The Garden Gates - Bella Notte Linens & Bedding

My oldest son is heading off to college in about a month so I've been doing a bit of online shopping to gather all of his bedding needs along with the rest of his dorm room necessities.

I love to shop and buy things for my home and as I was surfing the web for my son I couldn't help but take a few detours and do a bit of online window shopping for myself. Along the way I found a gorgeous website called The Garden Gates that offers a large variety of luxurious home and garden decor items.

Since I was already looking for bedding I thought I'd take a look at the beautiful custom made Bella Notte Linens that are sold through their website.

Talk about gorgeous! All I kept thinking was, "Wow! Maybe someday I can get these gorgeous and luxurious bed sheets, pillow shams, window curtains and more for my bedroom!" They have 28 fabric choices in 17 different colors and each piece of bedding is made to order so you make all the decisions about how your bedding will look from start to finish. Use your imagination and create your own unique and one-of-a-kind bedding set.

And I have to mention that even though the luxurious fabrics that are used in creating each piece are linen, satin and velvet they are all machine washable. So you don't have to worry about any dry cleaning. Another huge plus for me!

Located in Louisiana the Garden Gates is a brick and mortar store that is open 7 days a week. If you're fortunate enough to live in the area you can see for yourself all the beautiful home and garden decor they offer. But if you live too far away as I do, don't fret! You can shop 24 hours a day on their website and drool over all of the stunning home decor items. Oh and I almost forgot to mention that they also offer free shipping!

If you're anything like me and you love to shop for your home then you simply must take a look at this stunning website! It's beautiful!

Now I have to get back to shopping for my son and his dorm room! Not nearly as much fun but you gotta do what you gotta do, right?

Okay, I'll have more to share soon...until then,

Self Publishing a Book

  
   Self publishing a book is something I've looked into in the past. A friend of mine wrote a cute holiday story for children and about 10 years ago we collaborated our talents. Our plan was that she was in charge of the writing and I was going to do the illustrating. We spent months researching the idea of submitting her story to well known book publishers. Worried that the story would get overlooked or worse...rejected...we thought perhaps self publishing was the way to go. But through our research we learned that it was pretty costly and back then we had to order tons of books ahead of time. We didn't have the money to invest in a large number of books. And even if we did have the money we feared we might have hundreds of books left on our hands if they didn't sell.

   Those facets of self publishing a book were enough for us to make our decision. But another other issue with self publishing is that you have to do all the marketing yourself. As I said, this all took place more than 10 years ago and our children were all so much younger than they are now. There was no way I would have had the time or energy to go out and work at selling a book.

    The mother of another very close friend of mine self published a book and I know she spends quite a bit of time out of town. She travels to various book stores across the country and many times she leaves her book signings only having sold a few books. It's not an easy gig.

   However, time has marched on and my kids are older and much more independent. Every once in a while I think of that darling story...especially now that the holiday season is upon us. Maybe I'll have to get in touch with my author-friend and start talking again about this business idea. Who knows?? The new year is closing in on us...my business will slow down after the holidays have passed...I might just have some time to devote to a new business. That might be interesting!

   Okay...gotta put a stop to my day-dreaming and get moving. Our high school boys football team is making it's way to the state playoffs and I will be spending the evening with my family cheering them on!

   More fun to come...until then,

Dreaming of Mom and Dad...

My dad passed away in May of 2002 and shortly after he died I began dreaming about him. My dreams of him seemed and felt SO REAL. So real I could practically feel him hugging me...and I heard his voice very clearly. And I continue to dream about him every so often. I love the fact that I dream about my dad because I believe that's my way of seeing him and staying connected to him even though he's gone.


Meanwhile, I've only had a couple of dreams about my mom and none of them were particularly vivid. In reasoning with myself I attribute this lack of illusory visions to the fact that her death is so recent and raw and fresh. I feel that perhaps before I can see her again I need to do a lot more healing. Perhaps on some spiritual level I am still very broken.


Finally a few nights ago I had a dream about her, but it wasn't particularly pleasant. We were shopping and enjoying ourselves. Then once we were done looking around the stores I saw her become as she was in her Alzheimer's state...very confused, tired and not making sense at all.

I woke up and was so disappointed that I dreamt of her like that. I want so badly to dream of her in a refreshed and renewed state...the way I believe she truly is now. All through the next day I wallowed in this letdown. I kept asking myself, "Why can't I dream of her the way I truly believe her to be now??? Why does she have to still be under the influence of her disease in my dreams?? These types of dreams didn't happen with Dad. When I saw him in my dreams he was smiling, happy and so glad to see us again." There was even a part of me that thought maybe she doesn't want to see me or connect with me. My mom always had a quiet and somewhat shy personality...maybe she won't come to me at all. Plain and simple...I felt sad.


The days passed and I allowed myself to stew on my feelings. Then something dawned on me...perhaps her appearing in my dream in her Alzheimer's state was her way of telling me that I still have lots of grieving to deal with first.

Here's my thought process...

My mom was declining for 2-3 years before she passed. And during those years I, along with my siblings, took care of her. I was overwhelmed, stressed and completely consumed with worry. And as she progressed through her disease the stress levels grew more intense and the worry deepened.

However...

In my typical fashion I never let myself feel the pain of what we were all going through. I just went from one segment of my life to the next.

