Because I am the Older Sister

I met a fellow blogger yesterday at one of my trunk shows and her enthusiasm about blogging was contagious. She is an up-and-coming PW with her own domain name, hundreds of followers and even more daily hits. That's serious blogging.

Anyway, she said she posts every day and I asked her how she comes up with things to write every single day. She said, "Oh, I just tell stories," and I thought to myself, "But I don't have any stories." And, at the time, I couldn't think of a single one.

Until this morning.

So, just to give you a little background on what I'm about to tell you...I am the older sister of two younger brothers. We have always been a close family, and I have always been slightly protective. And bossy.

Bossy to the point of picking out (err rather trying to pick out) my brothers' girlfriends. It's a wonder they were able to pick out the amazing women they are currently with on their own, without any help from moi.

Anyway, there was Bethany, Brooke, Shawna, Alex, and another girl whose name I don't remember. I actually tried to force these women on my poor brothers! But, my absolute favorite was Miss Amy O and for years, I would beg the youngest of the three of us to go out with her. "But Matt," I would say, "She's so cute and so sweet. Yall would be such a great couple." His response, "T, she's crazy, psycho, and trust me, you don't want me hanging out with her." But, I think she did actually go to Johnnies one night with the fam.

A few years later when I was still begging him to find Miss Amy O and start some sort of relationship with her, I think he said she was in jail. Or pregnant. Or pregnant and in jail. Not sure.

But today, I can finally say I trust my younger brothers' abilities to make decisions for themselves. Not only do they have two wonderful women in their lives, but I opened the Oklahoman this morning to find this in the newspaper...

Please watch. Sorry but you'll have to sit through the ad.

Miss Amy O was arrested in OKC this week for hiding a stolen baby (her own) in the backseat of her car under other possibly stolen merchandise. She and the male she was with were apparently in my parent's neighborhood and about to attempt some burglaries. Wow. Thankfully, the baby has been returned to her father. And Miss Amy is behind bars. Again.

I guess if younger brother wants to start something now with my pick for him, he can find her in the OK County jail.

BTW, he was right....the newspaper article listed multiple arrests for Miss Amy over the past 8 years. And judging from what Matt said, she was pregnant and in jail.

And in honor of Thanksgiving...some links

There is a girl about my age who lives in Oklahoma City. I don't know her, although I know several people who do. And she has been invited to several of my trunk shows, but I have still yet to meet her. I do think she has impeccable taste though and I have been blog-stalking her on a regular basis; her posts are inspiring. She is a designer and I wish she would make a stop off in Jenks to do some designing. Maybe I could pay her in jewelry.

P.S. I know this pic is from a magazine, but I found it on her blog and I love it.

I found this picture on Design Crush and think it's hilarious. I drew my brother's name for our Christmas exchange and if he doesn't get his list to me quickly, guess what he's getting!

Last and in honor of Thanksgiving, if you are in the mood for a laugh, check out Cakewrecks, the blog devoted to cakes gone terribly wrong. Be sure to read the captions; they are always hilarious!

Free Jewelry Anyone?

Well, I did it. I quit my day job. And now I've embarked on a whole new adventure. Actually, I quit my day job for reasons totally unrelated, but then this opportunity fell in my lap and I just couldn't resist. I love jewelry, and I love this jewelry. So, why not?

In under a month, I have gone from being a nurse to being a stylist for Stella and Dot! Actually, I will always be a nurse and will probably soon find an additional job in nursing, but for now this is it and I couldn't be more excited!

For anyone who is not familiar with Stella and Dot, it is a fabulous direct sales jewelry company. I know, the words "direct sales" are a little scary to me too, but here's how I see it...A friend invited me to a girl's night out at her friend's house last week. I didn't have anything going on and since I don't know many people in the area, I thought "why not." So, on a Thursday evening, we went to Erin's house where there was wine, food, and a great selection of really fun jewelry to purchase. It was fun. No pressure. Just girl-talk and jewelry!

After I fell in love with everything I saw at the party and had a blast, I figured that this would be a great way to earn a little money, meet some new people, go to more fun parties and get great jewelry! It's a win-win for me!

So, I'm sharing this with everyone in cyberland because I'm hoping you will check it out. Go to my website and look at all the fabulous products. You can buy directly from my site, or you can host your own girls' night out and earn tons of free and half-priced items. Free jewelry- it doesn't get any better than that! Just let me know what you think, and I can help you start planning your own party.

