A Day At the Desert Botanical Gardens!

Monday daugther Angie, the kidos and grandma (moi) went to the Desert Botanical Gardens just off the Galvin Parkway...... thought we better get it in before the heat hits. Everything was blooming like crazy. Have not seen so many flowers on the cactus and the wildflower garden was just so beautiful.....

The kids were so anxious to go to the butterfly pavilion, so we made that our first stop.....
There were butterflies everywhere you turned and what a beautiful surroundings they had.... they will be there till Mother's Day. Then it gets just to darn hot for them.

Flowers everywhere... I was in flower heaven. I snapped so many pictures it was hard to chose which ones to put on the blog.....

These metal sculptures were positioned in between the flowers and cacti....

OHHHHHH SO TRUE!

Never knew these plants were called the chocolate flower...... learn something new everyday....

Another favorite of the grandkidos was the people and plants of the desert section... They had a ball going into the huts that had been constructed. And they ground mesquite tree pods with a smoothed out stick from a tree to make flower like the Indians did many moons ago......

The end of our journey through the gardens and the kidos had fun. And learned a few new facts about our beautiful desert along the way......

Highly recommend attending the gardens before it gets too hot. Right now is a perfect time with everything blooming.....

Fashion Show!

What a thrill we experienced this past Friday night.... We were invited to participate in a Fashion show at the Wigwam Resort in Old Litchfield Park. It was quite a worldwind few days as we put together outfits for the models who we meet on Thursday night..... We had 13 outfit changes and boy did they have to change fast so there was no break in the action of walking down the 45 foot runway......... The lines started forming about 6pm and by 7pm all the seats were filled and the show was ready to start.... We went on at about 8:15pm..... Little old us The Cottage Garden made its debut in the fashion world in front of 100's of people.....

Even Mrs. Arizona attended and she stopped at our booth outside of the hall.

This Michael and his gals that did our models hair and makeup..... what a great job they did on the models.. they all looked fabulous... His salon is located in Goodyear and is called Sweet Salon Hair Design.... All I can say he is great!!!!!

I couldn't have done this without our great shop gal Meilan.... She spent 2 days putting the outfits together and had it all organized with the each outfit having all the right accessories..... And she fit the models to the perfect outfits....

Meilan and Michael backstage....

The girls getting ready....

Just a quick minute to snap a picture before they were off to the runway....

Some last minute primping by the salon gals... and then off they went....

The girls did a great job modeling and I think they had fun tooo.... I know we loved the experience and when all was said and done we had an absolute ball participating in this....

Miss Heather was manning the booth before the show started.....

We had such a great response from everyone we talked to that we had such wonderful clothing and they will be by the store to check us out..... YEA!!!!!!!!

Thanks to all the shop girls and especially Meilan for all the effort they put in the last few days to make this all go so well!!!!!! Couldn't have done it without you!

Can you Imagine!

I met a gentlemen named Don the other day and he showed me the most amazing jewlery that he makes.. He hand paints on pieces of polished wood and makes them into rings, earrings, pendants, or bracelets.... They are all quilt patterns and the detail is so meticulous..... And oh yes did I forget to mention that he is 84 years young.... This man just truly astounded me.... the work that is involved in each piece is so awesome...... He and his wife winter in Phoenix and they are now on their way to their home in Minnesota....

If you happen to be in Glendale and get a chance to stop by, come see Don's workmanship on his jewlery......

We are planning a fun Girls Night Out for Friday May 20th.... So please stay tuned for more details......

The Clothes keep coming!

Friday we got in more clothing... it is so so flowy, flowery and so feminine......

Pink is so in and we have gotten in some adorable clothing in the pink tones.....

This tank with lace along the bottom looks great peeking out from all the soft florals.....

Hot pink with the tiedye effect is really striking.....

Love this crisp white dress for summer....

Hats hats and more hats.... Great for our hot sunny days.... and again the florals are in the hats too.....

A Day at the Zoo!

On Wednesday before the big heat up I spent the day at the zoo with daugther Angie and the six grandkidos (yes) you saw right six kids 8 years old and under..... but what a fun day..... Waiting for the zoo to open was the perfect time for a group photo. We have Trent, Trey, Trevin, Taryn and Tanner, and below in the stroller is Taelyn. Yes there names all begin with "T"....Just try calling them, I get so confused.... which isn't hard for me..... and tonguetied.

There were lots of moms and their kids in our group.....

Was busy counting heads once we got into the zoo so didn't get to many opportunities to take pics.... Haven't been to the zoo in years so it was great to see how it had changed. Boy did I need a nap when I got home......