Posts

Posted on

This is right up my alley!!

I was running around the internet this morning when I happened upon a Goodwill party over at Thrifty Decor Chick. I have never done a carnival before, so I am not sure I am doing this right, but I’ll give it the ‘ol college try!

Those of you who know me well, know I love to shop. I am an equal opportunity shopper. I love big box store, little shops, flea markets, second hand shops, and antique stores! Today I want to share with you what I think is the best bargain I have ever found at a second hand store and the story behind it.

I was feeling inspired by all the dollar store decor ideas I was reading on the web. Sometimes when you get inspired, you just have to get up and go do something about it that very minute. Such was the case about a month ago when after reading about Dollar Store birds, I made a “wish” list of things I wanted to find either at the Dollar Store or thrift stores and headed out in search of cheap treasure! I didn’t have any luck at our local Dollar Tree where I like to do a “little” shopping here and there ( you know I am totally lying right?) so I headed over to a local Thrift Shop that happened to be the very same place I found two crystal lamps for $2.48 each that have graced my nightstands for about 7 years.

While I was walking around looking for any kind of single bird to spray paint and add to my home decor, I spied a lovely blue wing back chair. I walked back and forth trying to get a good look at it. My only obstacle was not the price or condition, but a woman sitting in it talking on her cell phone! I didn’t want to be rude and ask her to “move it lady, I want to look at that chair!”, so I tried to act casual. You know, glancing back and forth, lingering around it to get a feel for the best time to approach said bargain. Instead I probably looked like I was stalking her. Creepy image I know.

During one pass by, I noticed the price tag on the chair. It said, “1818”.  I wasn’t sure what that meant, but after using logic and questioning one of the workers there, she confirmed my suspicion that indeed the chair was $18.18!  I felt a flood of adrenalin.  I’m sure I’m not the only shopper who gets that heart thumping feeling when she comes upon a truly awesome deal? I got brave and asked the lady if she was buying the chair. She said she wasn’t and got up so I could look at it. I didn’t need to pour over it to know that it was in excellent condition with no stains or rips. It was a solid chair with no issues. So what did I do?

I bought it of course!! I immediately said, “I’LL TAKE IT”  and started pushing it down the aisle toward the register. I knew it was time to high tail it out of there before someone figures out what a find I had!

I paid for it and carried it out to the parking lot. I opened the car door and wham! I couldn’t get it in my car. I suspected I might have a teensy problem with getting it to fit. I was determined though to shove that sucker in there if it was the last thing I did!

No success except for a little bead of sweat on my brow.

A mini-van pulled up behind my car. A lady rolled her window down and offered to help me. She offered to take my chair home for me! A stranger. Someone who I had never seen before in my life. An angel!  I was taken aback.  I didn’t know what to think. She explained that she was on her way home and saw me struggling to get the chair in my car. She said, “I just wanted to do something nice for you and I hope someday when I am trying to shove a chair in my car, a stranger will offer to help me out too!”
She  hoped I would accept her offer. I hesitated at first and offered to call my husband with our mini-van to come and rescue me. She promised she wasn’t a weirdo who steals chairs from women in thrift store parking lots and gave me her name and cell phone number. I kind of had no choice but to call Jon and wait for him after he picked the boys up from school, so I accepted her help.  I did tell her that if she tried to make off with my chair, she wouldn’t get very far with it because I have the cushion. Teehee.

She made it to my house minutes after I did and carried to to the curb for me. I was super appreciative for the kindness of strangers and their willingness to enable my thifting habit. It was a great shopping day! Yay for the kindness of strangers!

So…after all that, do you still want to see the chair??!! If I were you, I would be thinking by this point in the long winded story, it should be gold encrusted and studded with jewels. Nope, just a blue 18 dollar wing back.

But it’s mine!

wingback-chair

And that’s my Goodwill Party contribution! I have more…you know I do! But I will have to take pictures. Until then, Happy “Goodwill” hunting! *snort*

Posted on

Dear Flabby,

See I have this friend.

She is a great person. She listens patiently, has a special way of asking how you are and really meaning it (which sometimes that makes me burst into tears), and always ALWAYS comments on my blog posts.

But I’ve let her down.

How do I say I’m sorry to the one person who has never let my blog down? Who is always there to cheer me on when I am down, who calls me to see how I am doing when I don’t keep in touch, and who sets such a real life Godly example of how to be a woman and Mom?

