With many THANKS!

  Well, lots of time has passed since my last blog… and oh so much has happened which is why I have not blogged ;) Let me see where to begin and what to say first???

  Let’s begin with saying how truly thankful I am for the life many have given me! My husband for having faith in me even when I have doubted my own self…who cheered me up when my heart was breaking and has driven me everywhere I have wanted to go and loaded all of my purchases with little to no complaints from him. He always has said “he has my back no matter what” and he has certainly proven it time and time over again! Now onto my great friends who cheer me on day after day and week after week! Thru this adventure I have certainly figured out who is a true friend and who is just a part of my life until the times are rocky!  I would never forget my family … they have all given me a push when I needed it the most… my kids are often left to “fend for themselves” and hardly never complain. To Mr. Wilson my very spoiled dog who loves me no matter what and is ALWAYS waiting for me to return to him ;)

  The shop has become the shop that I use to vision and now have! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE going to “work” now but one would have to ask them self if it’s work since really I get to go and chat with friends, meet new people who often times become my friends, decorate my heart out and on top of that do what I love to do the most in life and that is to own a shop that is so awesome! I say that because I hear it so many times a day from customers new and old… On top of that I get to shop for a living ha-ha what really could be better that this??

  It’s been a long 18 months getting to this point but what an absolute honor it has been to continue to grow and get better and better each month, week and day! I would never ever take all the credit for this and even for all those who made the decision that this shop wasn’t for them I even have to give them credit! Without everybody who has been a part of the shop since the beginning back in October 2010 the shop would not be where it is at now. I remember way back then having this dream of what I wanted it to be and trying to figure out what I needed to do to get it there… Well, recently I realized that I have it! This beautiful shop is probably one of my greatest achievements in life and I owe it to many different people that have walk along side of me from the beginning or joined me along the way and even to those who taken a different path along the way. Thanks everyone who made the shop what it is and to those who constantly support us and to my husband for having faith and love for me when I doubted myself!

WILSON.... the dog

I was sitting here thinking about my next blog and came up with a few ideas but the whole time I was thinking about it Mr. Wilson A.K.A Wilson the "shop" dog has been pestering me to play with him. Throw the ball, tug the rope, even scratch his belly anything as long as I pay attention to HIM! 
  Rick and I knew we wanted to add a dog into our world and we looked for MONTHS and MONTHS until one night Rick showed me a ad that had him on there as the RUNT of the litter that no one wanted. I took one look at the ad and called the number and sure enough he was still there! I didn't care that it was a Tuesday evening at 8pm and the fact that he was about a hour or more away ...WE WHERE GOING TO GET HIM!! We jumped into the truck and off we went! We got there and he was standing there with fleas, ticks, nappy thin hair and DIRTY but I swooped him up like a long lost child and the way he pushed his little body into mine told me he was needing us to take him. The conditions where not good to say the least! This Lil guy of 8 weeks had never had puppy food just counter dried apples because they had a apple tree in the back yard and that's all they could do. This family breeds the dogs as INCOME!!! Which is so wrong! There is so many unwanted animals in this world but that in it self is a whole different blog... We got Wilson in the truck and started home and suddenly realized that we don't have a single thing for animals in our home! K-Mart here we come! I got him everything I thought he would need plus some extras :) We finally get him to his new "home" and Rick and I look at each other like ... NOW WHAT??? We want to go to bed and he is filled with fleas and ticks ... Thanks goodness for Rubbermaids he he Wilson spent his first night laying in a blue Rubbermaid and a blanket... He seemed fine :) The picture shows him peeking over the top looking at us like "really"... The next morning we where off to get a total spa, flea dip, haircut, nails cut the whole nine yards and he DIDN'T like it!! but he looked better and smelt a whole lot better! Friday he had Dr. appointments and hmmm he really HATED this :) Over the next few weeks we had to work with Mr. W on his anxiety issues ... really the only issue is the he doesn't like me to leave him alone! He go INSANE to say the least lol I take him to work with me in the beginning and quickly realized this isn't going to work!! Now Mr. W goes to Dogie Daycare at Gone to the Dogs and he LOVES IT!!! He gets to play all day with his friends while we are at work...
  Over the few months this fragile little dog that was scared of the world has turned into a happy little fella who loved to go for car rides... heck if he sees me get my shoes on he opens the door and will be sitting out in the garage by my car waiting he he He loves to play ball and knows his commands pretty good. He use to sleep in his kennel every night and the words USE TO now reflect the fact that he now sleeps right between Rick and I almost every night and he seems very happy doing so!
 This Lil guy has had a few medical issues and the lack of care before we got him also became our responsibility which we where happy to do but this little $100.00 dog has become the $2000.00 dog in 5 months :) and we are blessed we are able and willing to give him the treatments and love that every dog deserves. I can say I don't know nor can I imagine my life without him in it! He has really filled a large spot in my heart and I know I can say the same for Rick.
 All though Wilson isn't the "shop pup" like we thought he would become...he has really become the dog of our dreams and I think almost everyone that knows us knows this to be true! My own kids joke and say they never been taken to the Dr's as much as Wilson and certainly never went to daycare nor have they had a spa treatment but the "DOG" has :) I really feel blessed to have him on my life and part of our family!
  Hope you enjoyed reading about my pal as much as I enjoyed writing about him...Now I have to go and throw the ball for him ...

It's New Year!!!

January 1, 2012 is a date that I have been thinking about for a few months. As we know this is supposed to be a date that we make our year’s resolution which I have to admit is something I really never did much over the past years of my life up until the following year. 2011 resolution was to be more forgiving of anything that bothers or upset me. When I say that I don’t necessary mean forgive others but rather forgive the feelings that have put in my heart in return makes a negative feeling that flutter in your mind like caged birds but by forgiving it... it frees the birds and they sore like eagles in the wind. It really works and highly recommend it but will say it is a task that is really hard to achieve but once it is done just one time… the second time you forgive a feeling it becomes the easiest thing in the world to do! I do believe that Rick probably gets annoyed when I say “just let it go” all the time but for me it helped me be the person that I always knew I could.

  This year I have thought about it and came up with a few resolutions and most of them where the typical lose weight, be a better mom, spend more time at home but all of which didn’t resolve inner feeling or uneasiness so this year I am going to find time to make ANGIE happy! I spend so many hours trying to make others in my life happy that I sometimes forget about me. I learned that some people are just NOT happy people at all and actually try and find reasons to wine and complain about the littlest of things which wears on a person’s heart and soul. This is exactly what I am going to fix in my life!!! I have made a pledge to myself to only allow those people who want to be happy little souls into my life as friends. I have also decided to be a boss and not a friend inside the shop and for all that knows me knows that this is something that I hate to do but I really can do it well. From this day forward I will be an awesome boss and a great friend but really I am going to be the truest person to myself but in return everyone that knows me will either welcome the new truly happy ANGIE or run and hide from the boss that I have to be J I don’t have a mean bone in my heart and will do just about whatever I can to make others happy and honestly many times I put my life on hold to do so but from this moment on…it will not be that no more! Now it might sound like I am just saying that I am going to turn into a mean witch who is all about herself but it’s not that way at all… A happy person lights up a room they are in, makes for an even truer friend, a better parent, becomes physically healthier and certainly a better wife, a more positive spirit and can go on and on about the goodness in being HAPPY…but in reality it is all the resolutions I thought about all wrapped up in a ball of happiness and that is what this is year is going to be for me! I am sure with this mental promise to me I will lose some friends but gain some REAL friends… and I am so excited to meet them!