it

Group projects, student loans, pinching pennies.

Not to mention the time that was spent studying

instead of with family.

So Congratulations Rafael!

You did it!

and Mia helped!

Beautiful family.

Dad and Grad Celebration

If you have read my blog or looked at my Facebook

you would certainly know where be Baldi's go to celebrate!

Last night we celebrated Mike's birthday AND

the Rafael's college graduation .

At Caramba's.

We did something a little different last night.

I called ahead and reserved the patio and it was

wonderful!  We had the WHOLE patio for our group

and you know what.........we NEEDED the whole patio.

It was nice to spread out and move around.

Here are some pictures of the evening:

Brian with our little precious angel.

Rafael and Jeremy with their sweet babies.

Mike and Brielle with Tony and Elsa.

Christiana, Jeremy and Eliana

Buddy and Bree, Paul and Rick, Katrina and Kathy

Nicole, Jenny, Makayla and Craig

This table was occupied by many of our neighbors

Gail and Burt with their daughter Debbie

Joe and Jan

and Berta, who is not my neighbor but a very long time friend.

And in the back table you can see Charlene and Brooke.

Brooke and Mia were good friends last night.

I heard that Mia was laughing with them. 

Mike with Brady and Brielle

Quilting friends

Linda, Carole, Jerry, Joanne

Steve and Mary

More Quilters

Bob, Ray, John

Charlene's husband (sorry....I can't remember your name!)

Sharon

There never seemed to be an empty seat at this table so

I never got to sit down and chat with my quilting friends.

Our dancing buddies Bob and Sue

It was lovely to see the Forst family.

Jen and Grandma Lee

Mike  and Grandma Lou

Lou, Grandpa Jack and Lori.

Ali and Haley and Bianca's chairs were empty when I took this photo.

Rick and Vic

Kris

Besides Mike and Brian, I think that Kris is the person

that I have know that longest in this group. 

Sue and I shared a margarita

And to end this lovely story I present Miss Mia with Christiana

Mia looks like she wants whoever is behind the camera.

I'm guessing it was daddy!

My heart never fails to fill with warm happiness

when sharing an evening with friends.

My family is truly blessed.

tammy

San Francisco.....Day 2

Day 2 of our San Francisco adventure started out at the Ferry Building

at the Farmer's Market which is held every Saturday morning.

Mike, Brian, Jen and I spent a delightful hour investigating

all that the market had to offer before

jumping on a bus headed for Napa.

The flowers were beautiful

Jen found the peaches delicious

We found some fabulous ham and cheese croissants and I also

had a bag of cherries.  I've bought some cherries yesterday

here in Phoenix and believe me, they just don't compare

to the delicious ones I had in San Francisco.

Wine Tasting at our first winery.

No we didn't drink it, our server

just brought cool big bottle for a picture prop.

Still at the first winery.  Sadly I can't remember the name

of the winery, but our tasting server was Tracy and she

was WONDERFUL!  Very personable and pretty generous

with her tasting pours!

This was at our third winery.....don't remember the name of this

one either......are you noticing a pattern here? 

We did not enjoy this tasting as our "wine educator" was a

pompous  a**.  (pardon my language)

Right before this picture was taken our "wine educator" told us

that we needed to smell our wine with one nostril at a time, so I plugged

one nostril and sniffed and promptly cracked up laughing along with

Brian and Jen.  It was one of those laughing fits that you can't stop. 

Truly....we were pretty discrete about it AND we were not the only

ones in attendance that were not happy with our "wine educator".

The Andretti winery was a different story as we had

a nice tasting at a beautiful winery.

No, we didn't drink this whole bottle either.

Brian and Jen at Andretti Winery

Part of our wine tour included a 45 minute ferry ride

back to San Francisco.

Dinner and a good night's sleep.......

Bay to Breaker's run tomorrow!

Judging Eyes

Remember the old saying "You can't judge a book by it's cover"?
The last 5 days has been a series of re-learning this old saying.

Last Friday we set our alarms for 3am so we could make our 6am flight from Phoenix to San Francisco.  Mike has always wanted to run in the Bay To Breakers run, Rafael graduated from college and had a reason to celebrate, Brian and Jen decided to go as well, so off we went.....all seven of us!

Our first task upon entering the city was to figure out how to navigate the BART system.  (with 4 large suitcases, several assorted carry-on bags, a stroller and a baby!....babies DON'T travel light!) 
San Francisco is a fabulous and facinating city!  Full of very friendly and helpful people.  After unloading our luggage at the hotel we headed off to find some breakfast navigating yet another public transportation....the F trolley.

The first day was spent at Pier 39, Fisherman's Wharf, Zazzle Expo (to pick up our race bibs) and the Museum of Modern Art.  PHEW!  A full day already!  Checked into our hotel and met up with Brian and Jen who had taken a later flight.

Can you see us under the sign?

Mia carried the sourdough bread we picked up at Boudins at the wharf.

Alot of time was spent looking at maps!

This t-shirt quilt was diplayed at the Expo and

contained shirts from past Bay to Breakers run.

Painting at the Museum of Modern Art.