Or, if you love it like I do, you can join my team!

a few things

It is amazing the things you will discover about yourself by spending nine days at the lake. Almost alone. At the end of the summer. When the lake is eerily calm and empty and it has rained over six inches in a thirty-six hour period. Although nice, it leaves you wondering where everyone is. It is too quiet here. Oh yes, I almost forgot. Football season has begun. 

Anyway, this quiet, calm period of nothing-to-do except exactly what I want has forced me to realize a few things. These are not necessarily important things, yet they are things nonetheless and I am in a sharing mood.

So, a few things....

1. I am addicted to HGTV and even if I don't particularly care for a certain show, I can't turn the channel. I watch and watch until I have developed completely unrealistic ideas/ goals for my home. House project number one: elevate the house until it sits on a hill overlooking the city. Tear out the walls and replace with gigantic windows allowing all of the sunlight to come streaming in. Finish the project with a giant all-glass bathtub. See the problem here?

2. I want to be a runner. There is something so freeing about setting out on the open road with nothing but an ipod filled with your favorite tunes to keep you company. However, my body has other ideas for me, and exercise isn't one of them. It only takes about ten steps out of the front door before I have shin splints. They are painful. And they refuse to go away.

3. If you are a realtor and you want to sell a house, why bother posting it online without a single picture? Come on people. Oh and don't make a youtube video with your own personal shaky camcorder to take me on a tour of the house. It makes me carsick.

4. I want to do something creative with my life. I want to have my own booth at the market. I want to open a tiny scrapbooking store at the lake (or all things paper). I want to own the retail portion of Annie's future cupcake store. Today, I want to do anything but nursing.

5. Why oh why does Nate Berkus have to be gay? 

6. I can read an entire novel only to try to reread it several years later and not realize until 100 pages in that I have read it before. And then only vaguely remember the book. Did I read the whole book? Did I only read this chapter? I am so confused.

7. Speaking of books, I highly recommend Left for Dead and Into Thin Air. I am not a mountain climber, and I will never be a mountain climber (refer to #2), but I found these books thrilling to read.

Well, that's enough for tonight. But I hope everyone is having a great weekend and is safely celebrating our Sooner's tonight!

16 things

Because today is August 16th, and because I have not posted since June 30th, I am pretty sure it is time to write something. I do have several posts planned, but they all seem to take a lot of time, meaning that I really have to think about what I am writing or upload some pictured before I can post. So, just because it is Sunday and I am still in my pajamas and just had cookie dough for breakfast, I am going to settle with this post. In honor of Sunday, August 16th, this is 16 things that are on my mind today.

1. The awesome chandelier art by Erin Glover that was debuted on HGTV yesterday. I would LOVE to have one of her pieces. Google her.

2. I have a million pictures to scrapbook. I really should be doing that instead of writing this. 

3. I am going to have to get in some exercise today to burn off the cookie dough.

4. I wish my brother would call me back b/c I could really use his advice.

5. I am so ready to move back to OKC. Anybody hiring nurses? Haha....that's a silly question.

6. I hope my parents had fun at my mom's reunion in Albuquerque. Drive carefully M&L!

7. I can't believe my husband told me I have a "cold, negative heart." I don't think I do, but maybe I do. Regardless, I'm pretty sure a husband isn't supposed to say mean things like that.

8. My feet are still recovering from the 3day walk, but it was soooo worth it! I think I may have to do it again!

9. Because I want to move, I suddenly have a new addiction to HGTV. I love seeing the changes they make to these houses, but they make it look so easy.

10. I need to clean. Ugh.

11. Jack knocked the lamp over and burned a hole through the shade and two layers of carpet last night. Had I gone out of town this weekend, would I have come back to a house engulfed in flames? Scary.

12. Anyone ever seen a cop in a pink uniform? There were several along the 3day route. They were pretty darn sexy if you ask me. (I'll post pictures soon).

13. my younger brother is about to turn the big 3-0 on Tuesday. Wow, I'm old! Happy b-day C!

14. Seeing as how it's after 11am, I should probably brush my teeth.

15. Aren't you supposed to be able to rely on your friends? Isn't that why they are friends to begin with? Ok just checking.

16. An orange and cream soda should sounds good, but is it worth a trip to reasor's....prob not!

The End. Enjoy your Sunday, everyone!