Rainbows in the Dark

** Packed full o' Pics**

This morning was different than any other day we have woken up. 1- It was raining, not pouring but a steady spray of moisture and 2- It was pretty nipply...even under the covers! 

[caption id="attachment_1375" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Snug Bug[/caption]

I was taking pictures from bed of the outside when we saw a rainbow. I tried to capture it from bed but the windows had too many droplets of water on them to get a good picture. This rainbow got me out of bed, (most probably would) but it was so very worth it. If you know anything about me, it's that I am a total sucker for rainbows and feel that when I am lucky enough to witness one...or many, that I am being loved on from above, especially from my passed on pup, Roxy Love! When I got out of the van this is what I saw...

[caption id="attachment_1376" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Sending me some love[/caption]

 And as I turned to see the rainbow in its entirety, I saw that we were getting double-blessed with of course, a double rainbow!

[caption id="attachment_1377" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Double the blessings[/caption]

 I was super excited, these rainbows just made my day and it wasn't even 9 a.m.! After the beautiful roads of light left us, we went on with our day like any normal day although, everything around us was ever-changing. The clouds rolled in, rolled out, rolled by the mountains, sat on top of us for a long while and then would disappear like it was just another sunny day.

[caption id="attachment_1379" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Sunny...for now[/caption]

With the cloud coverage and the rain, the weather sure got wintry on us. By 10:00 a.m. I was all dolled up in my semi-winter gear; jeans, hoodie, knit cap, and socks.

[caption id="attachment_1380" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Um, brr[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1381" align="aligncenter" width="300"] In our "internet cafe"[/caption]

In between snuggles in her chair, Savannah was out enjoying all of the fresh smells the rain had brought...her nose was going crazy, she looked like a lil' bunny rabbit!

[caption id="attachment_1382" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Bunny or Bug?[/caption]

There were storms all around us, more so than yesterday, but also like yesterday they were dancing around us. Every now and then we would get hit with a few drops, thinking we were about to get hammered...then it would just move on. We were really wanting some rain... come on man!

[caption id="attachment_1383" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Will it come our way?[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1384" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Now THAT is rain![/caption]

You would think, from looking at the above pics, that we got the pummeling we wanted....nope! Little bits of spit and spray for us, but the mountains were getting the brunt of it for sure. Again, I was taking pics of the awesome sky changing every few moments and again I was able to capture another blessing. My girl was checking in on her mama today!

[caption id="attachment_1385" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Hi baby girl[/caption]

It was just marvelous, the entire day was like this. We would get a little sprinkle, some crazy cloud formations in and on top of the mountains, rainbows, some pretty brisk winds and then the sun would pop out...then it would start all over again.

[caption id="attachment_1390" align="aligncenter" width="300"] It was really sunny![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1391" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Small potty walk[/caption]

Around 5:00 p.m. we all got out of the van again to take in the scary looking scenery. If we thought it was going to rain those other times...that was nothing. It was definitely going to rain on us now...I mean pour and pelt us with cats and dogs!

[caption id="attachment_1392" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Are we going to get our wish?[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1393" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Run Nana!![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1394" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Even the robots are getting in on the storm action[/caption]

We rushed and got back in the van only to sit there and wait and wait and wait. Finally, we ended up pulling the van door back open because it was getting a little warm in here. When I slid it open, guess what I saw??? If you guessed a group of grown men playing freeze tag...well you were wrong. If you guessed another rainbow, well then you were almost right. Anyone? Anyone? Yep, another double rainbow! Whoa...two double rainbows in one day...yes, please!!

[caption id="attachment_1396" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Hello Lovely![/caption]

However, after we enjoyed another lovely set of rainbows we finally got the storm to come to the van. It wasn't the punishment we deserved, but it was a nice enough rain to satisfy our need...again making the desert look like a totally different place.

[caption id="attachment_1397" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Looks like snow, huh!?[/caption]

We were sure we would go to bed with it windy and drizzling but were wrong, yet again today. Pahrump gave us another clear & beautiful sunset, complete with the shimmering lights of the city. I don't think we'll ever figure this place out...and that's just fine with me, makes for better pictures!

[caption id="attachment_1398" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Lights of Pahrump[/caption]

 Hoping you also had a crazy magical day!

