It's Not Over Yet!

Today's Beautiful Thing is remembering we are off tomorrow. Yeah! One more day to relax.

Perfect!

Today's Beautiful THing is finding not only the perfect birthday gifts for my niece, but the perfect card and gift wrap as well. I can't wait for her to open them. :)

Three Years

Today's Beautiful Thing my niece's 3rd Birthday. Happy Birthday Elise! We love you. xoxo

A Dream

Today's Beautiful Thing is fulfilling a great man's dream. 45 years ago today, Martin Luther King Jr. gave his historic (and Beautiful) "I had a dream" speech, and tonight Barack Obama gave his acceptance speech to a stadium of 85,000 cheering supporters. The hubby and I couldn't help but cheer (and cry, in my case) along with them. Surly MLK Jr. was smiling down on him tonight.

Historic

Today's Beautiful Thing is making history. Today, the Democratic party officially nominated the first African American as our candidate for president. I'm intensely moved by the importance of it. Go Obama & Biden!

Vote

Today's Beautiful Thing is the 88th anniversary of the 19th Amendment of the Constitution. On this day, Hillary Clinton gave a masterful and moving speech at the DNC that made me proud to be an American woman. Thank you, Hillary, for rising above the bickering and really stepping up. My heart aches a little at the thought that a woman came thisclose to being President, but it was not to be. Hillary conduected herself with dignity and class tonight--two very Beautiful Things indeed.

UncleTeddy

Today's Beautiful Thing is Ted Kennedy. His speech at the DNC was both moving and inspiring. I am so grateful we have him working so hard for us every single day. God Bless you, Mr. Kennedy.

Bonus Beautiful Thing: Michelle Obama's fantastic speech. Between her speech and Ted's, I was weepy all night.

Congratualtions

Today's Beautiful Thing is my father in law Mike. This afternoon we had lunch to celebrate his retirement. Finally! I am so happy for him. (Pictured: hubby and his dad on hubby's graduation day.)

Dining Alfresco

Today's Beautiful Thing is eating lunch outdoors. We went to the cutest little sandwich and gelato shop we haven't been to in a while. Nothing's better than sitting under a big umbrella, munching a turkey and cranberry panini and watching the world go by. :)

Bonus Beautiful Thing: Vanilla gelato with a raspberry swirl and big chunks of chocolate!

A Winning Team

Today's Beautiful Thing is Joe Biden. I'm so pleased that Obama chose him to be his running mate. :)

Vibrant

Today's Beautiful Thing is getting my hair colored. There's no way I can feel drab with hair this bright! :) (Pictured: Me and my friend Jill, on a day when I was feeling vibrant.)

Sharing

Today's Beautiful Thing is wondering why the dogs are so quiet, and finding them sharing their dog bed and playing with their toys. So cute.

Free Time

Today's Beautiful Thing is a little free time on a work day. I got off work early for a doctor appointment, but the doctor cancelled. I enjoyed a few hours to myself.

The Net

Today's Beautiful Thing is the Internet. It's been around a while and we don't think about it any more, but the Internet is truly a Beautiful thing! I can find information on anything I need just by letting my fingers do the walking on the worldwide web. Yay progress!

Cute pic courtosy of THIS GREAT BLOG.

Simplicity

Today's Beautiful Thing is a simple strawberry sundae from McDonald's on a hot day. Yum! Makes me feel like a kid again. And it didn't kill my diet either. :)

Spending Time with Loved Ones

Today's Beautiful Thing is being together. We went to the movies and dinner with my mom tonight and we had a lot of fun. We should try to do a movie and lunch or dinner once a month. We all enjoy it so much.

Helpful Hubby

Today's Beautiful Thing is my hubby. We both work full time, and neither of us like to clean, but he was off today and he did some dusting and vacuuming. Thank you honey. That was a Beautiful Thing to do.

Mom!

Today's Beautiful Thing is my mom. Today is her 60th Birthday. How time flies. I am so fortunate to have her in my life. Lucky me! XOXOXO Love you Mom!

The Mailman

Today's Beautiful Thing is the mailman--actually, its the hubby. ;) The mailman delivered 2 different pairs of jeans that my husband ordered for me. They are both very cute. Yay hubby! :)

Snores

Today's Beautiful Thing is Ace sleeping. He's been kind of hyper tonight (grabbing things that don't belong to him, barking at us, running all over the place, jumping all over Lulu) so his little snores are music to our ears--and Lulu's. :)

The Olympics

Today's Beautiful Thing is the Olympic Games. There's nothing I enjoy more than the pure, unfiltered joy of a person watching his or her teammate doing well. Men's gymnastics and women's swimming were fantastic tonight.

Shoe Shoppin'

Toay's beautiful Thing is spending half the day shoe shopping with Mom. She eneded up with 6 new pairs of shoes, one of which I purchased for her birthday. We had a nice day. :)

Relief

Today's Beautiful Thing is finding out Ace is healthy. He had a lump on his ear that had a small chance of being cancerous. The vet ran the test today and he is fine. I didn't realize how worried I was until the vet gave us the good news in doctor-speak, I thought he was saying something bad, and he quickly corrected me. Whew!

Catching Up

Today's Beautiful Thing is being productive at work. I'm almost caught up (from taking 4 days off) and my month-end stuff is going pretty well--which is really saying something since this is the busiest time for me.

Pretty

Today's Beautiful Thing is a hot shower with my favorite sweet pea scented shower gel. It's easy to overlook simple things when life gets hectic, but tonight took a little time to smell the flowers. :)

Friendship

Today's Beautiful Thing is friendship. I've been thinking about my trip all day and I simply can't believe that I am blessed with so many wonderful friends. I miss them already.

(Pictured: Me and BFF Michele)

Busy Day

Today's Beautiful Thing is a busy workday. No hurry-up-and-wait. I spent the entire day catching up from my vacation. I love it when I know exactly what I have to do, and I just do it!

An Extra Day

Today's Beautiful Thing is an extra day to recuperate. I'm still very tired and I'm so glad I don't have to work today.

Bonus Beautiful Thing: My necklace and earrings came today! I can't believe the package got here so fast, all the way from France!

Home

Today's Beautiful Thing is coming home. After going to bed at 2:00 AM (and waking up at 5:45 AM--Ugh!) and 12 hours of travel, there's no place I'd rather be than home with my hubby and my pups. I missed them so.

Bonus Beautiful Thing: When I called my hubby from the bus, he informed me that he'd bought clothes while I was gone. Three great pairs of jeans for me. How cute is that?!

Dress Up

Today's Beautiful Thing is the chance to play dress up. The Rita and Golden Heart award ceremony is the RWA's version of the Oscars. It's an exciting event and we had a great time. (Pictured: Katy & me in our pretty dresses.)

Bonus Beautiful Thing: Anne Stuart's (AKA Krissie) Rita win for Ice Blue. You may recall that I modded Ice Blue in the Cherry Forums Book Club last year (as well as Fire and Ice last month), so I'm especially excited about Krissie's win. (Pictured: Krissie at the Literacy signing.)

Writing

Today's Beautiful Thing is writing. There's nothing in the world like the feeling I get when I translate my thoughts into the perfect words on paper. (Speaking of perfect words...Pictured: Nora Roberts & Jill)

Bonus Beautiful Thing: the RWA National Conference. Where else could I meet up with all my friends, attend workshops, sightsee, and have an excuse to wear a gown and fabulous shoes? RWA rocks! (Pictured: Molly, Katy, Michele, Cory, Sue & Tenaya (standing) in the craziness of our room. It was like that every night!)