What Floats My Boat? Well.... this does!

I have to laugh at my title... because the other day I thought I would try something different to help me put together a fun blog post by posting the question "what floats your boat?" on my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/shelleygiard hoping to get some funny answers. It kind of bombed; although a few people did respond (all guys might I add...oh and one woman). And although not what I was expecting (two of them said water) I did get a few laughs, but it did not really help me with my blog idea. SOOOO... now I have to wing it on my own so here it goes!

What floats my boat... translation, what excites me? Gets my engine revving, my juices flowing my creativity in WILD mode and well just simply what do I live for? I know, it's a BROAD and loaded question and so are my answers, so here they are.


I live for great weather; you know, the kind of day that you wake up, walk outside to feel the crisp breeze on your face while simultaneously being bathed in the warmth of  the sunshine?

I love laughter, it makes stressful things go away for that moment, it is great exercise for the tummy region, and because it forces a beautiful smile onto anyone who encounters it.

I love to read great memoirs, stories of beating adversity, and non-fiction books that give me knowledge I wish I could have had the patience to obtain degrees for. I also love to read success coaching books and self-help books because I am always trying to become a better person.

I love my kids, family, and friends... they mean EVERYTHING to me because I know what it's like to miss my kids, lose a family member and have no friends.

 I love when someone tells me I can't do something just so I can prove them wrong by doing it.

I love a passionate kiss... ( and that's all I have to say on that topic)

I love a good competition but don't care if I win... I love it for the purpose of pushing myself to my limit and the feeling I get when that happens.

I love strong hugs and stronger hand shakes.

I love the smell of fresh cut grass, coconut, vanilla, and rain.

I love thunderstorms and snow.

I love writing; it's therapeutic and invigorating and sometimes doing it reveals things trapped inside that you never knew were there.

I love people and enjoy talking to strangers.

I love REAL people, they make me smile and are always interesting.

I could go on and on and on about things that"float my boat" but have you gotten the point yet?

My point is... if you wake up thinking about what floats your boat perhaps you will have a positive day
because you are thinking only about things you love, want, and appreciate. How's that for a clever purpose? ;)

"Wake up thinking about how you will get your boat to float, not about the hole that will make it sink." ©2012ShelleyGiard

XOXO

~Shells~

This is a picture of a yacht I saw when vacationing at the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas last year. 

When I saw the name of this boat I remember thinking "wow, that is the story of my life!"

Finding Balance...

Do you ever have ah-ha moments? The kind that make you feel like Wile E.Coyote when the anvil inevitably falls? Yeah... well I have them all of the time, and frankly I am not sure that it's typical or for that matter normal. I have the feeling that I encounter them often simply because I strive to learn about how to become a better partner, a better mother and a better friend... (I couldn't dodge the anvils if I boycotted ACME forever!) We are promised a better life if we do this. I had one of these moments over the weekend and decided that if I shared it with my readers, it could likely help someone.

If you have been reading my blogs then you know that I have been crazy busy lately... (not complaining at all about that!) I have been busy with work, work and more work, which is AWESOME! Something I could not figure out however, was why I was beginning to feel stressed. Usually when I am SLAMMED with work I am happy knowing that money is coming in, (that typically creates less stress for a work-a-holic /business addict such as myself) Relax? What is that? Take time for yourself? That's a foreign statement, have unscheduled fun? Never knew what that was! For the past decade or longer, I was not living life... or at least not the way it was intended. I was nose to the grindstone, gotta make a living to support your family and have nice things no matter what kind of person. Something shifted though... something happened to me when I hit rock bottom...and that was that I was forced to relax, and for the first time I came to experience things I never took the time to appreciate before.

Many, many things have changed since I had this shift in who I was two years ago. I opened my heart up again after a very long and tough relationship, I spent more time with my kids and less time away from them; I became a better mother, friend and partner. I found time to do everything I needed to do but MADE the time to also do what I WANTED. Of course... I had to make financial sacrifices in order to do this, and I must say that not only did it humble me, it made me more appreciative. Finding that balance... having just enough work, a little more fun and a lot more family and friends.  It leads to happiness; no wonder the "Cleaver's" had it made! (if you don't know who they are then Google them! (And don't call me old after you do!)

