Tuesday Tunes- songs on my heart

Today my post is with a very relieved but heavy heart. All of you know by now for those who read my blog loyally that my brother, sis-n-law, and my precious nieces live in Meeker, Oklahoma.  This past Sunday a twister came through and hit Shawnee really hard and thats where Sarah works which is 10 minutes down the road from Meeker. She wasnt at work and her office is intact as well. Last night they were evacuated to the town storm shelter for safety. My brother is a truck driver and he was called to Memphis last night so was also out of the tornado's danger.   I have to tell you that i went to bed sobbing last night. I just cant wrap my head around all those children trapped in the school not expected to be alive. There are also dozens of injured children. Please pray for Oklahoma. They have so much rebuilding to do, Physically and Mentally.  As i was watching The Voice last night Holly sang a song that i felt was so appropriate and it gave me goose bumps. She sang the old gospel song How Great Thou Art.

Another christian song that truly grabs my heart is All my Tears by Selah.  This is for those families who have lost.

Happy Birthday to Me- I'm so grateful to be alive and healthy

In about 2 minutes I will officially be 45 years old. As I am writing this post , the love of my life is in the hospital 20 minutes away. I can tell you that all I want for my birthday is for my fiancé to be home with me safe and sound. Please know that my honey will be OK but its been a very long week. He was admitted on Tuesday around 1pm into ICU and today he was downgraded into real room. I’m begging you to cross your fingers and pray that he gets released tomorrow. Sleeping alone and trying to rest with so much going on in my head is pointless. So I have been quite productive in these wee hours at night.
 A friend of mine at work had helped me design my wedding invitations and response cards. I saved design to a thumb drive, ordered some very fancy expensive paper online and had Kinko’s print them out for me. All in all , I have spent 190.00$ on the invites. A friend of mine works for a paper company and I had recently arranged a stack of nice moving boxes for her from my company so in return I get free envelopes. Sweet! The kicker is that I have had to hand cut each and every invite and response card by hand. I didn’t have them with me at the hospital the last few days so every night at home I’ve cut at least 12 sheets. Today however I DID remember to take a large handful with me and cut several at the hospital while Todd was on conference call. Yep you read right, Todd asked me to bring his laptop because he had a mandatory conference call he couldn’t miss tonight. My good news is that I’m completely done with cutting out all my invites. WooHoo! My hand is cramping like crazy but so worth it. Next I need to start stuffing them in envelopes and get them out in the mail. As far as wedding stuff, I have all the vintage hankies needed ( washed but not ironed yet) and I have the thank you sheets that are not cut yet. Joy to the World! I think I’m getting some bigger scissors with larger thumb holes. At my age relationships are what matters most. Birthday gifts are not expected or needed- Just my loved ones to be with me or around me. I am looking forward to spending some relaxing alone time with my honey.
Everyone have a nice weekend and love on all your family and friends.

Cutting at hospital, Todd rocking the gown in background

Cutting away

Full sheet included invite with 2 response cards

Final stacks - silver and orange

Tuesday Tunes

I'm a huge fan of the reality show The Voice. I like it because they dont make fun of people leading up to the tryouts. The contestants are judged by their voice and not what they look like. Anyway, there are some great talents on the show this season. Last night one of the gals Sarah sang this song and it blew me away. I love this song and have the version on ipod by Brandi Carlisle. Its called The Story.

There's a duo on the show that sang a tribute to the late George Jones. He recently passed away 2 weeks ago and i am very sad for that. I grew up listening to old school country and George was a staple on the radio. One of his hits was Who's gonna fill their shoes? So here ya go- i'm playing his song.

Have a great day Y'all!!

Reacher or Receiver? Deep thoughts for today

I’ve had so much going on in my head right now. My birthday is this week and I’m turning 45. I’ll be officially MIDDLE-AGED!  How I feel is how I feel and  I understand it may not be big deal in grand scheme of things but these are my feelings. I know I’m getting married in a few months but in my “Plan” , I never would have dreamed I would be getting married for the first and only time at the age of 45.  Let me just say that I BELIEVE whole heartedly that I’m in God’s plan. I know I get it.  What I tend to do is reflect on my life and assess everything from career , to friends, to family, etc as my birthday approaches.

Here is what hurts me to my soul and I don’t know if I’m ready to accept any changes.  I am the Reacher.  I have made up these names so let me explain the definition. The Reacher is the friend/family member that does ALL the reaching out to others.  I have many “friends” that if I didn’t send text, email, phone call  or letter , we would not have any communication. See the hard part is that I’ve done this for so many years that I’ve created this pattern. The part I’m not ready for emotionally is that I have tested this theory over the years and the sad thing is that these people don’t even recognize that I HAVENT reached out.  The Receiver’s just get to coast with me doing the work. I’m tired. I would love to think that I am missed and that I’m worth the effort. I genuinely know in my heart that my Receiver’s like me/love me. It’s my fault that I’ve allowed them to be lazy.  When I reach out to many of my friends I can hear the sincerity of how glad they are that I called, wrote, etc.  That fuels me and makes me glad that I did and so I continue.  I take great JOY in sending random cards in the mail or a funny text.  Its like getting happy mail every day instead of bills.

