Why I'm So Fortunate

Chrissie and Jake

Dad, Me and Mom - a tribute to Chris on what would have been his 54th birthday.

Me, Joe and Jake overlooking Hollywood Bowl on a clear day in L.A.

Here is just a short list of why I am so fortunate in life - My Family! I wanted to include my sister Leslie, my nephew Garrett and my niece Heather and her boyfriend Todd, but I didn't have any pictures of them separately or together. Give me time, I'll get them when they least expect it!

David, Torrie and Abby Grace

My life is so full, I feel like my life is going full speed ahead everyday. I guess that's a good thing.

Three more days until Christmas! Yep! Life is going fast alright. This year we have all finally agreed to not exchange gifts and just watch Abby open her gifts from Santa - most of us will be together (Heather will be in Santa Cruz) to eat, drink and play games, visit, talk and laugh together. We are all very excited. Torrie and David have a new camera so I know we'll get plenty of new photos.

I'm also very excited to have heard from a voice from the past - my good friend, Sherry (Bartz) Venuti! Thank goodness for the fact that my mother is so sweet to stay in touch with various people through the years - Mom! You're good at that. Thank you for leading Sherry toward my email and hopefully this blog. I posted all these photos for you, Sherry, so you can see what I've been doing since the last time I saw you......maybe 15 years ago? Wow! Don't even get me going about how quickly time flies.

While getting ready for Christmas (mostly on the weekends and after work during the week), we've been doing everything possible to get rid of the ants we've had since Thanksgiving!!! Go away ants - really! Joe found something called Torro and I'm so happy to report that they are going to be gone soon - it's the little things in life.....as boring as I am, I just had to share that the damn ants will be gone by Christmas, I just know it. AND, of course, our washing machine bit the dust two days ago. So....Joe and I said "Merry Christmas" to each other by purchasing a new washer and dryer (front loading/no - no steam or pedestals) - Yay! Chrissie will get home for Christmas and have clean sheets and towels - nothing but the best at this Bed and Breakfast! Oh, I have to laugh, I just noticed that the top half of our gorgeous Christmas tree no longer has lights lit - I think the ants......oh, never mind.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE - STAY WARM
AND HUG LOTS!

Sad Day on Huff Way

I had yesterday off from work and one of the 3 things I wanted to accomplish for the day was to pack up my beads, beading tools and work tables I have used to make my beaded jewelry. I did accomplish that task and it took me just about 4 hours since I wanted everything packed up in a very organized fashion.

Anyone who knows me well enough knows that my beading obsession all started about 10 years ago when I took up beading as a hobbie during a sad time in my life. I will forever be thankful to my beautiful friend Chris Sparks for introducing me to the world of beading! My beads got me through the most stressful and emotional plight in my life up to about 2 1/2 years ago. I honostly felt like I was saying good bye to a member of my family! 2 1/2 years ago is when we lost my brother, Chris, and ever since then, after so many attempts at sitting down to create a new design, I have realized it was time to give the "bead fettish" a rest. After thinking about the huge space I created in the room I had them set up in and how even though my beads are all so beautiful and special, my emotion wasn't brought up because of the fact that they were my sanity during a hard time in my life, but that in packing them up, I was closing the door on a lot of pain and sadness. I feel so good that I made the decision to make room for more "real life", like guests who will stay in that room.

Now I will continue on today and, together with Joe, go out and find a Christmas tree to decorate and enjoy with the rest of our wonderful family.

Ahhhh....oh, and now we have ants in the kitchen to tolerate until they decide to disappear. "The only good thing about ants is that they eventually go away and they don't leave a bunch of crap behind" - Joe Colgan. Life goes on.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CLAUDIA!

Happy Birthday to my dear cousin Claudia - this is what 59 looks like people! Have a wonderful day - enjoy your family - they all love you so much!

Coggie (spelling is just a guess), Claud, Nana(?), "Sara" - you are awesome and mighty. You're as big as a minute but your presence is huge. You have a great sense of humor, a heart of gold and the energy of a woman in her mid twenties (right Jess?).

I love you tons and hope you have a wonderful day - I'll be giving you a call soon but I just wanted to let everyone know that you are such a shining star and beautiful person. You give "baby boomer" a good name.

Whoa. Going Public

Today I've decided to go public and notify my friends and family that I now have this blog. I've been having a lot of fun putting this together. The technological opportunities we all have at our finger tips are incredible - we just have to be interested enough to grab them.

Most of the songs I've posted on my blog are songs that I have enjoyed for a long time. Some are just newer and brilliant in some way. I love the way they will just start playing as soon as my blog is opened. Have I told you how much I love music?

Enjoy the rest of the Thanksgiving weekend everyone - in just a couple more days it's back to work for me - my latest work project......moving our office to Midtown to the very first and brand new state of the art and totally "green" building in Sacramento. 'Makes me tired everytime I think about the huge undertaking but I'm actually enjoying the challenge.

During these very hard times with our country being at war, our world suffering from economic recession and possibly a depression soon, I am personally so thankful for so much. I pray for our troops in Iraq everyday. I pray and think positive thoughts for President Elect Obama to help us turn our world around.
I wish you all a beautiful and peaceful Thanksgiving hopefully surrounded by the people that mean the most to you - for those of you who have loved ones in Iraq or Afghanistan, my prayers are with you all. You truly are the real heroes.