Our Wedding pics 8-25-10

Our Wedding

goin' croppin' !!!!

I rarely get to craft at my store. Ironic, I know. And I almost never get to spend time with one of my biggest supporters and confidant. She and my daughter make movie dates and I don't get to join them. She and MD were going to the big crop up north and I was bummed! Waaa Waaa Waaa. Enough complaing and more celebrating already. Because my daughter loves me, she gave up her spot at next week's crop to let me spend time with DE. I've never been to an organized crop of this size and am leaning on my friends to keep from making rookie mistakes. My work schedule is getting in the way of the good times and I am trying to figure out how to keep that from happening. I am stubborn and possess the gift of ingenuity, so I hope I can.

I will admit I am spending more thought and energy on what I should bring instead of focusing on the Store, but I feel no guilt. I put what I can into it without giving up everything else in my life. Including my friendships, family, and my home life.

Speaking of which, August 23rd'ish is the big day! My sweetie and I are eloping to Vegas. When we get off the plane back in Charleston, we will be husband and wife. Whenever I think about it, I smile and get butterflies like a school girl in love for the first time. That may be because I am truly in love like never before. I take none of it for granted and hope he is always happy in our marriage. I know we all live a fer piece from Perfectville, but this is as good as it gets. And it is good!

He is Casey's daddy and she loves him. During the storm the other night, she followed him around for protection. She leaves my lap to be next to him on the couch. It hurts my feelings for just a minute, then I think how cool that is. She is persnippity with most men and tolerates few women or animals. Gotta love her or run from her. That's my baby girl.

We're getting married!!

Ok, so that's not new news. We're doing it in Vegas. Ok, so that's not new either. How about we're doing it next month?! Oh, Boy! We planned and booked the trip last night and have to line up the Chapel. Other than that, its on!!


Is he just too cute, or what :)

Happy Birthday, Amber!!!

Lego Land at Disney

One of the most beautiful people in the world is turning (~~) today. Check out Amber's blog and wish her a happy birthday! http://portraitofagirlwhoscraps.blogspot.com/

Best friends are found in the worst times

I have always known that my family has unconditional love for me and that I would not have survived without it. I have serious issues that make it difficult to be around me in my alternating episodes of angry outbursts and lack of interest. I am grateful for the love and support my friends and family have given me. Our family has experienced true tragedy and grown closer. We also face "normal" challenges in life, like everyone else, most of which might be due to our own making. At times our decision making process is questionable at best. Somehow, something usually comes along to make it okay, or seem predetermined. But, if your fate is really out of your hands, why am I up at midnight blogging my sorrows? Shouldn't I just be sleeping with the comfort or utter acceptance that it is what it is and there is nothing I can do to change it? A huge part of me believes that things happen for a reason and all works out in the end. But, I continue to over analyze and make plans I don't implement. And, here I sit.

All that rhetoric leads me back to my gratitude for true friends and good people. Over the past year, I have had the good fortune to discover some true friends through times of bad fortune. Enter the local character who doesn't seem to realize that her actions and words adversely affect the well being of others. I just erased a full (long and boring I'm sure) paragraph explaining how hurt I was yesterday by this person I thought cared about my well being. The point I really want to make is how I found who I can count on and who should cause me pause. I have no filter and provide way too much information to people. Some they eat up like good gossip, if there is such a thing. Some they are appalled by and sometimes I can be down right shocking and offensive myself. But, I still find people who are willing to help me and be there for me. I used to be so cynical as to think I could count on no one, not even me, but I have learned better.

My aforementioned issues trigger anxiety that reduces my mental acuity. To those that care about me, I have shared a couple of startling examples. This week I forgot my own daughter's birthday! Who does that? The next day, I asked my other daughter if her cousin was having a girl or a boy. This cousin, my sister's daughter, is often referred to in the family as my third daughter. The crazy indicator is that she had the baby in December. I have held her in my arms and rocked her to sleep. It is times like this that my very good friend, who sacrifices time away from her family to help me, makes me realize how lucky I am. She empathizes and accepts me, problems and all. She expects nothing from me when she gives of herself and rearranges her life to be part of mine. I would like her to know how much I appreciate her love and friendship.

That is a familiar story when I go over it in my head. I have another friend who, during times of great strife and confusion in her own life, is there for me in actions and words. She never complains when I blow off steam or lose my focus, which by the way is much more often than most people would accept. Most people would have given up on me long ago. My friend uses her precious energy and expansive talents to help me personally and professionally. I love to see her in design mode. She makes me smile. She too has empathy for my emotional challenges and loves me in spite of myself. She and the group of her close friends, who I call the 3(+1) Musketeers, have been a support system for me all their own over the past year. There are many times when I wonder how I would have managed without them.

