mary engelbreit ~ day 1

day 1: we are not in kansas anymore.

flight leaves for st. louis, mo @ 6am
hubby gets me to the airport at 5:05 am. "do you have everything, sweetheart?" hubby asks.
"i do"
"i.d., on-line booking number, credit card?" he says
"i should. did u put the credit card back in my wallet after u used it last night!" i proclaimed
"ahhhh! crap! sweetheart. i didn't, and i don't have my wallet on me either." he says with disappoinment
"well, i need to get inside and check in. so figure it out, & we'll keep in touch at my next stop. denver, co. ok?"
"ok."
so i jam into the airport and hit the counter. I go to check in and the terminal says "flight is closed!" or whatever the heck it says. bottom line according to united, i am late and i am not getting on this flight!
ppssh, whatever witch! get me on this flight, because i am going to st louis.
"ma'am! this terminal is saying that the fligt is closed. it's only 5:15am!"
"well, united closes their flight 45min before departure."
i'm thinking..."lady, this is not l.a.x.! i'm the only person up in ontario right now. seriously, who's going to st. louis with me. "um, ok ma'am, but i've been playing with this terminal for the last 10 min, plus, you all have busy, and everytime one of you walks by and i say excuse me, one of you says, i'll be with u in just a second. and it's been 10 min." {don't play!}

"ok. ma'am. i appologize for the wait. your checking in 1 bag?"
"yes." but i'm thinking shoot! everything else is going to meet me in st. louis...ok!
that is how day 1 started...and it ended with me losing my drivers lic#, not being able to rent a car, or get money from western union that my hubby was so gracious to think about. but... it did me no good.
but i was going to get to mrs. mary's reception and studio tour. so i was on a mission.
after i cried at the airport because i felt so alone. i put myself together, remembered i had taken the $400 out of my emergency fund and headed into st. louis to visit mary and all the crafty ladies!
i was determined to make this trip i had been waiting for....almost 1 year!

i made it through the wilderness....

somehow i made it through...

didn't know how lost i was until i called yooooouuuu!

crazy.

mary engelbreit ~ day 2

day 2: kaari meng & mathew mead

did it get better? you ask. why, yes it did. i met some really incredible ladies. one of which, felt so bad for my crazy~ness, she was compelled to offer me a right to and fro, because she was a loca! i mean a local.
yes, she did. she fostered me for the next 2 days, and i became her morning stowaway!

anyway. in the romper room, i see...

shelley

my sister from another mister! she just won my heart from the first day. she is just the sweeetest piece of southern pie. shelley and jemilla travel by car together from oklahoma city.

and, i see

jemilla.

i hear this woman can definitely "shomit"!!! luv ya jemilla! can't wait to see y'all in cali!
french general here we come!!!

and last, i see

micha.

ok. seriously. does micha look like she would be from arkansas? i mean, not that there aren't artsy people in arkansas. but, if i saw micha in the streets of arkansas, i would think that girl lost her way to la or ny. she just looks like a big city girl {in a bigger state...by population, you know what i mean?} anyway, she lives close to the 4~arty {40}. can u believe that?

micha, bring the fam out to la. we'll host ya! you have to come out to one of kim caldwell's events! yay!

like, no way!!!

and the academy award goes to....

MISS GRETA GARBO~CERDA!

you have to meet the newest member of our family. how cute is she?

she is the most docile and balanced dog we have ever had the pleasure of keeping.

miss greta, is just so sweet and nice, we just couldn't help but keep her.

you see, our groomer, nicki, breeds english bulldogs. well, miss greta was with her for 5 years, and had already had 3-4 litters.

so, once the dogs have done their time breeding, she fosters them to good homes. we were lucky to be one of the chosen ones!

mind you, she was only suppose to be visiting us for a weekend, to see if she was a responsibility we were willing to handle.

well, as you can see...she never went back to nicki's.

this pretty girl is now one of us & we are so pleased that she has chosen us as her family.

we lover the way she graces us with her presence....

she farts and snores just like a man!

it's the most hilarious moment in our world.

i mean, we had no idea that dogs do that! we had heard that this breed "floats air biscuits", but to actually hear'em, i don't think anything prepares you for that moment.

but like most spouses...we can't live without them!

so it is my absolute pleasure to introduce you to this years oscar winner for

"2010's newest winery dog":

MISS GRETA GARBO~CERDA

you are my sunshine...

