Happy Birthday To ME!!!!

Today I turned 27 years old! Can you believe it? I can't. What's so funny, I did not feel anything until my husband pulled out the candles...27 of them. Dang that's a lot of candles. I had a great birthday with many blessings! I must say the BEST funniest gift I received was a box of meat from my husband! This morning the UPS man sat a Styrofoam cooler on our porch and in it was steaks!!! Don't tell me that my husband doesn't know the way to a woman's heart! It will definitely go down in history as the most interesting gift I ever received. Thanks dear!

I went into work for a half day today to be surprised by presents and cake there! The other owner and the lady that works at the shop next door organized it! What a great day! We received new ribbon at the store yesterday and so I spent the day making new bows for trees! (Wow that's a lot of explanation points)

After work Artie and I met my friends and family at Chile's for dinner. Yummmmm! And more cake and presents! Here are the pictures from this evening. It was a blast!

Picture of our table!


Opening a card

My charms!!

Funny card

Yes, my husband bought me an elliptical

YUUMMMMMY CAKE!!! (note the number of candles has been reduced due to fire hazard)

Best husband ever!
CASSIE!!!

My church brothers!

What a great day!

Americana Tree

It was finally time to retire the pink spring tree for an American tree in honor of Memorial Day and July 4th. It turned out very cute, better than I thought it would. Which is good considering it is the very 1st thing people see when they come into the store. I am pumped about some new things coming to the store. We are about to get all the new fun things that we picked out at market!! In fact, I just put up another new tree yesterday but have not had time to photograph it. It is definitely a show stopper and can not wait to show you. We are quickly approaching our open house in July, it will be here before we know it! Which means I can finally debut our new Halloween things! Enjoy!!

The BEST story ever!

This is an article that was in my local paper a few days ago. It is the most incredible story I have ever heard!

This dog tale could very easily be the script of a Disney movie, complete with a heartwarming reunion and wholesome life lesson at the end.
Jeanette Wood thought her dog, Bee-Bee, was gone forever.

“I got her about 14 years ago, and she is my girl,” Wood said. “It was late January or early February – I got up one morning and let her out and went to make a pot of coffee. Next thing I knew she was gone. Someone had taken her.”

To make matters worse, Bee-Bee had gone missing right before Jeanette moved from Kingsport to Johnson City. Despite every effort to locate the family pet and longtime companion, Jeanette had to move on. Bee-Bee was seemingly gone, but in reality, it was way to early to write the little critter off.

“I called the animal shelter every day, gave them my information, but they didn’t have her. I basically gave her up for dead because she’s so old,” Wood said. “She’s 16, and since she got lost in February, I thought she probably froze to death. There was just no way she could have survived that weather.”

That’s when fate intervened by way of a program run by the Kingsport Animal Shelter.

“We send animals to PetSmart every Saturday – a van load – to the one in Johnson City to try and find them homes,” Shelter Assistant Manager Donna Davidson said. “It’s a really great program. It really helps the animals tremendously to find homes.”

Last Saturday, the stars must have been in just the right alignment. As the day began, Wood thought it was just another day at work. She went about her normal routine getting settled into her shift at PetSmart until, like magic, something unbelievable happened.

“I had just gotten there to work as a cashier and rung one person up when I saw Stephanie, one of the volunteers from the animal shelter, walk in with her. I was in shock for a minute, but there she was,” Wood said. “Of course I started crying and I ran and grabbed my dog and they let me have her.

“She was so relieved she just went limp. I just held her and wouldn’t let her go the whole time until I walked out the door.”

Wood offered a special thanks to her boss for letting her go home right away due to the unbelievable turn of events and tearful reunion.

“It was a great story and a wonderful homecoming,” Davidson said. “It just thrilled us all that the little dog got to go back home. Even if they are 16 years old, we do everything we can to find them a home.”

And just like in the movies, there is a moral to this story to go along with the happy ending.

This one case turned out well, but there are countless other pets that are never found by their owners. According to shelter workers, one of the best things to do is keep checking shelters in the surrounding area where your pet was lost.

“It just goes to show that when people lose an animal they really need to call the shelters first, even if it has just been a day because you never know,” Davidson said. “These people had lived here and had just moved to Johnson City. So these were very unusual circumstances that they found their dog.”

Wood had one other bit of advice for dog owners whose pets get to enjoy the outdoors.

“Put an identification tag on your pet,” Wood said. “She didn’t have a tag on her when I let her out. She didn’t have a collar. So I made sure to get a tag with her name and the phone numbers where I can be reached if anything should happen again.”

Bee-Bee is now relaxing at home with her family and, according to her owners, seems to be in better health for her age than when she disappeared.

Beach!!!

Artie and I visited our family's beach house this past week. We had a great time eating, getting some sun, eating, shopping, eating...notice a trend? Haha We really did have a nice time really got to relax We were only there a few days because I can not stay away from my dogs or my shop. It was just enough time to make us crave more beach! I have no idea why...bit I did not take many pictures (which Artie did not mind). But here are a few!

Artie and I at dinner at our favorite restaurant Boundary House
Upside down rainbow at the beach! God is so GOOD!!

Artie and I at the Blue Crab Festival!!

Funny

Funny conversation between my husband and myself tonight after dinner.

Me: Hey honey while you are up can you get me a couple pieces of chocolate...maybe 5?

Husband: Only a couple 5 huh?

Me: Well..yes

Husband: You know we are about to eat ice cream right?

Me: Oh yeah...ok maybe 3 then.

Therapy

This blog is like weekly therapy. Pretty rough week. The doctor called with some test results and we found out that we will not be able to have a baby of own. Artie and I talked about it last night and we have decided to stop all fertility testing. We are giving it to God. It is a bit hard to swallow right now. On one hand I am relieved to finally have an answer. On the other I am devastated. I just keep telling myself that my plan B is His plan A. I just need to give myself a few more days to believe it. We have not told our family. I am not sure how you go about that or that I can say it without falling apart.
We are leaving for the beach tomorrow which will be a much needed break from all of this. Once we get back we are going to officially start the adoption process. I have looked up a few lawyers to get us started. Artie and I are ready to be parents. If anyone has any advice about domestic adoption or websites we can visit to help us better prepare I would love the input.

Oh my...

A few weeks ago we found out that my step-sister (in law) is expecting her 2nd baby in November. The doctors have said that they are about 90% sure it is a girl!!! Look what I found....



These really are the most precious shoes I have ever seen. I can not wait to gift them to my new niece! Go here and buy a pair of your own...http://graciousmay.com/



Blessings,

GHS Tryouts

Wahoo!!! Majorettes tryouts are O-V-E-R! The girls were so stressed and it makes me stressed (as if I'm not high strung enough). The girls did so well and I was very proud. They all made the line again and it will be just the 4 of them. I am very excited for the fall. The looked SUPER cute! I have never seen a cuter majorette line! Here are some pics from the day.


Before Tryouts
Me with the girls

Look who came to lunch!!! Lauren and Taylor are Alumni Majorettes now!!