There are days when I really forget how blessed I am. When I am having a very stressful day at work, or if I am feeling sad or upset about something I tend to get a little negative. I think we have all felt that way. I will think to myself, "Why can't my life be better?" Or "Why did this have to happen to me?" 
    Well the truth is, life is how we make it, and I have learned that if I don't like something in my life, I have the power to change it. And if there is something I can't control or change, than I can change my attitude about it. If I do that, than my life will get better. And it doesn't need to really be better because it is already great.  So When I start feeling down and out, I think of all of the things I have that enrich my life.
    1. I have a nice house to live in.
    2. I have plenty of clothes.
    3. I have plenty of food
    4. I have the most wonderful family.
    5. I have the greatest friends ever.
    6. I have a job so I can make money and pay my bills.
    Those are things we take for granted and I really try not to because I know how lucky I am. There are a lot of people who don't have the nice things I have. Sometimes I lose patience. Sometimes I lose faith. And yes, sometimes I am Negative. And I admit that there are things I wish for.  Like a nice guy to love me. And to be married someday. But I am POSITIVE that I will always always be grateful for every blessing that is bestowed on me and for the greatest gift that a person can ever have: the love of family and friends. I can't ask for anything more.

This month it is fours years since my grandmother passed away from cancer. It still feels like yesterday and I still miss her so much. I always will. But I cherish all of the special memories I have of her, I will always be grateful for the time I had with her, and will always think of her with a smile. So in tribute to her I would like to share a poem I wrote about her after she died. 
 
 In Loving Memory
 
 There are no words
                                                                    for all there is to say
                                                                    Just pain that sometimes feels like
                                                                    it might never go away
                                                                    My heat is broken, ripped apart
                                                                    though for you I know it's not an end
                                                                    but a heavenly brand new start
                                                                    For you are not just my grandma now
                                                                    but an angel too
                                                                    That and bittersweet memories
                                                                    will help to see me through
                                                                    Though I will never stop
                                                                    thinking of and missing you
                                                                    But I have faith and comfort
                                                                    that you have gone into the light
                                                                    and your spirit is shining eternally bright
                                                                    Someday the pain will ebb
                                                                    the tears to cease
                                                                    I will find peace
                                                                    I will be fine
                                                                    And I thank God that
                                                                    of all the grandmas in this world
                                                                    YOU WERE MINE

My Blog today is inspired by Tropical Storm Isaac. Having it come so close to Florida, where I live, has brought back memories of all of the storms I have survived. One in particular which showed what the power of prayer can do.
    It happened several years ago when Hurricane Frances struck Florida. It was the first ever hurricane I went through, and I was so scared. It was projected to be a Catagory two storm when it made landfall in South Florida with winds at over 100 miles per hour. Not good.
    It started to come through at 8am. At 8:30am we lost power. So we all sat around to ride it out. I tried to read but it was dim in the house with the hurricane shutters covering every window and the sound of the wind was so loud! The worst weather came through during the night. I was literally up for 24 hours straight cause I was too scared to sleep.  My mom and my two sisters went to bed around ten and my dad and I stayed up watching the tiny battery powered tv we had so we could watch the weather. At one point we had to barricade the front door with a heavy piece of furniture because it almost blew in!  Yikes! 
    Then my dad fell asleep. Well the storm was so powerful the whole house shook and I was freaked that the roof would blow off. It didn,t because luckily, they build houses strong in Florida because of Hurricane Season! But I know that wasnt the only thing I had on my side. Before the storm hit, my mom and I went around the house sprinkling holy water everywhere. And that night, scared, and wishing the damn storm would just go away,(it was very slow moving so it took forever for it to pass through Florida), I started to pray. I prayed that my house would stay in one piece and my family would stay safe. I swear I prayed the whole night! 
    When morning came, and the weather got better, my dad and I went outside to inspect the damage. What I witnessed I believe was a miracle. While we had lost some tiles off of our roof, and we had some trees down, there was NO major damage! Not only that, but every home around us had lost their screen enclosures around their pools EXCEPT for us! Our enclosure was still standing! Even the cars in our driveway were totally unscathed! The only hard part was we were without power for five days which meant no air conditioning in very hot summer weather! Believe me, I never took electricity for granted again! The night of the storm, not only did I see the power of mother nature, I also saw the power of prayer when it was all over and my house and my family were safe. I know all of my prayers and the holy water helped to bring us through the storm. The power of God's love is mighty indeed!

