Remembering Roxie.......

One year ago today you went to heaven.  We miss you so much!  You were such a loving bulldog and gave me much happiness and love.......sometimes a pain in the butt....LOL :)  I think of you often.....you are in my heart.........forever.  I truly believe you are having too much fun in heaven with James.....he loved you so much too.  xoxoxo......Mommy.

Remembering James......

 You went to heaven one year ago today.  We miss you so much!  We remember your loving ways......your smile......your laughter.......your sillyness......your caring heart......your courage.......your spontaneity......your giving heart.  Thinking of you.....today......and always.  Love you to pieces.....

Went on a gold mine tour today.....

I've lived here for over 30 years and never heard of this place. (Why not?)  It's Eldorado Canyon and the gold mines of the wild, wild west! Eldorado Canyon has the oldest, richest, and most famous gold mine in Southern Nevada.  Just 45 mins south of Las Vegas and close to the small town of Nelson and the Colorado River.

Eldorado Canyon has a wider range of historical events than anywhere in the Wild West:

• The canyon was full of deserters during the Civil War.
• Two of the most famous renegade Indians were raised in the canyon.  (Ahvote and Queho).
• 1874 claim jumping resulted in numerous murders and hauntings of the Techatticup Mine.
• In 1880's more men lived in the Eldorado Canyon than all of Las Vegas valley.
• Steamboats ran the Colorado River for over 40 years.  

One old mining cart

Entrance to mine

Miner and donkeys they used to move the blasted rock.

We went below ground into the mine at level 4 (of 9 levels) where the temperature is a cool 70 degrees. (Yes!) The Techatticup Mine is the oldest mine in Southern Nevada.  The ore was brought out of the mine to a stampmill where it was crushed to a fine powder and mixed in cyanide tanks where the gold and silver were separated.

Underground in the mine

In the tunnel underground

Vein the miners chased for gold and silver.

Another vein miners chased.

It was really interesting to see the tunnel with the various levels and ladders, and how dangerous it must have been for these miners.  I would not even want to be a miner.  Too much physical labor, danger, and darkness for me.  The tour guide turned out all the lights for us to get the effect of pitch dark.  Something these miners experienced when the candles accidentally went out!  Wow!

Movies filmed at this location.

Fake plane crash

Picnic before the mine tour.

One other thing I didn't know, but several movies were filmed at this location....."3000 miles to Graceland", "Johnny and the High Rollers", "Breakdown", and "Eye of the Beholder." The plane you see crashed on the side of the mountain is the one actually used in the movie, "3000 Miles to Graceland."  So just some movie trivia.....

We had a nice, little picnic close to the Colorado River before the tour with the gals I went on this trip with.  Had a fun day and learned some interesting history about our Southern Nevada.  Hope you enjoyed my day trip narrative.

Twitter bird class.....the best class ever!

Betty's twitter bird

Jerry's twitter bird

Regina's twitter bird

Ronna's twitter bird

Twitter-tweet bird charm wire wrap class.........Wow, what a fun class! We even made the bird charm. A little twisting, twirling, hammering, and swirling. It was the best class ever......:)  Thanks once again Colleen....tweet,tweet....tweet,tweet.

Regina's birthday......St. Patrick's Day.....Faux Silver class

Regina, birthday girl

St. Paddy's Day cupcakes 

Regina's faux silver pieces

Today is Regina's birthday!  She spent the day with us in Faux Silver class.  Colleen Mc made her delicious cupcakes and we also celebrated St. Patrick's Day.  Wow, what a great day! We teamed up in pairs for this class.....and we were having so much fun making these pieces we didn't even notice we didn't have the music on as we usually do.


                                                                                                                                         

Pat's faux silver pieces 

Betty's faux silver pieces

Jerry's faux silver pieces

Ronna's faux silver pieces

This was one of my favorite classes by far......so much fun to make these pieces and they all came out so beautiful.  Love them! Colleen My, Winston, and Gloria also made some nice pieces......sorry ladies, missed getting pictures of yours.  Thanks Colleen for another super class.  You rock!!!!!!                     Happy Birthday Regina!

