Each day we are given the oportunity to start over

Each morning when we roll out of bed we are given the world. We can make that day into anything we want just by starting the day right. I must admit, most mornings I hit snooze 10 times, each time dreading more the next time it goes off. The second that alarm goes off I flood my head with negative thoughts; 'ugg its another work day', 'I wonder what fires I will have to put out today', 'I can't wait until today is over', 'why did he break up with me?'. I'll give you one guess how my days turn out! I am a self-fulfilling prophecy. My days are slow, filled with turmoil and work problems, and I am sad and lonely. So today I tried something new! My alarm when off and I smiled. Not because I wanted to but because I needed to. I kissed my dog good morning and she bounced happily out of bed. Down the stairs we went and made some tea and scrubbed the kitchen clean. I drove to work listening to happy music, I greeted everyone with a smile, I sent out 'Good Morning!' texts. I greeted my work crew and checked in with them and I made another cup of tea. Then I opened my reader and found just what I needed to read on Elephant Journal :

Dear Heartbroken Person:



Stay strong and take care of yourself. Love yourself and know your worth. Feel the moment even if it makes you cry, you need to. Accept help but don’t feel sorry for yourself. Know your limits so you can set clear boundaries. Be sure to get some sleep and eat well. Exercise and seek out friends. Be extra kind to yourself taking measures not judge yourself for mistakes. Don’t ever beg you’re worth more than that. Try not to give more than you can handle. Remain open to love it hasn’t abandoned you. Stay in the present, the future is in front of you not in your head. Know who your friends are and keep them close. Mourn fully and without apology take it one day at a time. Breathe breathe breathe. Find comfort in the small things and accept generosity.






Ask for help, you are not alone. Don’t over do it. Watch funny movies. Don’t seek comfort in the past because you will not find it there. Expect miracles, they only happen if you believe in them. Reach out to help others when you are sure you have helped yourself. Don’t blame yourself. Be honest with yourself and know that these things take time. Be clear when thinking about what you want for yourself but don’t decide too quickly. Meditate everyday and practice gratitude, this life is beautiful. You will get through this believe me, I believe in you.






With love,


Leah

We all go through things; good and bad. Obviously, I'm having a few bad moments lately (if you hadn't noticed!) but it will get better. I look around and see other people going through far worse situations than I am but they are taking them on with a smile. My mishaps might be small potatoes in the grand scheme of life but in my life they feel like big, fair-prize winning baked potatoes! Today I'm going to start following some other people's lead- I am going to acknowledge my sad moments but I am going to smile and move on. Choose Joy! Tonight, I am having a party with my girlfriends and it is going to be a great day. Each day we are given the great opportunity to start all over again. I started fresh today and I hope you all have a wonderful day!

Its called the Present because it is a GIFT!
Kamee

A fresh start

The last time I posted was in November... Oops I swear I haven't fallen off the face of the earth there has just been a lot going on. Here's just a sneak peak..

(Yes that's QVC on the tv...)

Among these things there are also weddings, work trips, and some other big news to share. Get ready, a blog storm's about to start!!

Brace yourselves..

-Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The Bird

Today is November 22nd... but on November 14th it was my big sissy's birthday. I called and sang her a beautiful rendition of Happy Birthday. I will spare your ears and not share. I'm sure she loved it though ;) I also sent her a gift.. it still hasn't arrived. I'm awesome. When it does arrive I have asked her to take pictures though so I can share with you. I'm hoping it gets there today. Fingers crossed!!

Even though its 8 days after the fact... again, I'm awesome.. I was going through old pictures I can't help but share with you what an amazing girl entered this world just a few, short, years ago ;)

 This bird, as she, first was affectionately called by her Grandpa, was the first grandchild on my mom's side- setting the bar extremely high for the 5 of us that followed... show-off!

She wasn't allowed to wear pigtails because they turned her into the evil spawn of Satin... poor kitty, I hope she didn't need those whiskers!

She was a great Christmas card model... Christmas by the pool, the joy of being a California girl!

 She had incredible fashion. Sweet legwarmers! Wait.... this is happening again isn't it?

She had an Afro in the 80's that could go down in history books.. Don't worry Kalee-Bird!! I'll spare you here!

Then, after many birthday cake wishes, just after her 7th birthday,

she got the little sister she THOUGHT she always wanted (insert evil, little sister, maniacal, laugh here... hehehehe) and she has been stuck with this

 ever since!

We have had our battles. I wasn't always the most adorable little sister. I may or may not have put melted Gak in her hair, made 'new' make-up for her by blending all of her compacts together, used her whole jar of Aveda Confixor in my hair (which later had to be cut out), stolen her feather ticking for 6-ish years before telling her, spied on her through my window when she would come home from dates and then made her pay me to keep quiet, or have given her the worst case of chicken pox this world has ever seen... hypothetically of course. No one can prove that any of this happened.

But she DEFINITELY had her moments of torturing me by absolutely cutting my hair into hideous creations. She irrefutably tied a string to my tooth (that wasn't loose) and slammed the bathroom door to see if she could pull it. Undoubtedly there was a time when she made me eat dog food. Without question, she let our neighbor flush my goldfish down the toilet, alive. And she 100%, don't even try to deny it, got me drunk in Venice for the first time ever, with the Canadian volleyball team.

