Monday, July 31, 2006

The Love of My Life

I feel very blessed to have the husband I have and wanted to share that fact. We started dating 9 1/2 years ago and since that first month I knew he was the guy I'd marry. We got married 4 1/2 years ago in what I will always feel was a dream wedding. So much fun, good cheer, and the setting was fantastic. I feel blessed everyday to have met my soulmate. I couldn't have dreamed of a better man to share my life with, faults and all ;). The amount of encouragement, support, and love he gives me everyday is not something alot of people experience apparently. I feel for others sometimes when I see the lack of love in a couple that walks in or walks by me.

Without further ado in my lovey state of mind, here is my hubby:


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Saturday, July 29, 2006

Just Catching Up

My week hasn't been overly exciting but I did make it through the two power days at the convention this week. I was a little disappointed about the lack of innovative products out this year, but there were a couple good finds anyhow. I do love furniture though. I find it to be so beautiful and appealing. I suppose I'm in the right industry with that attitude.

Thursday was uneventful unless you think spending outrageous money on brakes and rotors is fun, ugh. Well, I did do a little shopping too so that was pretty fun. I got a chance to see our local farmer's market. It's tiny. I found a few good things but in all honesty, supermarket produce is just as fresh, yummy, and priced about the same so I don't feel too bad about not having a chance to go to the farmer's market due to my scheduling.

Friday was fantastic. I had lunch with my sister. It's something we both love doing and never get a chance to do because of our schedule conflicts. Then to make a good day great we got dressed up with the hubby and had a great date seeing Pirates of the Caribbean 2 and a yummy Brazilian dinner followed by some strolling and yummy coffee. I wish everyday could be like that, just relaxed fun for the two of us. It's strange to work on the weekend while he's at home, it's not the same.

Monday, July 24, 2006

I'm a Finalist!

OMG I'm so excited. This morning as I was pulling on my shirt getting ready for work I get a phone call from Ashley telling me that I made it to the top 5 in the NutriSystem summer contest. I just about flipped out! I'm blown away. Even more blown away by the amount of support and cheering I've read on the boards. It's incredible to me. I've never won anything in my life, raffles or contests, and I won even if I don't win the grand prize. I have a real shot at winning something I never even thought I'd become a finalist in!

Bear with the nutty woman on cloud 9 LOL. What a great way to start a Monday!

In other news...I have to wake up at 3 am tomorrow to leave for a furniture convention in Vegas. It will entail getting up at 3am to go to LAX, getting to Vegas too early to function properly, having breakfast, then walking miles and miles on all 10 floors of the new building, hitting the temporary tents, hitting the other convention, having dinner, gambling (will I be upright long enough to do some gambling is the question LOL), sleep, get up early and repeat until 5pm then rush to hit the plane back. OMG I'm getting tired just thinking about it. Last time I went (again in the 120 degree desert heat) my feet felt like they were about to fall off they were so sore. The silver lining is I won't be inside our store with it's 90+ degree inside temperature. Is sweating only a loss of water weight? LOL one could hope for more no?

Thursday, July 20, 2006

I don't understand myself sometimes. I got a call from my brother today and I was very brief because I just wasn't in the mood to talk on the phone with him and yet I feel guilty about that. Why I feel that way is a mystery to me, but I do. I just have nothing to say really.

In other news, reading Jan's blog and seeing all her flower pictures really makes me think of how little time I have to appreciate things like that. In all fairness as well, when I have more time I don't seem to take a breather for little things like that. I feel drained, truly drained on all levels. My vacation is really far away too.

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Good Times

As promised, some pics and updates on the great Saturday I had.

This first one is Ann, Myself, and Ashley. We got a quick pic in on the way to our cars after lunch with our friends Lisa and Allie. It was great to meet everyone and we had some lively discussions. As a result, I have now stopped shopping at WalMart because they do suck as a company for our communities. Ah, well, I'll get over it LOL.

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The next one here is from that evening at my best friend Heather's birthday. We were at dinner here in a Chinese place (I won't even get into that meal) with my sister and a few of Heather's friends. We had a lot of fun watching the Piper Downs concert after dinner too and heading for some drinks.

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Monday, July 17, 2006

Dirty Laundry

Ahh, there's nothing like airing dirty laundry on a public blog is there? I'm an angry and disillusioned person today. It actually started last Saturday but I forced it out of my mind because I was out having a good time so there was no point.

At any rate, anyone that follows my blog at all will probably remember I posted a few months ago about my long-lost half-brother finding my family. I searched for him years ago and was pleased to finally be able to get to know him. Anyhow, there are a couple of things about me that I feel the need to state before I get into things: 1) I'm not a trusting person. I do assume the worst about a person and look for ulterior motives before I begin to trust them. This comes from years of experience, not just willy nilly. 2) I am very protective of my family and do not fake emotions or distaste very well.

That being said, here's the story. This started a couple of weeks after we started talking. I felt obligated to call him to not hurt his feelings and try to talk to him but I felt that I wasn't listened to at all. Months later I don't think this guy knows me at all. He started telling me he loves me, his little sister and blah blah blah. I couldn't really say the same back. I don't know this guy, he doesn't know me, how could he possibly know he'd like me as a person let alone love me as a sister? That aside, the way I have seen things from the start is as long as he's not after money or using my family in any way and his intentions are sincerely just about finding the family he never had and has searched for all these years, then we're fine and all things will fall into the corresponding slots in our lives. My aunts (my mother's sisters, not related to him) have met him and become a part of his life without hesitation because they care for my family. About 1 or 2 months ago there was a small inkling that things may not be as pretty as we wished them to be because my aunts had a chance to meet him, his girlfriend, and their child. The impression they got was that the girlfriend had some definite, yet unclear, motives in all of this. They may be mistaken or just a bad first impression right?