I have another friend who I can say anything to without her judging me. She is very classy and very unlike me in that and many other ways. Yet, I am lucky enough to call her my friend, we even jest about her being my BFF. The story has very funny roots involving another character I met though TPH. One of the 3 Musketeers was crafting with this very interesting character at my store and was adopted as her new BFF. We kid the other 2 in the close knit group mercilessly about it. The 3 very diverse personalities meld into a single unit when they are together. Their friendship is a bond held together with a common sense of humor and unconditional love. They make each other laugh and feel pain and experience joy together. It is an enviable relationship, perhaps evidenced by my use of the word 'together' in each of the preceding sentences.

I am very aware that all my friends with one exception I met at the store. It is my life, as my work has always been. I allow it to consume me sometimes, like now for instance. But, there are other times when my lover and reason to look toward the future and smile, brings me back to what really matters -- my home life and family. I have already lost everything monetary or material trying to make the store a success, so there really should be nothing to worry about except losing the store completely. I see the opposite happening, with the help and support of my friends and have faith that I will solve my main obstacle to success soon. One thing I can do is to stop what I am doing and send out an email to promote business, then get as much sleep as I can. Memo and I are headed to Savannah at dark thirty tomorrow (in a few hours) to attend her cousin's wedding. Blog at 'ya soon!

Are you kidding me? We are watching the Pussy Cat Dolls on stage in Manchester. What a hoot! Guess we're just tired of Law & Order, NCSI, Bones, and well you get it. Oh, good, that's better. Ramon turned on a show about ants. Gross! If you get bored one day, check out the starling invasion of Rome. Yep. Bird poop everywhere! OK so Sunday night TV is definitely a bad idea. Now you know why I have time to blog.

There is a good reason I dropped the blogging after only a few days. I was busy, no really. Realizing that life gets in the way, here I go...Ramon has once again demonstrated he is worthy of the best man on the planet crown. He took me to work last Sunday because he wanted to be with me. Don't you just love him? I know I do! We brought the truck because I wanted to put slot wall up at the store. If you have ever been subjected to my involvement in a project, you'll just be shaking your head during the rest of the story. If not, you'll swear I made it up.

We stop by Lowes, grab the wood, and head to the store to open at 1:00. Several times he said, are you sure you don't need it cut. Oh no, I say. I measured it. Don't get ahead of me, now. The first part of the slap stick comedy started with us moving the bench out front out of the way so we could lean the wood against the brick until we could put it up. Neither of us can see what the other is going to do next. Move left, right, angle, what??? Once that was done, we just left the wood there until we closed the store at 6:00. Then, the comedy continued as we worked together to get the heavy slats to the back of the store. Oh, did I leave out the part of moving all the stuff out of the way of the back wall? We kept moving against what the other had in mind.

Back to the slot wall. Michelle keeps a flat dolly in the office. I grab that and "help" Ramon roll the wood into the store. Poor guy kept trying to tell me what to do, which of course I can't get and generally end up doing just the opposite of what he needs. We somehow manage to get the heavy ass board in the general direction of the target wall. We held the wood up to the wall that I had so diligently measured and it was almost 2 feet too long! I said I had diligently measured the wall and so I had. I knew it to be just under 7 feet. Problem is, I thought the sheets were 4x6, not 4x8.

For the record, Ramon was a trouper throughout the whole episode. I called Lowes to find out what time they closed on Sunday and if they would cut the pieces down for us. We had 15 minutes to get there, so we locked the door and jumped in the truck. I dropped him off with the wood in a hand cart and parked the truck. The trimming of the wood was done lickity split, loaded back into the truck and back at the store. From there it went fairly smoothly. We figured out the thingies that hold the screw into the drywall and Ramon had the forethought to bring his drill. We bought the screws and their thingies at Lowes on our first trip. The wall was up in less than an hour, including the run back to Lowes for the wood cutting ceremony. And all ends well.

It is amazing what you can learn about someone by combining efforts toward a common goal. I learned that I cannot read minds and that I make judgements that usually 180 what everyone thinks should happen. Trust me, I know it's me, because it has been that way since I can remember. If you ever find yourself in the unpleasant position of having to work with me on a project, just know that you must speak quickly and clearly in describing exactly what you want. The catch is, I am stubborn and think I know a better way. Good luck, Mr. Phelps. May the Force be with you. Inside joke that one, because I am the most illogical person you shall ever know and am far from prospering.

So, hey, what do you think of the results of Ramon's labor?...

We planned the date

Over breakfast yesterday, Ramon and I decided on a trip to Vegas to say our "I dos" officially on New Years Eve. We'll have a party to celebrate after we get back. We are going to have a ball!

Today the Vet looked at Casey. He wants to have the lump biopsied. Not ready to put her under the knife again. She doesn't appear to be in any pain and she's 11 years old. We'll talk about it more before we take that step. Not going to watch her suffer but will take less than drastic measures to keep her with me as long as she is enjoying life and wants to chase toys and kitty cats. She came to the store with me today. She wants me to hold her, so I did. Made it a little tough on Amber teaching a class, but she's a trooper and got what she needed on her own.