For years people have found themsleves so busy trying to drive that fancy car, build that custom house, and wear expensive labels that they forget to find that balance... I was one of those people once upon a time, and I never knew what I was missing. Now... as I have been swamped with work and feeling stressed I realize that my happiness had been depleted because my balance was interrupted. I suppose I have gotten used to having time for everything that having no time to do laundry, paint some walls in the new house and cook dinner for my family was making Shelley a grumpy scrooge! Ba-Humbug!

My latest ah-ha moment was over the weekend when I finally had some time to finish up some home projects, catch up on laundry and cook dinner for family and guests we had over on Sunday. My poopy mood seemed to dissolve because I regained that balance and in return, my "happy" came back. It's really hard to admit that I am growing up... my wisdom is scaring me and I am pretty sure I will soon sound like my Pépère who was as old and wise as they come. He had lots of experiences too (called trial and error)... so I suppose I took after him in that sense. (loved that man)

I encourage you to look at your life and ask yourself if you are "happy".  Analyze how well your "balance" is. If you are out of whack and want to change things, begin prioritizing by figuring out what is REALLY important to YOU in life; not what is important to others. That may sound selfish... and it is on one hand; however on another hand it's exactly what you need to sort out in order to be happy and succeed in life. The cool part is that it will make everyone around you happier as well.  That's the best kind of selfish there is!

I DARE you to find balance... 

Find the time to do all that you need to and most of what you want to. It's priceless, I promise! 

"Sometimes hitting rock bottom will take you straight to the top." Shelley Giard©2012

When Opportunity Knocks... You Have to Answer! My day with The BUCCANEERS

It's not every day that you get a voice mail like I got yesterday. While I was away on a photo shoot in Captiva Island Monday and Tuesday (that's why I have not blogged in two days) I had no internet and VERY spotty cell coverage. I was lucky to find a place to get one bar on my phone so I could at least update my Facebook status (I sound like an addict... hmmm, maybe I am, but that's not the topic here) Okay, moving on... I retrieved my voice mail messages and had one from a talent agency that I have worked with in the past saying they had a client who needed a makeup artist and wardrobe stylist for a shoot today and tomorrow, and to please call them if I was available.

Now yesterday was a HECTIC day from hell... it was my first day home after two days of being out of town, I was exhausted and woke up a bit late. My poor son told me his tummy hurt but quite honestly I thought it might be an attention seeking tactic since he had missed me. I fed into it a bit  by hugging him etc. but that was the extent of it. We got it the car to drive Baleigh to school and because of the tardiness I had to go in to sign her in late. All of a sudden my son said "mommy, my tummy hurts bad!" and he proceeded to throw up in the lobby of my daughters school. A half hour later, Corey (my boyfriend) frantically calls saying he was headed to the ER. I had not even had a cup of coffee yet! (ha)  Luckily they are both okay now but they certainly gave me a welcome home that wore me out!

Despite all the craziness, I finally managed to call the agency back and the agent proceeds to tell me that if available, I was needed for a promo shoot for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Immediately assuming it was the cheerleaders I was semi-psyched and welcomed the opportunity but as the agent continued I realized it was a shoot with the players and the coach! Holy YAY! I was STOKED! I explained that with some slight rearranging I could be available no doubt, and of course I rearranged things. I was told that I had to call the Ad Agency to go over details, so I did. The contact at the agency (who had already seen my website) asked me if I was experienced in working with athletes... of course I said, yes, (although the athletes I had worked with were not Pro, and a few of them had been "pretend athletes" aka paid actors) Point being, an opportunity was knocking and I was not only answering but I had  hors d'oeuvres in hand. The producer asked me to send a few photos of my work on athletes and as long as they looked good... I was hired. (sweat began to drip from my forehead) I had JUST moved and all my photo CD's were still in boxes and the photos I needed were not on my hard drive. CRAP! There are two photographers that I have done this type of work with and those are Scott Kelby, and Joe McNally... two WORLD known guys who are ALWAYS out of the country doing seminars, conventions, classes... etc etc.