I'd get up in the morning...get everyone moving and take the kids to school. I'd work all day, get the kids...scramble through dinner...help someone with homework or some other school project...take someone to practice...to their games or whatever.

Once I tied up all of those loose ends with my own daily home life I'd go over to my moms and take care of her. There was no down time. There was no time for mourning her decline. There was no time to even think about what I was going through. There was no time to cry and mourn and face the fact that this ugly disease was going to be my mom's demise.


So now that she's gone I finally have time. Yet some days I don't know where to begin. I guess I just have to soak up and absorb everything we've been through. I need to cry about how bad she had gotten. I need to feel the pain of losing her so slowly and in such a horrible manner. I need to grieve the whole process of her decline, not just her death.


So now I see that I needn't worry. My mom IS coming to me in my dreams. I believe that her appearing in this most recent dream is...perhaps...her way of telling me that I have to grieve what I've put off for the past few years. Hopefully after I muddle my way through this painful experience my mom will be able to get through to me as she is now.


I'm sure that many of you think I'm nuts! And I don't blame you. My sisters roll their eyes at me all the time. BUT...I think they like to hear these dreams because it's their chance to hear about Mom and Dad again.

I also believe that we all get through life in our own way. My dreams have always been vivid and colorful and clear. I believe they help me figure out my life...my path. My dreams help me through the good times as well as the bad.


Hopefully sometime soon I'll be able to share a dream of my mom with you and I hope to be able to tell you how beautiful and vibrant she was. I hope to see her as she was before she was kidnapped by this heinous disease.


Lots of work to do today so I better get going.

More sharing on the way...until then,



It's freezin' and I'm dreamin' of summer!

Yesterday the kids and I started planning our 2011 summer vacation. Oak Island, North Carolina is our all-time favorite summer vacation spot and there are tons of cottage rentals on the beach. So we combed through all of the choices that fit our needs trying to decide which cottage we'd like to stay in, when we'll go and so on. That started it.

Then this morning I woke up with the news that crazy Old Man Winter is stirring up yet another severe storm! So my craving for warm weather grew more intense!

Then a few minutes ago I stumbled across a photo of this painting I created a couple years ago. Seeing this picture instantly drove home my desire for warm weather fun and vacation time!

Since I'm on the subject of warm beachy weather here are a few more beach themed items I created over the years...



Oh no! Now I'm really craving the warmth and we still have a really LONG way to go until my favorite time of year!

Oh well, I suppose I'll get over it...not much of a choice anyways, right??? Maybe I'll just call it a day and snuggle up with my nice warm blanket, read my book and dream of being warm!

More fun on the way...until then,



O Sister, Where Art Thou?

Whew! I've been completely MIA the last few months! I can't believe it's been so long since my last blog post!

SO much going on in my family life...I'll fill you all in soon. Right now we are in the midst of putting my mom into assisted living. It's a very sad time in our lives but we know it will be the best thing for her once she gets settled and begins her new routine.

Needless to say, we've been on an emotional roller coaster. My daughter was watching the movie 'In Her Shoes' and I heard this poem at the end:

"I carry your heart with me
I carry it in my heart
I am never without it

Anywhere I go, you go, my dear
And whatever is done by only me,
is your doing, my darling

I fear no fate, for you are my fate, my sweet
I want no world
For beautiful, you are my world... my true

Here is the deepest secret no one knows
Here is the root of the root
And the bud of the bud

And the sky of the sky of a tree called life
Which grows higher than the soul can hope
Or mine can hide

It's the wonder that's keeping the stars apart
I carry your heart
I carry it in my heart"
~ EE. Cummings

I started to cry immediately. The meaning of this poem runs deeply within me. My dad passed away in May of 2002 and, although it took a few years, I learned that he will always be with me...he lives on in my heart. Because he's in my heart I get to see him and talk to him in my dreams.

I pray that I never stop dreaming.

And because I learned this lesson...that you never completely lose someone you love...I know the same will happen with my mom. I will always carry her in my heart.

More summer stories to share soon...until then,

Incredible...please, please, please watch...

I get emails a couple times a week from the The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur. He has very interesting and outside-of-the-box ideas about starting and growing a business. He uses lots of humor to relay his messages...as you probably could guess from his name!

Today's email included a link to this video featuring Will Smith sharing his wisdom. Although I think most people like Will Smith you certainly don't have to be a fan to appreciate what he's saying! Please, please, please take 10 minutes to watch it. Anyone who has any kind of dream at all will find this video incredibly inspiring!




More to share soon...until then,

DREAMS DO COME TRUE

Spending some time tonight taking it easy and surfing a bit.

I decided to go to my Daily Guru email folder, randomly pick a date and see what the email was from that particular day. This was the message included in the email of March 10, 2008...


"DREAMS DO COME TRUE"

You are never given a wish
without also being given the power to make it come true.

The achievement of your goal is assured
the moment you commit yourself to it.
If you have the desire, you have the power to attain it.

You can have anything you want in life
if you will sacrifice everything else for it.
Your dreams can come true if you pursue them.

Where there's a will, there's a way.

Isn't that just the best!?!?!

Mind you I had no idea what the message in the email was going to be. I just randomly looked in my Daily Guru email folder, said to myself, "I think I'll go with this one." I clicked it opened and...voila! I loved it! It's a perfect way to end my day!

More interesting things to share in the upcoming week...until then,