Meet My Best Girls - Chapter Three

Last, but by no means least, Deanna:

My sister, my best friend.  Younger by four years, yet I don't remember my life without Deanna in it.  Not to say we didn't have our share of sibling rivalry... and sharing a room our entire childhood was challenging... but I love this girl... and we survived, together, through a lot of ugliness.

As we were raised - in a Brady Bunch style his, mine, ours, and a few others household - I clearly held the role of eldest and Deanna fell into the role of middle child early on.  She is the peace keeper. She has a gentle soul.  She hates conflict. She loves horses, the ocean, and her family.

Deanna dabbled in scrapbooking and the "biz" with Krystal and I, but her heart is at the barn.

This is the canvas I made for Deanna:

Meet My Best Girls - Chapter Two

Next up, Rachel:

I met Rachel in 1983.  I had just graduated from college.  She was still in high school.  We were hired by Sears to work in the catalog order department at the same time.

Rachel has been there for me through moves (yes, lugging boxes!), my wedding, pregnancies and births, taking care of my toddler twins when I needed to go out of town, and helping out in emergencies (like when I ended up in the hospital with kidney stones).  Even though we live in the same town, we can go weeks or months without seeing or talking to each other, but I always know I can count on her if I need to.

Somewhere in there she got married, had kids of her own, and got busy with her family life. And I like to think I was there for her too.  We share some of the best and some of the worst times. My Mom and her Dad both died from cancer within two weeks of each other.

Shortly after her 40th birthday, Rachel was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer.  It was in her honor that I walked in the Philadelphia Breast Cancer 3 Day (60 miles) in 2008 and it was with that event that I launched this blog!  Rachel is now three years cancer free!

This is the canvas I made for Rachel:

Meet My Best Girls - Chapter One

So how do I begin to encapsulate and share my girls' weekend away?  I'm thinking first off, you need to meet my girls!  So for the next three days, I'll introduce them one by one.  But don't run away too quickly... there is She Art involved!

First Up, meet Krystal:

I met Krystal in 2001. She is the youngest of the group, having not yet crossed over the "40" mark.

Krystal is a portrait photographer, but when I first met her, she was a rep for an upstart direct sales scrapbooking company, and my upline. I was immediately drawn to her personality, her cute southern charm, her feisty spirit, and the way she was able to analyze and maximize profit from any downline structure.  She definitely had a way with that puzzle! And a knack for getting people to do whatever she wanted.

We joined the "scrapbook biz" together and stuck it out for eight years, through two different companies. Along the way, we got to enjoy numerous retreats, conventions, shows... all "girl trips" even though work was involved.

We share the role of eldest child, a strong education, and a love of the written word. Oh, and scrapbooking!

After the second company went belly up, I gave up the biz and settled into scrapbooking as just a hobby (and learned my way around Photoshop!).

Krystal became a portrait photographer.  Alas, I have yet to get her to shoot my family.  I have the airlines to thank this time - her flight was delayed so many times that instead of getting here at 3:30 (with plenty of time to do a sunset shoot), we finally got her back to my house at nearly 9 p.m. - and couldn't even do an indoor shoot because the girls had already showered and changed into pjs!

Knowing my best girls were all coming to celebrate my big 5-0, I used the She Art Class as an opportunity for gift-giving.  This is the canvas I made for Krystal:

Catching My Breath

I don't even know where to begin.

I had the most fabulous weekend!

I'm still trying to catch up to everyday life again (the price you always pay when you go away, right?). The laundry seems to have multiplied exponentially while I was away. Kind of like tribbles.

My girls' weekend destination was beautiful Cape May, New Jersey. 

Just being there slowed me down.  Brought me peace.


We stayed here: Rhythm of the Sea Inn.  Even the name sounds beautiful. It is a 1915 craftsman style home turned Bed and Breakfast.

I'll introduce you to my girls in another post, but here we all are!

I had a few truly lighthearted moments like this one.  Totally goofing on the beach.

And today I'm so grateful that we had this weekend. And I'll fill you all in later. 

After I'm done catching up with life. 

And catching my breath.

Because today word came that made it official.  Jay's position (that he has held for ten years) at work is being "eliminated" effective May 31st and he is joining the ranks of the unemployed.  We're making adjustments already.  And hoping that he can find a new job quickly.

In the meantime... if you could all add your prayers and/or positive thoughts to the Universe that the right job for Jay will come along, I would really appreciate it!  Quickly would be nice.  A positive work atmosphere would be great.  Closer to home would surely be a bonus.  But most of all, whatever and wherever it may be, just let it be a position that will make Jay happy and fulfilled.  That's what really matters in the end.