PEACE

Time passes by but memories will never fade

The past two days I've woken up missing and reminiscing about everything from 6 months to 6 years ago. Yesterday it was all about Denver, breakfast places J' and I used to go on dates to, friends that I miss dearly and thinking back on really fun moments and times in our lives. Today it's been all about our wedding day. We had a freakin' blast on our wedding day! The only thing we really had planned was where we were going to get married, everything fell into place from there on out. We have amazing friends that planned things around us & "behind our backs" for surprise after surprise. I totally believe in the best things in life are never planned. Everything and anything that we could have planned would never have turned out as perfect as it did that gorgeous amazing day in July of 2008. I got my dress for free from a friend I had barely just met, the magistrate gave us the most beautiful ceremony it was as if he had known us for 20 years, the best group of friends we have showed up and threw us an awesome celebration full of dinner, champagne, pictures and all around the funnest and memorable of times. The girls even decorated our car (something I always wanted on my big day) AND made us a wedding cake! You certainly can't ask for better people in your life than this. Even though our families weren't there to celebrate with us, these people made this day just so great in so many ways. It makes me want to get married again, the exact same way just to be able to experience it all over again...sigh. At least I have the memories, pictures and of course the best thing out of the whole deal...My Babaa'! Thank you again to the best friends a couple of crazy kids like us could ask for...four years later and it still remains a vivid memory in my head. Love you tons and bunches and lots and lots...mwah!

[caption id="attachment_436" align="aligncenter" width="225"] About to get hitched![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_437" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Ready to get 'er done![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_442" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Crystal,my Maid of Honor[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_441" align="aligncenter" width="225"] J' & his Bestest Man![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_438" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Dawn, Bret & Heather our great friends. Love you[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_443" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Always walking side by side[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_444" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Our friends house where it all went down![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_445" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Love Birds[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_446" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Making a wish come true![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_447" align="aligncenter" width="300"] The Host & Hostess with the mostest![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_448" align="aligncenter" width="300"] They even got us Champagne!![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_451" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Cheers to Love[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_450" align="aligncenter" width="300"] The Handsome Mens[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_449" align="aligncenter" width="300"] My Super Gals[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_452" align="aligncenter" width="300"] The Fam![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_453" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Cutting the Cheese...I mean the cake! How cute is that cake!?[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_454" align="aligncenter" width="300"] The only Honeymoon pic![/caption]

 Okay, now that I've amazed you with all of those studly pictures I'll go now. I'll always remember that day to be one of the happiest and most fun times I've had. Those memories will always be present and the remembrance of what great friends we have shall never pass. Thank you again to all that made that day so very very special. We love you and hope you all have the happiness that we share together. Much love to you and yours forever and always.

PEACE

Saying good-bye, a handful at a time

Today I awoke with a major feeling of needing to let go of (some) of Roxy's ashes. I'm still trying to search for a reason why today had a major push with it, but all I can come up with is that 19 is my favorite number...so I'm going with it. And sometimes you just can't explain these things, so today was the day! I woke up and had my oatmeal (that I am now mixing with honey, so for now, it's quite yummy!) After I cleaned up the "kitchen" I gathered up a few things: her ashes, a scoop that I use for them, a couple of stones, my sage, a lighter, the bear spray and my camera, but that's a given. I walked around, stood & stared, walked around some more until I found the perfect spot for my angel. I wanted it to be a spot that I would remember, a spot near our site (so she will always be close to us), and something that would give her some sun but more shade...because that's what she liked. I found the perfect tree just below our site that I had to walk down to the base of (hence the bear spray), but it perches up to the front side of our spot. It is perfect. I walked down to her tree and collected 10 big rocks and 10 smaller rocks. I dug a pretty deep hole, so her ashes weren't just sitting on-top of the dirt. I wanted her to be embedded back into the Earth from which she came from. I made a circle with the 10 big rocks then I placed one of the stones I chose for this at the very bottom of the hole & then placed most of her remaining ashes on-top. Before placing her Rose Quartz on her remains I lit some sage and waved it over top of her, saying a prayer and letting her know what a blessing she was to me. I placed her Rose Quartz in the center of the pile, covered it with dirt and placed the 10 smaller rocks on top. The 10 big rocks in the circle around the pile symbolizes the day she passed away (05-10-2009). The 10 smaller rocks on-top symbolize two things; One~ how many years we spent together & Two~ the birthday we never got to celebrate, which she would have been 10 on June 6, 2009.

