Tucson Antiquing

Hi Friends! I have been doing a good bit of exploring here in good ole Tucson and I thought you might like to see some of this towns inventory!

 Hand carved King Solomon from a church in Mexico

Mid century art

I totally want these Tempe Retiree's Bingo Cards

Mid Century Bruno chairs

Then we visited what is now my new favorite place in town - The Lost Barrio. Honestly no one that I have talked to has even heard of it. Here's a little discription that I found online:

The "Lost Barrio" is located in Downtown Tucson but it's hard to find. This place doesn't show up on any map and most people don't even know it exists.

The Lost Barrio in Tucson is a tiny, almost hidden, shopping district of only about 3 blocks. There's a little bit of everything here, Old West Heritage items and furniture, Chinese antiques, Locally created Art and even some Art Deco stuff from Buenos Aries.

There's Antique Furniture from Mexico, South America, India and Burma and there's tons of Doors, yeah that's right, Doors! They have doors from everywhere, temple doors from Tibet, Barn Doors from South America and even Teak Doors from Africa"

Shop Entrances - Amazing tile work

Finally we found our way to Toolies Cafe in the lost barrio. It is out of this world...and they serve breakfast all day. Everything is all natural and they make their own homemade tortillas fresh daily...yumm they were delicious.



Fireworks and Lightning Storms

On the 4th the storms stopped long enough for us to have a great fireworks display...ouuu, ahhhh!

 Woohoo! Happy Independence Day!

I would also like to show you what happened over our house last night...not sure how smart it was to be out in it taking pictures...but I am thinking it was totally worth it! Thanks to my manz awesome skills, we were able to capture what was happening.

Can you believe this:

YOU MUST watch this VIDEO of the haboob in Phoenix. It looked like a scene from the Mummy Returns!

Wedding Time!

On June 17th I flew to Michigan for Elizabeth's batchelorette party! Her wedding date was the 24th so I got to stay with my in law's for over a week and enjoy all of the wedding planning!

Here is a little glimpse of my tip!

We started out the batchelorette party with some mani's and pedi's and some of the most amazing cupcakes from Bake N Cakes - the strawberry shortcake was my favorite...I think Elizabeth was enjoying the German Chocolate Fudge!

 Amanda (my sister n law - Brian's brother David's wife), Elizabeth (Brian's baby sister), and Courtney (one of Elizabeth's friends and bridesmaid):

Moving on to DSW on the hunt for honeymoon shoes!

 Success for Jessica, Elizabeth and Amanda!

We were now off to Maru Shshi, the bride to be's absolute favorite restaurant!

 Somehow we ran into the groom (to be)...they were so insanely excited to see each other!

 Our bride to be decided to order her "man" a shot from the bar...you would have thought they were the only two in the restaurant!

The sushi the groom sent the bride in return...yummmm! 

The AWESOME bride's favorite - sexy bacon roll: 

sexy bacon with cucumber, asparagus,

crab, tempura crunchy, soy paper,

fantasy sauce, creamy garlic sauce and

shredded seaweed...gorgeous!

Then we ended up going to see Bridesmaids in Theaters @ midnight...this granny was tired!!!

The next morning we went to the all organic

Sawyer's Gourmet Pancake House...where we you know just bumped into Michigan's previous Governor Jennifer Granholm. Amanda totally spoke with her - cool!

 I had no idea there were so many incredible "local" places to eat in Lansing

Later in the week we went to the final dress fitting and Elizabeth decided to try on a few other accessories!

Then before you know it it's wedding day!!!!

Started out with Bigby coffee..

Some sweet portraits: 

The Beautiful Bride

Father Daughter Dance

 The Happy Mommy!

The Rosewood Bed and Breakfast  - unbelievable place for a wedding!

A precious little bride to be!!!

The next day...their married!!!

We had so much fun with our fam in Michigan.

We were exhausted when we got home...nothing like settling down with a few episodes of Toddlers and Tiaras (click to enlarge, haha!) 



Ya learn something new every day!

 

Hi Friends! So I have been oh so blessed to see some pretty amazing homes here in Tucson. This is one of Within Studio's clients homes, one of many modern homes in this golf course community. I thought you might like to see how some of these Tucsonians are living!

  

You can see behind the red sculpture they have these automatic storm shutter that open up so you can have an all glass house when you are home or fully secured shutter when you are traveling...

Incredible art garden...and what a cute little pool for your sculpture!

They called this their Cactus Garden...um, yeah, that is the only kind of "garden" out here.

 I learned that this particular client (currently retired), but they were in the Whirligig business...honestly, I've never even heard that word before. Well, anyway that's what these are:

And this is the view from their master...I wish you could see it in person, the pic's don't do it justice, and there is all kinds of wildlife running around.

Enjoying Peace In HIS Presence

" I AM WITH YOU, watching over you constantly. I am Emmanuel (God with you); My Presence enfolds you in radiant Love. Nothing, including the brightest blessings and the darkest trials, can separate you from Me. Some of my children find me more readily during dark time, when difficulties force them to depend on Me. Other feel closer to Me when their lives are filled with good things. They respond with thanksgiving and praise, thus opening wide the door to My Presence.

I know precisely what you need to draw nearer to Me. Go through each day looking for what I have prepared for you. Accept every event as My hand-tailored provision for your needs. When you view your life this way, the most reasonable response is to be thankful. Do not reject any of my gifts; find Me in every situation". - Jesus Calling

We miss you guys!

Brian + Natalie