Birthday surprise

Well, I'm moving very slow this morning. I will be out of town next weekend when my actual birthday arrives so my friends gave me a surprise party last night. I have the best friends in the whole world!

It really was a surprise too! As a matter of fact, it was such a surprise, I almost didn't go. I was tired and just wanted to go to sleep. I got talked into just showing up long enough to say hi to everyone. Well, I stayed a lot longer than that. LOL!

Want to know something funny? I think they are planning some kind of surprise for me at work on Monday. That's the only day next week that I'm actually showing up to work. LOL! The kids in my class are in on it and they spilled the beans. They told me everything and then told me not to guess. LOL!

Here's to surprise parties...

http://www.4shared.com/file/70268450/267dabb1/Birthdays_11-08-08.html?

Lie

I'm using this on one of my birthday projects. Hope you can use it too...

http://www.4shared.com/file/69942168/23c8b421/Lie_11-6-08.html?

Living life

I had a very interesting talk with a friend of mine about life in general. He talked about the things he has done and the things he is waiting to do. Waiting....for kids to get older, for the economy to get better, to drop that 10 pounds he's added, to pay the mortgage off, to get a promtion at work, to get a new truck....Waiting

Now, I know we can't throw our responsibilities out the window, but what happens to our life if we all just sit around and wait? Will we look back and be glad that we waited or will we be sad about the missed adventures? Is there a way to be responsible and still live our dreams?

The dreams I have now are not the dreams of my youth---gave up on that rock star dream a long time ago. LOL! I have seen many of my dreams come true---I have bungee jumped. I have been to Paris. I have loved someone with every ounce of my being and known his love in return. There are more, but those are the biggies!

There are other dreams that I haven't visited in a while and I think it's time that I did. It's time to stop waiting and start living...

http://www.4shared.com/file/69423719/9461efd9/Live_the_Life_11-03-08.html?

What a day

Saturday was a wonderful day! I slept till 10:00 (one of the advantages of living alone) I didn't leave the house until 5:00 today. LOL! I had trouble finding my car in the parking garage again. (It was on the third level this time.)

Thank goodness there are only two levels to the parking garage at the grocery store. Any more and I'd never be able to buy ice cream. It would always melt before I found the car. LOL!

I caught up on the episodes of Dexter that I had missed. Love that show!

I went across the courtyard for a cookout with my friends. It was a beautiful day with lots of sunshine so I took the catwalk in Jimmy's honor. We went out for a ride on the boat and watched the sunset from the water.

We took a walk down to Collins Avenue for a few drinks. With weather like we're having the walk and outside table were a must.

A couple of the guys decided to get tattoos in Jimmy's memory. Us girls watched as they endured the pain and claimed that it didn't hurt at all.

I have no tattoos. I'm way too big of a chicken for something like that. I tried to talk them out of the tattoos. I thought they should wait and think it through a little more. Maybe let a little more time pass. I asked why they would get a tattoo to honor someone that didn't have any tattoos and they answered, "because we can." LOL!

They were happy with themselves for their decision so I had to support them and I must admit that the tattoos looked great. I just hope they're still happy with their decision a couple of days, weeks and years from now...

http://www.4shared.com/file/69328850/488962fd/Foolish_things_11-2-08.html?

It's my birthday...

Well, OK, so it's not really my birthday yet, but it will be my birthday soon and everyone that knows me knows that I believe November belongs to me. LOL! A couple of years ago I had a student in my class whose birthday was the same day as mine and I tired to tell him that he needed to change his birthday to sometime in March. The poor kid! He just laughed and said that I couldn't change his birthday, only his mom could do that.

I never work on my birthday. I tell everyone that I don't work on any other national holidays so why would I work on my birthday. This year my birthday falls on a Saturday so I won't be working. However, I decided that I'll take off some workdays as well and have an even longer celebration.

My firends indulge my month long birthday becuase they love me and know that they only have to put up with it once a year. So here's to my month long celebration....

http://www.4shared.com/file/69261425/3d6cc33e/Princess_11-1-08.html?

Days like this...

Would you believe I had more computer trouble? We thought we had gotten it fixed but there was spyware hiding in my computer. Anyway, I was on the phone with a tech guy until 2:30 this morning. That left me going to school with less than four hours sleep. Too bad we don't take naps in Kindergarten anymore! LOL!

Well, I got to school only to learn that the air conditioning was out in my building. That might sound strange to those of you that live where the weather is getting cooler, but this is Miami--- Home of year round air conditioning! Being in a classroom with 18 five year olds when the AC is out is no picnic.

I was born here, but I grew up in a small North Carolina town that I couldn't wait to leave after high school. Days like today, remind me of just how good those NC days were. I actually miss the winter sweaters and snow days. Oh, how I miss those snow days! The best ones were when it snowed during the night and you woke up to find everything covered in a beautiful white blanket, then you turned on the TV and learned that school was closed. Life was at its best on those days.

The weather man says that it's going to get cold here over the next couple of days. That means the high tomorrow is only expected to reach 72. LOL! Then is should slowly warm back up after that. Guess we're not going to get any sympathy from those of you that are already experiencing temperatures in the 50's, are we?

Anyway, I normally claim Florida as my home state and I do it proudly, but days like today just seem to carry me back. Here's a goodie for anyone that understands how it feels to miss a place you couldn't get away from fast enough...

http://www.4shared.com/file/68544482/af8b2649/Home_10-27-08.html?

