We can't stop smiling :)

A HUGE THANK YOU to you my dear friends for your birthday AND engagement wishes & blessings. WOW. That's pretty much all I can say. I am a very blessed girl. I had a great Birthday (even though I worked - boo). Rhi and Heather and Angie sent me the most beautiful flowers! THANK YOU!!! And Handsome and I both took Tuesday off to eat at our favorite Peruvian restaurant and spend some birthday cash at Anthro. It was fun. I do have to say after my breakdown on Saturday Handsome really helped encourage me. I was overwhelmed with the impression that he was gonna make a great husband. You know, someday....I was not expecting it to be so soon! BUT, I felt completely positive on Tuesday when he asked me I was like.... YES! HECK YES!!! lol. We shopped on Tuesday for my engagement necklace :) I know, rebel. But hey, I told Handsome about me wanting a necklace in hopes to pass it down through our family later and he completely loved the idea too. As far as the details on the necklace, I have no idea. I just know I LOVE it and it was thankfully not too expensive. He kept asking me are you sure you don't want anything bigger? Don't worry about the price. He's so funny. Honestly, we really aren't flashy bling bling people so it just made sense to pick what I loved and it was on sale too! Woot woot! I'm a happy girl. After almost 4 years dating, he is SO worth the wait. And what makes it more special for us is that we are each others first boyfriend & girlfriend. Yes, I went on my first date at 25 and he was 22. HA! I hope I just don't look "older" than him. ;P

No doubt I know I made the right choice. Which leads me to my fav movie quote in Cars when Mater tells Lightning McQueen "I know I made the right choice" and McQueen asks for what? and Mater says, "My Best Friend". *perfect* I used that movie line in the journaling for this:



This is up at TAIF. Completely felt like I needed to push myself and experiment more. Turned out a bit crazy but I think I love it. Kind of like my first week as a fiance heehee. Handsome has been sick for almost a week. My poor baby :) I got to pamper him with Jamba and soups. So far so good. I'm just glad he agreed to do the photo shoot with me LOL. Not bad for a couple shot without a tripod and an extra set of hands. I need to get a lighter camera..no wonder I have CTS ha!

And this one for Creative Therapy:



I actually drew something! In about a couple of years I finally drew something and I love it. I sat down to draw the "spool" and it felt so relaxing and fun. I know it's just a spool but hey, gotta start somewhere :)

Journaling Reads:
No more “I can’t”
For the longest time I told myself I can’t
I really didn’t like that but then I tried and realized that I can. Only if I try. And so I can.
See for yourself!

This girl can do anything she puts her mind to. Believe it.

No more I can’t. I can’t. I can’t. I can’t. I stopped telling myself that I can’t I can’t I can’t no more. No. Even though I didn’t have anyone to teach me the things that I really wanted to learn I just had to start telling myself that YES I can. I can. I can. I really can. Even though it’s not the best. I’m still trying and I can. I can. I can. I really can. I can sew even if it’s just on paper. I can embroider even if it’s just french knots. I can draw even if it’s just simple sketches. I will and I can find my heart for it again. I can. I can. play drums. Even if I’m not the best. I rock because I never gave up. I can. I can.


And so there it is...1 year older/wiser ;P
Engaged
crazy wedding planning
and blessed
I hope you find yourself blessed and happy on this wonderful Monday
I send you all the most love filled hugs
-d

A very excited Mr. H

Hi,

My name is Juan (Debee's favorite name by the way) but you can call me Coco. And I am, as of 9/16/08, her fiance. She asked me to introduce myself to her blog friends. I hope she doesn't regret it.

This is me below. I must have been working on Glowormforum.com. I look a little different now, but my legs and head still look the same.



And just below (this is why she might regret asking me to introduce myself) is the girl I'm gonna spend the rest of my life with. At the time she was just a few miles from where I was. A couple years later we met. As a hot 7 year old she would make me nervous. And she liked it.



Now this is where I make her nervous. Everytime I take a posed picture I turn from Mr. H to Chandler. (It's not a good thing). This is probably what our photo sessions will be like:



These are pictures we took a couple days ago. Out of hundreds of pictures these were the only two that she would let me show. I still love her.






It was nice meeting you all. Continue to pray for us and all these plans we're making and that we don't get lost in them. I hope to meet you all someday.

The beginning...

falling up

Today is the day. The day has finally come. Hello 29. As I went into my birthday weekend I thought I'd take it well. Turning 29 I mean. And I thought I'd wake up and be my chipper self. But when I started "thinking" and "pondering" I started feeling negative and down about it. Almost unlike my usual self. But hey, everyone needs a breakdown every now and then. And I had my first this weekend. And I sure hope my last but I'm not holding my breath on that. I did manage to look on the positive side. I managed to pray my heart out and feel peace. And so just remember, "Good things are yet to come". The picture above is just a reminder of that for me. My last portrait at 28. Right after everything fell apart only to be put back together again. I guess that's what falling up means.

