Smile

#5 What Makes you Smile?

Life! Here is a video I made a few years ago with this theme...









Smile

What an amazing year so far! 6 months in.

As half the year comes to an end I thought it would be a good time to do an update on what's been happening in my world.

January:
My nephew got married :) Congratulations Brandon and Mary!
Same Sex Marriage become legal in Florida!
Vic and I got engaged!

February:
Vic and I went to Orlando for a long weekend to spend some time with her friends from California. I hope this becomes and annual thing...Love them like family !

March:
Vic and I Got Married!
We kept Devon (my great nephew) over night for the first time. He was 7 months old.

April:
Booked our honeymoon flights to Paris!

May:
Went to Springfield Mo for my annual girls weekend with my friends from grade school/high school years.

June:
Supreme Court Ruling Same Sex Marriage a right nationwide!

What an amazing year so far! I am going into the second half feeling very blessed.

Happy July!

Happy July my friends!
It's been a busy summer so far! I have...
1. started selling on Amazon
2. had a girls week at the beach
4. spent the 4th of July at the beach with family
5. celebrated my nieces graduation from nursing school
6. closed on our house
7. started back up on ebay
8. went to the movies (Tammy)
9. celebrated 4 years blogging!

Now I'm just trying to catch my breath and find enough hours in the week to fit in work, shopping, shipping, watching big brother and play time with Vic and the furchildren.

What has your summer looked like?

Girls Weekend 2014

Girls Weekend 2014  CLICK ON LINK FOR VIDEO

The girls weekend with my girlfriends that I've known since grade school was a huge success.  Already looking forward to next year. :)


There is something to be said about old friends. I grew up in a small town in Missouri. The same town that my parents and grandparents grew up in. There is something quite wonderful about life long friends that know you...really know you. These women that I adore so much knew me from girl scouts, from St. Barnabas Episcopal Church, from playing on the DoubleCola softball team, from  first loves, broken hearts, school dances, and all the other memories that come with knowing someone for your whole wide life :)

Not everyone made it this year to Florida but they were there in our hearts. Some will never be with us again but their memories are always part of our conversations and they are loved just the same..never to be forgotten.

I am feeling so blessed to have known these women.

“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” 
― Maya Angelou

Who Am I ?

Would you guess that I am painfully shy by looking at my twitter/facebook/blogs?  Probably not. Would you label me a lesbian? Bi? I usually  have a hard time fitting into a label....I blame it on my Libra birth sign. I have to see all sides, try all sides. I love the person for what's on the inside, not just their body parts. When I was first dating Vic she called me "fluid" once. I think I am...

You may not know unless you've been on the receiving end that I have a quick temper. Not quick to get mad but quick to get over it. I guess quick if I'm allowed to express my feelings  on the  subject or take it out some how, if I am forced to hold it inside no one around me can usually be very happy. 

I've had the same group of friends since I was little. When I make friends it's usually for life. (Until the world of myspace/facebook...where the delete button is so easily clicked in a fit of passing anger) I'm very forgiving and it bothers me a lot if anyone is upset or angry with me. I hate to be ignored and my feelings get hurt pretty easily. My sisters teased me about this a lot growing up. I don't feel like I am a very good friend but I do think that I have many great friends that I could count on in a heartbeat if I needed them. I don't know if anyone feels like they could count on me..and worse yet I am not sure if they could.

I feel others pain a little too deeply sometimes. Watching the news is painful for me. I can almost always put myself in someone elses situation. I have been accused of  projecting on my dogs quite often. I am just sure that if I don't pick D.J.  up when he's giving me those sweet eyes I'm going to hurt his feelings and he'll think I don't love him anymore, or if I yell  at Dakota she will be angry at me and not love me anymore. 

I almost always would rather text or email than talk in person or on the phone. I'm very uncomfortable in groups. Even at most family gatherings I'll be the one sitting back watching and listening or taking pictures. I get more enjoyment looking at the pictures later than I do in the moment they are taken.

I let go pretty easily in most situations. I believe that I am on a journey and people will come and go as they should. No one is here forever but many will leave and return during my time here and beyond. I am sad when things end but not out of control. It's a "until next time" for me, not really ever goodbye.

I need laughter in my world. I can't remember many days that there has not been laughter...even thru the tears I can usually manage to find something to laugh about..even if it's at myself.  I'm so very lucky that I have found someone that "gets" me and laughs right along with me.

I don't mind doing things "your" way as long as it makes sense to me. I like to please people. I don't like being around negative energy..ever.  I like "nice". Mean people don't have a place in my world. 

I feel that I am spiritual but not religious. I grew up going to church (Episcopal) every Sunday and could still sing the songs and say the prayers without ever opening a book. I liked the routine but it didn't fill me with any understanding of what is out there. I still enjoy going to a service here or there but I find my spiritual needs met in private with my thoughts. I believe if you put "good" out you get "good" back. 

I think everything happens for a reason. Those reasons are not always clear but they don't need to be. 

Enough of this "all about me' post... Who are you?

Weekly Update July 22 2012

I feel like this was such a stressful week. We had work issues with cleaners and not just on one property but on several. Had to let some go, warn others and hire some new ones. It really stinks that we can put so much time and attention into managing a property and lose it over something we don't control (how good of a job the cleaning teams do) ..anyway...we survived and learned some lessons and will be making the necessary changes so it doesnt ever happen again.