Do I send a card? Flowers? Shoes or jewelry?? Please help!

Signed,
Blog Blunder Betty

Dear Blunder,

You really can’t aplogize enough for the hurt and pain you have caused your friend. If you were really her friend, you would have sent a fruit basket with two plane tickets to Aruba or a backpacking trip thru the Ozark Mountains or something! You should be ashamed of yourself. You call yourself a blogger. You call yourself a friend!

Go pack your blogging bag and get the heck outta here. Go on!  Shoooo…

Signed,
Flabby

Dear Flabby,

That was really mean. I am a good friend. I am a better friend than I am blogger, I’ll grant you that, but really? Pack my blog bag? What kind of advice columnist are you? I know what I’ll do. Thanks for nothing!

Signed,
Blogger Flogged Betty

Dear Debbi,

I’m sorry for not including you in my last blog post. It was wrong. You read my blog also. Also, you comment regularly and I always look forward to what you have to say. Let’s make each other a deal: You blog more and I will too? What do you say?

Love ya,

Angie (aka Blog Blunder Betty- I couldn’t think of anything that ryhmed with Angie)

Posted on

NO I am not DEAD.

I am sorry I have been such a slacker for so long.

I had no idea that anyone was checking back every day waiting with baited breath, on the edge of their seats to hear the latest on how slow my big toenail is growing back or that my hair is thinning. Who knew?! I didn’t!

Let’s just say Sweetbippy has been on hiatus like the prime time shows and movies stars. Except, I’m not prime time or a movie star, so I have no excuse really, other than I think the world would find my daily goings on to be boring. At least that is how I was feeling when I would sit down and try to write something on this thing I call a blog.

I really have tried to sit down at least 10 times and squeeze out some sort of update or funny story. I guess it shouldn’t matter how boring I think it is to tell you about the 3 new pairs of cute flip flops I got or about the new car we just bought and why we needed one. Most of the people who read SB already know why these things happened (although they would all argue they will never know WHY I buy so many pairs of shoes/flip flops). I was wrong. You do care about my boring life. I’m sorry (Natalie, Leslie, Mom, Dad, and that lady over there in the corner who reads my blog, but never comments) for leaving you out of my life and thoughts. From now on, I will let it all hang out. Be open, be honest, and most of all be boring.

Love,
Angie the queen of shoes and procrastination

Posted on

You say ‘tore-tea-yah’ I say, ‘Dern good!’

wfmwbannerKRISTEN
**Edited for WFMW**
This is a great way to keep the kitchen cool on those hot summer days!

Have you seen that cooking show on Discovery Health called Just Cook This with Sam the cooking guy? I love the way he just cooks like I would in the kitchen except without the thick eyebrows and black rimmed glasses. When I was flipping through the channels one day, I stopped on him cooking a 5 min. tortilla soup. He timed himself without film editing to see if he could make a simple soup in 5 min. or less. He did it with a good 45 seconds to spare. I couldn’t believe how simple it was to put together. Now some of the ingredients you have to have prepared and on hand like shredded chicken and flour tortillas to crisp up as a garnish on top.  But the rest was a no brainer.

I got a little hungry around 9pm and decided I didn’t want another sandwich as a late supper. God forbid I would ever, EVER eat a bowl of cereal for dinner. I don’t even like cereal for breakfast let alone dinner. I happened to have some rotisserie chicken leftover in the fridge from earlier in the week because I knew that picking one up at the store on Wednesday would help stave off the last minute hungries. I was right! I got the bright idea to make myself some Tortilla Soup ala Sam the Cooking Guy. Here is what I came up with…

1/2 a jar of Pace Picante Organic Mild Salsa
about 1/4 of canned black beans
1 tsp. minced garlic – to taste
Mexican pinto bean seasoning ( I got this at WalMart a while ago to make my own re-fried beans) to taste; a couple of shakes
2 cups water with chicken bullion or 2 cups chicken broth. ( I used what I had on hand and used enough bullion to flavor the water, but not too salty)
2 small handfuls of cubed rotisserie chicken, about 1/2 cup or more if you like a lot of chicken.
shredded cheese
tortilla chips (didn’t feel like crisping one up in a pan, so I crushed some up and put it in my bowl)

In a small saucepan, put salsa, broth, beans, garlic, and seasoning in together. Heat to simmer. Add chicken and turn heat off.
In bowl or large mug add cheese and chips and ladle in soup. Enjoy!