But all of that aside, the really undeniable moments are the ones when she was the best big sister that could ever be dreamed up. She used to pull me into her bedroom on weekends and make a floor nest for us to watch movies in while we ate raw cookie dough and Chocolate Resins. She would sleep with me on Christmas and we would listen to the radio all night and when Wham's Last Christmas would come on, we would sing it to each other..

and she always got me the best Christmas gifts.. (and she may have gotten me an Ariel fish bowl and replacement goldfish years later..) She took me to Europe for a non-planned adventure when I was 16.. (did I mention we have amazing parents?!) She tells me the hard things even when I don't want to hear them, answers the phone at all hours of the night, listens to my tears and then wipes them away when the time is right, is the voice of reason when I can't see straight, and is my very, very best friend..

 Now she lives all the way on the other side of the country from me and I miss her so much it physically hurts.

It's OK though. She is over there being the best mother

 and wife

I have ever seen.

She has so many incredible adventures ahead of her and she is going to nail all of them! Because that is just the kind of person she is. Strong, wise, beautiful, compassionate, adventurous, faithful, admirable... and a little bit fiery ;) We were all blessed with an amazing daughter, sister, mother, wife, person, the day she came into the world.

I love you Kalee-Bird. More and more each year.

 Dang! Where did that Afro picture come from?!?

Love,
You're adorable little sis :)

I Think I See The Light!!!

It has been 83 days since we started this harvest- and 83 days without a day off- but I think I finally see the light at the end of the tunnel! There is a rumor going around that we will be finished receiving grapes on Wednesday! Granted this same rumor went around last week but I have faith it is actually going to come true this week ;)

Excuse the iPhone photos, but I thought I would give you all a peek at what I am anxious to say farewell to until next harvest rolls around...

 Receiving truck loads of grapes...

 Processing 36,000 tons of grapes...

 Dodging tank water falls. That can really ruin your day, let me tell ya....

Walking the catwalks for two hours every morning smelling fermentations...

 Watching the dig crew shovel thousands of tons of grapes skins out of tanks...

Sporting my grape stained Sperry's everyday...

 Playing the Mad Chemist... oh wait! I still get to do that one :)

So there is just a glimpse into the crazy, hectic, busy, aromatic, grape-filled, 2010 harvest. I'm not sad to see you go because I know you'll always come around again next year. But I am really excited that in a few more weeks I'll get my first day off!! What do you think the final tally of days will be?

Happy (end of) harvesting!!

Can I be friends with these people?

Oh, wait, I AM!!!!

It was my friend's birthday yesterday! Birthdays are so fun :) I called her to wish her a "Happy Birthday Boo!" and while we were chatting she told me about a blog they had started. Its called, Rack Love! These two do everything on their bike, as they should since Amber works for Specialized and makes these amazing bikes! Check out some of my favorite things they have done or carried on their bikes recently:

guy in truck: "hey! are you delivering that pizza?!?!"

me: "um, to my house"

guy in truck: "sweet!! what pizza place are you from? who delivers pizza on a bike?!"

me: "well, none that i know of..."

when invited to a friend's house, a good guest never shows up empty handed. a great guest shows up with ice cream.

when you go to a quinceanera, you must bring a pinata, and you must put lots of candy in it, and everyone will be your friend.









If you need a smile today please check out Sam and Amber up to their daily antics at http://racklove.blogspot.com/

Don't you want to be their friend? ;)

Having a little fun this Fall!

Harvest is in full swing!

Grapes are pouring into the winery, the smell of carbon dioxide is swirling through the air as our little grapes work themselves through fermentation and the 2010 crop is slowly turning into a delicious lip smacking vintage! But that means things are BUSY here! We are working every single day to get all the grapes in before the rains hit. So I haven't been around the ol' blog very much.

Funny thing though, with all the stress that goes along with this time of year I needed to find a way to let it out gracefully ;) Usually I clean, but my house is pretty sparkling at the moment! (how does that happen?) So I knit a few scarves, but a girl can only have so many scarves.... so I set off in search of other things to make and calm my nerves before bed and this is what I came up with! What do you think?

Fabric Flowers!

You can wear them in your hair...

The puppies like to wear them in their hair ;)

They can be grouped together like a large broach or hair piece...

 I like to pop mine on my sweater...

Or my beanie!

I love these for Fall. I have been putting them on everything lately from my scarves to my purse handle. They make me feel so girlie and are a pretty little touch to make me feel special when I'm covered in grape juice and trudging around in work boots at the winery ;)

I made so many that I started an Etsy shop!! I would love if you would stop by and let me know what you think :D The shop is called The Frog and The Owl. Browse around. I would love to hear your thoughts. I also just placed a huge Dupioni silk order so there will be TONS more to see very soon. I hope you guys like it; its certainly been keeping me sane!

Although, my clean house has now transformed into a work space and might possibly be covered in flowers ;) ooops guess I'll have to clean again!

So happy harvest to everyone and hopefully we are out of the storm soon so I can check in more here on Vantage Point.

Cheers!

Bar Stool Makeover

In the process of having my sassy roommate move in, I had some rearranging and reorganizing that needed to be done. While cleaning out one of my closets I ran across two bar stools that I forgot I had! They were stuffed in a closet because at one time I had a larger dining room table and they didn't fit at the kitchen bar. Well now I have a smaller table and they fit again so I brought them out of hiding!

Hi Gucci!!

The bar stools look ok... but the black upholstery just doesn't go with my house. So up to my fabric stash I went. I quickly stripped the old upholstery, got out my staple gun and gave myself a whole bunch of fresh blisters ;)

So much better!

I love the big Poppy print. It makes me smile :)

The great thing was I already had all of the material so it didn't cost me anything and it only took about 20 minutes of my time. Perfect quick and cute update!