I am thankful and counting my blessings...
for health
calm
tears
love
trials
triumph
peace
hope
joy
pain
passion
kisses
hugs
encouragement
sacrifice
devotion
forgiveness
worship
mercy
grace
and most importantly, a new start to be thankful for these and so much more.

I cannot regret anything behind me. Everything has led me here where I find myself loved. Completely loved. As I move forward, I know I'm not promised I'll live another 29 years. I feel a tremendous thankfulness for here and now. So I'm counting my blessings. 29 is going to be a great chapter in my life. I can feel it.

Thank you again dear friends for your sweet birthday wishes.
They mean the world to me
:)

love and cake for you
-d

Babe, you're a winner!

So I had a little help from my friends at Starbucks... Yes, how's that for random? I went in for some starbucks lovin' and ordered my favorite drink right now: Cinnamon Dulce Frap. that cost me $3.20 (pre-tax) and therefor I picked the numbers 3 and 20 as my lucky numbers and Mr.Handsome picked number 29 (for my soon to be age of course)

- 3 vee said...
you are so sweet!!! 10 days to celebrate awesome!! we will have to have a chatfest! :)
the most useful gift for me was a breadmaker my sister gave me. homemade bread is the best and makes the house smell so yummy! have a great weekend!

- 20 megank said...
The most usefull gift...I'm a popcorn junkie so my mom got me an old fashioned "Whirrly Pop" stove top popcorn maker, and it makes the best popcorn ever!

- 29 kristina k said...
best present ever....my camera. no question about it. :)

Please e-mail me your mailing address at: belladrummer@gmail.com

LOVED reading your most useful gifts. I believe I am SO jealous of all you girls who received a car. But hey, totally happy for you ;) And my most useful gift? A little cheesy watercolour kit my Dad bought me while waiting at the airport back in the day. I believe I was 11 or so. It meant the WORLD to me. Mainly because I knew we didn't have lots of money and it was a completely random purchase. I only expected salted peanuts from his travels through airports :) And he didn't buy anyone else anything. Just me. He said it reminded him of me and he had to buy it. I am to this day forever grateful for that. Being the only color- crazy-splashy-paintbrush lovin' kid in the family was okay but knowing he recognized my talent even then it really made me feel special. The watercolour set is gone now but that was my most useful gift and most memorable. :)

So to all you ladies with birthdays in September, I send you lots of love! I LOVE sharing birthdays with people. Only because I grew up having to share my birthday parties with my two sisters. Yes. We are that close in age. We are 1 year apart. AND we celebrate our birthdays within weeks of each other. So that means we are twins for about a week :) For instance NEXT Monday is my sister Cindy's birthday. (we'll be twins for a week) And almost 2 weeks later is my sister Norma's birthday (both Cindy and Norma will be twins for almost 2 weeks). Freaky? Why yes. But hey, we didn't choose it ):

Now I'm really wanting a Strawberry Shortcake birthday party like we did way back in the 80's.
Sigh.

Anyway, onto some creativeness:
This is for TAIF. It was also for my challenge over at SIStv here: Genius Idea, really.





I made this as my "inspiration folder". The wooden piece is like an inspiration board (sticker from paper pixie) and the clip holds the pictures that I love plus some practice embroidery swatches I've had fun practicing on :) The folder opens up from the top not the side. I like to do things differently. ;OP

I had done this a while ago but was going to replicate it and do another one. Why? Well, because... It's a secret. And I'll tell you. But you have to promise not to tell k?
*you pinkie swear*
Okay. I thought I'd have to start again because I sewed the folder together. Yep. Together. That means, it doesn't open from the side. Nope. So. This only opens from the top. So this is a half folder thingy. I tell you, this happens to me more often than not. It happened with this:



Can someone tell me what a folder that doesn't open is good for?
eh.
At least I think it's good looking. So that got stuffed in the pile I'm kinda wanting to throw away but can't. (but eventually will)
So yes. Learn from my mistakes. Don't sew your folder together okay?

And because it's my birthday week I want to share some eye candy with you :) These are the prettiest flowers that I love. Maybe it's because red is my new favorite fall color? I don't know. But these make me happy.



So thank you sweet friends for the birthday cheer! I am thankful and happy. Thank you all for your best wishes. I am genuinely touched and you've helped make this birthday week a very special one.

much love
-d

10 till

I'm celebrating early girls!


I know this is a tad bit ridiculous, but on my way to work I stopped by Starbucks to pick up breakfast...mmmm yum. And while I was there I suddenly felt the caffeine induced rush to be generous... ;0)

i love treating friends and family to starbucks so here I am treating 3 of you dear friends to a $10 starbucks card. ( At random of course) You might be thinking, "10+10+10=30!" And yes you would be right. But I am celebrating my birthday in 10 days ;) and I will be 29. 1 year shy of 30 and I wouldn't have it any other way. So get crazy with me a little and celebrate early! HA! I LOVE birthdays!

If you love starbucks or know someone who does just leave a comment with the answer to this question:

What is the most useful gift you’ve ever been given?

easy peasy indeed

or just say hello
*waving*

so cheerio and
love ya
-d