It’s that simple! I didn’t have any sour cream or avacado, but those would be yummy in it too! I was surprised at how flavorful it was and dare I say, better than some restraunts I’ve been to recently! And I used what I already had on hand. I think it would be just was good with a pico de gallo or any other type of your favoritie jarred salsa.

This would be a great recipe to throw together for an improptu dinner party or pot-luck. You could make the broth and have each person put in the toppings of their choice.

Obviously you can adjust the recipe to feed more people. It’s very versatile.

Sadly I did not take a picture of my soup. But believe me, it was delish! Maybe I’ll venture into food blogging like Pioneer Woman and do a step by step tutorial. Nah.. I’ll leave that to her, she’s waaay better at it than me anyway!

Try it some time…let me know what you think!

Posted on

For all you do. This post’s for you.

So my Sister thinks I owe her a blog post. *sigh* OK…she’s right. I do owe a blog post.

It’s been 2 weeks since my last post. Forgive me internet for I have sinned. I’ve ignored you. I’ve had hateful thoughts about you. I read other blogs and not left comments. I’ve been cheating on you with my iPhone. Please forgive me. I beg you. I’ll do 3 memes and a IQ survey as penance. Amen.

In the fashion of Amalah, I would like to do some updating for y’all, although I’m thinking I’m a lot wordier than she it. Not by much.
I quit my job. I haven’t mentioned it here, because most of my readers know about my Dad’s cancer already. 2 weeks ago he was diagnosed with stage IV squamous cell carcinoma lung cancer. We are all praying for a miracle that he’ll make a full recovery. In the mean time, Jon and I both agreed that now was the right time to open my schedule and be fully available for him whenever he needs me I need him. The time we can spend together is more precious to me than all the money in the world and nothing can replace our relationship, so the decision was easy. My last day is the 20th.

—

Michael Jon and Dan had their open house last Thursday. That happened to be on the same night as Brenna’s Schoolhouse Live concert and Jon’s movie night.  Needless to say, we spent a lot of time planning and re-hashing who would take who where and who was staying home and who would save seats and who would charge the camera and who would tell us sumpin’ a million frillion times like, “Is it time to go yet?!”.

Michael Jon Cowboy Mike did a great job showing us all his artwork. They can be seen on Facebook for those on there and for those who aren’t, sorry. We’ll work on that soon. I promise! Brenna was the star of the show (well in our eyes at least! they all did a great job portraying the schoolhouse rock characters we all know and love- it makes me want to go out and get the DVD’s again and watch every last one, especially during homework challenges!) and although she was nervous, she remembered every line and every note! She did a fabulous job! Way to go Bree!
Dan showed us his desk and his workbooks. We unfortunately had to take a very VERY short tour of the school. So short it took us 25 min total to walk across the park, around the school, back around to the very back of the school where the Kindergarten section was (MJ’s class HAS to be the very last one, huh?) and look around, take pictures, talk to his teacher, gather all his art and papers, walk back to Dan’s class, look at his stuff, talk to his teacher, be reminded Dan needs his glasses because he really can’t see, one last check at the lost and found, and then walk back across the park to the car. I’m tired just typing that! Did I mention we did all that walking in the 38 degree rainy weather? Um..yeah. Brrr. Got my excersise in for the day, that’s for sure! We made it to Brenna’s school on time and found great seats before the concert. From then on, it went really smooth. Until….

We were walking out of the parking lot and I tripped over a parking curb. Did you know they were called parking curbs? I didn’t. Now I DO! It’s not the first time I fallen because I’ve not paid attention to them, by the way. I was holding MJ’s hand so he got pulled down with me. Poor baby.
I tried to catch myself, but I’m sort of top heavy and have big feet, which in this case is a deadly combination. I kept falling forward and the only way to stop it was to just give in and land. Hard. On the ground. With a skid and a thud. You would think with the round belly I have it would cushion the fall like a beach ball bouncing effect, but no. My hands went out to brace the fall but before they got there, my left knee decided to get involved and be the hero. The right knee in a vain attempt to save the day went down too.
So there I lay, on the ground, in the parking lot, in the rain, face down, and stunned.

(Good dramatic image huh?)

