Sad

My laptop was stolen. Ruby is gone.

Silly as it may sound, it feels like part of me is missing. Really, I guess it is. Not silly, but missing. I do have a rickety old desktop, that's not very reliable. The internet connection is in and out, so much so, that it drives me completely insane.

So the story.

We went to San Antonio for the weekend, and on Saturday decided to take the kids to Sea World. Never in a million years did I think someone would break into my truck in broad daylight with so many security towers, and people walking around. Never. It's not like I left my laptop on the seat with a sign saying take me, I'm yours. Nope. It was safely hidden away under my seat, along with my purse and GPS. Yep, the motherfuckers got those, too. Luckily, my purse was empty, but still. It wasn't a cheap purse. Wanna know what else they stole? A box of diapers. Yep. Diapers. And in the process, they broke the lock on the driver side door.

Stupid, stupid thieves. Pieces of shit. Scum of the earth. I pretty much hope they rot in hell.

Enough of that. I've had several days to process the theft, so I'm starting to feel less angry and sad.

The worst part of all of this is my lack of connectivity. Sure, I have a rickety old desktop, but it's not reliable. Hell, I'm sure that it will lock up at least 2 times during this post. I can only hope auto-save is working. I miss my blog. I miss my friends. I miss Shrinking Jeans. I miss my work.

I've ordered a new laptop, and it should be on it's way tomorrow. I hope it's on it's way tomorrow for God's sake.

It won't be red, which makes me a little sad, but it will be shiny and new and ready for me to fill it with myself.

It's a Mac.

Squeeeee!

Saucy Birthday Wishes

This wonderful new design was a collaboration between me and Beth. It was fun and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE how it turned out! I pretty much want to stare at it all day.

Speaking of Beth, today is her birthday. Yes, it is! So go over to her blog and leave her some birthday wishes.

But first, here is my Beth Haiku:

Today is Beth's Day

She's wonderful and saucy

I love her so much

Blog Design Idol

Have you been to Jessica Knows? If you haven't you should go there. Daily. She has some great information on her blog. She does KNOW alot. ;)

She's also holding a Blog Design Idol contest and, you guessed it, ruby & roja is a finalist. In case you didn't know, I co-own ruby & roja with Beth! But you knew that, right? We were ahead in the voting, but now we've fallen behind. Please, please, go vote for us! If we score this job, it would be great, FREE publicity.

Voting ends tonight at midnight. So get on over there, quick.

Thanks so much ;)

I'm so thankful

It's been too long since I've posted. Time has just gotten away from me over the past week. Family, friends, holidays, shopping, work, they've all taken priority, and it's been crazy!

I do want to tell you what I'm thankful for, though.

• First and foremost, I'm thankful for my husband. He ROCKS! He works so hard to provide a wonderful life for our family. I can never thank him or give him enough credit for everything little thing he does.
• I'm thankful for my children. They are smart and beautiful and perfect in almost every way. Almost ;)
• I'm thankful for my friends. Lisa, Beth, Amanda, Donya, Melissa, Marlena & Pat, Sarah, Stephanie, all of them. They are truly blessings in my life.
• I'm thankful for ruby & roja. I'm so glad for the sense of purpose I have working with so many wonderful clients. It's amazing and I can't imagine my life without Beth as my business partner and friend.
• I'm thankful for my home in the beautiful Texas hill country. There's no place on earth I'd rather be.
• I'm thankful for my extended family. My parents and in-laws are truly wonderful. I look forward to spending more time with them at Christmas!

There are so many small things I'm also thankful for, but it's late and I really need to hit the hay. Tomorrow's a big day with lots of catching up to do. Plus, our challenge over at Shrinking Jeans starts tomorrow! It's time to start counting points again. And boy, am I ever thankful for that.

I'm dreaming of a....

.....a red Christmas. A Christmas made special & lovely by ruby & roja design!

At ruby & roja, we're giving away everything AND the kitchen sink. That's right, you can enter for a chance to win one of 2 fabulous holiday designs. With those holiday designs comes a whole year of designs for 2009. We're throwing in two Season Passes just to be crazy. So for 2 lucky winners, that's 5 custom blog designs EACH!

Head on over to ruby & roja to find out how to enter. Do it quick, because the contest ends on Wednesday, November 26th, 2008 at 10:00 p.m. CST.

Good luck!

Nie Nie Day

Today is a very special day. Hundreds of bloggers are hosting auctions to benefit a beautiful family who was recently struck by a tragedy I can't even imagine. Stephanie (Nie) & Christian Nielson were involved in a plane crash last week that's left them both critically burned and in chemical induced comas. They have 4 beautiful children. Young children.

We at ruby & roja are holding an online auction to benefit the Nielson family, so please, please, please go over and bid big. You know your raggedy blogs needs a lovely makeover from the most talented blog designers on the planet. Seriously.

