In Limbo

I'm sure you've noticed that I haven't been spending much time on my blog lately. I don't know why, I can't put my finger on it.  I feel as if my blog is in limbo.

I can't pinpoint if it's that I don't have the desire to constantly update it...or if I have things going on in my life now that I'm not comfortable sharing. Maybe it's a little of both of those.  It's also partly because when I post I like to put a lot of thought into what I post, and thought takes time. I haven't had a lot of that lately.

For some reason, about a month ago I got a wild notion of starting a FaceBook page for Kona. Don't ask my why. It was just a silly idea. I thought it would be fun to see if anyone would "like" it.  Well, come to find out, I've had nearly 7000 people like it in just over a month! That's been a fun little project for me to play around with. Posting the pictures is quick, easy, and doesn't take much thought. I get the instant gratification of the people giving his posts the thumbs up.

It's been fun for me to watch his page grow. I guess speaking through him is like having a little alter ego. A sweet, furry, lovable alter-ego, that everyone seems to love. You can't knock that. If you are on FaceBook and want to check out his page, his link is Kona "The Love Sponge"

I've had plenty of stuff going on here, some really good, some not so good.  Such is life, right? I try not to dwell on the not so good, but sometimes that is easier said than done.  I'm sure it's like that for all of us.

On to some of the good.  Yesterday was Mother's Day.  I got to spend Mother's Day with my Mom, my husband, two of my children and my dogs.

 

We went out for breakfast, spent part of the day out and about, then came back to the house where I got some lovely gifts, and we enjoyed an afternoon of fun in the pool. It was a very pleasant, low stress, relaxing day.

I've got two big, exciting things coming up very soon. First a trip to Hawaii in just a couple of weeks that I am really looking forward to. I owe that to the fantastic company I work for - the RGT Group. Be sure to check out our new web site. www.rgtgold.com 

We are staying at the Sheraton Black Rock, which has some of the best snorkeling on Maui. 

I love to snorkel, and I am really excited about getting on my gear and hitting the water. So excited in fact, that I got it all out yesterday and did a little test run in the pool!

The other exciting "thing" happening soon is that our addition to the family will be coming home in about 4 weeks.  We paid a visit Saturday. Needless to say the puppies have changed just a little bit since I saw them last.

One of these 3 little fellows will be coming home with us soon.

 They had all had baths just before we arrived. They were cuddled and getting dry in towels SO cute!

 This was Kona (on the left) at about the same age....and one of the males from the litter.

 Snugly little wet faces.

 One of the sweet females.

So, as you can see, there are a lot of things going on. I've only mentioned some of the good here. There are more good things to tell about.  Fun, exciting things going on in the house. I'll try to stay focused on the good.  Promise. 

I'll do my best to keep up a little better, but please hang in there with me. I'm probably not going to be as consistent as I was - at least not for a while. Just too much other "stuff" going on. 

Balboa Park-a Different View

Here are a few pictures I took of Balboa Park Thursday.  They aren't the typical "touristy" photos that I've posted of the park in the past. 

They are...well...a bit different. 

Sometimes different is good, right? 

 Any "Dr. Who" fans out there? This reminded me of one of my favorite episodes.... you'll know the one....
"Don't blink!"

One Year

Well, here I am. A year has gone by, and dispite how I doubted it at times, I am doing ok. It's still incredibly hard to believe that I lost my Dad a year ago, but I'm hanging in there, and I think, beginning to heal a little bit.

It has been a long, very hard year, but I know that was to be expected.  I'm glad this marker of time is here and as of tomorrow, will be gone.  Does that make sense? I'm pretty sure that anyone that has loved someone as dearly as I love my Dad can understand what I mean. 

I started thinking about this a couple of months ago....how I would spend this day.  I knew it would be difficult, but I also knew there would be no way to stop it's arrival.  I decided to make something positive out of the day, if that was at all possible.  I decided to get a tattoo in his honor.  I already have one for my Mom - it's a pink ribbon, in honor of her being a breast cancer survivor.  I also have another small tatto of 4 different colored hearts, one for my husband (in blue) and one for each of my children (one each of pink, green and purple) with a vine holding them all together.  I thought long an hard about what I wanted, and finally came up with a design I was happy with....

Before I went to get my tattoo, there were some other things to be done.  AJ's last day in San Diego (until he comes home for spring break) was yesterday. It started off nice...as you see here, I'm not the only one who enjoys AJ being home... 

We went out for lunch, and then did a little shopping....

We decided to go out for a special dinner to our favorite place - Morton's Steak House. It was, as always, a FANTASTIC dinner.

Yup, he was a happy camper.

In addition to our "regular" dessert of Morton's special chocolate hot lava cake, we shared a piece of Key Lime pie, my Dad's favorite.  

This morning, after dropping of AJ at the airport, we headed to the cemetery. It was so strange to see that date on his stone. Jan. 5th.

After running some other errands, it was finally time to get my long awaited ink.  Here is the pattern starting.  You can see my first tattoo, the 4 hearts and vine I mentioned earlier. 

I was surprised that Bear and her boyfriend, Barry decided to come to offer a little support.  Bear got caught up in the excitement, and before we knew it she decided to get something too. 

The design was finally right, and it was time to start mine.

I love Chris aka "Bud" from Absolute Tattoo. He is awesome.

He starts the outline...

and then Pickle decided that she too, wanted to get something in honor of GPa!

The black outline was done...time to move on to the flowers.

Each of the girls decided to get a little flower, very similar to mine.

Pickles was pink and orange, Bears was purple.

Bud starts on the green leaves.

Here you can see the pink flowers outlined in a darker pink.It's starting to really shape up.

All of the outline was done...

Hubby was there for support too, but no ink for him!

The shading in the flowers was done, and Bud was putting the finishing touches on for me.

Here are Bear and Pickle's finished products.

And here is mine! Do you like the little pink spade in there?

I know there are a lot of people out there that don't particularly care for tattoos.  That's ok, they aren't for everyone.  I love mine, and I'm very glad I got it. It has very special meaning to me, and that's all that matters.

 

'nuff said.