cycles. stages & the beat goes on.....

The other day I was chatting with my friend Rachel about how quickly time flies with your children. We were discussing how much fun she was having with her little one at home and how she embraces each day and I shared a bit of my experience from when Sweet Pea was that age.

I often post how it seems like just yesterday she was wrapped up as a burrito and then suddenly she was potty training and begining pre-school!

This weekend I was duly reminded how quickly time does fly.

Saturday was family day and we chose to spend it at the movies!

After which we went shopping as our Sweet Pea is experiencing a growth spurt and none of her clothes fit.

I have never really "taken" her shopping.

She's gone with me. We've looked at clothes and ultimately I decide what we are buying.

This time was a bit different.

She's seven now, and therefore not only wishes to have a say in what she's wearing,

has to try-on clothes ; a task I despise.

Add to that having a very distinct opinion on her "style" and it made for a pretty interesting experience.

We also ended up buying her some new " big girl" gladiator style sandals, which are too cute on her -very stylish and trendy.

The whole process left me with mixed emotions - I am SO proud of the young lady she's becoming and I am truly enjoying this stage in her life.

She is somewhat independent, a free spirit with lots of love to give and I can't wait to see how she grows, and yet I am also sad, my baby is growing up.

Right before my eyes.

My how time flies.

But hey, the beat goes on right?

Live in the moment and enjoy each stage as it comes....it all goes by so quickly!

I wanna Rock With You ......P.Y.T

Michael Jackson died yesterday June 25th 2009.

Words fail me right now.
I can remember watching him perform at the Motown special and do the Moonwalk for the first time.
The first record I ever owned was Thriller.
His music was a major cornerstone of my childhood.
My entire family are huge fans of Motown and I can remember jamming to the Jackson 5 with my brother.
My mom still has the albums at her house.
I am in shock along with the rest of the world.

And I will mourn the loss of this musical prodigy.
Last night Damon and I had a small dance party and I watched a bunch of his videos.
Today, as we clean and pack up our space .......

I will introduce Sweet Pea to the magic of the man's music.
I will leave you with Michael as I choose to remember him.
Rock on Michael......

is anybody listening????

the trouble with blogging is you get limited feedback.

its a great way to unload
share stories and pics of friends and family with those that are far away.

after awhile though- you begin to think that you are talking to yourself!
and in a way - its kind of a good thing.
you can say whats on your mind (hopefully without worrying about the reprecussions)
voice your opinion and get on your soapbox and spout your beliefs!
but unless people comment or your blog is "featured" on someone else's sight or is a blog of note ( for all you on blogger.com), you're not guaranteed readership/ fan base.
some of my friends are like : "why should I start a blog? Who's gonna read it? who really cares?"

Oddly enough -
Strangers.
there are people who DO care.
They ARE interested.
They may not know YOU but for whatever reason your blog spoke to them and they are now intrigued.
I don't have a lot of followers, nor do I get a ton of comments on my posts.
but you know what?
i just found out that the majority of my family reads this blog.
And they LOVE it!
They like being able to click a link and see what the Sweet Pea is up to, or to find out how the house hunting is going. Or whats going on with the job situation.
it's nice to know that what you are saying has meaning and is interesting but it's even nicer to know that someone actually looks forward to your posts!!!!

********************************************************************

I wonder: Does anyone else feel ,at times, like they are all by themsleves? How do you cope?
Do you keep posting and hoping someone comments or do you constantly comment on other blogs hoping that someone will check out yours in return????

thirsty thursday

Since it IS officially summer I've decided I'm going to try and get more creative with my posts.

Other blogs, have a wordless wednesday, aloha friday, toddler tuesday....you get the picture.

I am going to have "Thirsty Thursdays"!!!

We all like cool and refreshing beverages whether they be alcoholic or non.

Its the summer!!!

Who doesn't like to cool off w/ a cold drink?

So each week I will post a cool new drink recipe for you all to try out!

Let me know if you make it and how it comes out!!

*****************************************************

The first recipe is from my favourite southern cooking couple:

The Neely's

For those of you not in the know - The Neely's host "Down Home with the Neely's" and "Road Tasted with the Neely's" on the Food Network!

I think they are such an adorable couple and they make such good food!!!

Damon and I have tried quite a few of their recipes and EVERYTHING is excellent!!!

So imagine my excitement while strolling through Costco one day and stumbling across their cookbook!!!

Whoo Hoo!!!!

Here's is Gina's recipe for

Fresh Peach Sangria:

• 2 bottles dry white wine chilled ( sauvigon blanc or pinot grigio)
• 1/2 cup brandy
• 1 cup pineapple juice
• 1/2 cup superfine sugar
• 4 peaches, pitted and sliced
• 2 red or black plums ,pitted and sliced
• 2 cups green grapes, halved
• 1 lemon sliced into rounds

Combine the wine, brandy, pineapple juice, sugar peaches, plums, grapes and lemon slices in a large pitcher and stir until sugar is dissovled.