22 years.....

Last Friday was 22 years anniversary with my current job! Wow!  Doesn't seem like it's been that long....the time flew by so fast.  How does that happen? Congrats to all my former classmates who made it this far too.  We did it!!!

Ran a 5K race today......

Me at finish line

Awards ceremony!

Winning 1st place in 5K age 50-54 female

Girl Power

......and came in 1st place for female in my age division!  Two of  my co-workers also ran and won.....1st place trophy for overall female (5K and 10K) and 1st place in 10K for age 30-34 female.   Woohoo!!!!  It was windy and there were a few uphills in the run but I felt good.  Hadn't run a race in a few years and never won anything in a race.

The Las Vegas Black Mountain Lions Club put on the race which was officially called "Run for Sight."  It benefited Nevada Blind Children's Foundation, Nevada Blind Center, and Sight First Foundation.

Raffle prizes were really great....from gift certificates to Village Runner, Smith's Food King, race posters, race shoes, coffee, Krispy Kreme donuts, and the grand prize was a helicopter ride for two around the Grand Canyon.  I won Krispy Kreme donuts. Yummy!

It was a great morning, for a great cause, with great friends! It was held in Bruce Trent Park in beautiful Summerlin.  Most inspirational was seeing the blind walking in the race!  They are the true winners!

Lory's birthday!

So today is my best friend Lory's birthday and she spent part of the day in jewelry class with us (Colleen Mc, Jerry, Regina, and me).  Colleen Mc. was nice enough to make some thin mint cupcakes for her.....yum, yum! Thanks Colleen!!

And the class we took was soldering a glass bottle......it was a fun piece to make.  You could put whatever you wanted in the tiny glass container.  Lory put a heart in hers and she did a great job considering it was her 2nd class ever.  Look how wonderful it looks.....

Lory's soldering piece

Ronna's soldering piece

I put a skull piece in mine.....with a few black crystals.

Regina made hers with lots of beachy things and Jerry put pearls in hers.  (Sorry, I don't have pics of them, but they came out really good too.)  We all had a fun class!  I'm glad to have spend it with Lory.  Thanks Colleen for another great class!  Happy, happy birthday Lory!!!

No more invisalign!

I'm so happy!!!!......(jumping up and down right now).....today is my official day that I am done with wearing invisalign.  It's been 15 months and I am so done with having to keep up with monitoring everything about wearing them.....the discipline, the keeping time, the constant teeth brushing, etc.  My teeth look really nice......(smile).

My nephew turns 16 today!

Happy, happy 16th birthday to you Brendan!  A special birthday indeed.  I remember the day you were born......every where you looked whether in stores, on TV,  in magazines, there were hearts and colors of red and pink.......signs of love everywhere.  I was there when you were born with your dad........you were precious......and have grown into a fine young man.  Wishing you the best birthday ever and may all your dreams come true!  Xoxoxo, your Aunt Ronna.

Happy 2013! And Happy Chinese New Year!

Hi all......Happy 2013!  It was some kind of year last year with good and bad experiences.....with laughter and sadness.......with hope and struggles......one thing I know for sure, life comes at you and you have to deal with whatever comes your way.  There is no such thing as a "normal life."  So with that said, hope we all enjoy life......don't procrastinate.....laugh a lot......be healthy......enrich friendships.....and take of each other.


                                                                  Gong Xi Fa Ca

And Happy Chinese New Year....the year of the snake! Over 1.3 billion people in China and millions of Chinese around the world celebrate the first day of the Chinese New Year today.  It's the most important of Chinese holidays, kicking off a celebration that lasts for 15 days and culminates with the Lantern Festival.  So I wish you "Gong Xi Fa Ca"....the traditional Chinese New Year greeting that means "wishing you prosperity" in Mandarin.