It's my birthday and I'm having a party...

It's my 50th birthday...50!!! Wow! I can't be that old, now can I???

Actually, I've been celebrating most of the week but today only with the DH...

On Friday, my document migration team treated me to a chocolate mousse cake (a surprise) during our status meeting. I thought it was nice of them to remember me.

Then my girlfriend, Penny, took me to lunch at a very girly restaurant called the Rose Garden. It's a beautiful little place decorated as a Victorian rose garden, pinks and soft greens and creams. Victorian decor abounds in this place and it's a nice place to eat. Penny gave me a bottle of wine called, Bitch. She said that it went with my new age. And she gave me beautiful earrings, a very nice bracelet and a card that made me cry. My boss gave her permission to take me to an extended lunch too, so thank you, Brad.

Yesterday, I got some goodies in the mail. Carol, darling Carol, sent me this lovely fob. I was so moved that I cried. This fob is so beautifully stitched and so tiny. My initials are embedded in the design and it took me awhile to find them. Very clever. Now, I am on the hunt for special scissors and I will think of her every time I snip a thread with scissors that this fob is attached.

THANKS CAROL!!

On Tuesday, my son and hubby took me and Mike's GF, Jenna, on a dinner cruise. We sailed out of Ithaca on the MV Manhattan for a 3 hour cruise (Oh, Gilligan!!!) up Cayuga Lake. Dinner was scrumptious, the weather and scenery was beautiful and we had a wonderful time!

Some photos...

Jenna and Mike

All of us

Me and Dave

The cruise was a blast! Good food, nice company. Very relaxing.

This morning, David treated me to vanilla cappuccino and cinnamon raisin bagels in the sun room. And he gave me a beautiful card and a gift card to my favorite boutique, and a promise of a new digital SLR when I decide a) when we can afford it...(let's get through the contractor mess) and b) when I actually pick the one that I want. I really want the Canon EOS D but will settle for the Nikon D40...

Tonight, he's made dinner reservations at a place he's not disclosing...when I asked him where he told me that he didn't remember where or how to get there...funny, right!

And I treated myself to a OLN shopping experience. I bought a couple of Little House Needlework patterns, a biscourne pattern and some LizzieKate that were so darling. When they arrive I will take pictures.

So, the day has started lovely and I believe will continue that way!

Go 50!!

Cross this off the list...

Sorry about the lack of cross stitching posts recently. Honestly, I haven't had a moment's time to do any stitching in the last few weeks. Between the big work project and getting certified to a new Quality Management standard for aerospace auditing (that was 2 long days this week), I am beyond tired.

I am happy to tell you that today, I completed the auditing course and I PASSED!!! In fact, I did very well! I got a 96% on the test and a 98% overall score for the class. So, I can cross that off my list as finished. Now comes the hard part, implementing this QMS into our business in a very short amount of time. Hello, new project. Toss in a couple of Customer audits, the IT conversion project and just keeping up with my work in general...well, I am busy. And it's just what I want to be.

Last weekend, the Franklin Graham Festival came to our local university for 3 days. Oh, what a wonderful event that was! I got to listen to some great Christian rock (Third Day, Tree63 and Building 429) watched over 800 people accept Christ as their Savior and listened to wonderful messages of hope from Franklin Graham. It really was the highlight of the week.

The Cadet is here for a few days...It's nice having him home but tomorrow he's going back mainly because his GF is leaving for the month of July to teach at a summer camp (the name escapes me now..grr-rr) so he wants to spend a little time with her. I will see them next Tuesday as David and I are meeting them in Ithaca to go on a diner cruise on Cayuga Lake to celebrate my 50th birthday (which is the 24th).

Some stitching news, now. Sue (Red's Thread) and I are going to restart My Home Town. I am unhappy with my fibers, she is unhappy with her fabric. So I traded up to AVAS from Vicki Clayton silks, I wasn't happy with the colors in the conversion and Sue is trading her 36ct fabric for 32ct. So, we are guaranteed that this project won't sink to the bottom of the stitching basket. Now that I am not studying that aerospace standard every waking moment, I intend to use that time to stitch on MHT and The Stitcher's Wallet. I can't wait to sit in my stitching nest and cuddle with my fabric...
Also, I am making my reservations for CATS in Hershey tomorrow. Is anyone going? Let me know cause I'd love to meet up with you there. I believe Sue is going to be there and I am so looking forward to stitching with her!

And on the house front, well, let's just say that things are heading to court.

Well, that's all from my world, thanks so much for stopping by and I promise stitching pictures the next time I post.

See ya!

Learning Hands - Exemplar from the Heart

Oh my....this sampler is coming to live with me when it gets released!!!

It's Examplars From the Heart, My Learning Hands...gosh, I just love it!!! I love every thing about it...the house the border, the colors, the verse.
Usually, I am not drawn to Vilma's designs and I don't really know why. I know that everyone loves *And They Sinned* and it's still a very sought after design. I think I was the only one on the planet who didn't purchase it.

But this sampler..gee...I am in love...I think it'll look good with John Foster, don't you?

I am amoured with house designs right now.

I didn't die

It was a very interesting day for me at my place of employment.

But before I tell you the story, I have to give you some backround though. You see, I am an introvert. Big time. My Myers-Briggs profile for introversion is off the chart. I believe that I am at the outer limit of the extreme end of the introverted spectrum. I believe that I have introverted blood flowing through my veins. I will do everything and anything not to call attention to myself, I will do anything that I have to to stay in the backround. Hello, wallflower. I am very content to be out of the spotlight. I don’t like crowds. I hate to shop. I sometimes do not leave my house for entire weekends. Just so you know.

So, today, at work, my boss calls.

Boss: Hi, guess what’s scheduled at 1:30??...big pause..
Me: I have NO idea.
Boss: Well, it’s the IT meeting and guess what’s on the agenda...your project. BIG PAUSE. So, I don’t want IT to talk to it, I want you to come and pitch it to the CEO. Be there at 1:30. Bring your status page and talk to it.

"CLICK"

I immediately break out in a cold sweat. It’s noon. I have an hour and a half to worry and prepare. Oh gosh, I hope I don’t die. Better yet, I hope that I don’t make a fool out of my boss (a VP) and have his peers tell him that he made the biggest mistake of his corporate career by hiring me as one of his staff. So my stomach knots and I immediately feel sick cause you see, I AM AN INTROVERT.

I panic.

The clock ticks down.

So, I try to rehearse. My mouth feels like it’s full of sand.

When I get there, my boss says:
Boss: You’re on first.
Me: First?
Boss: Yep. Go up front, look him in the eye and give him the status.

So, I did. I talked and yes, I made some mistakes but I caught my boss’ eye. He was smiling.

Mr. CEO looked up at me and said:

CEO: OUTSTANDING JOB...Terrific work

And he shook my hand and thanked me.

I was out of there in 3 minutes.

And I didn’t die.

Recently, I've been harping to myself about projects that I've done as gifts or as RAK's and the fact that I've felt like maybe it wasn't worth it. Well, I came across this blog and I am linking a post for you to read. It brought some things in perspective and I will no longer feel that my efforts were *less than* because I didn't spend money.
So here's the post:

http://tttl1998.blogspot.com/2007/05/long-walk.html

Let me know what you think.