My first thought was, “Oh no. Oh no.” My first words were, “Shit. Not again!” (whispered of course) Then my second words were, “Why do I always do this!?!” Jon and the kids were asking me if I was OK and I just sat there, trying to figure out if I could actually get up or not. If this was really time time I broke my knee or injured myself beyond what my body could take. Nope. I was OK. Whew!
I got up, hobbled back to the car, turned on the headlights and surveyed the damage in the rainy light. Bloody left knee; check. Bloody right knee; check. Scraped left and right palms; check. Ego damaged; check.
Pain and swelling; check. Kiss goodbye from Jon as he heads to the movies: check. The only thing left to do was get some dinner. We went to Burber King. I almost drove away without my credit card. Good times.

—

The kids have spring break next week. Lord help us all.

—

I spent all of Friday, literally all of Friday in bed watching movies and nursing my knee injuries. My whole body is sore and screaming at me with every move. I guess when you are falling, you tense every muscle in your body preparing for the impact. If it wasn’t so painful, I would fall all the time to work them out.

—

I’m putting off making my grocery list and menu because it’s cold outside and I want to stay in bed again today and watch movies and play on my computer. Is that so wrong? Ok…well it does seem a little depressive, but the lights are on and I’m not ignoring anyone’s needs. I made sure that Jon went and got lunch and delivered it to me in bed. See? Perfectly NOT depressive. Besides, I started on that new medicine and it is supposed to be helping. Except for the blank feeling, the sweating, and dizziness I’m good! Or at least I will be in another couple of weeks or so. Maybe.

—

I’m planning on going to see my Dad the week after next. If I can get my shit together long enough to make the reservations and buy a ticket, or decide if I am going to drive up there by myself. My Aunts and Sister will be there to visit as well, so it should be a good time visiting and catching up. I think I’ll drive. It would be cheaper and I’ll have more room for my stuff, like pillows and laptops and stuff. Yeah….driving. Just me and my tunes. Tunes….I need more muzak.

—

<racking brain for more updates I might have forgotten>

—

Um….that’s all I can think of for now. Until next week. or the week after. adieu.

Posted on

Not sure my life is so interesting…

I mean really. Who wants to hear about my back hurting? This subject gets old after a while. Seriously. Old.

Work is well…work. It’s been quite busy and somewhat stressful, but bearable.

With all the busyness at work, I sure have missed the daily going-on’s at home. I scheduled a Scentsy wick-less candle party which gave me an opportunity to really get the house in order. Oh sure, it’s not perfect. Those who know me best know what a miracle it is that I actually dusted. If I wasn’t so darn busy the week before my parents and sister came to visit, I would have dusted for them!! 😉 The party was a success. I had 7 girlfriends come and visit for a while and smell some good and not so good candle smells. I mean really? Eucalyptus? I think that should be left for the great outdoors!

Moving on…

Let’s see…what’s next on my agenda?? I would really LOVE to paint the kitchen and move some more stuff around the house. Ya, know…tweak it a little. Make it even cuter than it already is! I need to pull out the sewing machine and make some pillows for the couch and add some cute fabric to the kitchen curtains. I see some furniture painting in my future too. I think my dresser needs a new coat of black paint to jazz it up. Jazz it up? Who still uses that word? Hah, I guess I do!

This week I’m looking forward to a couple of things. American Idol night with my gals, LOST, and grocery shopping. Grocery shopping?? Yeah, cuz then I can actually do something other than work and sleep!! Plus, I need new yoga pants, Dan needs new glasses, and Jon needs new jeans. Shopping and me don’t get along very well anymore because I apparently become laid up after a few hours of standing or walking, but if some things just have to be done, I guess I’ll do it. <insert sarcasalism here>

Sorry Mom it’s take me so long to post something. I know you still come here everyday looking for some nugget of fun from your daughter! I will try harder to post more often. Not sure if you saw the flowers I bought for the party on Facebook, so here’s another look.


So pretty! These flowers make me happy. I think everyone should buy themselves flowers or whatever it is that makes them happy. It’s the little things in life people.

Have a great week!

Posted on

Reason #2,857 not to get up in the morning…

This is where I drove between 7:30 am and 6:00pm today

I haven’t updated in 4 weeks. There is a good reason for it.

work.

Yeah, yeah…I asked for it. I knew it would be hard to get up and do a 12 hour day. I can’t complain because I am getting paid for all my diligence and percerverance.