I thought I would add onto the thought I touched on in my blog yesterday that nothing is impossible. This is about a photo that was given to me that is very special.
    Being a huge Bealtes fan I love anything that has to do with them. Especially with my favorite one John Lennon. Many of you may not know, but he was shot and killed on December 8th 1980 by a derranged fan. My favorite song of his is Imagine. To me it is a song of hope for a better world.
    Anyway my dad used to be the Vice President of Office Depot and all of the people he worked with liked him. One day he happened to be talking to a guy and told him how I am a huge John Lennon fan.  Well as it turned out the guy was friends with a photographer. And this photographer had photos he had taken of John Lennon, and when his friend told him I was a fan he generously offered to give me one of his photos!
    When my dad told me, I was out of this world excited! And when I finally got it, it was amazing! The picture was of John in New York City, in front of The Dakota building where he lived. What makes this photo special is it was taken the DAY he died only a few hours before it happened. It was like holding a piece of history in my hands. I was honored and humbled that a guy who didnt even know me would give me such a precious thing! Today it is framed and hanging on my wall. It is not the picture shown with this blog LOL. That's just one I found in a magazine. Anyway that one 8 by 10 picture is one of my most treasured things. That is just one of the many blessings I have been given in my life. And this I know is true: Each blessing you receive is proof that anything is possible, dreams do come true, and you should always pay it foward. That is why I write these blogs. In hopes that through the telling of the
things that have touched my life, I can inspire the lives of others and pass on the happiness I have been
given. Everyone should always have a reason to smile!

I thought I had run out of ideas for new blogs but then I thought of something great to write about. I mentioned this concert in passing I believe in one of my other blogs, but now I want to go into detail because it was amazing how everything came together to make it an amazing night for me.
     My parents surprised me with tickets to a Ringo Starr concert for my high school graduation present. I was never so excited in my life! I am a huge Beatles fan and to be able to see one of them perform live was always a dream of mine. The concert was in Ohio in the Cleveland Browns football staduim. My mom and I flew there the day of, which was awesome since that is also my hometown! It was the first time I had ever flown in a plane too and I was so freaked! I think back on it now and it was pretty hilarious.
    Anyway I ended up going to the concert with my aunt cause she and my uncle were the ones who had gotten the tickets for me. When we got the stadium, we bought some tshirts for souveniers and then we went to check out our seats. Let's just say from where they were, Ringo would have looked like an ant. I was still happy to be there though. But Fate had something awesome in mind for me that day.
    My aunt and I were inside the stadium because it was awhile before the show would start, and as we were standing there, two amazing things happened! First, Ringo walked right by me with his bodyguards on the way to his dressing room. So close I could have touched him! So cool! Then, my aunt happened to strike up a conversation with the guy standing next to us and she told him I was there for my graduation present and I loved The Beatles. As it turned out his girlfriend worked at the stadium and he told us she was getting him tickets for the seats on the field. Much closer than ours! So my aunt boldly asked if he would ask her to get tickets for us too! And he did! I could NOT believe it! Talk about luck!
    Then  the show started, and my aunt and I went out on the field. But instead of stopping at our row, she kept pushing me foward. I ended up right in front of the stage in the second row! And the people sitting there just moved over and let me in! I got to see the whole show from this fantastic spot and it was the most magical night. When the concert was over, I was high as a kite from all the excitement and singing along! It was the best time of my life!
     To this day I am still amazed how everything worked out for me that night! I mean of all the people my aunt could have talked to it was the boyfriend of someone who worked at the stadium who had access to tickets! Who would have thought! And that is how I know that nothing is impossible!