What was I going to do? Well... I contacted both of  their assistants and as luck would have it they were able to get me the shots I needed! Scott was actually in town and wished me luck. ( I love that guy!) WHEW! I emailed them over and landed the gig. A half an hour after the email I was on the crew sheet and my itinerary was sent over. Here was my "talent" lineup...

Davin Joseph
Carl Nicks
Josh Freeman
Vincent Jackson
Ronde Barber
Coach Schiano

I nearly peed my pants when I saw Ronde's name... he is my favorite Buccaneer! I could barely sleep and my nerves were in high gear this morning. I was going to 1 Buc Place to make some NFL players look great for promo stuff ( tickets, calendars, billboards etc.) for the upcoming season. How COOL was THAT! I needed to be pinched but nobody was around to do it! (boo) Dreams really do come true, my first REAL celebrity shoot was today, and I must say that ALL of these players were AMAZINGLY friendly. Ronde was SO funny, I love him even more now! I had a LONG but amazing day rubbing down players with silicone and spraying them with water to make them look sweaty, meeting our new Coach and making him look super handsome for his shots and I steamed about 30 Bucs flags for tomorrows shoot. I will be back at 1 Buc Place tomorrow and when I leave I will smile just as I did today realizing that if you stay on the road long enough you will eventually get to exactly where you wanted to be!

xoxo

~Shells~

"If you give up now, you will never know what is waiting for you at the finish line!" ©2012ShelleyGiard

Ronde Barber and me after his photo session

 Inside 1 Buc Place

 Me and Ty Law... retired NFL player

 As I was leaving tonight...

The autograph  I got from my favorite Buccaneer!

LIFE IS GOOD!

That Moment When you Feel Like You Can't Breathe...

Have you ever had a moment when something happened that gave you the feeling that you can't breathe? Like you would absolutely hyperventilate at any moment? Did you know what to do when this happened? Perhaps you got shocking news, could have been good or bad... maybe you found out someone you trusted lied to you, or that someone you love was not forthcoming in something you felt you should have known... or maybe it was finding out something amazing was right around the corner that you had been waiting for all of your life.

It is at moments like this that we must stop and think about what is happening, we must stay rational in a heated angry moment because it is important to maintain composure and analyze both sides when we are faced with something we do not understand; otherwise we say things we don't mean, or say things we do mean in a hurtful way. On the flip-side, when faced with exciting news, we must revel in the moment and open the throttle wide as to experience the full effect of the happiness and victory that lies within it all.

Many times in life we don't think enough... we are too busy or too selfish to take the necessary time we should to make purposeful, meaningful, rational and correct decisions. However when you learn this and apply it  to your life, things will change... hands down without a doubt. I have learned all my lessons the hard way, I have no doubt this will continue given my rebellious, stubborn nature. What I can say in my defense however is that it no longer takes me once-twice-three times to learn from them; and that is what I call growth.

Wishing everyone a moment that will take your breath away... (in a good way of course!)

xoxo 

~Shells~

"Take the time you need to think things through... it is a necessary practice in order to birth good decisions" ShelleyGiard©2012

Love~ Support~ Family~ and True Friends...

It has been a LOOOONNNGGG couple of weeks. Being in DC for Photoshop World for five days then immediately coming back to the closing on our new home, diving into painting,/prepping and then moving; losing my Step-mom to cancer and then two friends, one to a sudden heart attack and one to liver disease all in a matter of two weeks will EXHAUST even the Energizer bunny (to which I have been referred to as being more than once in my life.)

Last night after cleaning up from dinner it was about 9:00 and I finally sat down... to veg. To my complete surprise, when I sat down, my mind apparently allowed everything to settle in and I began to tear up with an overwhelming puddle of emotions thinking about the people I lost over the last week. I was on Facebook and saw a beautiful picture of my friend Henry... I opened a photo album in my photos to see a picture of my Step-mom, Mom and Dad taken on New Year's Eve 2008 and I looked at a picture of my friend Vivian and her husband Rick who passed away last week. It was my moment of grieving that I had not allowed myself to have being that I was caught up in the middle of my move, it had been "on hold" and by sitting down I clicked the "play" button.