Add ice cubes to fill and serve immediately, or refrigerate for up to 1 day in advance and add ice cubes

This drink is so delicious!!! I made it for my neices graduation party (for the adults of course)

and it was a HUGE it!!! I think this will be our official party drink for the summer!

Stay tuned to see what next Thursday's drink will be!!!

hoping and wishing and praying......

If you have been reading my blog at all you may realize that I am a serious hunter.

I hunt for shoes, jewelry, books and most of all bargains.

But lately I have only been hunting a few specific items.

first I was searching for just the right house.

check.

Now I am searching for just the right job that will allow me to begin a career.

Not just work in an office and get paid.

I want to actually like what I do.

Even if it's not my dream job right now.....

on the other hand.....

who knows, maybe it will end up being just that.

But I do want to get back out there.

I have so enjoyed my time off from the "real world" of punching in, customer deadlines and company politics while I was in school but now i'm ready to "get back out there".

It seems a bit daunting right now how it will all come together with the move, job search and Sweet Pea's schedule but I am sure God will provide a way for it to work.

************

My job search has been well under way for several months and on Monday I received a call from one of the companies I applied to last week!!!

They scheduled an interview for this morning.

I feel like it went really well!!!

I don't want to say too much about it just yet but its a cosmetic's company and the position is one in which I have previously excelled so I am PRAYING that this all works out.

What a blessing it is to get a call about a job two days after celebrating my graduation!!!

And what a blessing it would be if this was the job I have been waiting for!!!

Please keep me in your thoughts/prayers in the coming weeks as I wait to hear back!!!

Tutus & fairy princesses

oh my goodness!

My friend Michelle over at FlyingGigglesandLollipops just hipped me to the cutest thing!

SugarbeezTutus over on Etsy!

All the tutus on Sugarbeez are machine sewn and feature a "no roll" waistband!

They are individually crafted and made to order so no two are alike!

I am so excited! I have been looking for something a little frou-frou for the girls to wear in the wedding next summer and I think this might be it!

I can't wait to order one for Sweet Pea and Nana Bear!!!

Thanks again Michelle!!

long time coming....

This past Saturday was MY graduation from FIDM!!!!

My Beauty BF and fellow bad girl Ashley A.

my fabulously sassy friend Sara

my favorite teacher won the Outstanding Faculty Award for Beauty

the BaD GiRlS of bEaUtY

(minus megan)

ms. ava and I

the Bad Girls of Beauty - ready for their close up

the ashley's and me

beauty girls do it in color

the happy graduate

all the march '09 Beauty grads

Congratulations Ladies!

We did it!
I am so proud of how far we have come in such a short time
some of us will remain friends,
some will be acquaintances,
and some will go their seperate ways
BUT
we have one shared experience
and a commonality that is not often found
in the contemporary university.
We are creative
and we are visionaries,
we will change the way beauty is perceived
we will break down walls
break all the rules
and make them up as we go
I have no doubt that everyone of you
will be successful in whatever area of the industry you pursue
I wish you well my beauties
may the memories at FIDM stay fresh
may your skin always be clear
your foundation flawless
your mascara lengthening
and your lipgloss luscious.
kisses......
THE BADDEST of the BEAUTIES

fathers day - a lil late

Happy Fathers day to my wonderful fiance.

babe, you take such good care of me and our sweet pea.

Thank you for being the kind of man she can look up to, rely on and trust in.

Your patience with her knows no bounds and neither does her adoration.

My cup runneth over when I see you bend down and scoop her up as she runs to you when you walk in the door.

You are an amazing Father.

I love you.

****************

to MY Dad:

you are my hero!

you have rescued me more often than not

and never reminded me of that

you are a strong

intelligent

man -of -God

who has provided me with an example of love

that was only recently matched

you have watched me grow

stumble and trip

and you were there to put band-aids on the bruises

and help guide my way.


THANK YOU !!!!!!

for being amazing


forever and always,

your little girl

MUFFIN STUFFIN!!!!!

Earlier I posted about my nieces graduation and party.

Here are a few pics from both:

*****My niece is very special to our family.

She was born premature and barely weighed a whole pound.

And she was the first female grandchild in my fiance's family.

To have watched her as an infant fighting for her life and to see how far she has come causes my whole family to well up in tears.

This is a moment her doctors believed would never happen and it fills my heart with joy to see how God gave this child her life and allowed her to be such a blessing to her family.

