Happy Anniversary to my sweet hubby!

Today I want to wish my sweet, hunky, hubby a Happy Anniversary. We are celebrating our 7th anniversary, our 16th year together. I LOVE you babe!

On MY Mind 8/1/2010

I love my hubby and adore spending time with him =)

Today I am trying out a new blog post entitled On MY mind... (I also considered naming it Todays Thoughts) I just want to say here that these are my thoughts and my thoughts only. I will probably post these every once in a while with some sort of picture that will be non-related. You can choose to read them or not, it doesn't really matter to me. I also considered beginning a new blog for these posts and may end up doing that, we will see! LOL!

My mom asked me when she was here visiting a couple weeks ago if I kept a journal. I told her ya, my blog... ha!

It will be in a list format I think, because I am a list maker...

So here we go... in no particular order by the way! LOL!

On MY mind this week:

1. Family-love them ALL and feel that life is too short to not appreciate every day you have with each and every one of them. You may not agree with everything they do, or say or the way they think, but you should at least be able to find some good quality in each and every one of them, they are family.

2. Friends-love them ALL too. I have a friend that shot himself last week. It has been a very emotional week for me. I had not been in contact with him for a few years, and I feel bad about that. Could I have helped him in some way? How could he have done this? He has a 6 year old son... makes me so sad to think about. On another note so glad for the friends I was able to spend time with last week. I was able to go to a potluck on Monday, have lunch in Oak Harbor on Thursday, and make jam Saturday with some of my favorite people.

3. Writing- when the hubby and I were at the airport in Boston a few years ago we came up with a story for a children's book series. It would be fun to write!

4. Business- Massage Envy, My Favorite Things? Interior Design, Bed and Breakfast, Professional Organizer or Party Planning? I just don't know!

5. Home- Add on? Sell, buy something else? New floor coverings! New kitchen counter tops! New guest bath! Exterior Paint. Almost done with all the design decisions. Finish interior painting. Garage almost cleaned out and organized.

6. Crafting-cards, cards, cards, gifts, Christmas! I always have the best intentions when it comes to sending a card to people I am thinking about, but it seems like I just can't stockpile the cards fast enough, and when you have a whole craft studio it makes it hard to buy a card to send from the store. I do try to make a list of the cards I need for the next month for Birthdays and make those my priority.

7. Travel- BFF (Kari) and I are headed on a (hopefully will turn into an annual) girls trip in September. So excited for this. Just finished the book Eat, Pray Love enjoyed the book, makes me want to go back to Italy. I have a friend who had invited me to go with her to India where her husbands family is from. She is going in December, I would love to take her up on the offer! After I finished the book I was on a mission to learn everything I could about Bali! May decide to plan a trip there someday, when the dust settles from the book and movie! LOL! Planning a trip for the hubby and I in October to Aruba. Greek Isles will be our destination in 2013, our 10 year wedding anniversary to renew our vows!

8. Books- since I just mentioned the book I just finished up above I will mention another book I finished in July Breakfast at Sally's it was an amazing book! I highly recommend it!!!

9. Diet and exercise- ugh! I need to make it a priority to take a walk everyday, Koko loves it, I love it when I am there. The lake is beautiful, so is Taylor Dock. Not fun to walk alone though. Although I did very poorly the last couple months not eating sugar and white flour, I have done great this week and will continue, wish it was as easy to exercise as it is to give up sugar and white flour! LOL!

10. Gardening- bought some pots and some plants to put on each side of the garage, will plant them when I pick up some soil. Still looking for an arbor for the clematis to climb. Three beds weeded, still working on the biggest bed in the back yard. I am teaching Koko to not chase the bunnies, it's a slow process!

Okay, that's it for this go around, although I could go on for much longer! LOL! My mind is very full these days! How about yours? Does you mind jump here and there too?

The beginning of a week of goodbyes

I am back from a long weekend in Billings. It was great to see all the kids and my sweet hubby! Above is Genna, her boyfriend Justin, Scott, Me, Adam and Jestin. We stopped on our way to the memorial service at a park that was named after and dedicated to Scott's grandfather, Barkemeyer Park. I figured it was the perfect place for a few family photos.