Amber rocks BTW! She is flexible and able to think and act on her feet without losing it. She had made arrangements with a student for a one-on-one double class tonight. Then we found out that another student had signed up for her step 2 scrapbooking class, so she had to regroup and pulled it off beautifully!

My instructors are going to mutiny on me if we don't get a better grip on the number of people coming to class. Michelle was ready to shoot me on Saturday. We thought she had at least 4-5 for her Ribbon 101, but it didn't turn out that way. I will make it a priority to get the classes booked and follow up to ensure attendance.

Not promoting the classes and events has really hurt us lately. I took some pictures today and will upload them to the online calendar and send out an email later this week with that as the focus. I am sending one out tomorrow with pics of the new product. It's almost ready to go.

Speaking of ready to go, Ramon is waiting for me at home and that's where I should be. Catch 'cha on the flip side.

A new beach

My Sweetie took me to Edisto Beach yesterday. I've lived in the Charleston area since 1994 and had never been. I have the most awesome scrapbook page drafted in my head, using some flat shells we picked up.

I wish we had brought Casey. I found a lump under her right leg today and just feel like I should spend as much time with her as possible. Get her out of the house and into the world. Everyone, including dogs, should travel and see new things often. Life is full of wonder and pain. The only choice you have is which one to focus on.

I can't sleep right now with all the thoughts spinning in my head. Watching people around me go through such daunting challenges has brought me peace in the face of potential disaster. I am sure none of this makes any sense on the surface, but once you analyze it, which I always do, it becomes perfectly clear. Life will continue to be hard so you may as well just let it roll and capture all the fun you can. Be responsible and plan when it's appropriate, then be spontaneous when that seems right. It's actually easier than it sounds. I have some of the feelings of life being out of my control that would previously have brought on a severe depression. But, I just control what I can do best and let Ramon, Michelle, and whoever else control the rest. Seems to be working better than trying to control it all myself. Go figure.

Day 2 in a row!

So, it's my day off, right? Well, noooooo, of course not. The PC is giving us a fit AGAIN and Ramon to the rescue again, poor guy. Don't feel too sorry for him, though. I keep reminding him that he knew what my life was like before we allowed our friendship to develop into the love we now have for each other. Did I tell you he's the best man on earth?! It is truly so, I tell ya! He is spending his day off fixing the wireless problem by hard wiring the main register (POS) PC to the router. POS is a homonym in this case, BTW.

Gotta share an "aren't my grandkids the cutest" story with you, that of course, comes with pictures. My grandkids are the smartest grandkids on the planet. Oh, have I used that best on the planet saying before? Better hope you don't get tired of hearing it. My Zs were playing in the scrap box at the store yesterday and found the googly eyes. Zadie put some on her hand and looked up at me and said, Grandma look -- talk to the hand. Toooooo cute. Then she and Zophia got together and Eye 5'd each other with the googly eye hands. Of course the Grandmarazzi captured the moment to embarrass them in later years. I love my grandbabies!

Look out 21st Century! Here comes Karla!!!!

My 2010 New Year's Resolutions included the standards. Of course you have the loose weight, spend money wisely, make it so you can spend it, and to show your family how much you love and appreciate them. I could go on all day about my family and all it's many facets and I will do that in a later post. Suffice it to say for now that I have learned some hard lessons so far in the 21st Century. It's been a tough 10 years. The bottom line is that Family really does come first!

I'm not doing as well as I had hoped in any of the Resolutions. I have GAINED weight, have alot less money than I did on January 1, 2010, and have been working so much my family barely hears from me. So, today is the first day of the rest of my life. Today I am going in to "work" at the coolest job on earth! I woke up this morning to a hug from the best man on earth! And as my feet hit the floor, I was greeted by the cutest puppy on earth! I revel in unconditional love from family and friends. I enjoy overall good health (despite the lack of care and sometimes deliberate sabotage to my metal and physical well being). With all that going for me, who could or should ask for more? I realized when Romeo kissed me as he left for work this morning just how lucky I really am and had an epiphany, which manifested itself in creating this blog. Bearing in mind all the good things life has to offer (and I will in my new found positive outlook) I am heading into the day with a good attitude and a plan.

My friend and fellow crafter, Amber, covers every other weekend for me at The Pink House. Check out the website and keep an eye out for more posts on this huge part of my life. http://www.charlestonscrapbooking.com/ Memo is teaching a class on Saturday, at great sacrifice with her current life situation. The store will be in good hands and I will spend the weekend with Ramon, starting at 6pm today. He thanked goodness it was Friday this morning because he has a Mon-Fri job. I am going to work on what has to be done first in order to ensure the success of the store until closing time. I have several huge challenges that shall be overcome. My awesome psychologist has always reinforced that I can accomplish much more with a clear mind, free of the anxiety which can keep the solutions hidden in the fog. Today those demons be gone!

This is my first personal blog, so I am sure it is not the norm. Nothing I do ever is. Eye am what Eye am. Strong enough to leap tall buildings with a single bound! Enough story boarding, let's kill something! 3 cartoon references should get me off the couch and on my way.