At first I thought there would be no blog update tonight! Yikes! Earlier there was a bad storm which knocked out my cable, phone, and internet. So I sat in the living room just talking with my parents for awhile. Then when my internet finally was fixed two hours later, I was excited to start writing a new blog! Yay! But when I got up to my room I could NOT think of a single thing to write! I thought I had hit a dry spell. Not the end of the world but very annoying.
    Then my eyes fell on something. A book I hadn't looked at in awhile. A lightbulb went off in my head! Yes! I knew what my new blog would be! I would like to share my most precious memory of my grandma.
    When I was very little, there was a little ritual she and I would do everytime I came over to her house. She had this box of toys for the grandkids to play with when they visited and inside was a single book. (The one pictured at left.) My grandma and I would sit on the couch together. Sometimes I would lay down and she would cover me with the afgan. Then she would read me that book. I loved it. The voice she used when she read it would always make me laugh! I don't know how many times she read that book to me, but it was a lot. I always asked her to read it when I was at her house. I never forgot it.
        When I was grown up, I think it was when I was in high school, I went to the grocery store with my mom. When we walked by the little section of kids books, I saw it! The very same book my grandma always used to read to me! Of course I had to buy it because that is my favorite memory of her. Now I can look at it whenever I want and remember that wonderful time I spent with her and how good it made me feel. Those are the kind of things that stay with you even when that person is gone. Even at 33 I still love to read that book and it still makes me laugh! Sometimes it's almost as if I can hear my grandma reading it to me. That is just one more memory that keeps her close to me. Her love will always be there.

So Sunday Aug, 19th was an extremely crazy one at work. Full of stress. Before I left my house I tweeted to everyone to wish me luck because it was going to be a long day. And my awesome Twitter friends responded and said they were sending me good vibes and lots of good luck.
    Let's just say the first bad thing was there was not enough people scheduled to cover all of the departments so I ended up doing Womens,Lingerie, Mens, Boys, Shoes, and Accessories all by myself. The other girl working with me had Girls, Infants, and Babies. At first I was keeping up okay, but as it got busier and busier, it got harder and harder. It got to the point that I couldn't put stuff away anymore. I had to just focus on cleaning all of the areas over and over because every few seconds things were getting trashed. People were shopping like pigs. That is something I will never understand! 
    On my lunch break I tweeted that I was thinking thoughts about Matt to try to get myself through the rest of the night.  Well it worked for a little, but after awhile I was so tired and so stressed I was very close to crying. I barely had any energy to keep going. We even had to start making our closing announcements fifteen minutes earlier than normal or we would never had gotten all of the customers out on time. One thing that bugs the heck out of me is when people keep shopping even after we are closed and the lights go off. Luckily last night we really didn't have to kick anyone out cause in the mood I was in, it would NOT have been pretty! LOL
      Well I ended up staying an hour past when we closed and still there was no way to get everything done. Luckily the closing manager understood that. By the time I got home my whole body was sore and I was so tired I couldn't even move. Yeah, it was a horrible night all around, but I am so grateful that my amazing friends on Twitter were there for me, responding to my tweets and giving me support. That is what got me through the long night.  I won't forget that. And of course, I will never forget how lucky I am to have all of them in my life.  There is nothing better or more special. :)

