=blessings=

When everything is going wrong, there's always that one thing that breaks the streak....a blessing. I had my blessing today after a few days of disappointments...

As you all know, I spent the weekend in California. It was a good weekend overall. A few family disputes, some hives, puke and cranky kids, but the pool, sun and starbucks kept us alive. My weekend started off with an arguement with my dad. It was a...not so good start to an okay weekend. My grandma's wedding reception was good but incredibly HOT! Imagine, 90 people in 100 degree weather under a tent...yeah, that's right, a tent. Who would rent a tent in that hot of weather in a backyard full of shade already? My family...that's who. It was hotter than hades out there. The tent just kept all of the hot muggy grossness inside of it. It was icky. About 20 minutes into the reception, Hailey takes a pretty nasty spill, killing her knees, poor thing. That left me with a cranky almost 2 year old the rest of the day. After the reception, it was off to the pool. The pool was our saving grace all weekend. :o) The next morning was the morning before the BBQ in honor of my grandpa. That was the morning that was filled with hives and puke. It was a whirlwind of events. My sister went to starbucks and about 10 minutes after she gets back, we realize that the little one, Maddox who is 8 months, has hives all over his body...and they were rapidly spreading. Not just any hives, but big welts. My sister in-law headed off to the emergency room with him. About 5 minutes after that, Hailey pukes all over my brother's couch pillow...and Michael. That leads to both Michael and I not feeling well, neither of us can really handle puke. Hailey cries for about 15 minutes and then is up running around playing just like nothing happened....while mommy is laying down upstairs still feeling gross. Lol. The baby comes back...fine...and full of benedryl. :o) My grandpa's BBQ, well, it was what it was. Tears, laughter and food.

Now here comes the big event. The night we left, we lost our computer and our portable DVD player....within a matter of hours. Michael had carried our computer out to the car and sat it on top of the car to open the door.....it was forgotten. We drove off and it flew off. He realized that he forgot it there about 15 minutes into our journey home. We back tracked and searched for over an hour. We were unable to find it. The computer I saved up for, paid cash for and contained ALL of the pictures I have ever taken of Hailey is gone. Ugh. On one of our stops, rest area or gas station, our portable DVD player must have fallen out. No idea where it ended up.

Where is the blessing in all of this? Well, I had just about given up on my computer when someone answered Michael's Lost and Found add on Craigslist. A fellow UPS employee in Cali. He found it on the 65, on the side of the road. It's only a tiny bit scratched on the top but everything else is fine! How amazing is that? It's now in my brother's hands and will be shipped to us soon. :o)

Well, that was just the great ending to my somewhat crappy weekend. Hope all is well....

=CALI=

I love California. I miss it. The weather...the sun, the hotness, the pool. Love it.

I'm sitting here waiting for the shower to be free, then it's off to get my coffee for the day. Yum. My grandma's reception is at 2 today. I'm excited to see everyone....except my dad. Ugh. We'll see how that goes. Already had a fight with him yesterday. The difference between then and now? I stand up for myself...he's so dumb. Lol. So, I'm sure there will be a post later this weekend about the events happening here with my big Italian family! :o)

But for now....it's hot, gorgeous and FABULOUS here in Cali.

=fabulous=

Things are going great....FABULOUS! Michael and I are doing really well, Hailey is getting SO big, the sun has been out. Who could ask for more.

Wedding season....my sister and I have an event planning business, which I think I've told you about before. Anyways, things are picking up. We did an 80th birthday party last month and we have four weddings just in August and September alone. One in December as well. Things are picking up and I'm loving it. One is in Shelton (about 30-40 minutes away), two are out in Steamboat Island (about 20 minutes away) and another one is in Westport (an hour and half away). All are going to be absolutely gorgeous. They all have land, great views and beautiful homes. Three of them are on the water. The first one is only three weeks away! EEK! There's still so much to be done, but I'm getting so excited. Long days are ahead. We have booked two of them within the last week. How crazy is that? Love it. Who knows how many more we will get.

My sister, bro in law, Michael, Hailey and I are all leaving to drive down to Sacramento on Thursday night. We are going for my grandma's wedding reception and my grandpa's BBQ and baseball game. My grandma got married a couple months ago at the court house, so the reception for her is on Saturday. And as you all know, my grandpa passed away a month and half ago or so. He was sent back to Buffalo, where his family is buried and so we are having a BBQ and watching an A's baseball game in his honor. His two favorite things....baseball and hamburgers. It's going to be a good, but hard weekend.