I did have some positive news this week. I found out my dad is coming to visit in August!
My sister will be out of jail in August (another long story that I have chosen not to blog about ..yet) I had my "meet the surgeon" this week and am anxious to get everything done so I can have my surgery.I'm a little disappointed that it won't happen as quickly as I thought it would. I am guessing/hoping by October I'll be ready for surgery. I got my first doctor visit in already, and called the doctor for the psych evaluation but she's gone until Tuesday so that will hopefully happen next week.  My food/nutrition classes don't start until August so I have to sit back and wait for that. So much of the process is just waiting things out. Drives.Me.Crazy.

We did have a wonderful time out last night with friends. Everytime we do this we come away saying that we must do it more often. I hope we do. Good friends should never be taken for granted! Thank you Lisa, Kim,Del and Karen for always being so easy to be with.

I also got good news from my ex that we got an offer on our house! I hope this ones goes thru and we can be done with that chapter of our lives. I miss that house and loved it very much but have felt for many years now that if I couldn't live in it I didn't really want him to either...that may or may not be a good way to think but it is what it is.

I am going to take a deep breath, talk Vic into going to the beach today and try to recharge for next week.

Before I go I send out prayers to all involved in the terrible movie theater shooting Friday in Colorado. I can't even wrap my brain around how someone does that...:(

Here a few pictures I took this week. Something I saw at my doctors office, a wonderful dish from Tropical Thai Restaurant in Sarasota, and a few pictures we took while junk shopping at Sarasota Salvage...a very cool place!!

Seen at my doctors office, remember Y2k?

Tropical Thai in Sarasota

Sarasota Salvage

A letter to all the 20 somethings out there...

This letter is to all of the 20 something year old girls out there. I'm about to tell you something that was never told to me...or if it was I just didn't believe it and choose to ignore it at the time. This is something your moms don't tell you but I will!

You will reach a time when your body betrays you! You know those cute perky breasts that the boys go crazy over right now...they will start to sag, they will lose their "perk". Enjoy it now! Buy sexy tops and take lots of pictures in your swim suits..those days will end sooner than you are ready for. When it starts to happen it happens quick and over night. One day you'll be putting on your bra and have to lift them off of your stomach or worse..your lap!

You will be looking in your mirror and all of a sudden see a 3" long hair on your chin! The question will never be answered as to how in the heck did it grow that long without you seeing it before.

Your eyes will start to get worse and you will go in for your regular eye appointment only to hear your doctor tell you it's time for bifocals because you've reached that magic age of 40.

Those five or ten pounds that you have always been able to gain and lose with little to no effort will become ten or fifteen and be next to impossible to get rid of.

You will wake up sore and stiff instead of limber and refreshed. You won't know when it will happen but one day you'll be sitting on the sofa and realize that you could not sit Indian style if your life depended on it, and FORGET doing the splits or anything like that...your body will fight you every step of the way.

You will pee when you laugh too hard or when you sneeze...what a bitch that one is!

You dental appointments will consist of root canals, bridges, crowns...and always high dollar..Make sure you invest in good insurance before you hit 40 because your health care bills will double what they have been the past 20 years! You will now post of surgeries and health issues on facebook instead of parties and hangovers...speaking of which..you won't be able to shake off a hangover in one day any more, you will feel beat up for at least 2 and sometimes more!

OK the positive to getting older is that you know more. You are more confident and realize what is really important in life. You value quality time with your parents and grandparents if you are lucky enough to still have them around. Instead of a biological clock ticking you hear the death clock and try and fit more meaningful events in your life. You appreciate the small things more.

I appreciate each and everyone of you and really enjoy getting to know many of you on facebook better than I would have without it...Have a great day and my wish for you all is to laugh and smile at least a dozen times today!

For any of you 50+ women please let us know what we have to look forward to ...Im not ready for any more surprises LOL!

What an amazing day at the beach today! We got there around 11 a.m. The weather was perfect and the water was even better! It was so clear we could see the fish swimming. The snorkeling was so relaxing I could have stayed uner all afternoon! We even had the treat of seeing a family of manatees swim right in front of us. Casey Key Beach in Nokomis Florida is one of my favorite beaches.

A blog about blogging

As I was working on my blogs and trying to find a place to put them, I read a lot of other peoples blogs. The style that people write in really stood out to me. Some are always funny or always serious, some stay true to writing about one subject. Some write from their dogs point of view. I find those really cute but honestly my dogs are not the best at channeling thru me to write a blog. They are like the dog in the movie "UP" and will start telling me what to write and then...SQUIRREL!~

I really like my friend Serena's blog. OK technically she is Vic's friend but I think I can call her friend too, is that OK Serena? So anyway..I like her muted colors, I love the pictures she puts with her blogs, I like the overall appearance  and her style of writing. Vic tells me that she has always been that way and that is one of the things that has always stood out about her writing. It's small, not a lot of words but the words that are there are deep. Blogs that make you think.
Consistent. In comparison, my blogs are all over the chart. My blogs are much like my thinking, when I'm in a dark place I write poetry, when I'm angry I write about situations, when I'm bored and want to just write I write about my life/pets/events around me. Sometimes they are colorful blogs with pretty pictures about what I am writing about and other times I just stick a picture of Scout up in the corner because I think he's so darn cute. I guess that is what makes blogging so interesting to me, all of the different styles of blogging.

I get lots of ideas about things I'd like to blog about. During the day I will be doing something and catch myself thinking "oh i need to blog about that!". I love watching the video blogs on youtube. I've tried doing a few of those but I really hate being in front of the camera. Here is an attempt :


I'm much  more comfortable behind the camera taking the videos and on the computer writing the blogs, vs face to face...Anyway........... Back to Blogging...