Fleur de Aleta

From Elvis to Oz This weekend so far, we saw the King and followed the yellow brick road. The weekend started early for us, as Greg and I had tickets to see an Elvis impersonator. Dad bought the tickets, but they weren’t able to attend, so we invited Madelyn and her daughter, Caitlyn. Right after I got off of work, we started on the two-hour drive to Mississippi. The performance was held at the Hard Rock Casino. Greg wrote to Dad about it afterwards. He described it well: ***** “It was very entertaining. He did all of the songs very well.. about 90% of him looked like the King... and he was a great singer... always on key with a strong voice. Some of his movements were a little different than I’ve seen in recorded performances... but the effect was definitely there. The only down side is very often his mouth was right ON the microphone and his words sounded distorted. A little too loud here and there.. and several times VERY bright lights were in the audiences face... too often if you ...

Kristen, a friend that I've known for 30 years, and I were discussing the past and how life has changed over the years. She sent me an email with a poem she wrote and I asked if I could post it on my blog. With her permission.... *********************** As I was cleaning out my desk this weekend, I came across my very first poem I wrote about 10 years ago. It is a very important poem to me and I am so glad I ran across it again as it reminds me that I am okay with who I have become. The Awakening I awake from a distorted conscientious dream, I am no longer blind as to what life seems, Haunting visions of the past, How long does torture last, Realizing the trials that have been since birth Has contributed to what I am now worth, I look forth with deep eyes so bold, What’s my mystic future to hold? Some who know me may know that I have experienced some dark paths along my way and was lost in life at some points. As I turned my life around and started on a better path, I was always as...

A couple of posts ago, I wrote about the iLocalis for Greg's phone. Yes, he has an iPhone. I have a cell phone. Don't know what kind I have. It's more like a paperweight in my purse. Greg has an iMac - REALLY nice. I'm still a PC. *sigh* BUT... we're talking about the iPad. See, I don't bring my laptop with me on vacations. It's too much to lug around, go through airport security, plug, unplug, blah, blah, blah on vacations. It's a vacation, no? I mean, aren't the laptops intrusive ~ you're limited with space already in a hotel room, airplanes aren't exactly the easiest of places to use laptops and though it's a "laptop" it really isn't convenient in your lap. At the same time, I think Dad is tired of me pestering him to use HIS computer that he lugs around and goes through airport security with, etc, while we're on our family vacations. So, when the undeniably cool iPad came out ~ oh, la la ~ NICE ~ it caught my eye! In...

I’m so excited to share my newest blog with you! **** Aleta’s Accessories ***** Jill, the talented blog designer who created Fleur de Aleta, has worked with me to bring Aleta’s Accessories into the bloggy world. (If you want a blog designer, Jill is awesome to work with!!) When Greg said, “You should have one place for all of your jewelry pictures” I took his words to heart. Some pictures were on Picasa, some on FB, some on Fleur de Aleta…. At “Aleta’s Accessories” there’s a gallery for completed jewelry pieces, as well as I can blog post projects I’m currently working on. What fun! Thank you, Jill, for your creativity and for keeping a focus on what I wanted in the design. I love it! One change on this site is that I took down the Crafted by Aleta scroll and added in the Aleta’s Accessories button on the right side. Hope you enjoy my jewelry endeavors! (Tomorrow's post on Aleta's Accessories will have a St Patrick's day pendant and ring ~ be sure to check it out!)

Remember how the Big Bear Lake vacation ended? With me getting sick... I still have it, yes, after all this time. I had to see the doctor twice. First time, he said it was a sinus infection. He gave me a shot and two prescriptions. I felt better, but it was persistant and came back like a tidal wave. Second visit, another shot and two new prescriptions. Seems I have a bronchial infection as well as sinusitis (which was resistant to the first group of meds), oh joy. I'm feeling better, not 100 %, but I'll take better. Let's put it this way, I was REALLY HAPPY to go to work! I can only take so many days at home being sick. After a while it gets depressing and annoying. Soooo, feeling better now - Yeah! But I missed Greg's parents' birthday party :( I did ask Greg to take some pictures. He actually took pictures of the birthday cards. Really funny ones too. Greg said, "Everyone was laughing at me, because I took pictures of the cards, but I wanted you to see them....

Mama Kat's creates various writing prompts for bloggers. I haven't participated before, but thought I'd give it a shot for today :) I might use some of her earlier prompts for later blog posts. Here are the ones for this week: The Prompts: 1.) Write a letter to yourself from someone who has passed on. (ie: parent, grandparent, famous person, friend, pet, etc) 2.) Create and share a Whrrl story. 3.) Write a Haiku that describes what you love about an ordinary day. 4.) What lights your fire? Describe five things you are most passionate about. 5.) Share some photos and stories as well as what you love about spring. (Visit Mama Kat's at: http://www.mamakatslosinit.com/ I picked # 4) Describe 5 things you are most passionate about: 1) What lights my fire? Greg! I can't say enough good things about this man. I'm not making it up either, that's the best part! He's real. He's smart. He's creative and thoughtful. He's passionate for me :) He's se...

My good friend, Kristen, is a mystery shopper! Well, of course, I had to ask her all about it, because what woman doesn't like to shop and then... get paid for it - woah! In her words, "I first heard about Mystery Shopping through friends, being paid to shop and eat out and rate the customer service. Then later on I was reading an article on MSN Money about a way to make extra money and Mystery Shopper was one of the options. It gave a few different websites: Best Mark, Mystery Guest, Mystery Shop and Experience Exchange. There are plenty of different types of assignments - some are retail, car sales, casinos, restaurants (dine and fast food). Earnings vary by assignment. I was not concerned about it being a scam since they were listed in a MSN Money article." She told me about some of her experiences: "I really enjoyed the one this past weekend. Lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings - this one was just reimbursement up to $ 20 but I had to reveal myself at the end of the assi...

iLocalis Greg added the iLocalis feature to his iPhone. It has a tracking device; you can log into the Internet and find out where the phone is via a detailed map. Greg gave me access to the login, saying, "Now you'll always know where I am!" ;-) Greg has his iLocalis set to update his current location every 10 minutes. The good thing is that if he ever loses his iPhone (fortunately this has never happened), he can track the location. Greg said he is able to remotely delete the data from his iPhone, should he think it was stolen. I also read that if you think your iPhone is stolen, you can log into iLocalis and send yourself a text message. If the thief changed the sim card, you'll get their phone number! And get this..... if you go with the 20 dollar a year plan, you can also record 30 seconds of whatever is going on around the phone.... remotely. You log into the iLocalis on the Internet, set it to record and have it sent to your email. I did a test of this with...

Greg started the weekend on Friday night by helping a friend of mine move. They took two trips from the old location to the new location and on the second trip, the rain started. Unfortunately, I had to work late because we had two late loans to close and end of month reports to do. Greg was exhausted by the time he got home and he felt really bad for my friend, because she was suffering with allergies and sinus problems. Saturday morning Greg woke up early, went to the grocery store and prepared the breakfast delight. He brought the mixture to my parents’ home and served them Banana Pancakes. This all came to be when we were in Vegas and Mom ordered Banana Pancakes. What was given to her ~ regular pancakes with slices of bananas on top! Greg told her at that point, “When we get home, I’ll make my famous Nana Pancakes for you!” True to his word, Greg did so. Mom called me later on to say, “Those were the MOST DELICIOUS pancakes I’ve ever had!” I didn’t go to my parents’ home when Greg ...