In October, I visited the Tucson Meet Yourself festival.

There were over 45 vendors serving food from all over the world. There was Greek, Turkish, Chinese, Polish and Mexican food.
One booth I visited sold special chocolates made in Mexico. They tasted good; some were even spicy!

The name of the company is Chocolate Ritual. I spoke with owner Anayency Gomez, about the ingredients and where and how they are made. Besides truffles, there were three chocolate spreads that can be paired with cheeses.

Kevin West, from Indianapolis, has been a professional contemporary abstract artist for over 17 years. He’s the founder of Gifted Custom Art.

When he was battling stage-3 cancer, he let his love of art distract him from the treatments. He tried to come up with ways to teach low-income kids the love of art.

It was scary being diagnosed, West says. But he knew through his faith, that he would be okay.

Have you ever wished that you had the talent to create a masterpiece? Now you can, even if you’ve never picked up a paintbrush.

I recently attended a painting party at Creative Juice with a room full of other new artists. We used a kit ordered through Gifted Custom Art. You select a photo ahead of time. Your photo is then turned into a paint-by-number on canvas. Within a few hours of painting, anyone can become an artist.

Bandelier National Monument is near Los Alamos, New Mexico. More than 11,000 years ago, the first humans arrived in Bandelier, hunting enormous bison and mammoths.

Bandelier is a beautiful place with an amazing history. This national monument has cave dwellings and petroglyphs. Visitors can climb into some of the caves using ladders. Exploring these dwellings gives visitors an idea of what it was like to live in the area thousands of years ago.

Do you know what’s special about September 17? It’s Constitution Day. It was also the day that Tumacacori National Historical Park had a naturalization ceremony.

I attended this special ceremony where new citizens are sworn in. I was lucky to witness 16 people become new U.S. citizens. They represented 15 different countries, including Canada, Mexico, Australia and Russia.

The ceremony was held in front of the historic Tumacacori Mission Church and presided over by the Honorable Judge James A. Soto.