This is something bittersweet about my grandma that I would like to share. 
    I had gone to Ohio with my mom to go to my cousin's wedding and during the time we were there we visited my grandma. It was the first time I had seen her after she had started her chemo. It was kind of shocking.  She still had her hair but it was thin and she was pale and skinny. It was hard to see her like that. Anyway, at one point my mom and my aunt went to Burger King to bring everyone back something to eat. I was in the living room with my grandma. She fell asleep in the chair by the window because her chemo always made her feel tired and sick. I was bored so I looked around for a book to read. Something caught my eye on the shelves built into the bottom of the antique desk. It was a really old, ornate big red bible. (pictured at left.) I pulled it out and started looking at it. Right away I fell in love with the beautiful pictures inside. I read it for awhile. Even after we went home I never forgot about it.
    Fast foward to over a year later after my grandma and my grandpa had passed away. My mom was going back to Ohio to help my aunts go through my grandparents house to organize things that none of the kids or grandkids wanted so everything would be ready for the estate sale that was to take place in a couple of weeks. Before she left, my mom asked me if there was anything I wanted. I named a few things, one of which was that big old bible. My mom said she wasnt sure if anyone else would want it so she wasnt sure if I could have it, but she would ask.
    A few days later she came home and she told me she had a big surprise for me. She opened her suitcase and pulled out, you guessed it, that big red bible. I picked it up and hugged it with tears in my eyes. I was so happy that my aunts had let me have it. Now when I look at it I think of that day with my grandma. Not with sadness though. With gratefulness that I did get some time to spend with her before she was gone.  I still miss her so much but the memories I have keep her in my heart always.

Today I want to write about another special memory I have of my grandma. It took place on the last Thanksgiving she came to Florida. It always brings a smile to my face when I think of it.
    My grandma and I were in the kitchen helping to cook. We were in charge of dessert which was going to be my mom's famous pumpkin cake. It is awesome. It's a layer of yellow cake, then a layer of pumpkin pie filling on top of that, and then another layer of yellow cake. It is so good. I kid you not!
    So anyway, sometimes the way my mom writes the recipies can be confusing but my grandma and I were following it closely and were sure we were doing everything right. Then when we had the pumpkin cake ready to go in the oven, my mom came to check on it. She looked and said, "Um this doesnt look the same as usual." Then she asked me and my grandma if we had done one certain thing in the recipie. Well, as it turned out, we hadn't. We had done the opposite! My grandma and I just started laughing so hard. So did my mom! 
    But I tell you what, that pumpkin cake turned out so great! So instead of being a disaster it was a success! Although my mom always joked she was never gonna let me make her pumpkin cake again LOL!  But that is one bittersweet memory I will never forget. I didn't know at the time that that would be my grandma's last Thanksgiving wth us, but since it was, Im glad I had such a good time with her and have something great to look back on! Gobble, gobble!

Today I would like to tell the story of how I came to love my favorite music group, The Beatles. I know some of you younger people (LOL) might not know who they are, but that's ok! 
    Anyway, it all happened when I was back in High school. It was in the summer, and I went on an errand with my dad. I don't really remember where. As we were driving he decided to pop in a cd. It was The Beatles Anthology. One song that I immediately liked was Yesterday. And then I remembered that in my closet mixed in with all of my cassette tapes was one I had borrowed from my parents. (Yes cassettes were around when I was young, but I am not that old alrighty? LOL I am 33.) I was pretty sure that the tape was The Beatles. I was excited to see if the song I liked was on it.
    As soon as I got home, I ran up to my room and dug out that tape. And yes, it was exactly what I thought it was! And it did indeed have the song, Yesterday on it! Well the rest, as they say, is history!
    I played that tape so much it eventually broke and I had all of the songs memorized! Since then I have collected every Beatles album on cd, books about them, posters, and many other collectibles. Some of them antique and maybe worth money, who knows! But of course I would never sell them!  The highlight for me though, was the graduation present my parents gave me. I got to go see one of the Beatles, Ringo Starr live in concert. Before the show, he walked right by me to his dressing room so close I could have touched him if I had tried! It was a most awesome experience! To this day whenever I hear a Beatles song come on the radio, I crank up the volume and sing right along! I will end this blog with some lyrics from one of my favorite Beatles songs: "Here comes the sun, do do do, here comes the sun. And I say, it's alright, it's alright."