If you don't really need a blog makeover, you can simply donate to the fund by clicking the lovely button below. It will mean the world to this family.

You can also hop on over to Design Mom's site and check out the other wonderful auctions. They are unbelievable, (remember how I said there were hundreds of bloggers participating? Well the prizes are crazy wonderful) and don't you need to get a jump on your Christmas shopping? I think you do. I'll send you my wish list if you need help getting started.

Thanks. From the bottom of my heart.

We're here

The Real Life family has arrived at Folding Laundry central. Yes! We are here. Beth is sitting 8 feet from me. Can you believe it? I know!!!!! Insane. We're actually dipping Bug Bites in our unbelievably wonderful and abundant coffee. Craziness. You should try the Bug Bites dipped in coffee. Just be quick, don't immerse them for too long!

ruby & roja are so, so, so happy to be together finally. They sat up ALL night hanging out on the Laundry network, talking and connecting and getting to know each other. It was so beautiful and so, so red.

And now? We're hanging out in our pajamas talking about ruby & roja while our kids Spongebob. Well actually, since it's taken me like 465 minutes to type this much, we've actually moved on to the Wii and Beth is creating her Mii. I'm next!!! It's so crazy. That will probably be the thing I say most this weekend. Because it's been 4 years since I met Beth and almost 3 years since I've seen her. And it feels like we've seen each other everyday of our lives. Crazy, right? Our kids? They get along great, and they are so, so, so cute together. Mia is so happy AND sleeping - a bonus.

I am so, so, so happy to be here. And so sad to think that I'll actually have to leave on Sunday. But, I'm not going to think about that right now, because Racecar wants to teach me how to bowl on Wii. And that sounds like much more fun than thinking about the fact that I have to leave eventually.

It's all crazy, but so, so, so good.

ruby & roja's brand new home!

Come and see our brand new, shiny, sparkly, happy new home. Take a look around, a long look ;) If you leave a comment on our current post, you'll be registered to win a blog makeover! If you blog about it on your blog or tweet about and let us know in another comment, you'll have an extra chance to win. I know!!! It's crazy, right? It's because we love you so much!

The first leg of our summer blowout trip

Our weekend is coming to a close today. It's been fun an busy! We rolled into town Friday afternoon and had a wonderful afternoon of playing kids and chatting mommies. Hanging at Lisa's is pretty much my favorite thing to do. Especially when the neighbor/great friend have a lemonade stand with door to door sales!

Friday night we tried to go eat at my favorite Mexican haunt, Chuy's, but the wait was over an hour. With it being almost 7, us having 2 already tired kids, and being starving ourselves, we decided to just walk next door. To Cracker Barrel. Now don't get me wrong, I loves me some Cracker Barrell. They are the kings of of the hash brown casserole and their bacon is tops in my book. But I didn't want breakfast. I wanted a Chuychanga. And a swirl margarita. And green sauce and chips. Copious amounts of green sauce and chips. We ate our breakfast, and it was good. Just not Chuy's good.

Why is it the first night with kids in a hotel always sucks? It started out sucking because the hotel we're staying at had no crib. The desk clerk actually looked at me funny when I asked for one. Now I realize that this hotel caters to business travelers, but hell, I've never been to a hotel that didn't have a pack-n-play. Can you believe the clerk actually gave us some extra blankets and pillows and told us to put our crawling 8-month old on the pull out sofa? Aside from crawling off the bed and cracking her head, can you imagine how many strangulation and suffocation hazards exist on a pull out sofa? So she obviously doesn't have kids. Or at least I hope she doesn't. Oy! Back to the pack-n-play. We called Lisa's house and the day was saved, because of course she has one (we use it all the time) and of course we could use it. According to her mom, because Lisa and her husband were at dinner. Alone. Nice!

So we swung by after dinner and picked up the pack-n-play and threw the kids in bed as soon as we walked in the hotel room door. Only they weren't really happy about it. Actually, BJ was cool since he likes being thrown around, but Lovey, not so cool. Let's just say it was not a night filled with lots of cozy, peaceful sleep and sweet baby sighs. That silly, silly Lovey. She's so crazy.

Day two was all about Lisa's baby shower. A bunch of women away from the husbands and kids for 2 hours. A wonderful restaurant. Lots of talking was going on. Because we never get to talk uninterrupted, you know. So we talked. And we got to read the menu and actually decide what we wanted to BEFORE the waiter got to our table. And when our food arrived, we got to eat it while it was still hot. Pretty novel ideas, there folks. Yessiree. So back to the shower. It was great. Lisa is glowing and beautiful and so pregnant. Did I mention that? Yep, come to find out, she's having another baby! In about 6 weeks, no less. She received many wonderful gifts, although I think my Starbucks gift card and cash, was the best. Hey, I know my girl, okay. She's going to need the caffeine once the baby's born and she loves to get her shop on. Plus, she can buy whatever she wants, baby related or not. Did I mention the cake? The wonderfully beautiful, chocolate and raspberry creation that Lisa's friend Julie made. Amazing. Pictures coming soon! I took lots. With Lisa's camera. Because forgot mine. Doh!