HOWEVER…..

(Here comes the whine) I’m tired. It’s hard. Cry. Moan. Groan. Whhaaaaa!!! I don’t get home until it’s almost dark and I wear my scrubs more than I wear regular clothes! I don’t get to see my friends as much as I used to and I still have to work when my parents come to town next week while they are here. Alone. Booo!

ahem…ok..I’m done.

No seriously…work has been a big big change in our household and in my life. I am getting up while it’s still dark outside, I’m making it to work on time, and I am giving 110% at the clinic. Most people know I am NOT a morning person, so I’m pretty darn proud of myself for not getting fired for not showing up to work on time! LOL

In other news…we have also been dealing with sickness and injury. I got a cold which turned into bronchitis and that required antibiotics and nebulizer treatments every 6 hours to which I am still not over. I think it’s time for some steroids.
Jon ended up at the doctor as well with belly pain. That turned into a visit to the diagnostics center at hospital for a CT scan. The doctor thought it might be a kidney stone, but that was declared all clear. What they did see was some streaking in his colon so the doc thought it was diverticulitis. All I could think was, great. Now we both suffer from that?? Fabulous!! Just what we both need.
Add insult to injury I have a pretty severe case of tendonitis in my left wrist that requires 12 sessions of ultrasound to deliver medicine to the tendon. I haven’t even begun the treatment yet, I’m that busy with work. Hopefully that’ll get started very soon.
Brenna came home from school yesterday sick and ended up testing posative for the Flu virus at the doctors office!! I mean, come on?! Because she was wheezing they couldn’t give her the inhaled medicine for the flu and so she’ll have ride it out until then. Then Lauren came home early from drama practice with an upset tummy. It’s all too much. Hopefully they will be 100% well before Mom, Dad, and Leslie come for their visit on Saturday. OMG…that is 4 days away!!

On top of all that, or I guess I should say inbetween all that, I got to get away for a couple of days with my girlfriends last weekend. We went to Canton and stayed in a B & B there. Wellll…I wouldn’t exactly call it a bed and breakfast, more like a room and pancakes. Definately not high class, but a lot of fun for sure!

I’m looking forward to this weekend when I get to see my Mom and Dad and Sister! I’m a little bummed that I only get 4 out of 7 days with them before they have to leave, but 4 is better than none!

Now if only I could get a maid in here to clean up the place!

Posted on

The year in which I triumph….

It’s a new day, a new year. Well technically, it’s the 3rd new day of the new year, but who’s counting anyway?? Probably my Sister… <wink>

I’ve looked back on the last year and to tell you the truth, it has sort of sucked. Here’s a short recap of the year’s events.

  • January: Found out MDO was in jeopardy of closing.
  • February: Found out Dad had cancer.
  • March: Pretty much the same as February.
  • April and May: Wrapping up the closing of the school and the end of my much loved job.
  • June: Went to see Dad and visited during his Chemo treatments.
  • July: July was actually a pretty good month.
  • August: School started and I got to experience my first school day alone. Heaven!
  • September: 2 birthdays and lots of school activities, and the news that our dear friend Matt has lymphoma.
  • October: I can’t really remember October, except the last part of the month. I do know it felt pretty long and I thought it would never end. I did make a halloween dinner and then promptly got sick. Coincidence?
  • November: November brought a painful personal crisis, but somehow I made it through and am stronger for it.
  • December: Filled with lots of change and drama; new jobs for both my Sister and I, Sister decides to move to Utah, Christmas without family again this year, tight finances, car repairs, arthritis in my foot and general anxiety about life.

This brings us back to January. Reading the highlights or lowlights doesn’t seem so bad, but the emotional rollercoaster that our family went through with our Dad’s cancer diagnosis, threw us all in a tailspin. I think it’s been the hardest year of my life.

I can’t even say I am willing to make resolutions about going to the gym more, losing weight, or any other thing I think I’ve failed at and want to be better about. I wouldn’t mean it if I did.

I don’t know what this year will bring, but I hope and pray it’s better than last year. I think the best thing to come out of this year is the closeness I feel with my Dad. The possibility of death can bring people closer together with a sense of urgency. I want to squeeze in as much time with my Dad as I can. I feel so blessed that I was able to see him twice this year and got to spend some quality time with him. I’ve been praying that his cancer will be all gone when his next PET scan is done at the end of this month. I think I’ll even throw a party when he comes to visit us in February when he tells us the good news!

