Stress And Stuff To Come

So I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! I certainly did and it included the now traditional Thanksgiving pizza. I have lots to share, but unfortunately I am way too stressed and short of time to post for reals right now. With the end of the semester I have a lot to do (including the group project from hell if you will excuse my language) and so will be busy with that until it is all done. However, once it is all over with I will be back with stories and photos as such!

Javelinas And Thank Yous

We had one pumpkin left after Halloween that we hadn't carved and it was still sitting out in front of our house until....

I realized what was happening because Mal was super restless so I thought he needed to go out. When we got to the front walk I noticed that the pumpkin was gone and I could see little wet hoof prints (it had rained). I made Mal go back inside because he freaks out around javelinas and then went back out to spy on them. They were so cute I didn't mind that they were having my pumpkin for dinner! They stole a neighbor's pumpkin too, that is why there are two in the photo.

So I have two huge-tastic thank yous to say today! One is for Cameron who helped me freshen up my blog. You may have noticed my new header. Isn't it great?! She was nice enough to make it for me!! (it probably didn't hurt that I bribed her with tea and stuff). Anyway, I love it! Thank you soooo much! I will probably change the background and colors and such eventually to go with it, but I don't think it looks too shabby with what is already there.

My second thank you is to the awesome Theresa. I won the giveaway for a great tea cup over at her blog. I was so excited about just the tea cup, but when the package came there was so much more!

Holy smokes! I was delighted. I love every bit of it! I am wearing the lovely necklace right now. And the tea cup is perfect for fall and fills a hole in my collection because I didn't really have any good fall ones. Thank you!

<3 Alia

Soup, Bread, And An Etsy Sale

Things I accomplished today:
-wrote a paper
-took down Halloween decorations
-made a delicious loaf of bread
-made the most cobbled together soup ever

I am actually pretty proud of my soup. I had two little sugar pumpkins hanging out. I had one red onion. I roasted them and then added them to some garlic sauteed in butter. I didn't have any plain chicken broth, but I did have a can of chicken and vegetable soup, so that went in the pot. A little, milk, salt, and pepper. A few wazzes with the immersion blender (my first time ever using it, yay!). And viola, one yummy, albeit random, pumpkin soup!

All in all it was a very pro active day!

So I am totally tired of my blog's look. I want it to be prettier with a cute header or background or something. I know you can download free ones, but I want something simple, but personalized to my blog. I have neither the time nor skills to do this so I am asking for help. I know a lot of you out there have cute blog stuff that you made yourself and I would be willing to trade art and or tea stuff for some assistance! If you are interested please let me know.

Also, everything from the buried series in my Etsy shop has been marked down ten dollars! and on top of that, if you use the coupon code PIRATES you will get free shipping on anything! Seriously, I just want to get some of that stuff out of there.

More Dia de los Muertos And More Halloween!

Here are a few more Halloween photos that were on my camera. These are all from actual Halloween on which I stayed in, ate jack-o-lantern shaped pizza, watched Sleepy Hollow and Trick 'R Treat, and handed out candy. I actually got five trick-or-treaters this year! Mostly because I told the five kids in my neighborhood that they would get lots of candy if they came because I always buy candy and no one ever comes. This seems like bribery I guess, but hey, I got five more trick-or-treaters than I ever have before! I think it was a success.

Oh and guess what! That little white pumpkin? Grown by me in a pot! Yay! I got two adorable little white pumpkin babies off my pumpkin vine and was ecstatically happy. The first time I have ever really grown something like that before and I didn't totally fail! Thanks to Miss Vanessa for all the pumpkin growing tips.

Also, that pumpkin with the big carved out bursty shape used to have something in the middle of the bursty shape, but someone very naughty *coughMalcough* ate it! It is a good thing pumpkin is good for dogs.

Okay on to Dia de los Muertos. On the actual day I made this little altar for our beloved Cuppy. It made me so happy, but also a bit teary to set it up for him. *note: The little metal praying hands I found randomly in the dirt while on a walk. Finding awesome stuff on walks is one of my favorite things.

Then on Sunday Alyssa, Katie, and I went to the procession. It is a MAJOR deal here and unlike anything I have ever been to. It was incredible and had such a unique feeling. The celebration of a parade combined with the sense of honoring lost loved ones just creates an atmosphere like nothing else, lovely.

We did makeup and costumes, the whole shebang (me on the right).

The flash didn't go off on this one, but I like it, kind of spooky.

All the pictures I took of the parade are dark and blurry so I will only share a few.

Then there was the show and finale at the end where there were performances and they lit the huge ball of offerings on fire.

There were aerial acrobatics done hanging from a crane way up in the air. It was super impressive.

All in all it was an amazing night.

Dia de los Muertos And Halloween

Halloween was super fun and walking on 4th Mister B and I even had some people who recognized or costumes, yay! It was exciting because not many people knew who we were. I think this may be the first picture that has ever been on here of Mister B, but I really wanted to share our costumes and I can't do that if he is not in it so there ya go.

This one is my favorite.

This is our little group for Halloween. From left to right you have: a hipster, Han Solo, The Doctor, Amy Pond, and Alice from Twilight.

It was super fun and one of my favorite things is that every single piece that I bought for my costume (which is all of it) is just regular clothes and I can re-wear everything a lot! Also, Tucson Comic-Con is this weekend so we will probably wear our costumes to that too.

Other peoples' blogs have some wonderful Dia de los Muertos posts, but I just wanted to share an art show I went to see at Tohono Chul here in Tucson. All the art was based on Dia de los Muertos and not only did I get to see some awesome art, but I also got to learn more about the traditions that go along with the day. I did take pictures of some of the art (it didn't say not to), but I wasn't sure if it would be kosher to post them on here or not. What do you think? I don't remember who the artists are so I couldn't give credit. One thing I did want to share is this close up of part of one of the pieces:

Is that not the most amazing fabric you have ever seen?! I need it!

My favorite part of the exhibit was an interactive altar art installation.

People were allowed to leave notes and offerings and they even supplied paper and pens. I wrote one and left it for our Cuppa who we lost earlier this year. It was such an amazing emotional experience. I even teared up while I was writing my note. And leaving it there for him with everyone else's thoughts and wishes for their loved ones felt good.

I am just a girl from Oregon where this celebration is not so common, but this whole Dia de los Muertos thing just feels right! I am even going to the parade here in Tucson on Sunday which is a pretty big deal.

I hope you all had a nice weekend!

ps. I just noticed that my last post was #200! That makes this 201. Another landmark passed, 300 here I come!