Congrats Muffin we love you!!*******

the happy graduate!!!

the graduate and her parents

the graduate and her grands

all the women in the "familia"

we roll deep

the cake from one of our family fave bakeries : Hansens

my baby, my littlest neice, my nephew and two of my sis-in-loves


the ladies

grandmother, granna, sweet pea,& kerri

my neice and her "cousin"

a relief

They say you don't get what you want when you want it but rather when you need it the most.

I find this to be true at times.

However, I am used to getting what I want and I don't have a lot of patience.

If I cannot get what I want then I want to know WHY and HOW COME and get to the bottom of things.

Alas, some things are out of my control

For the last few months I have been semi-stressed out about finding a job.

Add to that trying to plan a wedding and throw a move into the mix and you have a recipe for a pretty frazzled mommy.

I have been praying on my situations and just waiting on the Lord, to see what happens

while still being pro-active in my search for a home and employment.

It was begining to look like we were going to have to settle for a place that wasn't quite what we wanted but it seemed God had something else in mind.

Thursday evening my realtor Amber called me all ecstatic about a house she just saw that hasn't even gone on the market yet. It was a little more than our original budget but still much less than what we pay now; which was a bit of an issue.

Also, most of the places I had seen thus far were just NOT what I was looking for.

So I begrudgingly agreed to go see it in the morning. When I pulled up there was a calmness about the area that I found pleasant and when we walked in I had to gasp.

Here it was! This was our home. I knew it even before I walked all the way into the living room.

So we quickly submitted our application and lo an behold today our prayer has been answered!

I am so excited to move!

I feel so blessed to have found a place that is exactly what we are looking for!

and the best news of all - my friend Niki and her family will be moving into the area in a few weeks so we won't be completely alone!!!!

Now all I have to do is pack!!!!

Wish me luck!!

weekend wrap up

What a busy busy week and weekend!

* **my 30th birthday was Tuesday June 9th and that kind of set the tone for the rest of the week. Damon and I had a lovely dinner at P.F.Chang's (one of my fave restaurants)

* **Friday morning I went to go look at a house - this is nothing new as we are looking to move- and fell in LOVE! It had everything we were looking for and is in a great,safe area, good school district and closer to Babe's job and I just found out that it's ours!!!!

whoo hooo!!

*** Saturday- My neice is graduated from jr. high on tuesday so we had a party to celebrate.

** Her cousins also graduated from high school , jr high and elementary school respectively.

All in all we had 6 graduates this year including myself!

We are so proud of all the kids and can't wait to see what life has in store as they move on in the world!

reflection

In light of turning the big 3-0 I was doing some soul searching and started wandering down memory lane back to the days when I used to write poetry more often
so - here is an example of my pithy 19 yr .old self :

Contradiction

I remember everything

but forget what I choose to

I overlook the obvious

and focus instead on the obscure

I hope for the best

and prepare for the worst

my thoughts come fast and erratic

my words, slow and cautious

I think before I speak

but act without thinking

I advocate honesty

but am willing to stretch the truth

I claim to be an adult

but retain my childish ways

I say one thing

and do another

I can be your best friend

and your worst enemy

I can make you laugh

then turn around and make you cry

I am Daddy's little girl

but my Mothers daughter

I will rob Peter to pay Paul

and not feel bad

I am highly opinionated
but wont always speak my mind

I am poetry in motion

an angel sent from heaven

dressed as the devil in disguise

so its up to you

am I a sinner or a saint?

either way I am not ashamed

I think I am a walking contradiction

split personalities

yet one in the same

I am all these things and more

a Gemini to the very core.

30

Its my 30th birthday today!

Wow does time fly!
It seems like only yesterday I was
holding my breath for 16
waiting patiently for 18
dying to turn 21
before I knew it 25 was here
and 30 was staring me in the face
I feel like I have come so far
yet still have so much to learn
see and do

I can't wait to see what the rest of this year brings
as it has started off pretty fabulous
I used to think that I didn't want to get older
and was somewhat terrified of what that might signify
BUT
I have realized that I don't really get OLDER
I'm only getting BETTER!

And to be honest.....
I don't FEEL 30
and I know I don't LOOK 30.....

<>

But I must say that I am grateful for this stage in my life
I am more confident than I was in my teens
more settled than I was in my twenties
and am looking forward to the rest of the journey
on this roller coaster ride of my life
Bring it on 30 -I'm ready, willing and able :)

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To all my friends out there:
thank you so much for your many years of love and support
it means more to me than you know
thank you for being so accepting of my :
eccentricities
personality flaws
big mouth and inability to be quiet for very long
need to make jokes
inappropriate laughter and humor
random acts of dancing
love of shoes and all things makeup related
grouchiness in the morning
and most of all :
for being such great friends!
a lot of you have been there for over 15 years
and that is nothing short of phenomenal
you have watched me grow into the woman I have become
and have never looked back.
LOVE YOU ALL!!!