Confessions of this Gal's Sinful Heart

Today is my birthday!  Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday dear meeee, Happy Birthday to me.  Yay!  It's my day to celebrate all things me!  Wow, now doesn't that seem conceited?  Speaking of conceited that reminds me of my 36th birthday...my friend Mindi wanted to treat me for dinner at Shula's Steak house.  If you're not familiar with Shula's it's an upscale chain restaurant owned by Don Shula the ex-Miami Dolphins coach.   Picture not taken by me.  This evening, we were acting like a bunch of goofy teen-agers and pretending that we were "star" watching.  The man sitting next to us resembled Anthony Edwards from ER so we began snapping pictures of him and asking him for his autograph.  Then we moved onto our waiter who we imagined looked like Julio Iglesias and then another person.  We weren't rude or making a scene and these people seemed to enjoy the attention.  Then in the back of the restaurant I looked and

When I was fourteen, JC Penney's held modeling classes in their corporate offices for young girls like me.    I desperately wanted to be a model.  The fame, the fortune, the clothes, being known for your beauty, traveling the world, it's many girls dreams.  So I signed up right away.  There I sat, a short, very awkward, undeveloped tween with extremely kinky curly hair (my nickname at school was Don King)  and to top it off a rather large Italian nose.  I didn't know how to walk, dress, style my hair or put on makeup, but I figured this is what the class was for; to teach me how to become perfect like a supermodel and then I would land a modeling contract.  Obviously that never happened.   On the contrary, I ended up quitting after the second or third class because I was so embarrassed by the fact that the instructor chose to use me as the example for all lessons on "What not to..." Thankfully I grew out of that awkward stage.  But I never quite grew out of

Good Grief.  Charles Schultz made the phrase famous with his cartoon Peanuts.  But honestly is there such a thing as good grief? I can hardly believe we're here again", I though to myself yesterday morning as we entered the Animal Hospital to euthanize our second dog in 6 weeks.  We laid our Chloe to rest after suffering a large cancerous bowl obstruction in her intestine.  The doctors said she wouldn't recover and we could see her suffering terribly and it just wouldn't be fair not to end her suffering even tho we didn't want to let her go.  We just lost Nicolas in December we weren't ready for this...  Chloe  No more puppies to greet us at the door with wagging tails, no more heads popping up in the bay window when the car pulls up.  No more barking, shedding, or howling at sirens.  No more rubbing bellies, and tossing balls.  No more getting up 50 times a day to let them in and out of the yard.  Frankly, it's much too much quiet around her