I wanted to take this morning to thank each and every person who offered love, support, comfort and encouragement through all of this, it means more to me than any of you may ever know. Without the support in knowing people care about you enough to reach out to congratulate you, offer kind and loving words when you are feeling sadness, offering an ear when you need to vent, a shoulder to cry on or help in doing something that needs to get done.... things would be much more difficult. Love support, family and true friends are an amazing blessing and I am truly thankful to have received that blessing from many of you over the past couple of weeks. YOU ARE AMAZING, and I love you all!

I want to intentionally and purposefully give a special thanks to Aniko Downey, Danny Mills, Gregory Lewis, Emily Watson, Lara Luchart, Davonne Smith, Miguel Campos, George Lachmanek, Diane Heth, Jane Mak, Vivian Schofield, Nancy Candy, Andrea Beck, Tracy Bankhead and Wendy Wofford for your ongoing continuous support in nearly everything I do. To my mom, you are my ROCK; always have been and apparently always will be. And last but not least to Corey... it has been a crazy two weeks and I am so happy to have had you by my side through it all. Here's to our life together babe!

I hope that all of you are able to sit back and say that you too have been blessed with true friends, whether it be one or many. Life is so much sweeter because of them. Be a true friend and you will likely find

"Many people in life search for one "true" friend; I have been blessed with many because I have learned that the first step to finding a true friend is simply being one." ©2012ShelleyGiard

xoxo 

~Shells~

In loving memory of three terrific people to which I had the honor of knowing. 

You will be missed by many and never forgotten. 

When People Can't Be Happy For You

First of all, I want to say that I hope everyone had a fantastic holiday weekend regardless whether or not you celebrate Easter. Corey and I spent the entire weekend putting the new house together and it was tiring yet really fun. We are both the type that want it all set up as soon as possible so we were on a mission for sure!

My blog tonight is a simple one with a strong message and it was triggered of course by something that happened to me over the past few days. I have been posting once a day on Facebook just to keep everyone abreast of things and unfortunately by doing so I ruffled someone's feathers and she let it be known by posting commentary on my wall. Yes, I could have de-friended her or deleted the comments but I am not 12 so acting like I was would be silly. Bottom line is that not everyone is going to be happy when you are doing well... and I have learned to accept that. Jealousy is a crazy thing and when people are miserable they want you with them.

I have gotten where I am not because I care about what others think... but through TONS of bad decisions, hurdles which I have jumped, getting up after falling on my face and staying determined and motivated simply because I had goals. I have accomplished quite a bit despite the troubles along the way, but am certainly not where I intend to be in the end. Bad choices lead to good lessons, but you HAVE to learn or it was not worth the trouble of making them.

In order to change your life you must change who you are, you must grow through your mistakes become a better person and make better choices. Put the past behind you but let the lessons from it guide you to the future. It is up to YOU to make your life different, nobody can be blamed for your shortcomings... everyone has circumstances that are not ideal but in order to overcome you must look at YOURSELF square in the face and say "what can I DO to change who I am and where I am?" Until you ask yourself these questions and be truly honest in answering them, you will never change your direction, so I hope you like where you are!

"Mistakes teach you the lesson but  only learning the lesson can guide you to a new beginning." ©2012ShelleyGiard

xoxo

~Shells~

Whipping One Out

I am talking about whipping out a quick blog... I am going to do my best to be inspiring tonight, however being that I am moving tomorrow, and my week has been a long and emotional one; my mind may be side tracked. However, I figured that I cannot let my reader's down by skipping two nights in a row just because my life is preoccupied... so I am whipping one out for ya!

