The (my) Brain is a Mystery

I've never given my brain much thought... it's always worked quickly, efficiently, and served me well for many years.  That's why my recent lack of instantaneous thinking is throwing me for a loop.

I'm getting a little worried... I tell someone I've got something great to tell them... and then... poof!  Nothing comes to mind.  I constantly lose my train of thought.  My daughter and husband are learning to live with it.  I can tell it's frustrating them though.  I've heard this sentence many times lately... "Quick, spit it out before you forget."  Uhmmmmmmmmm......

Each time I've left the house lately, I've planned to pick up a gallon of milk.  FIVE times I've returned home with no milk... luckily we don't drink much.

Yesterday I realized I messed up really bad on a bank transaction.  I won't bore you with the details, but suffice it to say, I ended up with a large credit balance on my credit card, and money coming out of my checking account twice!!!! All I can say is... at least I found it before chaos ensued!

My brain needs a rest...   

So...tomorrow it's off to the beach for five glorious, relaxing days... 

I plan to write, read, and sleep.  I may blog from there... last year I was able to pick up Internet from the neighbor... we'll see.  This particular beach is on Anna Maria Island.  A sleepy town with nothing to do, no shopping, and fabulous sunsets.

Okay... there is an outlet mall about 30 minutes away.  Maybe I'll start working that credit balance 

off my card... shhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ;)

~teri 

A Little Ingenuity is all a Girl Needs

So I know this post will make me seem so shallow, but who cares????

I think we all know I'm in love with Louis Vuitton products.  They seem oh-so-french to me, and I just love them.  They reminded me of Paris before I ever even went there, and to be lucky enough to have a husband that loves to buy me whatever I want... well, they mean more than just a handbag that isn't even made of leather (and for those prices... it's outrageous... but I digress). Whenever I carry one, it makes me smile, and think of Paris, love, fashion, the Champs Elysees', etc.  Has any other purse given me this feeling... I think not.

SO... as you may remember from a previous blogpost, on our second trip to Paris, Scott bought me the Petite Bucket.  

I say Scott bought it for me, not because I'm some fifties stay-at-home wife that thinks the husband holds the purse strings...pun intended... but because without his coaxing, I would never have purchased it.  As you can see, it came with the bonus of a makeup-type bag.  I LOVE IT, but I've always thought there was more I could do with that bag than keep it hidden inside my purse.  I always thought it would be the perfect little purse to take to dinner, or church, or whatever.  After all, no matter what the situation, all a gal really needs is a cell phone, lipgloss, and a debit card... right?????(remember when your mom made sure you had a dime with you when you went on a date, just incase you needed to call home?)  
The problem was, the little purse had no chain (other than a tiny chain connected inside that was not detachable from the handbag itself) and the size made it really too small to pull off as a clutch... but I never let go of my plan, and searched the LV website and the Internet for the perfect chain, and just never could find one... until NOW.

Yesterday, Scott and I went to JoAnn's to pick up some crochet yarn (yes... I love to crochet... don't judge).  We were meandering around, and we ended up walking past the jewelry findings.  I expressed again my desire to Scott. I handed him the small bag that was inside my purse, and he went on a mission.  He searched the aisles  until he came up with a chain, two findings, and 2 hooks... all in gold to match.  Here is the finished product... 

I'm so stinkin' proud.  Tiny bags similar to this sell on the LV website for $240- $350!!!!!  I feel like I have such a cool new purse, for the grand total of about $3.  

Yes... husband of the year...gotta love it~ 

 Teri

P.S. I've been holding out... I have some new product videos to introduce to you.  One product in particular has been in the testing mode, and I'll be ready to pass it on to you soon!

A Plan

So..... I told you in my last post that I was going to share with you my plan for overcoming my bout with feeling out of sorts.  Seriously... I had some ideas... and for the life of me... I can't remember them!  I'm not kidding... will they print this blog in the newspaper someday, with the headline... 

"We Should Have Seen it Coming?"

I don't mean by any stretch that I am going postal on you... it's just strange that I can't remember ideas I had only a few days ago.

~breathe~

Ok... on to the next.  I did turn 50 last month without fanfare.  There was just too much going on... but I want to share this card with you.  It came from a dear friend, and I L-O-V-E it!  Sorry it's backwards, but there's a correctly oriented pic at the top of this blog.

Every time I open this card I smile. 

Since I can't remember any of my old ideas, I just came up with a new idea... drink more Champagne... French of course... and celebrate the simple things in life.  

