New Year Word to Live By

After reading a very insightful blog by a very knowledgeable individual, I have given much thought into what my word of the year would be. I also don't follow resolutions very well, so having a word to "live by" throughout the year seems much easier.

My chosen word will be:



How appropriate that it's printed on a road sign.....as it will be part of my journey for 2010.

Faith to know that the struggles we face are part of our challenge in life and that in the end "it will be alright". Faith to know that when we get to the other side we'll be better parents, employers, spouses, and most importantly....better people.

Faith in myself to know that I am truly blessed, that life isn't perfect, and that every day won't be the way I had it all planned out....but that I still have much to be thankful for.

So onward into 2010.......where I will be full of FAITH!

“I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish He didn't trust me so much.” ~ Mother Theresa

I am enthusiastic about life!

Originally when I thought about writing this I was going to write about how bad things are and how depressing things are, but then I picked up my Daily Word for the day and it talked about joy.

That immediately stopped me in my tracks and made me rethink a few things. Business at the other store is not so well, the employees there are REALLY negative and expressing themselves loudly, we are second guessing some of our decisions, and we don't seem to have time for anything except working. I had refused to let all this negative get to me.....but then a small part of me opened up today and it all came rushing in and I broke down.

I stopped and read my Daily word and now I feel renewed and ready to fight back. To quote those changing words: "I focus on the joy that underlies my life each day. When I awake, I feel joy. Throughout my day, I give thanks for the people who share my journey. At the end of the day, I am grateful for each experience. I never wait for joy. I choose joy at this very moment.

Enough said :)

A Year in Review

Wow....what an exciting year we've had! Just getting to write it all down and relive it makes me excited all over again. Thanks Marilyn....cause I'm stealing this idea from you.

2009 meant LOTS of traveling for Paul and I (that was until we opened the new store. But more of that later). Traveling is our passion and it's our goal to see all 50 states and travel all over the world. Of course, getting our passports has been on our agenda for two years now and we still haven't gotten around to doing it. But I will state here that my New Years Resolution will be to have my passport by the end of Feb. 2010! Our first adventure was during Easter of this year when we went to Reno and Lake Tahoe. We had beautiful weather the first two days we were there and then left in a snowstorm. Spent some time gambling, sightseeing, and visiting an antique car musueum. We had a great time!



In June we were lucky enough to get to visit Boston. We are big museum nerds and love to visit historical sites and museums. Boston sure did have LOTS of history. We spent a day in Newport, Rhode Island; Cape Cod; and Hyannis Port. What a beautiful place in the summer....because there is no way we'd ever visit it in the winter. We spent two days visiting lots of historical sites in Boston and there was still so much to see. We definitely would love to come back and visit some other time.



In July we had to go back to Orlando to bury Paul's mom. Since this was the place where Paul grew up, we spent lots of time visiting his old hangouts and places where he lived. We did find the time to visit Daytona Beach (since I LOVE the ocean) and had some time to drive around and see the sights. We also had some time to visit Epcot Center.



August was big birthday month for the boys. The baby turned 23 and the oldest turned 27......where did all the years go?



August, September and October consisted of little road trips to Lake Charles, Louisiana for some gambling and "time-out from life" time. We also managed to fit in a trip to Austin, Texas and Galveston, Texas for the same reasons.



In November we made a surprise trip to Tucson, Arizona to surprise the family for Thanksgiving. We had a great time being with everyone and spending time with our family. November also brought us the opening of our second location. We are so proud of this achievement, as we have worked so hard over the last 10 years to make our business a success. This is truly a 24/7 business for us and we are committed to it 100%.



December brought us to two important birthday celebrations: Paul and I!! Thank you honey for such a great year for us. We've had so much fun, stress, hardwork -- but it's all worth it working side by side with you. We are thankful for all we have -- we truly do have a great life!

Quiet Christmas

Christmas at our house is always a quiet event. With no family here in Texas, except for the four of us.....it usually is just another typical day. The dinner was great, the weather was cold, and it was sure nice to have two days off and not have to worry that our customers were being taken care of!



Christmas was also alot more fun when these guys were little! Guess I'll just have to wait until those grandchildren come along! :)

A Tribute to Tacos

I'm not much of a sweet eater, but when it comes to tacos -- I can eat them every single day and never get tired of them! As funny as it sounds, I have many fond memories of tacos.

Our family first started eating tacos when I was around ten years old. My mom made some of the best tacos. We moved to New York from Arizona when I was in 7th grade and tacos weren't available there and neither were the shells that my mom used to make the tacos. Being the great mother that she was, mom found a recipe and home made our taco shells from scratch so that we could still enjoy our favorite meal. They weren't the greatest shells in the world, but we were very grateful for her efforts and glad to have our tacos.

Taco memories also consist of our favorite Friday night when we'd go to El Taco and get 20 tacos for 10 cents each and that was our family dinner. Of course that was in the "good old days". I can remember walking home from high school and stopping at El Taco and getting a taco and a Coke for 25 cents.....wow what a deal!

It seems that most of my fondest memories all revolve around tacos. My sister and I used to meet for lunch when I lived in Tucson and usually it consisted of someplace where we could get tacos! So here's a salute to my all time favorite.....THE TACO!

I'm Special!

Well today is my birthday and I feel special.

Now some of you might think that having your birthday on Christmas Eve is bad -- but I'm here to tell you differently. Rumor has it that I wasn't supposed to be a December baby, but apparently I had other plans. I popped into this world at 11:58 pm on December 24th (the year shall remain a secret). Not sure how my mother felt about having to spend Christmas in the hospital, but hopefully she was delighted with the outcome! Now some people also believe that you get "ripped off" having your birthday the day before Christmas. This is another myth. My mother decided that first year that Christmas Eve would be my birthday and we would not mix the two celebrations together. So while I didn't get a day in the middle of the year to open gifts and get a cake, I was the ONLY one in the house who got to open presents the day before Christmas.

To this day I still feel special every time I have to show my driver's license or put my birthdate down and someone says "wow your birthday is on Christmas Eve. I'll bet you got gipped" (this happens almost on a daily basis). Thank you mom for giving me such a special birthday!

Now Hiring: Magic Elves

Dear Elves:

Lately my life is just too out of control and I have too much to do and I'm not getting to enjoy the fun things in life anymore. So tonight when I go to bed you will find a list on the table of the things that need to be accomplished when I wake up in the morning.

1. Please get all my filing done that is almost a year behind
2. Finish all the financial things for PZ that need to be done before the end of the year (I'm only 6 months behind on that one)
3. Get my house nice and clean (no comment on this one)
4. Get the house decorated for Christmas. I'm afraid if you don't do it -- it's not going to get done!
5. Get the rooms painted that need them, clean out the closets, drawers, cupboards, and have that big yard sale that I've been saving stuff for a year to have.

In return, I promise:
1. That I will once again get to do the fun things that I'm missing.
2. Spend quality time with my husband again instead of always having to be doing business stuff 24/7.
3. Hire someone this next year to help me get things done because, no matter what I think, I just can't do it all by myself.