Downturns, Upturns, and Twirls!

Well, Hello there!





What a week!


First, the wedding in Elbow............. gorgeous! That's about all I can say. What a beautiful group of people, an absolute gorgeous setting, as you can see from the top photo, and just a down right good time. 

We have been doing this for about 12 years now, and have seen our share of weddings with many different themes and many different vibes. Some are very proper and kind of stiff and others go the laid back route. This was a pretty perfect balance of the two.

The bride, though a trooper, became tired of wearing her 40 or so pound wedding dress, and not having really planned for a change, was very resourceful! The guys of the bridal party had long ago given up the shirts from their tuxes, as it was a pretty hot day, so, the bride confiscated her new hubby's shirt, a sash from one of the chair covers and her friend's sweater. After a quick change in the washroom emerged in her lovely ensemble. Men's shirt, purple sash belt, and her friend's cardigan for a little extra length. Voila! The new comfy bride was ready to dance once more!

And dance they did! Another 6 hour wedding dance! As I began playing the final song, a romantic ballad they had used at the ceremony, I thought for sure the new bride and groom would take advantage of this sentimental moment. But, that just wasn't them. The bride, in her new fashion forward attire, along with her new husband grabbed another couple of chair sashes and began to dance and twirl and prance around the other couples on the dance floor who were taking advantage of the romance. It was so funny, they looked like alternates for the rhythm gymnastics team twirling and swirling their sashes, entwining couples whenever possible.

Too funny!

The week then took a quick downturn as I had to resign from my "job" lookng after the wee ones I cared for. With my hubby no longer working in the city, it just didn't make sense for me to drive 12 hours a week to work 12 hours a week. Not on it's own.

That, my friends, I'm not going to lie, was very tough. I'm going to miss those munchkins like crazy! The Mom was very understanding, as I knew she would be. We both knew she wasn't going to need me forever, but niether of us were prepared to let go just yet. I know we'll stay in touch, and they will always hold a very special place in my heart. Those twins were so tiny, and now they are strapping 21/2 yr old boys, bright, walking, running, talking a blue streak, and on their way to being potty trained. Their sister, a little, shy, 4 year old sprite when I started, is now seven, and is the one who grounded me from doing crafts. They'll be fine. And, in time, so will I.


Upturning again, the the "Art in the Park" tradeshow, today. Well, it ended up being "Art in the Hall", as the weather didn't exactly cooperate. We had pretty wicked winds, which doesn't really go well with tables of jewelery, baking, quilts, photographs, and books! It still was a great day. Saw a lot of familiar faces, even more new ones and sold some books too!


Now, for the upcoming week........

I found out about another couple of tradeshows that could work out quite well, I need to get details and hopefully signed up for those.

We will hopefully be getting a solid answer about our new adventure...

Help hubby remove and replace an air conditioner on an RV........

Maybe make a quick  day trip to see my mom........

Get ready for my official signing for "Tags" and "Wishes" at McNally Robinson in Saskatoon, on Saturday Sept.1st at 1pm.......(Yes that was blatant advertising, in case you missed it)

That's about it for this week......

Until next week I'll leave you with this wish.........




May you approach life's challenges with the mindset of a seasoned athlete,taking everything in stride.
May you withstand the stress and pressure with relative ease, using your instincts as your guide.

May you understand very few races in life are sprints, most are lengthy, with no real win or lose.
May you see the gift of strolling each marathon, in the sand, wearing cast iron shoes.

May you come to know that with rushing to the finish line, so much can go by, unnoticed, unseen.
May you not only feel the pull of where you are headed, but the importance of where you've been.




Until next time.....Check out my website www.margyreidbooks.com  All four books are available!

Bad Pics and Red Tape!

Hi!

You know, sometimes, there is nothing like the complete and utter vastness of a prairie sunset to put things into perspective.


If you let it in, the sheer beauty of it can take hold of your soul, making you believe that anything is possible.  That if, this day, even if it's been a bad one, the worst one, a devastating one, can end in such breathtaking measure, then, as the new dawn rises, it can only bring with it, better things.

Every new day brings new opportunities, new challenges, new people, new experiences. Not all encounters carry a life changing impact on a monumental scale, but, I believe, they are life changing, every single one.  Every single thing that happens during the course of a day happens in succession to bring us to where we need to be at any given moment. Stop lights, hesitating to pick up a dropped hat, making the walk light just before it turned, maybe even missing getting in line before the lady with the heaping cart and screaming baby. I believe everything happens for a reason, and not just the big things.

Now, if a person began to focus and obsess about the complicated interconnection of the intricate lace that is life, we would end up not really living, and therefore, I believe, completely miss the whole point.

We can't enjoy life if we obsess about every minute detail, but, I think it is important to keep in mind the impact we have on others on a daily basis, even if it's the lady with the heaping cart and screaming baby.