...my only sunshine ! you make me happy...

i just can't believe that 14 years has come. Oh boy! I am so blessed 2 have such a beautiful daughter! Who knew that she would change my life forever! Her awesome funny, nuturing & impatient personality! Her wilingness to improve, persevere, & overcome obstacles with such a confident attitude.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE LOVE OF MY LIFE...,

MY SUNSHINE:

MISS SAVANNAH SOLEIL DELGADO!

Coroner From The Wizard of Oz, Dead at 94

well, i've been away from blogland for a bit, but as you all know i do work for ft, and i do get sucked up in my day to day. but i did feel compelled to blog being that this is the laziest sunday i've had in a long time

but what?

dead @ 94...wao!

my favorite movie of all time!

i received the news this morning that the wicked witch from the wizard of oz died. Yup! that's the news i received. that's how rumors get started.

boy 'o' boy, I was really hurt.

then i went online to confirm the news, i confirmed my initial suspicion...i really do know my wizard trivia. the wicked ol' witch was dead in 1985. awwww! we miss elphaba.

but today, all i can hear is:

"As coroner, I must aver, I thoroughly examined her, and she's not only merely dead, she's really most sincerely dead." ~ meinhardt raabe

hrt or no hrt?

{let me preface this with saying this is just my opinion, and you should always consult your physician if you have questions regarding your health. i am no a physician, so don't try to sue me if you dont comprhend~o}

...that is the most annoying and temper causing questions i see, almost every week? plus, these women are in the most annoying hormonal funk ever, why are they even questioning no hrt anyways?

i hear this in my offices all day?

"i want to go through menopause "naturally"! one woman exclaimed

"i'm taking black cohosh for my menopause symptoms." one lady said. "but dr., these migraines are just aweful! can you just give me something to treat the migraines, because i just can't focus and i just can't take it!"

ok, so as i stand there waiting for dr to finish up with this patient, i hear dr try to explain to the patient that, since she is only couple weeks post surgery, it is going to take some time for her body to regulate itself hormonally. so dr., continues to explain to the patient that it is because she just had a hysterectomy {due to her continuous fibroid problems} and her body is just trying to understand itself. "so" the dr continues, "until your body recovers you should take...

hrt {hormone replacement therapy}!

{aaaaahhhh! the biggest misinterpreted medication because of a botch news report. this disease state has some of the best medications that have saved more women lives than it has hurt}

the patient looks out into the waiting room at her daughter in disbelief. as if this dr is crazy and wants to kill her before it her time to go!!! mind you the patient is only 55 years old.

"uh. no! dr i don't know about all that. i want to go through this naturally dr."

naturally? seriously. why go through such emotional pain un~medicated? your body is in pain, why not give it some relief?

ok, ok, you get the picture. right? bottom line is the patient is at the dr office because she's getting these excruciating migraines after the hysterectomy, and just wants to medicate the migraines {i'm thinking~ maybe because headaches are more common in the patients mind than a hysterectomy, is why she just wants to medicate the migraine}. however, what this patient is failing to realize is that the dr is trying to explain her decision for hrt, but the patient can't get past the h! dr was even explaining to the patient the drop in her natural estrogen production, from the loss of her uterus, is not at the same level as before. and the patient was looking at her daughter like a deer in headlights. dr says, very seriously "...the decrease in estrogen production...the body automatically notifies the brain somethings' not balanced in here, and creates a migraine." the poor patients was just not registering the dr. plus, her daughter yells out to her mom, if you don't feel comfortable with the medication don't let her rx it. tell her to wait until your next follow up visit.

remember when your friends or yourself for that matter would suffer from a headache right before your menstruation. your endogenous estrogen {the estrogen your body creates} drops because there is no baby in the womb, so there is no need for the body to continue building a wall in the uterus for the fertile egg. since there is no fertile egg...your estrogen drops, hence you shed your walls.

so even if the dr rx's a migraine medication, it's pointless because your not doing anything to regulate your hormones, so the migraines are not going to go away, until you regulate your body with the same amount of hormone everyday. eventually the hormone puts your body at ease with what ever dosage your body responds to. it may take allot, and it may take a little. every womens' body is different. one thing that i can tell you, is that black cohosh, doesn't have enough ingredients to help any women and the gamut of emotions she is going to go through during peri or full blown menopause.

does the dr have all this time to explain this? no! why? because your company doesn't want to pay alot of money for health care insurance. that's another topic it itself.

gyn's {gynecologist} see patients with uterine, endometrium, & vaginal problems, at least 20 times a day.

do ya! think the dr doesn't know what they're talking about? of course they know what they're talking about

so, case in point, the patient that i talked about earlier, that said she's not secure with hrt, and wants to go through the process "naturally" and without hrt, how long do you think she'll last?