I pray you much health and happiness in the next 12 months. In the mean time, I’ll meet you back here regularly to update you and fill you in on the strange going-ons in my brain. I can’t guarentee they’ll always make sense or be intelligent, but I can promise they’ll be amusing at least.
Until then, I leave you with my slogan for the year: “CANCER BENIGN IN 2009”

Love,

Posted on

What I have done for the last 2 days.

  1. Eat chips and salsa from Cristina’s
  2. Play Guitar Hero World Tour until my eyes bug out and wrists and fingers hurt.

That’s pretty much it.

Jon and I decided last night for my birthday that we would go to dinner and then see a movie. We made an attempt to go to Chuy’s last night for like the 3rd time since I went to lunch there with Felicia and Andee. There was an hour and half wait; on my BIRTHDAY!!! How rood! Because I was in the mood for some good salsa, I remembered just how good Cristina’s salsa was and so we were off to McKinney for dinner. It was convenient for us to be that far north because the movie theater was also up there. Four Christmases sounded like a lot of fun to go see. By the time we ate (wayytoomuuuch) and rolled walked out of dinner, we had over an hour to kill before the movie started. We drove in circles for a bit because I was the navigator who was answering Happy Birthday wishes/phone calls from friends while I supposed to be giving directions. LOL We ended up at Best Buy over near Debbi’s house to look for another guitar for my our new addiction game. No such luck as they had been wiped out of all Wii GHWT paraphanallia. We did find a stand for our guitar, drum sticks, mic, and soon to be 2nd guitar. Seems like I’m going to have to get used to having that home decor accessory in the living room for a while! Anyhoo…

We headed over to Fry’s hoping we would get there before it closed because Jon saw a guitar there for about 30 bucks and wouldn’t you know it, we got stuck in traffic because of a major 3 lane closer accident. We would have been late for our movie anyway, so we ditched the idea of a movie in lieu of the search for the less than holy grail of Guitar Hero WT single guitar for the Wii. We got there at 9:39 pm and there were still poeple coming out of the store. We waited and watched to see if some other chump would try to walk in after the store was clearly closed, and sure enough, we saw this poor guy try to walk in only to be met with confusion and agnst because he couldn’t go shopping for a GHWT guitar for his wii to use his new gift card.

We didn’t want to go home too soon because that would mean putting the boys to bed, so we decided to head over to Wallyworld to see if they by any chance had any. Nope, not them either! Dangit!! We were so close!! While we walked around the romantic atmosphere that WM offers, we bought some cereals. Raisin Bran for Jon’s digestive health and 2 bags of gut rotting cereal for the kids and that later night snack that comes after a very satisfying meal that I’ve made. 😀

We came home and after everyone was in bed, I couldn’t just sit there and watch plain old TV!! I had to play. So I played and played and played. I played until my fingers hurt, my wrists felt like they would fall off and my eyes, oh my eyes! They were bloodshot and burning. If you play long enough, when the scrolling hyway that shows you the notes you are supposed to hit stops, the screen comes up that gives you your stats looks like it’s floating up and so does everything else in the room. If I were on drugs it would have been more than a psycadelic experience for sure!! I think I fell into bed around 1am. Annnd I slept until about noon.

Overall, it was a fun, relaxing, awesome day! I plan on entering a 12 step Guitar Hero Program as soon as I can find one and if I can’t find one, I’ll just have to live with my addiction. I think I’ll need to get Wii fit so I can work off all the extra calories I consumed from the chips and salsa and the sitting for hours on end!

In other news:
I plan on doing my very best to keep my blog up in the new year. I got a new job working in Medical Records at a Back Clinic at the beginning of December and it threw a huge wrench into my life. I am only working 4 hours a day, but what I have to do to get ready and drive to work and then work and then drive home, it feels like a full time job and it’s all I can do to come home and make dinner. The last thing on my mind is blogging, but I am going to make, as Brenna likes to call it, a “New Years Revolution” to blog more and complain less.

Happy New Year ya’ll and I hope that the next year brings much happiness (because remember Happiness is a choice! my new painting says so!) and joy. Seems like the most important things in life are being happy with those you love and squeezing as much joy out of life as you can!

Until then…Happy New Year!

Love,