Letting Go

I know a teenager with a broken heart. She has announced, in that dramatic way that only teenagers can, that her life will never be happy again. He was the best thing that ever happened to her and she isn't ever going to date anyone else. Well, her father was rather happy with the last part of her announcement. LOL!

She is sad and we tried not to let her see us laugh as she told us all that there was no way we could ever understand or when she checked the caller ID on a phone that didn't ring to see if she had missed a call from him. However, I'm pretty sure she heard the laughter after she stormed down the hall and slammed her bedroom door.

We weren't laughing at her. We were laughing because we have all been there. We were all just as dramatic. We were all just as sure that we would never recover from the heart break. We were also laughing because we were on our second pitcher of Margaritas, but she doesn't need to know that. LOL!

I want to tell her that she is going to be fine, no, better than fine. She is a young, beautiful, intelligent lady and she will know an endless amount of happiness in her life. The unhappy days that have been and that will continue to be sprinkled throughout her life are the days that will ultimately lead her to the places she needs to be so that she can know what true happiness is.

I want to tell her that maybe he is the best thing that has ever happened to her, but he is not the best thing that will ever happen. She is at the end of one road, but there are other roads to travel down and they each bring new adventures. What she considers "the best thing" at seventeen won't hold a candle to her "best thing" five years or even just one year from now.

I want to tell her that, much to her father's chagrin, she will date again. She will date and she will fall in love. Sadly, she may know more heartache. She may even cause someone's heart to break. But she will live to date another day and she will date even cuter guys. LOL!

I want to tell her that someday she will look back on this day and smile. She won't forget the pain she feels now but the sting from that pain will fade and only the memory will remain. She may look back and see her "what if" guy or she may look back and see an "OMG! What was I thinking" guy. Either way, she will smile.

I want to tell her these things but I think I will wait. I am going to wait because she is seventeen and sad. I am going to wait because right now these aren't the words she wants to hear. I am going to wait because I know she will just say that I don't understand. I am going to wait because like the saying goes---When you're seventeen, it's hard to see past Friday night.

Here's a goodie for anyone else that knows the pain of letting go...

http://www.4shared.com/file/68020068/863bb941/Letting_Go_10-23-08.html

Then and now

Yesterday, I had someone from my past contact me. It was an old boyfriend. He was my "what if" guy. You know, the one you think about and wonder how different your life would be if you had stayed together. We had kept in touch through Christmas cards and the occasional phone call every year or so, but we hadn't seen each other since right after college. So, when he called to say that he was in Miami and would love to see me I was shocked. Mostly, because he had always said that he hated Miami. LOL!

I met him for dinner last night and we did some sight seeing. We laughed over stories from our past and caught up on our current lives. His son turning sixteen, my still having a North Carolina accent, the divorce from his wife, the fact that I still can't speak spanish, the new job that brought him to Miami, my love for this city that keeps me here, the chances of him visiting again...

Well, it was good to see him and the sight of him still makes my heart skip a beat. He has grown into an even more wonderful man then he was all those years ago and he was pretty wonderful then. His life is full and happy and I am happy for him.

After I left him at his hotel, I smiled all the way home. We had shared a wonderful night, but (didn't you just know there would be a but) I wouldn't trade the life I've known since we parted for the life I would have had if things had worked out for us way back then. Staying with him all those years ago would have meant never meeting Charlie, the real love of my life.

It's been almost three years since Charlie passed away and they've been rough years. I miss him everyday, but the years that we had together have given me the strength to get through. My life is not perfect and it isn't the life I used to dream of, but it's my life and it's a pretty good one to have.

My life may not be perfect, but I do have perfect days and if those Dolphins had been able to pull off a win, yesterday would have been one of them. LOL! I can't wait to see what today has in store for me!

How are you going to spend your day...

http://www.4shared.com/file/67581680/4667fed1/Today_10-20-08.html

Attitude

I know someone who is 6 going on 40. LOL! Do you know anyone like that? Here's a goodie for you if you do.

Get the boy here...

http://www.4shared.com/file/67080293/290dc020/Boy_Attitude_10-14-08.html

And get the girl here...

http://www.4shared.com/file/67080325/2258d6e9/Girl_Attitude_10-14-08.html

By special request...

I was asked to make this by a friend for some pages she is working on. What a wonderful pledge it is to make to ourselves. We should all make the most of ourselves and of the time we have. Work is important but so are other things. We seem to get so tied up with responsibilities that we forget about all the other things that are important in our lives. Things that we need to make ourselves complete.

You can pick up your goodies here...

http://www.4shared.com/file/65700333/68ca28cd/Pledge_10-12-08.html

and here...

http://www.4shared.com/file/65700357/39fd4b52/Pledge_part_2_10-12-08.html

I'm playing today!

Have you ever spent an entire Saturday working, cleaning, catching up and running errands? Whatever happened to the fun Saturday's of our youth? The days that lasted forever and were spent doing fun, silly things? The days that we longed for all week? Well, I've decided that starting today I'm taking my Saturdays back. No more doing things that have to be done. From now on I'm spending my Saturdays playing. I hope you'll join me and get out and have some fun today.

Here's a freebie for everyone that wants spend the day playing...

http://www.4shared.com/file/64641529/b59e9594/Growing_Old_9-27-08.html