I want to be strong and just “dig my feet in the sand” and proclaim that I will NOT make the first call or effort.  I don’t want to beg for attention and I would never proclaim my stance outwardly. It would be a silent promise to myself.  I understand that LIFE happens and we are all busy. I am crazy busy every day of my life.  One thing I DO is that I value my priorities and friends and family are those priorities.  How long does it take to scribble something down and put in the mail?  I also get that people cant talk  during work or other times but a text just saying HI would go so far.  I have family that I damn near BEG for them to call me or to send me pictures of their kids, I even offer to pay for anything (postage, long distance calls)- still NOTHING.  How do I proclaim my stance when its family and I would be lost without them?  It’s a wake up call to realize that in my head I always considered me close with my family but really I must not be.

There is no answer to my feelings and there is no wrong in either role as Reacher or Receiver.  I’m just feeling sensitive about this topic and I needed to write out my thoughts.  Bonus point for having a blog right?!

Date night at Twisted Root Burger Co

How has your week been so far? Mine has been really crappy work wise and I couldn’t be happier today is Friday. Who doesn’t love Friday’s?  Todd has had a pretty rough work week too so we needed to get out of the house and have a date night. I knew where I wanted to go that was close by. There is a yummy burger place that started out in Deep Ellum ( our artsy area of Dallas close to downtown)  a few years ago and has even been featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives with Guy Fieri.  The name of this place is Twisted Root Burger Co and dang if they are Delish! There’s 8 locations with another one opening soon ( close to where I work so I’m happy about that). The location near where we live in Bedford is just a few minutes away and I had not been there yet.  It’s very laid back and the menu’s are written on large kraft butcher paper. The fun part is that they give you a famous name to call out when our burgers are ready. Paris Hilton, Mr. Incredible, Meryl Streep, are a few that I remember from last night. They make jars of homemade pickles, homemade root beer and also homemade ice cream. Unfortunately I was too full from the burger and onion strings and didn’t have room for a shake which I heard are incredible.

I had the Bacon Bomb burger that had bacon and blue cheese crumbles on it. Yumm! 

For the record, I am not being compensated in any way ,form, or fashion for writing this but I wanted to share with y’all a fun yummy place around Dallas.

They have buffalo and other exotic meats

walkup beer cooler

Who doesnt love a Disco ball?! The pickle bar is also shown

I need to go back for an adult shake!

I had the homemade root beer with  my burger and fried onions

Have a fantastic weekend! Be safe and have loads of fun and i want to hear all about it.

WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER- My Giveaway

Happy Wednesday everyone. I want to announce the winner of the 25$ gift certificate towards Origami Owl jewelry. Y'all know that my laptop here at office is squirrely with HTML and rafflecopter, etc. So i wrote
down everyone's name that left me a comment on pieces of paper and added to my lucky starbucks coffee mug. I had a coworker (Alan) pull the winner out of the mug and i laughed out loud when i saw who the winner is. I Promise and SWEAR on my Harley and my first born that this was very fair and i did NOT rig this.
So the winner is no other than my best friend and cousin Lauren Thomas. She had commented that she would like to make a memory locket for her mom and also a fun one with a camera and Eiffel tower. Congratulations Lauren!!! I am placing an order myself this week for some extra charms that i can switch around and a plate that says Dream. I have a spare bedroom that is decorated with Dream signs. I'll tell you in another post what prompted the Dream room.

Tuesday's Tunes

Good morning everyone- Happy Tuesday to you!  I have so many songs going on in my head from listening to the radio on way to work. I listen mostly to classic Rock in the mornings but i change the channels in between all the commercials.

I am starting out with one of my favorites from the 80's with Stevie Nicks and Don Henley. Leather and Lace. I loved the song from the second it came out.

This next song is by the Pet Shop Boys who were also an 80's fave of mine. They had a few great songs but i always liked this one because i was a waitress in college down in the WestEnd  section of Dallas.
West End Girls

If you havent heard, i'm giving away a 25$ gift certificate towards an Origami Owl necklace in my post before this one. Just tell me how you're following me and  what kind of locket you would create. You can also just order one from the website and make sure you choose my blog from the jewelry bar ( im registered under having a party).
 As always though, thank you for stopping by!!!