[caption id="attachment_187" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Sending her back to Mother Earth[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_188" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Her site shall always be remembered[/caption]

Some people (probably NOT dog people) think it's kind of crazy to be soo emotional over a dog. Roxy Love was not just a dog to me though. She was my best friend, my companion, my soul mate, my partner in crime, my heart, at times she was like a 'mother' for me. I got her when I was just a baby myself, was almost about to turn 19, we raised each other & helped one another grow up. We took care of each other. I remember when I was single and living alone and only about 22-23 years old, I didn't have enough money to feed myself sometimes, but she always got fed, even if it was a can of green beans and rice...she got fed. She made me realize there's more to this world than what everyone makes you believe. When my friends stayed out drinking until 2-3:00 in the morning, I made sure to go home to feed her, let her out and be home for her. My friends always used to say, she's just a dog, she's not like a kid or something...but to me, she was just that, my kid, and so much more. When she passed away it was a major shock to my system. I felt numb for a really long time, I felt lost. I felt like everything I knew that was right, honest and pure had just been taken from me. Of course I didn't think it was fair. I had planned on being with this dog for at least 5 more years...most likely more than that. She was very healthy and whenever I took her to the vet, they always told me she had the bones & muscles of a 4 year old, which was good. She was as healthy as a puppy!! What happened was since she was Beagle/Hound mix she had those hunting instincts. I woke up, at 4:30 a.m., to my mom (we were staying with her at the time) in a panicked voice, "Something is wrong with Roxy." Well motherly instincts kicked in and I jumped out of bed and ran to where she was in the backyard. There she was standing over a dead Mole swaying back and forth, she was really out of it. With my whole family having dogs our whole lives, my mom said to just try and give her water and see how it goes throughout the day. We put a sheet on another bed (just in case of her being sick) and she just laid there all day, barely touching her water. My moms dogs laid with her on the bed (2 huge black labs), they sensed it. The next day, she seemed to be doing better. We went on a walk and she was having a hard time keeping up, that worried me. When we got back, J' had tossed her part of a chip that he was eating and she turned away. This dog NEVER turned any type of food away...that's when we took her to the vet. They ran tests on her and did blood work and to make another long story very short, it came back she had Hemangiosarcoma ~Blood Cancer, it is very rapid and arises from the lining of the blood vessels. They told me they thought the Mole had poison in it, (being in Florida, Moles are a huge problem so people stick poison down the holes to kill them, it came up in my mom's yard, Roxy killed it and ingested poison as well). That was on Cinco de Mayo 2009. Five days later, she was gone...I will bare all of us that story. That day and the following weeks were the hardest of my life. She was the closest thing to me that I had ever known. It's been really hard to part with her ashes, although I already know that her soul was gone before we even made it to the vet that last day. I guess I felt I couldn't part with them, for if I did I wouldn't have her at all anymore....but I figured it was time. It's been three years now since she passed and I want her to be totally whole and free and back where she belongs...with the Energy of Mother Nature. I don't want to hold any of her back, she was amazing to me and hopefully is now or will be able to bring that joy to someone else.

I can't say enough about this amazing spirit that I was blessed to walk through life with for 10 years. She 'raised' me into a fine young woman and my life will never be the same again.
Monkey Face Monkey Face, I love yoooouuuu... Yes I dooooo!!!

These were taken about two years ago, she will forever remain a part of me...and no one ever said I had cute feet, so....

[caption id="attachment_172" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Wincing in the most dreadful pain[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_173" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Outline for my monkey's tattoo[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_174" align="aligncenter" width="225"] The best thing to make my foot beautiful! It's gorgeous!![/caption]

And then of course more pictures of my girl

[caption id="attachment_177" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Staring competition[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_178" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Momma hanging with her babies: Roxy & Remy[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_179" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Roxy helping the girls carve pumpkins...or eat them![/caption]

PEACE

 

Beaches, Boardwalk & Barc Parc Oh My!

Night one in Myrtle Beach was very successful. The weather is so nice here we didn't even need a fan to sleep during the night. We woke up around 7:45a.m. I walked The Bug (Savannah) & then J' & I walked around Wal-mart looking for a few new items for "van-eating" that don't deal with boiling water or huge clean-up. We found some packets of premade Tuna for easy-to-make sammy's, some bars; yogurt, granola, protein & the like (stuff that won't melt in the heat), and some premade chicken salad with crackers. When we left Wal-mart, we drove over to the Ross parking lot just next door to eat breakfast. We were stopping in Ross anyway to look for swim suits so it was the perfect plan. I think they even opened early for us because they saw us sitting there eating haha. Turns out they weren't good for anything other than their bathrooms ~ Ugly suits, for my taste, and way too much for what I was looking for...yep, a ganga! We figured it was time to get our "party" started, so we pointed Joon to the Grand Strand. The Wal-mart we stayed at was only about 3 miles away, so we arrived in no time! We found a great spot right off Main Street, in the shade. It was metered parking which worked out great for us. It was only about 10 a.m. so it was awesome outside. We put the shades up in the front, pulled them down in the back, watered up The Bug, turned her fan on and off we went to the Boardwalk. We parked at Ripley's Believe it or Not, right on the main corner, so from there we took a left onto the main street to take in all of the sights. We were there before a lot of the stores opened for the day so we soaked up some sun and walked down to Pier 14.