My first bad feeling: my aunts showed them pictures of us, our homes, our store, etc. When I heard this I told my husband or sister (or both I can't remember) that now we'll see what happens. To put it in perspective, one of my aunts in particular is well off by Argentine standards and my brother is where the majority fit: living month to month, without immediate need, but without extras. One big difference between them is my aunt is a well-educated woman in a good job with the same company for over 20 years, my brother didn't finish high-school and is on the ignorant side when it comes to manners, behavior, education, etc. So imagine this: my aunt, who knows the kind of sacrifices my family has been through to be where we are, gets impressed with our houses (trust me they are your standard small homes) and everything else; how do you think my brother reacted to the same photos? Yes, that's the same thing I thought.

Fast forward to a month ago, my parents went to Argentina to meet my brother and his family. The first face-to-face in almost 30 years between father and son. It went well actually. My dad met his grandchildren, found his grown son to be okay, not living in poverty, food on the table, a roof over his head. He realized he had issues, but still things went well. To help speed some paperwork needed some money was given to him for that particular process and the rest to be given (to finish paying for the cost) upon completion. My father is jaded like me as well so we're no idiots though we do pretend at times. The money was spent, not on the necessary paperwork as you may imagine, but spent (in case your wondering, my brother hasn't asked for money for this paperwork or pretended it wasn't enough...yet).

So, what happened on Saturday you ask? On Saturday proper, probably not much, except that I became informed of a situation. I won't draw out the entire situation, but in essence, my brother and his family have started seeing my father as their sugar daddy. You see why I assume the worst? He called my mother and when discussing a hearing aid he needs to get due to a disability he assumed, to her face, that my parents would be happy to fork out whatever money it was going to cost. My lovely mother told him to get whatever was within his means to pay for. LOL I love her to pieces. To add insult to injury, I'm also angry that in many ways they have put my aunts out with them helping him for this or that; or if they go have a drink or dinner one aunt of mine in particular ends up footing the bill. I can't stand people using and abusing me, my family, or anyone I care for.

Ah, well, I suppose we'll continue to see what happens from here, but I will admit I'm angry and disillusioned. I expected this sort of behavior, but I really hoped I was wrong.

Friday, July 14, 2006

Tomorrow

I'm really looking forward to tomorrow! It will be a lot of fun to meet some of my new found friends and enjoy a good while together and it's also my best friend's birthday!

Happy Birthday Heather!!! We're going to have a blast and a good celebratory day! hehe

I really hope this weekend goes by slowly, I hate when it just rushes by me. Ugh.

3 cheers to having a day off finally now that our sales person is back ;).

Monday, July 10, 2006

Another day, another week, time just flies right by. Sometimes I feel that it all goes too quickly and other times I can't wait for time to pass.

I feel that I'm going through an identity crisis, sometimes having yet to find out who I am now and other times frustrated that I am not always who I want to be. This stirs up quite an inner conflict. I'm afraid and relieved, sometimes simultaneously. At the same time I fight myself. I "want" to do and be one way, yet I realize that I purposely (God knows why) fight against it and "do" the opposite. I'm tired yet I muster the energy to workout and force myself to do so despite being tired.

I don't worry about other's impression of me beyond myself, my husband and family, it's trivial to me. What does worry me is how hard I am on myself and yet lenient in some ways at the same time. It's more of a destructive behavior that has an emotional impact and alters my mood versus being a conscious behavior where I'm cutting myself some slack. I worry that my husband thinks I've lost my mind a bit and I'm constantly worried that I'm not present enough for him to join him in games and other things because I'm working out to perfect my body thinking it will give me what exactly? What will I truly gain in the end? I'm really struggling right now. I don't feel like I'll be fine if I stop being my own sergeant. I wonder if I ever will be.

There is, of course, the flipside which is that I am bettering my health and taking out 1 hour a day to improve my well-being is not a bad thing. The bad thing is that it's not an activity we're sharing together, topped off by the limited hours I have on any given day. I work too much, but that's how it has to be. You can see what a mental yo-yo I play with every day.

Friday, July 07, 2006

Smiling

Sometimes people can really make you smile. Now the same action from different people incites different reactions, but there's this one special lady that comes in to our store every year or so to buy something (she's your quintessential L.A. woman complete with the cutest dog and all) that gets a positive reaction from me. Anyhow, she hasn't seen me in over a year and she was blown away, actually she thought I was a sister of mine or something but I get that a lot. It's mainly how expressive and truly sweet this woman is that makes me smile so much. She brightened my day and didn't assume I had surgery to get where I am, a definite plus in my book. Actually, she thought I didn't have surgery because of how firm my face is she tells me. At any rate, she did make me feel good and her mannerisms and gushing towards me felt very sincere and she is appreciated today ;).

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Silence is Golden?

Well, it's definitely nice sometimes! I'm feeling a bit drained and tired today, no clue why though. I want to sleep and sleep. I'm up and down on my own personal rollercoaster as I've mentioned before I'm sure, but it's about to stop. I will not play the self-loathing or self-pity game anymore. I'm back on track because it is a decision to do so and I've made the choice. I will enjoy my family and company and beat those personal demons back into nothingness. I'll just put in my workout and go at it tonight and then straight to bed :).

I really need a day or two with myself alone as company and a good book. Total silence and reflection. I haven't done that in a very long time and I crave it.

I hope everyone had a great and successful 4th of July. Where has the year gone?