This week has been a roller coaster of emotions. We closed on our house last week so this week has been spent prepping, cleaning, and painting the new home as much as we can before moving in as I said in an earlier blog this week. After three years of being on my own with my kiddos a new chapter of my life begins this weekend, and I am bubbling with excitement, nervousness, butterflies, and happiness. It feels like my "eventual" life is really beginning. My mind is in the right place, as well as my heart, and my passion for helping others is in full force. I don't what you believe, but according to the big man upstairs and many very successful mentors, that means I am right where I need to be to accept the good things are really going to happen now. That was the up-side of my roller coaster.

Now, for the down-side :(

Yesterday was a tough day, I was up earlier than normal because I knew I had to get ready for a long day of working at the house. Just as I woke up, I got a text from my baby brother Aaron who lives in South Carolina saying that my step-mom had passed away an hour before. She had been battling lung cancer for two grueling years and finally lost her fight. Unfortunately, she did not pass peacefully in her sleep as we had all hoped. It was more like a scene from a horror movie according to my father who was a complete mess when I called him moments after getting off the phone with my brother. Not fair... not fun, and living so many miles away made it impossible to give my dad the hug that I so wanted to give him. That was Down-side part 1.

Despite the sadness I was feeling for my Dad, I managed to get myself in gear and do what I had planned to do and that was to paint and clean, so I did. Then later in the afternoon, I get a call from my children's previous nanny Vivian. She was with me and the kids for over a year and had to leave due to her husband becoming terminally ill. He also passed away yesterday after a very long battle with liver disease. Down-side part 2. Thanks goodness there is not a part 3.

It was almost surreal that both Vivian and my Dad had thrown their lives for the past two years into taking care of their spouses with terminal illness, putting EVERYTHING else on hold only to lose them on the same day within hours of each other. It was a weird moment for sure, and a sad one for all involved.

I woke up today VERY thankful that I woke up, thankful that despite the busy week I had and the tiring weekend I have coming up, I was able to kiss my kids goodbye this morning, I gave my Mom a hug, and when I got to the new house I kissed Corey and told him that I loved him. We are never promised the next day, the next hour or even the next moment... it is easy to lose sight of this during the hustle and bustle of every day life, however I encourage you to stop and think of this often... never take anything for granted, don't take advantage of your friends and loved ones but DO take advantage of every moment you have with them because we never know when we may not get that goodbye kiss or hug we tend to take for granted. Cuddle your spouse, kiss your mom and dad, be nice to people you don't know and be kind to the ones you do and most of all if you have kids...tell them that you will always be thinking of them even when you are not with them... then if for some reason your time runs out you will leave behind something good for everyone.

Have a fabulous night/day everyone!

xoxo

~Shells~

  

A Man Named Chief Dey... gone but still watching over us

I am constantly encouraging people to look at things differently... to open up their minds to new possibilities, opportunities and to really pay attention to every single moment because everything around you happens on purpose;  never on accident. I suppose for some people this is too far out of their comfort zone, a bit eccentric, and perhaps even a bit weird; nevertheless I will continue to regurgitate positive thoughts via my blog, my Facebook page, the books that I write and my day to day life with the people I meet. It will never hurt to be remembered as that person... and who knows, I may actually make an impact on someone along the way. I have always stated that I am not normal.

With all of this in mind, I have a cool story to share... I will preface by saying it's kind of a long one, so hang with me. It's well worth the read, I PROMISE! It's a feel good, emotional story of sorts that will demonstrate how I look at things that happen to me, and how by doing this I  have learned to notice and appreciate everything that happens, good, bad, odd and indifferent.

Okay... so rewinding to 2006, I moved  from Tampa to Spring Hill in hopes of putting my oldest daughter Cierra into a new environment for high school. Tampa is great for many things; it's fun, has lots of cool restaurants, great nightlife... there is a lot to do; that is what scared me for my rising teen. She had not yet found her "place" in the scheme of things, and although she was not in trouble yet, I could foresee her ending up with the wrong kind of friends in high school if a change was not made. She was cute and smart... not really a "group" for that so she began to hang out with the "cool" kids who were down to earth... aka the partiers. (I did the same thing.)