We walked in to use the restroom and ended up paying the $1.00 fee per person to walk all the way to the end of the pier. It was cool to walk out there and see the beach, the boardwalk and everything going on from that point of view. We stayed out there for about 40 minutes. They have little wooden benches that sit up high so you can see over the railing- probably more for the fishermen than anyone, but it was still nice to hang out here for a bit.

While sitting there, I noticed something floating in the water, I said to J', "Look, a hamburger!" We both stared at it for a minute and he finally said, "That's a jellyfish...maybe the jellyfish ate a hamburger!" haha We must have watched that poor jellyfish trying to get back out to sea for a good 6-7 minutes. I don't think it ever made any progress, poor Jelly Felly!

[caption id="attachment_1578" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Jelly Hamburguesa??[/caption]

After the pier we made our way into some shops, especially an oldie shop called the Gay Dolphin that J' & his sister used to frequent as kids. Now, let me tell you~ if you are a knick knack whore, this place has your name written ALL over it!! There is crap, er...items for purchase everywhere, even on the ceiling, no joke man. Believe me if you can think of it, it's there. You may have to search the FOUR cluttered, filled to the brim floors for it, but I'm sure you will find it...or maybe you won't but it will be an advneture trying. I'm sure you're bound to walk out with something! If we had a place to put it I would have bought myself a dragon, I Loooooooove me some dragons!!! And they had a ton of them, but we don't have the room and I'm sure J' loved that fact, haha.

[caption id="attachment_1580" align="aligncenter" width="300"] So tacky, yet so pretty[/caption]

Back on the "Strand", more pictures were taken, bathing suits were looked at, a sticker was bought (that we now cannot find), and LOTS more walking was done. Since my hormones woke up craving pizza, we stopped for a slice @ NY Pizza and a large COLD coke. It hit the spot for sure and used up our limit of "EOM" (Eat out meals) for the day, but it was worth it and my craving was satisfied. Walking back to Joon, I ducked in one more store to find a Ganga on a suit and I finally found one~ hooray! Now I have an 'out of shape suit' until my butt can fit into the one I usually wear, woo hoo! Time to go discover some other parts of Myrtle Beach...

[caption id="attachment_1581" align="aligncenter" width="300"] I actually think this sign would be under water if there was a Tsunami but at least they tell you how to get away from it, duh![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1583" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Look Mom! Black-eyed Susans... I remembered![/caption]

We visited a campground J' used to vacation at as a youngin'. He showed me things that were new and things that haven't changed, we walked into the arcade he spent many a summer day in and I even saw the spot where he won a break dancing contest...that's my guy!!

We walked the beach and I found my very first shark's tooth, which I lost very shortly after due to a hole in my pocket, rats!

We even took a "tour" of their bath house, if you know what I mean! haha After some good reminiscing, we found a beautiful dog park with an amazingly clean lake and a few acres of land for Nana to run, fetch and swim. She actually learned how to fetch her very first ball in water. At first, she swam out to it and tried to force it back with her face and neck, then she tired & turned back...mommy fetched that ball (thank god the water was so clean!) She learned she had to open her mouth, get the ball, then swim back. She proceeded to come back, drop the ball in sand and from there her girliness came out. She pawed at the ball trying to get a "clean" spot (it was covered in sand) and every time she put her mouth around it to pick it up, she would just drop it & sneeze, as if the ball had hot sauce on it or something. She did this about 6 or 7 times until she gave up and mommy washed it off so she could have it again. She isn't spoiled at all, haha. She's just the cutest thing ever!! We ran her crazy for a good hour or so until she decided she had had enough, to the point of digging a hole and putting the ball in it to hide it. She's no dummy!

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xrkhlq_06-not-a-sand-kinda-gal_animals

From here, we found the closest mall, parked, took care of some things; work, phone calls, etc. & got a tip of something to do from Liza, so we thought we'd give it a shot. Within 15 minutes we were fully engulfed in Broadway at the Beach. There were people everywhere, music coming from all areas, shopping, restaurants, bars, cafes, boats whizzing across the lake in the middle of it all, hungry fish, screaming kids, tired parents, dancing in the streets, nostalgia rides from the pavilion, the smells of popcorn, ice cream and cotton candy...talk about sensory overload!

It certainly was a fun way to realize we are doing something completely different with our lives now. I've never been more at Peace.

PEACE