August 26th National Dog Day!

 

My goal in life is to be as good of a person my dog already thinks I am.  ~Author Unknown

Yeah for Doggies!

Those pooches are my puppies, Becca & Odie.

Becca came to us through a rescue group. I was only supposed to foster her, but we fell in love with her pretty much instantly.  She is one of the best dogs ever, but don't touch her tail, she doesn't like that! LOL

Odie is our Jack Russell that came to us when a neighbors daughter developed an allergy to him.  I swear he's part cat.  Becca will do anything to please us, Odie acts like a prince and is aloof like a cat.  

But the are both pretty awesome!

And speaking of awesome, have you see my 

Dog Paw Print in the Sand Necklace?

 Other Dog Items

Rainbow Bridge Photo

Heaven Is Photo

 

 

American Made with Martha Stewart

I had a previous client contact me and suggest I sign up for an "American Made" contest on the Martha Stewart site.  I listened and I'm seeing some new fans come by from there so I figured I'd just say a quick hello and Thank You for stopping by!

My Shop

My Facebook Page

My Twitter

Getting started again

If you've been reading my blog, you know I lost 66lbs.  You also know I quit smoking (14 months now!) & have 2 herniated discs in my neck.

When you quit smoking, especially in your 40's, weight gain in inevitable, you have to fight to keep it off.  The herniated discs and the steroids kept me from being able to fight it off.  I've gained back 20lbs.  And I swear like 15 of it is sitting in my belly/hip area.  the other 5 is on my upper arms.

I know this because I saw pictures of myself from this past weekend.

That is some serious motivation... 

So yesterday I started back to low carb and moving.  Moving will be anything from riding my bike to shooting baskets with my kids and strength exercises and walking.  I have to be careful still, but I can't just sit around.  I'm in my 40's and the weight does not just fall off, I have to work it! 

Yesterday I ate some lunch meat & cheese for breakfast (had to grab something quick) lunch was 2 hot dogs wrapped in bacon (oh yea) and some deviled eggs. Dinner was buffalo chicken & salad.  Salad was
lettuce, tomato, cheese, avocado, carrots & a homemade ranch dressing.  I used to LOVE ranch dressing, but after I quit smoking something happened and I can not eat bottled ranch anymore.. it's so weird!

Today breakfast was a bacon, egg & cheese sandwich on a low carb wrap.  Then I had 2 deviled eggs for lunch for now.  I will eat again in a little while. 

not sure about dinner tonight - probably steak.  yum!

Loch Ness "Jessie"

Yes, I mean to write Jessie.

I took this picture this morning.

And posted it on my business facebook page

NamesontheJerseyshore   <-- go like it please.

One of my fans said the two seagulls looked like the Loch Ness Monster, and ya know what... she's right, they do!!!!

Then my friend Gerda (of Gerda's Garden) named her Jessie (Jersey Nessie)!  

LOVE IT!

Being the bad guy

Occasionally as parents we have to be the "bad guy"  and right now I'm IT.

And I'm not sorry for it.

I have to take a step back before I tell you why I'm IT.

I'm not a helicopter parent. I do not believe we have to wrap our children in bubble wrap and put tracking software on them.  I am a "don't bleed on the carpet" parent.

I love my kids, I would kill for my kids, but I believe I am not to be their friend, I am to make them into adults I would be proud to call my friend.

Right or wrong, who knows.. I always say you have to put a little away for them for college and a little away for therapy, because we all manage to screw them up one way or another.

So when my 11 year old son's friend called and asked if he could go to Great Adventure with them I said yes. JerseyShoreDad voiced some disagreement but he wasn't feeling well so I kinda blew him off and said sure.

Before they left I told the mom that he had never been on big roller coasters before but he wanted to try.  Going was the mom her twin 11 year olds a friend each (so 2 boys & 2 girls, all 11ish)

He get home around 7 and said he had a good time...

Except one of the roller coasters hurt his stomach and he didn't want to go on any other ones after that.  I was so proud of him for going on the rides. I'm too chicken!

Long story short, he eventually tells me that when they went on other rides he sat on a bench and waited.

by himself

in the middle of Great Adventure (aka Six Flags)

for over AN HOUR

Ok so I thought maybe it was just me. Maybe I am over protective.... I didn't address it at first but while I was out, JerseyShoreDad posted this on Facebook:

QOTD. You are at an amusement park with another person's child. After a few rides, this other child is not feeling up to going on any more rides. Do you continue to go on rides without the child (leaving them alone while you and the family continue to go on rides), or do you have someone stay with this child while others go on the rides.

 After reading some responses, I realized it's not just me.  Even my friend who is less strict then me expressed a WTF??

Now I could have called her and flipped out on her. I kind of wanted too... but I took the high road. I send her this message

Not really sure how to convey my feelings about u leaving my 11 yo sitting by himself at GA without losing my cool.  He will not be going anywhere with you again.

She wrote back trying to tell me she could see him the whole time. I call bullshit and told her NOTHING she could say would make this ok.  He told me that at one point he thought they forgot about him and he was going to find someone that worked there to call me to come get him.  I nearly cried when he told me that.

So now the boys can't hang out, and I'm the bad guy.

And I'm fine with that.

And to my darling husband, you were right. I'm sorry I did not take you seriously. 

Ahhh sunrise

Sunrise is a beautiful thing. 

And it's great natural dramatic light, which looks amazing in the beach writings.

The problem with sunrise is the time it happens.

Do you know in June that sunrise is somewhere around 5:20 am???

That means if I want to catch it I have to leave around 5am.

Yeah I know, cry me a river...  I have to drive 3.3 miles down the road to watch the sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean. I can feel your pity party from here.

LOL

The problem isn't even getting up and going to the beach that early, it's the rest of the day.  

I'm practically useless, I'm not as young as I used to be! (well none of us are, but you get my drift)

Really... because I never think to go to bed at a decent time, even knowing I am getting up BEFORE the sun!  So I stumble to bed around 11:30 - fall asleep around midnight & get JARRED awake by my alarm at like 4:45 (have to have time to make coffee).

Shower?  Yeah no reason for that! I can do that after I wake up again.  Because I always think I can go back to sleep when I come home.

Nope... by then the sun is up and I want to see the pictures I've taken.  Usually pour a 2nd cup of coffee while waiting for the pictures to upload.

Then around noon, I'm cranky and no one likes a cranky Suzie!

But I love sunrise. 

I mean, how can you not?  Watching a new day start, standing on the edge of the world...

It's empowering and humbling at the same time.

With all that said, I have decided to start charging extra if you request your beach writing be done at sunrise.

It's not that I don't want to do it, it's just that it requires an extra trip.  95% of my orders want the regular sunlight 

So over the next few days I will be adding notes to my listings letting them know if you want your pictures to be done at sunrise, there will be an extra charge.

Not a whole lot more, but just enough to compensate for the extra trip.

But that is all I am changing.  You will still be able to have the pictures emailed to you so you can either print them at home or use your local printer to have your photos printed!

OH and be on the lookout for some new jewelry I'm making!