not long at all.

do you think the dr., is going to make her take hrt?

hell no!

why?

because with all the liability that this dr is up against, these dr., in ob/gyn, do you think they are going to sacrifice their license if they rx a medication, that you were totally against. no way. then come to find out, you by some crazy coincidence have a reaction {rare to almost non-existant in the "vasomotor symptom" stage. none that i've heard of in women 40-55 in my 10 years}by the medication, that they "made" you take...here comes the family, the attorney, and the dog to pay the dr a visit. do you not think that most patients or their families wouldn't be on the phone with an ambulance chaser, ready for a settlement out of court? um...yes. {btw~this is just from what i've heard.}

"so...let's do it your way" dr says.

that way, when your over your google questions, and you can trust my expertise, you'll see that "naturally' is not the best policy!!!!

ladies, you don't have to suffer through menopause, with all the options out there.

sometimes dr find it hard to communicate with patients, because on one hand they want to guide your health in the right direction, but if it goes in the wrong direction, they don't want you to turn around and sue because of what they said. and, sometimes they can't communicate what they're trying to say, because they can't put science into lamens terms for the majority to understand.

plus, your company doesn't want to pay for the dr expertise. they just want you to have some coverage to cover themselves.

romantic homes march 2010

this is the romantic homes spread that my girlfriend andrea invited me to last year that is now in the march 2010 issue of romantic homes!!!! yay!i went ahead and scanned in the pages for you to see my boy "sir pimpin' louis vutton"

he was rockin' the polo that evening, with a pair of designer tarrrrr-gettt jeans plus the blue mohawk. yahoo! he was it that night!!!
my lil' man is single sexy and breeeeds!

andrea is the owner of french basketeer!!! she is an amazing woman with a heart of solid love & joy. she's the friend that you see multitasking life with a smile whether she likes whats going on or not! you can read her blog

click here,

and see her journey through france, the people that she meets on her escapades to these really nice farmers markets up and down california. how she manages to be in 5 places at one time is beyond my comprehension, but.... again, she's the friend that you see multitasking life with a smile .....blah, blah, blah.

yes we did! she even had a time out for the naughty dogs.

and, isn't it funny, there's always that one kid in the bunch that just doesn't have social skills, doesn't know how to play with all the others kids...and still manages to stay out of the time out room, because mom makes excuses for the brat!!! yes! it's true...we had one! but it wasn't either one of my two, and definitely not the life of the party miss honey!

here's andrea walking the party with miss honey! she didn't want the grouchy ol' woman to snip honey! hehehehe. just kidding. it was time for pictures. this is right before the picture above was taken of honey coming out of her posh wicker dog house!

and this, is miss andrea serving drinks for all the guest as they arrived to the festivities.

this is honey greeting belle in her tutu, as she made her presence known at the affair.

this is louis introducing himself to the guest of honor honey, with a sneaky little kiss, to keep her heart set on him the entire night.

hello madame!

thank you so much andrea, for inviting me to such an elegant event! you manage, yet again, not to miss a detail in your planning of this wonderful affair. the chef made dog treats were to die for darling!

tata madame andrea & honey!

until we meet again ma petite amie!

sally jean the soldering queen

off i go...... to meet the soldering queen in san diego, ca

{photo courtesy of camille scheewe}

i am so excited to meet this woman, that........ i get lost & make a scene, by showing up late to my first class!

mostly everyone @ work wouldn't find this as surprising, because i'm the girl that walks into the meeting, while my "regional" manager is talking about job security and the ceo of my company says, "priscilla, glad you can make it"!

definitely, not a proud moment in my sales career, but one the ceo never let's me live down, every meeting!

so, yes, i am that girl!

here's a sneak peak @ what the class was about.

in these classes sometimes, when u need to be creative, the juices flow and then they don't.

sometimes you feel like a nut & sometimes you don't.

this class, it's so hard to not be inspired and want to learn more & more, & more. if finances weren't an issue right now, i'd be going to at least 1 more sally class that is coming up. but instead, i went on amazon and bought this book!

and so far, it has lived up to the expectation of her class. i'm glad i purchased the book after meeting her because.... i can actually hear her voice walking me through the steps in her sally voice, mannerism, anal~isms and gestures!

i love when habits rub off on me & just happen through a few hours of osmosis.

cerda~fied superheroes...