Cierra was born a leader, she always made excellent grades effortlessly, a very smart girl with a bright future if steered in the right direction. I recognized her inner ability to lead early on but had to help her realize this quality within herself.  She lacked self-confidence and did not have the belief in herself. My goal was to work on that.

My ex and I found an NJROTC program at a local high school in Spring Hill, it was the largest in the state with over 300 cadets and it was decided that THIS may be exactly what she needed to cultivate her inner strengths. I wanted her to realize her ability to lead,  to be able to apply her intelligence in a positive way and be part of a team for the important sense of camaraderie and family. Central High School NJROTC it was, and man... was she kicking and screaming with the whole idea. I will never forget the day when she came home from school within the first week crying like her life was over, mad as hell that we were punishing her by making her be part of this program. As a mom, it's hard to see your child cry... especially when you are made to feel like you are the cause of it all. We often want to be their "friend" and yes, that is great... but you HAVE to be their parent and help them realize what is best for them so despite her crying I told her she had to give it a chance and stuck to the decision.

Remember that leadership trait I mentioned? Yeah... well she attempted using it in her favor the very next day when she went to her guidance counselor to remove herself from the NJROTC, stating that it was a mistake on her schedule. They called me to inform me, and I informed them that it was NOT a mistake. The next day I marched into the ROTC building to talk with her instructors. It is then that I was introduced to Master Chief, Bruce Kennedy; now a dear friend and one amazing man. I sat down and told him Cierra's story and that was this... Cierra was born when I was 18, a year and a half after my high school graduation, we had kind of grown up together. Me making all of the mistakes and her being there to experience them all with me. Her Dad and I married when she was two and separated when she was three, and his involvement after that was sparse due to a drug addiction. I moved away from my family (and hers)  in 1999 in hopes of creating a better life for us. I was a single career mom making the bacon, cooking the bacon and cleaning up the bacon which left Cierra a bit of a latchkey kid for the most part, having to fend for herself way more than I wanted her to.  I tried to change with hopes to meet someone and become a "family". I did meet someone who I thought would be the "family guy" but unfortunately the relationship between my daughter and him became quite strained once we started living together. It left her without that male role model, as well as the attention and affection a girl really needs from her daddy.

I shared with Master Chief that I was determined and dedicated to help bring out qualities  I knew she had and had hopes of her achieving everything I knew she could and thought that this program would do that for her. Master Chief brought me in to meet Chief Wendell Dey. He was the freshman instructor and the story was then shared with him. From that moment on, these two men took Cierra under their wing and never let go. It forever changed her life. And my hopes of bringing out the leader in her with this program was a miraculous success. Here is a newspaper article written about her her senior year: http://www.tampabay.com/news/education/k12/jrotc-turned-central-high-school-graduate-into-a-leader/1101267 (be sure to come right back to read the rest)


During her senior year, Cierra lost one of the most important men in her life... just 4 days before her 18th birthday, Chief Dey passed away after a year in ICU from complications of a medical condition. That day many cadets lost one of the most influential people in their lives, my daughter lost a "Dad" because that is what he was to her.


The day of his service, over 800 people attended. People were pooling outside the building like ants because the building only held 150 people. Beside his coffin, in full uniform at attention stood my daughter... his daughter in a sense because that is exactly how he treated her. I was very proud of her, and my heart hurt for her... but I knew that she still had Master Chief; her other "Dad". 

Fast forward to 2009, one of the hardest years of my life... Cierra was going to be graduating in May of 2010 I was in a miserable, unhealthy marriage, and pregnant with my daughter Abrielle who I found out was going to have Down syndrome. I decided when I was 7 months pregnant to end my unhealthy marriage and become a single mom of four. It was a tough one, but I knew I made the right choice. Cierra decided that she was going to stay home to go to college so she could help me, but I insisted that she go away to college so she could spread her wings and live life! I knew my second set of hands would be gone but I wanted her to be as amazing as I knew she could be, that was my responsibility as her mom; I was NOT  her responsibility, but she worried about me because that's just how she was.