Well, that's it for this week in Country Girl Philosophy 101.


So..........in the past week........



If you happened to pick up a copy of the Rosetown Eagle this week, you saw the article that came from the interview I did last week.  You may recall I thought I hadn't said anything too crazy..... well I'm now not convinced that that is correct. The article is accompanied by a picture. I'm not the most photogenic person, so getting a good photo is a long shot at the best of times. Throw in a few nights of little sleep and some nerves?............ Well, let me put it this way, even the most aged and crazy past supermodels have nothing to worry about.

The reporter did do a good job with what he was given to work with, though. Hopefully I will do a better job with my end of interviews in the future, if given the chance.


Well, "Tags" and "Wishes" have been out for a week now. Online sales are a bit slow. I'm thinking it might be due to the fact that the website was down for so long. It is working now, thankfully. So I'm working on getting the word out about it again.

We did find a solution to the wrong website being printed on all of the books. On my hubby's suggestion, we picked up a label maker and went nuts with it. We aren't anywhere near finished putting the new stickers on all of the back covers yet, but we are making a dent. All in good time.


Oh, and on our new adventure front, I really am not being dramatic about it, we are simply foraging our way through what seems to be an ever more dense jungle of red tape.  It's a lot of hurry up and wait. It might take another couple of weeks to find out.


So.... for the upcoming week........

Tomorrow, we are off to a gig at a wedding in Elbow. It's an absolutely gorgeous place for a wedding, the one we did there last year was such a good time. I have no doubt that this one will be as well. The people are so warm and welcoming, you walk in feeling like one of the family.

Then, it will be time to get things ready for the Trade Show season coming up. Art in the Park is first on Aug.25th right here in Milden. I'll have a table to sign and sell books, plus we are providing the background music for the afternoon. I'm looking forward to it, it should be a fun day.

The rest of the week is kind of up in the air..... going to have to go by the seat of my pants on this one. 

Though life is a bit unsettled right now, I feel in my bones that on the other side of this storm lies a lingering peace. I look forward to it.


So, my friends that about does it for this week.

I want you to know how honoured and humbled I am by the fact that you take the time to read these crazy ramblings each week. From Russia to Indonesia, from Turkey to Germany, from Latvia to Malaysia and everywhere in between, thank you.


Until next time, I'll leave you with this wish........


May you encounter the kindness of a stranger and pay forward a good deed.
May you feel impassioned by a cause and wholeheartedly help fulfill the need.

May every step you take have mindful purpose, whether in seriousness or in play.
May you be careful of the lives you touch, making sure it's in a positive way.

May you never be the darkness in the room, always striving to be the light.
May you keep in mind darkness breeds only more darkness, nothing good, nothing bright.

May the fortitude to walk away from those with nothing but harsh words overtake your stride.
May you, instead, stroll with those filled with kindness and laughter, those filled with a healthy pride.



Until Next Week!

Check out my website! It's Working!!!! www.margyreidbooks.com

They're Here!

Wow, I can't believe they are finally here!


"Tags Go In The Back"  and "Everyday Wishes For Your Extraordinary Life" are finished and on the bookshelves at McNally Robinson Booksellers in Saskatoon as we speak! Some are on their way to the Winnipeg store and should arrive there next week.


It kind of feels like when you're putting together a new recipe; some of this, a little of that, a pinch of humour, adding a smidgen of sarcasm to taste, finally, a huge chunk of your soul,. Then, when it's finished, you just hope that everybody likes it, or at least, everybody doesn't hate it.


Time will tell.


In the meantime.........


At 46, I'm finding new, weird and wonderful ways my body is getting back at me for things I did to it earlier in life.

For instance, and I apologize if this offends, but, do you ever feel like your uterus is on some kind of vengeful crusade against you and the rest of your body?  I'm beginning to believe it might be carrying a grudge and is just that pissed at me for having 4 kids in 41/2 years. In my early 20's, I was pretty mean to my uterus...............



If the rest of my body decides to take up the cause, I could be in some trouble.


I don't mean to turn this into a pre-menopausal rant, but, I have a few questions for Mother Nature ( if that is indeed your real name).

Why is it that after spending most of our lives dealing with our "monthly visitor", our grand reward toward the end of this loveliness is hyper PMS, wacky emotional roller coaster rides and maybe, just maybe, the luckiest of the lucky will start having bouts of insomnia, night sweats, and the odd wild hair growing out of somewhere that has no business growing hair!

And.....and.....why, does the severity of any particular month's bout of PMS absolutely correlate relatively to the incompetence and idiocy of those you need to deal with? Coincidence? Or some cruel cosmic joke?


I went and saw the Avengers movie last week. Is it just me, or was the girl the only one kickin' butt without any super powers?