Last week, the terrible twos started with Hailey. Ugh. She's throwing tantrums and screaming, whining, crying all the time. I'm going to go nuts....it's only just beginning. When I put her down for bed, I sit down on the couch and don't know whether to laugh or to cry about it. Lol. If I stop posting, then you know I've been admitted. :o) She's cute though. Love her to death...and she's so incredibly smart. It's unbelievable how smart she is. Not even two (September 9th) and she already drinks from a regular cup, knows tons of sign language and talks in full sentences...oh, and potties in the big girl potty. She's amazing.

Like I promised, I have some new photos of Hailey....here they are! By the way, the one of her in her jacket, it was masively hot out....like 90's. Lol...

=holiday weekend=

So, it's been a boring holiday weekend so far. Michael has had to all of it...and again tomorrow. Normally he has Sunday's off, but not for this weekend. I'm slowing going insane. Yesterday was the 4th, by the way...Happy 4th! Anyways, it was boring. I came over to my sisters house and hung out with them and my mom all day....until Michael got off at 9pm. Then, today I got up and cleaned all day...and now I'm back at my sister's house...chillin, waiting for Michael to get off...yet again. I'm bored...and slightly depressed. Normally, I'd be without him, but it's even worse not having him around on a holiday weekend as well as a Sunday, which we usually have off together. Our only day of the week we have to see eachother and he's working...again. I'm tired of his jobs, but what can I do?

On a side note, Hailey is cracking me up this weekend. I can't believe how big she's getting. She is talking in full sentences and her pronunciation is amazing! She's crazy...and her sense humor is awesome. She is so much fun and I've really enjoyed my time off with her. I'm glad I get three days and not just two. I've taken more pictures, but I can't find my downloader thingy. Soon, very soon you'll get new pictures...as soon as I locate it.

Well, I'm off to visit and possibly eat some food.

=snapple salad=

Once again, I've discovered something fabulous! It's called Snapple Salad. A coworker's birthday is today. When we have birthdays, someone is assigned to it to bring in the dessert and provide the card. Today's desert was Snapple Salad. Most people, when they hear the name, think it sounds quite odd. But it's DELICIOUS and so simple! All you do is cut up a few apples, whichever you prefer, king size snickers bars (number depending on the size of salad you choose to make) and mix them together with cool whip. This may sound strange...but try it! It's a must have.

Another fabulous find...ENJOY!

=sleep=

Lately, I've been sleeping horribly. I'm always exhausted at work but by the time I get home, I'm wide awake. I'm exhausted all the time, but I can't seem to go to bed any earlier than 11. When I do finally fall asleep, I sleep like crud. I wake up all every time I move. Each morning, my alarm starts going off around 6:15. I have to be at work by 8. To do so, I have to shower and get ready, plus wake Hailey up (which can take a few minutes, my little sleepy head) and get her ready, grab all of my 2 million things I take to the car and go. Well, my alarm STARTS going off around 6:15...and I should be out of bed by 6:45. I like the snooze button. For some reason, I can't get out of bed until 7:15...some times even as late as 7:30. I can't bring myself to do it. I'm pushing it out the door. Some how, I still manage to walk into the door at work, sit my stuff down and watch the clock on my desk turn to 8. Not sure how I do it...but I do. Some mornings, I bring my make up to work. Sad isn't it. I pretty much rely on caffine to get me through the day. Does anyone have any ideas of what I can do to stop this crazy sleeping pattern...besides drinking hot tea. That's not working....lol.

=pandora=

I have an addiction. A few months back, my neighbor told me about Pandora. As she told me about it, I thought, wow, now that's a great idea. I never imagined that it would become a necessity during my days at work...and some times at home. I can't go a day without it. It breaks the monotony of sitting at my desk doing tedious paperwork. It breaks the silence that often overcomes my department. It clears my head from all of the junk that I think about during the day. I spend the day in my little corner, singing in my head, sometimes out loud, the fabulous songs that the stations choose to play just for me! Being the hoarder that I am, I don't like to share my things. But this...this is too good not to share...and it's been long enough, keeping it to myself, so....www.pandora.com is a free website that you can create your own radio station(s). All you do is type in your favorite artist or song and it creates an entire station based around the style. Not only that! You can give the songs a "thumbs up" or a "thumbs down" so they know to keep playing that song or not. It's awesome! ....and addicting! My favorite stations are:

Jack Johnson
Ingrid Michaelson
Paula Abdul (yes...I know)
New Kids on the Block (once again, I know)

All time favorite station is....(drum roll please)...

Michael Jackson! Hahaha...I secretly love Michael Jackson and...Prince aka Artist Formally known as Prince aka (symbol) aka Prince (shhh).

So, now that I've shared this wonderful website with all of you...happy creating and ENJOY!