 I managed to get myself into positive mode and begin an upswing in July of 2010 by starting my memoir. I ended up in a relationship with a phenomenal guy by that September and my life really began to turn around. A year and half later; Corey and I are still blissfully happy and just bought a home. This week, we have been prepping the new house before the big move this weekend and last night, when I was coming home from the new house I was stopped at the front entrance of the development waiting for oncoming cars to pass. It was the first time I left the house in the dark, and as I stared ahead into the driveway in front of me, chills ran up my spine and every hair was at attention as I realized that my headlights were shining into Chief Dey's driveway. 


As I sat there in this amazing moment, I remembered something he said to me in one of our many conversations... "I know one thing, it's going to be hard for Cierra to leave you for college, that girl LOVES her Mamma and wants to be sure that you are okay and taken care of." That resonated in my head as my head lights shone on the flagpole in his driveway. A tear rolled down my face because for that moment I felt Chief Dey has been "taking care" of me all along for the sake of one of his favorite cadets. It was a pretty awesome moment and one that I will never forget. I called my daughter on the way home and shared this story with her... and she too, thought that it was definitely more than coincidence. 

Every day that I leave my new home and get to that front entrance, I know I will smile as I think of one of the most amazing men that entered my daughter's life. Here's to you Chief Dey...  thanks for watching over me! 

They were named # 1 in the nation the year Chief Died

Chief Wendell Dey

My daughter Cierra the other over-achiever! 

Just look at those medals!(far right)

Her other "Dad" Master Chief Kennedy

 The day of Chief's funeral was also the date I had planned Cierra's surprise 18th birthday party, after asking the cadets; who were the majority of the attendees if I should reschedule it they all said 

"No... Chief would not want that and it will be good to end the day happy." 

In this photo a handful of the cadets circled hand in hand and dedicated a song 

which we had the DJ play to Chief. 

 Chief was a push-up-aholic so they dropped and gave him 50! 

An amazing leader... a wonderful man

He is watching over his cadets; and in our case I suppose me too!

xoxo

~Shells~

Because you CAN that's why!

This weekend was great! Being able to go to the new house and begin making it ours was SO much fun. Corey and I have a lot of prepping and painting to do before the big move next weekend, but as exhausting as it will be, we are very excited. This is what happens when two artists collide... creative genius!

Being that both of us are big movie fanatics, we are having fun taking that into consideration in our decorating ideas. I am a lover of vintage things and antique furniture. I love distressed things because they have a story... they have built character through each owner who has enjoyed their company. I often feel like an old piece of furniture myself. (this blog post goes into that a bit further.) http://shelleygiard.blogspot.com/2012/02/when-things-dont-go-your-way.html

I absolutely LOVED the movie King's Speech for  many reasons but most of all, for the set decor... especially the iconic distressed wall in the movie. This weekend, because I CAN I decided to try and re-create this wall as a test on the wall of what will be our wet bar area. If it turned out okay, we decided to turn a HUGE wall in our formal living room into the same.

I literally felt like an engineer trying to sort out how to do this wall in my head, it was really fun... I am not only creative with hair and makeup...  creativity kind of boils out from my veins; if only I had the time to do all I COULD do. (maybe I won't give up on the idea of cloning myself, I am sure there is a doctor SOMEWHERE that I can hire black market to make like 5 of me... ha-ha) After carefully thinking it all through and mapping it out in my head, just like everything else, I decided to wing it! Planning only works for methodical things like math and vacations, not creative things like faux-finishing a wall to make it look 100 years old. After several hours and a lot of tweaking my mission was accomplished! A VERY exciting moment for me. (does not take much to humor or excite me, and I am also a cheap date in case you wondered.)

I painted this wall because I CAN. My inspirational lesson tonight is this:

You too CAN do anything you set your mind to... even if it's something you have NEVER done before. How bad do you want it? Can you taste it? If the answer is not yes... then you will probably never get it. You have to want something so bad that you will buy 17 sample sizes of paint to make it work, do you hear me? Want it BAD and do it because you CAN!

xoxo

~Shells~