Personally, I think if you added about 20-25 years to Cat Woman, the Black Widow and Wonder Woman, let them live together so their cycles sync up, then every 21 to 28 days deprive them of anything in the chololate family and have their husbands leave their dirty socks lay around for a few days, unleash them on the world, the bad guys wouldn't stand a chance!


Just sayin'...........................


Ok, maybe it's been a bit of a rough week. My website was basically scooped up by pirates, so I had to get a new one. My site is now www.margyreidbooks.com instead of .net.

So, not only did I have to change facebook, order new business cards, and get a new site put together in time for the new books to come out, but the old site is now on all of the new books. I'll have to get tiny stickers printed so I can cover the wrong web address on ALL my books, new and old.

Also, the results of this new adventure we are investigating are taking longer than we had hoped.


Pity party is officially over. I mean, really, if these are my worst problems?

After all, my books are here, they look great. Life is good.


So, for the upcoming week!



Well, tomorrow, we will spend some time with a good friend, our daughters, son-in-law and grandbabies.

Then it will be heading home to finish up the music for the wedding on the 18th.

Get stickers printed and applied

Do laundry.....yay

Clean house.......double yay


Hopefully get great news about our adventure........







In the meantime, my friends, in honor of the Olympics I'll leave you with this wish.........




May every event in your life bring with it, it's own reward, be it a medal, a hug or a crooked grin.
May you feel as overcome with delight as an athlete serenaded by their anthem, ignited from within.


May any adversity, injury, or hurdle only fuel your fire to drive on, push through, succeed.
May you see that inside your soul lives the desire, talent, drive, everything you need.


May you be surrounded by coaches to help guide your way, and teammates who will constantly push you to be the best that you can be.
May you find that the real gold was always in the journey, you were just meant to learn, to love, to be.




Until Next Time!



Feel free to check out my new website www.margyreidbooks.com

Big Picture Fatigue!

Hi!


Often you hear people talking about looking at the "big picture." Hey, I'm all for looking at things from a grander perspective than our day to day lives tend to allow. But, sometimes, just sometimes, I think there is absolute merit in honing your focus on what lies directly in front of you.


Sometimes the traffic in the background of the wider shot can be nothing but a distraction. Maybe sometimes it serves no other purpose than to pull our attention from what resides at the tip of our nose. Sometimes, giving the lion's share of our full energy into the tasks and people closest to us is just as important, if not more so, than spreading ourselves so thin across the abyss that is the "big picture."

Or maybe....just maybe.... I am completely full of crap and am writing this when I am waayyyy toooo tired to do so properly. You be the judge.

Soooooooo....

The past seven days have included several failed attempts at sleeping in. I long for the days when, short of a tornado touching down on my head, I could have easily slept until noon. Even though I haven't achieved "sleep in," I have slept past 4:45am every day of my holidays so far. That, was my goal, after all. So not a complete fail.


Oh, and..........wait for it..........I finished that #@&*ing press release, and released it! Here's hoping somebody reads it! I ended up scrapping everything I had done and punched one out in about an hour. Sometimes, those kinds of things turn out better than the things you stew about for days. Sometimes.

This week also was witness to my hubby's last day of work. A Sad/happy/hurtful/angry/peaceful/anxious day.

Some ground work has definitely been laid for future endeavors.(part of the reason I'm so tired) I'll keep you posted.

And, I know one bride who will be happy to be informed that I also was able to put the finishing touches on the wedding for tomorrow. We are really looking forward to it. We both need to burn off some steam. DJing a wedding where you are almost guaranteed to need to participate in a game of "name the drunk uncle" is probably not the way most people do it, but hey, since when do we do anything like most people?

Anyway so that concludes the adventures from last week.....onward and upward.......

The upcoming week includes.......

The aforementioned wedding tomorrow.( Where I will unabashedly encourage people to behave in ways that they hope will not show up on facebook)

Continue my efforts to sleep in ( Stop calling me names!)

Continue on the quest of our new adventure.....details soon.

Knock down a few cocktails as I anxiously await "Tags" and "Wishes", which are due next Friday!

I should probably do something grandmotherly in there somewhere, and I will, I promise!


So, my bloggy friends, I hope that this week's ramblings, although they are just that, have made some minute spec of sense. I promise I will try to get more sleep before flinging my gibberish so mercilessly in your face next week. Or, at the very least, give a good old college try. (Oh yeah, I never went to college) ;)


Until next week I will leave you with this wish...........



May all you do be achieved easily, without an iota of real effort or stress.
May every occasion requiring attentdance find you feeling and looking your best.

May all of those from which you need cooperation, bring it forth with enthusiasm and charm.
May they not, under any circumstance, bring one tiny bit of your plan to harm.

May everything you have worked so hard toward, finally land firmly in your hand.
May you know and have it proven that now was absolutely the right time to take a stand.



Until next week........