Yes We Can

 

I feel HOPE in the air! :-) Yesterday was my birthday and what a Beautiful day it was. Waking up and knowing, that our country, actually elected a person of color as our next president, brought tears of joy to my eyes. You see, my mother's 2nd marriage was to a black man and that marriage took place in the 1960's........in

Wyoming

, of all places. My mother began this marriage with 2 white children (myself and my sister) and then went on to have 2 more children with her 2nd husband, giving us another sister and a brother of mixed race. I believe I was 5 years old at the time. My mixed race sister and brother felt as much a sibling to me as my white sister. We were family and we saw no color. However, there were many others in that state and elsewhere, that did. I will not go into the ugliness that people forced upon us, but I will tell you that I learned from an early age, that there are people in this world, people filled with hate, who really want to bring harm to others who are different from themselves. It was a long hard road growing up in my family, but one that I wouldn't change for the world. It is now 40 years later, and I must say, that it is about time.

Now, onto some mosaics and other happenings....

Here is my newest cake.

 

 

  

 

Here is a custom order box that I'm dropping off today to sweet Deanna in my favorite Mesa neighborhood.

 

  She is one of the happiest people I've ever met.

  

 

 

She's a big fan of Mary Engelbreit and her office decor proves that. This box will be going into her office.

By the way, did you hearthat Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion Magazine will not be publishing in 2009? I wish they would have told their subscribers before we had to hear it through the grapevine.

 

 

 

Some of you know that I'm a big fan of nests and birds. Well, I found these 3 lil' cute birdies at an antique store the other day while shopping for dishes. I just had to share them with you.

 

 

I thought I'd share some garden pics with you too, since I haven't posted any for awhile. Here is my red Lantana that surrounds my orchid tree.

 

 

Here is my purple Lantana. It has grown so much that it's touching the ground! I should probably trim it.

 

 

I don't remember if I talked about this before, but I had to do some serious work in the vegetable garden. It used to be the hubby's responsibility, but he lost interest and it turned into a giant mess! It was filled with weeds and Bermuda grass (yuk!). I had to dig it all up and put down a lot of mulch. I still have a lot more to do. This picture is of the pepper plants that came back from last year. They are doing really well. You can also see my Rosemary bush in the background. Also doing well.

 

 

 

I also recently built the boxes that you see. I'm trying to organize the vegetables while controlling the weeds. I've got the lettuce planted so far.

 

 

More boxes that need to be filled. Oh, and I have the tomatoes planted too.

 

 

This was a happy accident. I meant to plant Black Eyed Susan's, but I planted the vine variety instead. It is so pretty this time of year.

 

 

Look at those cute flowers! :-)

 

 

Here is daughter #2 and her precious little angel. I can't wait to see that little munchkin' and squeeze her chubby cheeks!

   

 

In other news, First Friday is tomorrow in downtown Phoenix. So if you are a local, come on down to the Kollectiv Art Gallery and visit me. This may be my last month there, as I think the owner and the landlord are having some conflict. (bummer!) My big butterflies are on display here.

 

Well, I guess that is about all. Oh, except, I must tell you that I received an Anthropologie gift card for my birthday, so I will be shopping soon and will be sure to share with you the items that I purchase.............and (shhhhh) the items that I already purchased (tee-hee). Love that store!

 

Hugs!

 

Michelle

 

p.s. I have updated my etsy with a bunch of cupcakes for the holiday season in case you are looking for a one-of-a-kind gift! I'll also be listing my new cake soon. xoxo!!

p.s.s. If the type looks all wacky in this post, it's because of Typepad. It was doing totally freaky things during this post! Goodness!