Pretty In Pink & Long Week

So first off it was a long week for me. Work was different. Our company announced an acquisition, which I think is a great move. Hopefully one that will lead us to go IPO next year. At least I can hope right, but who knows. I enjoy working for the company and that is what matters to me. if I am going to spend 40 hours week at a place I need to enjoy it and I do.

This week we have our first annual Wellness fair, so I guess it is seriously time for me to lose some weight instead of continuing to gain it as I have done this year. I mean I can't really be on a Wellness Committee if I don't work on my fitness right? And I want to get into better shape so maybe this is the kick in the but I needed. I do have to admit having foot surgery this year really set me back. After all these months I am still in the recovery stage. I had the surgery in Jan then had to stay off of it for 8 to 12 weeks, still had issues with it after being on it all day at work so I came home and did nothing by the time I was feeling better and ready to work it was the long hot Texas summer. Now that it is almost Fall and cooling off I am going to get off my tuff and start losing weight and getting into shape. I have to! As the song goes I am too young to feel this d%$&M old! LOL.

On another note my company went through a small lay off. It was not fun to say the least. My group lost two great guys and I was very sad to see them go. I will miss them a lot. They kept us all laughing. Then later in the week we lost two more people in our dept who worked on the back dock. That one was a shock for all us but one that was needed. Let's just say they won't be getting a good reference from their manager, my Director after what they pulled. I like to think what goes around comes around and sometimes nice people do really stupid stuff. I am hoping my job will be easier now and maybe we won't have some of the issues we have had for years once we get some new people hired. I have a strong feeling more changes are coming. It's just a hunch.

This is a picture of a pretty pink rose I picked from my garden. I planted this rose bush last summer and this is the first bloom on it of this size and I love it! And the smell! Ahhh. It is an heirloom rose bush and I bought it for it large fragrant repeat blooms. The red roses in the pic are also from my garden.

End of Summer & Silver Bella Swap - sneek peak

The End of Summer.

My sign of the end of a long hot dry Texas summer, a fresh picked watermelon from my garden! Yes, my garden! I picked it today and boy is it good. I never would have thought just tossing some wet seeds into the flower garden in late Spring would result in 3 of these babies this summer especially after the long hot dry summer we had this year. This one weighed between 5 and 10 pounds. I just let the plant grow and would every so often look only to be disappointed by seeing so many brown shriveled baby melons on my plant. Then one day I walk around to the back of this small garden and it would grow into something I could pick and eat with e luck I had been having in the garden. Of course I have no idea when to actually pick a watermelon, but when I noticed the vine turning brown around this baby I knew I had to pick it and take a chance. See how pink it is? Just perfect and sweet. I have one more to watch over the next few weeks and then it will really be the end of summer around here.

So I have started working on one of my Silver Bella swaps. I can't believe I signed up for 6! Geez! What was I thinking. Oh well some are one on one swaps so that makes it easy. I just have to start finding and gathering items for those swaps.

Below is the beginning of my Twinchie. I have never worked in this size before so I knew I needed an early start and a few test runs. What do you think so far? Do I keep the silver at the top or change it out to a Dresden silver border, or no silver at all? hmmm??? I just adore this little girl. I found her on an old Christmas postcard and I knew I had to use her on this swap. The hat was originally a dunce's cap, yes I know why would a cute little doll like her be wearing a dunce's cap on a vintage Christmas postcard? Who knows, but I sure do like her.

Hurricane Ike

My heart just break for everyone that was in the path of IKE. I know I was concerned since most of my mom's family was in the path. I have an Aunt and Uncle in Houston, who are ok I am told. I am not sure if they are out of electricty of not but they are safe. My Aunt, Uncle and cousins in Beaumont rode Ike out in their home after boarding up. They are safe but without electricty. They left for Gustav but got the word to evacuate to late to get out before Ike. They didn't want to be stuck on the highway last night like what happened to them for Rita.
My family is southwerstern Louisiana is ok, but we know one cousin's house flooded. She lost nearly everything in Rita a few years ago, and had just received money from the government so they could raise their home to not have to go through a flood again, but the money came to late. They have the money now, but will also have to replace everything in their home again. Hopefully the items they placed up high survived but right now they can't get back to their home until the water supbsides.

We are still waiting to hear from a cousin and her family who lives in Jennings, Louisiana. I pray they are safe first and foremost.

This was a horible event to happen to our states. My heart breaks for all of those affected by Ike and its aftermath.

This Little Guy is 5

I can't believe he is 5 already! My nephew Tristan that is and I just adore him. I may be a bit biased but I do think he is the most handsome little boy ever, but sadly he has entered that stage where he doesn't give kisses anymore. sigh.... He started turning his head and giving me his cheek to kiss this summer. It about broke my heart. What happened to that little boy who wouldn't let me leave the house without a hug and a Kiss? I can give one, but min you I won't get one in return. Someone please tell me this will change and he will give them to me again one day?

Below are a few pics from our trip this summer. This one of him riding a horse in Fredricksburg. Gotta love that smile and yes I gave him money so he could ride the horse.

This is one I took of him standing on top of the Enchanted Rock in the Hill Country of Texas. He already looks like a big boy.

This picture makes me laugh. He is so obsessed with transformers he took this toy with him everywhere and he wanted me to take a picture of his transformer on Enchanted Rock, but I managed to get him in the pic as well. LOL.
This is him with his father's grin at his Birthday party a few weeks ago. He looks so much like my brother here.

And this is one taken last weekend of him playing with his little friend at his sister's Gymnastics meet. They played so good together all morning. I love their little heads together, both blondes, but different shades.

Such a swet boy. Thankfully I will have another little nephew to give me kisses soon.

I've Been Creative

Below are some Necklaces I have made for myself recently. The top one is one I wore to work today. I tend to design my necklaces around the clothes in my closet. This necklace started out as another piece all together that I never wore, but now I really like it. I think I need to add some Silver Black to the center piece to make the flower metal finding not so silver in color. What do you think?

The second necklace was another piece I took apart and redesigned. I wore it yesterday but it still needs some tweaking. The little metal pieces with the cabochons flip over sometimes, so I need to figure out a way to get them to stop doing that. The bottom is made of small special metal findings with black cabochons and black jet beads. About 18 years ago I bought some broken 1920's necklaces dirt cheap at a vintage store and have used them sparingly over the years. Then again who knew it would be the in thing now to buy broken necklaces and redesign them into new pieces.