I thought it only fitting to snap a picture of Jestin and Scott in front of the sign!

So begins my week of goodbyes... goodbye to my father-in-law Gary, we miss you.

Goodbye to my job of the last 2 years, I will miss the friendships of the people I worked with.

Goodbye to my grandmother. She had a massive heart attack last week, she spent a few days in the hospital, was then moved to a nursing home. She probably will not make it for me to see her when I travel to California again this weekend. I am okay with that, my last visit with her while very stressful was also comforting. She told me she was ready and at the time I thought it would be years before her wish to join her husband and mother would be granted. I thought she would have to leave her home that she loved so much, so that she could be cared for properly. Little did I know that god had a better plan in mind. Since the heart attack my brother and sister have had the opportunity to fly over to spend their last moments with her. She is tired, she is ready to go, but she's waiting... my Uncle has been in Guatemala, he arrives Wednesday, then I think she will join her sweet hubby she hasn't seen in so long.

On a personal note...

The time has come for our family to head to Billings Montana to say goodbye to Scott's dad Gary. Gary passed away last year but it was decided everyone would gather at this time to lay his remains in there final resting place. It will be wonderful to have so many family members in one place, but so sad Gary will not be there in person to enjoy having all his kids and grandkids in one spot. We miss you Gary and think of you often with warmth and love.

Miami, here he comes!

Sent the hubby off this morning to Miami! I will see him in Billings at the end of next week for his fathers memorial service. He is scheduled to be in Miami until a few days before we leave for Mexico at the end of June! It was kind of strange this morning at 3:40 am telling him goodbye and realizing he won't return back to Bellingham until almost July! Summer time!

I am giving my notice at work this week, I will work until May 21 then will head down to spend some time with Genna and Justin and then my Grandma and dad before heading to Miami for a couple weeks before we go to Mexico! Hoping my mom will come stay with Koko while we are in Mexico, then stay a couple weeks after so we can play! It will be so nice to have the summer to accomplish all the projects rolling around in my head! Crafting, gardening, organizing, painting, decorating, visiting friends and family, camping... this list goes on and on!

Thanks for stopping by!

Grandmas House

Wow! It's been a while since I posted! I had to make an unexpected trip to my Grandmas house. Koko and I drove for 15 hours to get there in one day! It was a LONG day! We spent a week there with her, then drove over the hill to see Genna and Justin. Above is a pic of Grandmas house, sorry it is crooked! Ha!
This is the back porch... I really wanted to clean it up and plant some flowers, ran out of time this trip. Well, and the rain didn't help. I am planning another one at the end of the month. (Yes, I am finally quitting my job! WooHoo!)
This is another little seating area in the back yard, the guy who does the yard work, does such a great job! Her yard is HUGE!
I took my camera outside one morning and took some pictures of the flowers... I couldn't resist!
This is the deck, I also really wanted to clean this area up and plant flowers and put the umbrella up...
More flowers! So pretty!
Forget me nots... one of my favorites. I am going to try to plant some here in Bellingham.
Camellias! I did plant one of these here at the Farnes Casa, but in red! I picked a HUGE bouquet of the camellias and forget me nots for the dining room table, gorgeous!

Grandmas front porch, we spent a couple days out here talking and watching the traffic go by! When I go back I will add flowers here too!

Thanks for stopping by!

Saying goodbye to a loved one.....

Saying goodbye to a loved one is never an easy thing to do. This past week my sweet hubby had to do just that. His father passed away Thursday morning in Billings Montana. We are so glad we made it in time for him to know we were there. His three sons were there, and one daughter. (The other daughter had the opportunity to spend the week prior with him.) The three boys had not spent time together for a few years, it was nice for them to see one another again. It is a privilege to be a part of this family, they handled every last detail with such respect for each others feelings and wishes.

Events like this open doors for thoughts and conversations that you usually don't like to think about or discuss..... we had lots of time the last couple days to reflect, plane time and car time, to discuss our wishes and concerns. We realized we want to make things easy when the time comes. So we will be writing things down the next few months to be a little more prepared.

We love and miss you Gary....

I have purposely left out names, I did not get permission from them to post their names on my blog.