....to the rescue!!!

i almost forgot to show you this years christmas card!

i received a comment from a reader, and that's when i realized, i did not unveil this years family photo opt.

so this year, my son, mr ian, decided to throw a wrench in the family christmas card and tell me last minute that he wanted to be a ninja.

huh! "rrrragy"?

yah! so, mind you, since last year i have been planning what our christmas cards were going to be and characters the family was going to "rock". mr ian and dad, were suppose to be batman and robin.

waugh,waugh, waugh.

of course, what was i thinking? mr ian has an imagination of his own. the problem is, we're so much alike, but we're never on the same page. so i thought, how the heck am i going to spin this new non~american hero into the mix.

american hero meets anime...no?

oh! yah, i got it, american super heroes versus the japanese villan. so we made ian the "disney like model" of a villan.

so.....hija!

our christmas card was born.

enjoy & besos!xoxoxoox

la maison rustique

another successful weekend in temecula.

this weekend feb 4 & 5. you can not miss the barn sale.

i am so excited to be heading out there tomorrow morning! yeaaaahh!

{photo courtesy of sweetpeas & snapshots}

here they are:

{photo courtesy of la maison rustique}

{linda on the far left....is the owner of the barn and she is just an amazing woman. love her! and all the way to the right is ms mary smilove of sweetpeas and snapshots. omg ~ love her too!}

i can't wait to see how everyone is doing. i want to hear the stories from the girls and see what the magic elves have conjured up for this weekends events. yay!!

chateu montelena

est in 1882. this winery is historic because they produced the first chardonnay in 1976, june 7, 1976 to be exact, to win 1st place in the judgement of paris tasting, putting california in the forefront of the wine world!!

for the the results...click here

one of our favorite movies "bottle shock", featured this historic winery! how could we not see where all the magic happened for napa, ca.

let me tell you, it definitely lived up to its expectation. these pictures where taken a year ago, this month; and today,.....we just cracked open the bottle, and let me tell you, mmm, mmmm!

it was delicioso!

for a california chardonnay, there was some oaky~ness to her, but for sure, the stainless steel barrels really allowed for this chardonnay to shine on the dinner table tonight.

taco thursday with chateau montelena was an absolute hit!

kaari meng!

i am just so elated to have met the one woman behind the

fREnCH gEnERAL~ms. karri meng.

i just can not wait to also be a student of hers in may @ mary engelbreit event that is going to held late april ~ may!

aaaaah! i am so excited! I just can't stand it!!!!

my creative juices have been on hold for a few months. it's like i just could not figure myself out....but, then i received an update, and it reminded me that i have to take time off in order to attend, soooo, i remembered again.

i just can't believe that this event is just around the corner. i am going to take allot of pics.

i never receive any comments from readers, but.... i am definitely going to upload some awesome pictures from this event.

YYYYaaaahhhhoooooo!

lizzy b's giveaway!

Love is in the air!
To celebrate Valentine's Day, Lizzy B having a special giveaway!

Her husband makes these hearts from vintage spoons! Each spoon is hand pounded, cut and then sanded into a beautiful unique heart! They are incredibly time consuming but so beautiful! Everyone is so surprised when they find out the heart was from a spoon! She put the smaller one on a short sterling chain and the other two on chunkier gun metal chains. One lucky person will win a vintage spoon heart necklace!

The drawing will be on Sunday, February 14.

leave her a comment at:

lizzy b

good luck!

hiho, hiho, it's off....

to antiquing i go!!!!

it is such a pleasure to enjoy a hobby with my husband. one of our favorite hobbies, is going to antique stores, and looking at all the old 100 year old tools, books, and pictures from long ago. this weekend we hit fullerton, ca.

first stop, joy's segunda off brookhurst:

joy is korean and is so cute. she is always in a cheerful mood. any time i have a question, she answers it the best she can. but don't underestimate this women, because she definitely knows her antiques!

second stop, like mother, like daughter off commonwealth:

this is one of the owners, mrs. nola

i know my mom would love the sewing section. she has things that would just blow any one's minds. seriously!

lil valentine's day area! plus, some adorable wedding gifts. so cute.

the kitchen area was just as much fun!

these victorian girls did come home with me for a nice price of $35. love them!

on to the hair section. look at these old hair combs. aaahhhh! this is what an old spa looked like!

check out this old hair dryer!

have you ever seen such a thing? metal, rollers? amazing!!!

honestly? i have never seen such a thing.

the office section:

yummy. i love eye candy. some of these silver spoons did come home with us! yay!

buttons, button, and more vintage buttons!!!!!

aaaaaah!

for sure i'll be heading back to this sweet diamond in the rough!

i'm luv'n fullerton right now!