We stayed at the Renior Hotel which turned out to be quite old and charming with a wonderful and helpful staff.  Unfortunately the hotel was just on the fringes of the Tenderloin district, one of the worst areas of the city.  We were a little nervous, but the hotel was safe and clean and it turned out to be quite interesting being up on the 5th floor and looking down upon a side of life that we never witness.  One night we saw a man rummaging thru the garbage can.  We assumed that he was looking for cans to recycle.  Well that was just what he was doing.......Our eyes widened abit when we realized that he was peeing in the can!

This "Cinema" has a facebook page!

The highlight of our first day was meeting up with Casey and Amy.  Jenny and Rafael met Amy when they were interning at Walt Disney World in Florida.  Amy and Jenny frequently worked together as Chip and Dale.  Casey is a family friend whom we have known since she was a toddler.  She lives in San Fran now and is in grad school there.

Thanks goodness for these savvy city girls!  They showed us yet another form of public transportation!  There was a muni bus that was in a tunnel underground!  Who knew?!?  So off to dinner we went!  At rush hour!  Everyone was getting off work and getting on the muni.  We crowded on with the rest of the city and off to a restaurant in the Castro district.

Turns out that the Castro district is known for flying rainbow flags.......
We had a really nice dinner and enjoyed visiting with Amy and Casey, and on our way out of the restaurant I could see from the corner of my eye that 2 people had fallen in behind our little group of 9.  Mike was in the back of our party and was holding Mia on his shoulder where she was looking back. 
I guess that when these 2 gals fell in line behind us Mia looked at them and I guess her eyes must have widened a little.  The response from one of the girls was "That baby has JUDGING EYES".  The "ladies" were dressed in leather strips placed stratigically around their bodies and one girl was holding a chain which was attached to a collar on the other girl.  Wish I had a picture!
Dinner AND a SHOW!
It was a fun evening.....one that I'll remember.

Sweet Mia says good night and God Bless!

tammy

Yard Blitz!

This past Saturday my husband and son "blitzed" Rafael and Jenny's yard.  They have been in their house for 2 years now, but have never really had the time to work in the back yard.  Rafael works nearly full time, has been in school full time and when you add in a new baby that leaves very little time to work outside! 

The picture above shows the before picture with Grandpa holding Mia with 2 dead citrus trees in the background.  Brian thought it was important to help get this yard in shape since Mia will need a backyard to play in very soon!  So while Rafael was at work Mike and Brian went to work.  Jenny also pitched in when Mia took her nap. 

This is the result:

There is still alot of work to be done, but this was a huge start!

On Sunday we attended a birthday party for Brady.

He loves volcano's so this became the theme for the party.

The highlight of the party was the Lava Slide! 

The kids had a really fun time going down this slide!

There was also a little waterslide for the little bitties.

Mia was having none of it, but some of the older toddles had a blast!

On a serious note I've been having alot of trouble watching the news today.  The killing of Osama bin Laden is the big story.  It puzzles me how much people are celebrating.  I know that ObL was evil, but it just seems wrong to hunt him down and basically murder him.  Two wrongs don't make a right is what I was always taught.  I'm pretty sure that the killing of this man will not stop terrorism.  I'm guessing that he already has appointed other evil people to take his place. 

I will say that I do appreciate and honor all of the men and woman who are serving in our armed forces.  I'm very grateful for them.

This quote by Martin Luther King speaks my heart tonight:

"I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do

Harden not our hearts; pray for peace for those that have been harmed.

Piecefully yours,

tammy

 

If I were more blessed......

I'd be TWINS!

 

I am blessed with a beautiful and sweet grandaughter.

Love seeing the world thru her eyes.

Grandpa and I enjoy the simple pleasure of just watching her sleep.

My kiddos indulge me and come and color the Easter Eggs.....Still!

I love those kids!

I gave my kids their Easter baskets to them last year and told them that

the Easter bunny would probably not fill them any more (me!)

However I couldn't help myself and got them a few little things including

these foam dart guns. 

I loved watching my grown-up "kids" playing like they were children.

A precious gift for me!

I always hope that they remember to be young at heart!

I love cooking!

This morning I made 9 mini loaves of banana bread,

peanut butter fudge, sugar cookies and

roasted butternut squash, onions, and apple to make

butternut squash soup. 

I have a great recipe that was given to me by my friend Sharon.

Tonight we celebrated Easter with my family.

My heart sings with thanksgiving for all of the blessings that I have been given.

Tomorrow will be another celebration.

A celebration of the life that Jesus sacrificed for us

Jesus is Alive!

God Bless,

tammy

Design Wall Monday

On my design wall today is this very old

and very fragile quilt top that was brought

to be to be finished.

So I thought that perhaps I'd post it here

to get some feedback.

I'm a little afraid to put it on the longarm.

Not sure that the fabric would handle it.

The top does not lay flat so it will be challenging.

My customer wants this quilt to be finished so

she can display it.

My initial thought is to envelope  the top

and simply tack the batting and backing  together.

Does anyone have any tips for working with antique quilts they could share?

Quilty Blessing,

tammy