When Scott and I jet off to Paris in September, (I had to say "jet off to Paris"... it sounds SO romantic) one thing we are looking forward to, besides our oh-so-chic apartment, (see bottom half of this post) is popping a bottle of bubbly on the steps of Sacre Coeur, and toasting the most wonderful marriage, and city, in the world!

With that said, I leave you with these quotes... 

"I drink Champagne when I win, to celebrate . . . and I drink Champagne when I lose, to console myself."  (Napoleon Bonaparte)

"In victory we deserve it, in defeat we need it." (Winston Churchill)

"My only regret in life is that I did not drink more Champagne." 

(John Meynard Keynes)

"I only drink Champagne when I'm happy, and when I'm sad. Sometimes I drink it when I'm alone. When I have company, I consider it obligatory. I trifle with it if I am not hungry and drink it when I am. Otherwise I never touch it - unless I'm thirsty." (Lily Bollinger)

"Champagne is the only wine that leaves a woman beautiful after drinking it." 

(Madame De Pompadour)

"Three be the things I shall never attain: envy, content and sufficient Champagne." (Dorothy Parker)

"Two warm bodies and one cold bottle of Champagne will produce something more wonderful than would happen without the Champagne." (Helen Gurley Brown)

"Champagne offers a minimum of alcohol and a maximum of companionship." 

(David Niven)

"Too much of anything is bad, but too much Champagne is just right." 

(F. Scott Fitzgerald)

"One holds a bottle of red wine by the neck, a woman by the waist, and a bottle of Champagne by the derriere." (Mark Twain)

Aren't these a crack up? 

Maybe there is magic in those bubbles... ha ha...

 these certainly gave me a smile, hope they gave you one too!

~Teri

I'm Back...or am I?

Well friends... I don't know if anyone noticed, but I've been in a self-imposed exile for awhile. I want my blog to be uplifting, and while good things continue to happen in my life... some not so good things have happened too.

I have not been in a mood to blog without it sounding... well... depressing... and I refuse to make this a place that doesn't make you at least 'crack a smile.'

I'll try to say in a few words what I've been going through... I've had

a sudden and unexplained bout with migraine headaches... the first in my entire life (they thought I had a mini stroke at first... but CT scan and MRI showed nothing). I've also had total and complete insomnia... and I don't mean the kind that comes from worry or anxiety, it's the kind of insomnia that says..."I'm awake, now what?" It not only makes me cranky, but I'm also aging before my eyes! I have also not been myself in mind or body. I was out to dinner the other night with friends, and I felt like I was having an out of body experience. It was like I was there, but I was watching myself have dinner from a distance. It's funny, my husband and I will have an entire conversation, and suddenly I realize, I haven't heard a word he's said... and worse... I haven't heard a word I've said!

Is all this because I turned 50??? I wonder....

The other day I was reading a magazine my mother-in-law kindly brought me because it had an article on Paris in it. When I turned to this page... I laughed OUT LOUD. Not only does this show the French in rare form... or should I say "regular" form... but it looks like I've been feeling lately. Superimpose my face on either woman, and there you have it... the way I've felt lately when ANYone, ANYwhere, asks me to do ANYthing!

(The phone rings...) "do you really expect me to answer that?"

(It's 6pm...) "dinner... what's that?... if I'm not hungry, I don't know why you are."

(It's 2am...) "this isn't too late to be watching TV darling, and yes, I know you have to get up in the morning...what can I say?"

(A friend asks if I can help with a project...) "seriously? you've got to be kidding!!"

(Someone at church wants me to commit to something in the fall... )"I could be crazy by fall! Are you sure you want me? If you only knew how weird I'm feeling, you wouldn't ask me... gotta go now... I feel a breakdown coming on..."

(Mom asks me if I want to take a trip to Washington D.C...) "I don't know if I can take a trip across town, and you want me to go to Washington D.C.?"

(Husband comes home from work...)"Darling... from now on, our TV cannot be on the news at all, and also... could you be a dear and get the mail everyday, and screen it for bad news before you hand it to me? And sweetheart, whatever you do, don't mention our retirement account, or the economy. I just got finished cleaning my rose colored glasses, and I don't want you to fog them up. Oh... I hung twinkle lights and spread fairy dust around the house today... try and go with it... okay?"

(my words in red)

Luckily, I've come up with a plan to deal with all this, that doesn't include moving to a desert island... afterall... wherever I go, I take me with me!

more to come girls... more to come...

~Teri

Photo...National Geographic Traveler-July/Aug 2010 pgs 72-73.

Photographic team of Sisse Brimberg and Cotton Coulson.

traveler.nationalgeographic.com