To all my beautiful friends!!

Happy Birthday to meeee :)

... have you entered my blog candy yet? See this post and you could get a birthday gift too!

All you have to do is: (1) Become my friend, follow me around - lol, how fun :) and (2) Leave a comment to let me know you've given me some birthday love on your own blog (I've gotta see it for you to win it!).. and I don't mind which post you comment on, I'll see them all :)

So, yesterdayyyyy... I woke up at minutes to midnight to a grinning hubby who got me to go downstairs to find a bunch of sunflowers on my kitchen table, my lunch packed and a mini-cake with Happy Birthday Nikki written on it... what a sweet sweet hubby - and he sings too haha! And then, I went online, uploaded some pics/videos to facebook and realized it was after midnight so I haaaaddd to check 365 cards! So the very first thing I did for my birthday was make a card, and play on facebook! Tee hee - how wonderful !!

Here's my creation for the 365 Cards Day 179 checkerboard background challenge. I simply cut black and white strips of paper in exactly 1/2 inch strips and began weaving... my inspiration was to weave robbon but I just didn't have two the exact width. The rest was just inspiration from the pop of colors that made me happy today. Some hand cutting for the grass, some QK 4X8 Dragonfly die cut letters and a QK daisy and some ribbon to finish it off from my stash... and of course, a little bling in the center of the flower and YIPPIE!!! Happy birthday to me... and I have NOOO idea why it keeps uploading sideways, when I've saved it correctly, or why the flower looks so dead in the pic, it looks so much better in person - ah well ;)

Here's the uncropped version of how I've been photographing my stuff using a jet black file folder, a jet black piece of cardstock and I have 2 mini-stand, one in black and one in natural - I'll have to practice getting better pics soon though, especially after yesterday's post and ideas.

...aaaaannd for my 35th birthday, I thought I'd share this grrrrreat story with all my new and oldie-but-goldie friends. Recently, in a large French city, a poster featuring a young, thin and tanned woman appeared in the window of a gym. It said:

"THIS SUMMER DO YOU WANT TO BE A MERMAID OR A WHALE?"

A middle aged woman, whose physical characteristics did not match those of the woman on the poster, responded publicly to the question posed by the gym.

To Whom It May Concern:

Whales are always surrounded by friends (dolphins, sea lions, curious humans). They have an active sex life, they get pregnant and have adorable baby whales. They have a wonderful time with dolphins, stuffing themselves with shrimp. They play and swim in the seas, seeing wonderful places like Patagonia, the Barren Sea and the coral reefs of Polynesia . Whales are wonderful singers and have even recorded CDs. They are incredible creatures and virtually have no predators other than humans. They are loved, protected and admired by almost everyone in the world.

Mermaids don't exist. If they did exist, they would be lining up outside the offices of Argentinean psychoanalysts due to identity crisis. Fish or human? They don't have a sex life because they kill men who get close to them, not to mention how could they have sex? Therefore they don't have kids either. Not to mention who wants to get close to a girl who smells like a fish store?

The choice is perfectly clear to me; I want to be a whale.

P.S. We are in an age when media puts into our heads the idea that only skinny people are beautiful, but I prefer to enjoy an ice cream with my kids, a good dinner with a man who makes me shiver and a coffee with my friends. With time we gain weight because we accumulate so much information and wisdom in our heads that when there is no more room it distributes out to the rest of our bodies. So we aren't heavy, we are enormously cultured, educated and happy. Beginning today, when I look at my butt in the mirror I will think,

"Good gosh, look how smart I am!"