So to recap. Women without kids. Adult conversation. Amazing food (I had blackened catfish enchiladas). Baby presents. Cake to die for. Two hours. It was great!

Then last night it was family time. We went to dinner at a restaurant Lisa recommend. Excellent margaritas and pretty good fish tacos! Then we figured we'd push our already tired kids and hit the outlet mall for some school clothes for BJ. School clothes shopping, done. Until it gets cold sometime in December. Then we'll actually have to buy pants and long-sleeve shirts.

And here we are, on Sunday. I'm doing a little work (which I've been doing all weekend here and there) and waiting for ruby & roja's new project to launch. Darned lag time with propagating and such. Such a pain to wait. We'll be heading to Lisa's later to hang until Wednesday when we leave for Indiana. Beth, are you reading this? 3 more days, Hooker. 3 more days. Really, it's only Monday, Tuesday and HALF of Wednesday. Get your sleep on now, girl, cuz' we won't have time for that silliness once the Mensis hit town. And there will be absolutely no folding laundry either. Because we're going to be crazy like that.

Busy much?

Today is the start of a very busy 11 days for me. Today, I pack and get all of my stuff rounded up and organized. Get my house cleaned and my pet sitters lined up. Why you ask? Because I'm leaving tomorrow for a very long, very exciting, multi-city trip.

Days 1-3, Austin, Texas - We're having a little baby shower/luncheon on Saturday for my very best friend in the world, Lisa. The hubby will meet us in Austin so we can make a family weekend out of it as well. We'll do some site seeing with the kids, probably going to the capitol building and trying to find fun stuff to do indoors since it's officially hotter than hell, here in the Lone Star State.

Days 3-6, still in Austin - hanging out with above menitoned BFF. She was nice enough to ask me to stay at her house so I didn't have to drive all the way home only to drive back to San Antonio 2 days later to catch a plane. A plane you ask?

Days 6-10, Chicago, IL, and Indiana - I'll be hoping on a jet plane with both kids in tow and heading to see business partner and wonderful friend, Beth. It will be 5 days packed with business meetings, fun outings with the kids to places like Chicago and the park down the street, hair appointments, margarita drinking, late night chats, Wii, work, and very little sleep. Very.little.sleep. As if it's possible for me to get any less!

When we return, we'll have a week of relaxing before BJ starts pre-school. A whole week!

Remind me to tell you about pre-school! That's one that deserves a post all it's own.

Oh, here are a couple of pictures of my kids. Because they're so cute and I know you want to see them.

BJ w/ robot legs (yes, those are Diet Coke boxes!), and Mia in her new hangout, under the kitchen table while I work!

The WINNER of the ruby & roja design is:

Laurie S.!!

Congratulations Laurie! I cannot wait to get started on your design.

I would also like to thank everyone who entered to win, and we at ruby & roja would like to offer a little something to all y'all too. That's right, everyone's a winner! If you are interested in one of our saucy designs, please contact us and let us know you entered to win our Bloggy Carnival Giveaway and you'll be eligible for a 10% discount on all of our services. Fo' realz!!!

Thanks again from everyone at ruby & roja designs.

be special*be different

Bloggy Carnival Giveaway

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog! I've decided to participate in Bloggy Giveaway Carnival because I have an oh-so-super, lovlier than lovely, VERY saucy giveaway.

I am giving away a Blog Redesign (The Essential) from Ruby & Roja Design. THIS IS A $70 VALUE (I KNOW!) and all you have to do...is leave a comment.

Could it be any easier than that?

One more thing! My extra saucy business partner is also giving away a Blog Redesign (cuz she's cool like that)! So head on over to her blog, and leave a comment for an extra chance to win.

**Comments will be closed on Thursday, July 31st, at 9:00 P.M. EST., one entry per person, winner will receive up to ten free iStock credits for blog redesign, redesign limited to Blogger, Typepad Plus/Pro and (upgraded) Wordpress formats, the winner will be chosen at random and announced on Friday, August 1. Please make sure your e-mail is valid.

Put your thinking caps on!

Heroes for Children* is having a contest! They want you to help them come up with a new name for their blog! The prize? A free blog design from ruby & roja design - a 90 dollar value!!

So please head on over and leave a comment with your idea. They're all good!!

*Heroes for Children is a nonprofit organization providing financial and social assistance to families, within the state of Texas, with children (0-22 yrs of age) battling cancer. Formerly known as Taylor 's Angels, Heroes for Children was created in memory of Taylor Anne Brewton and Allison Leigh Scott. We strive to make a difference in the lives of families in Texas.

ruby & roja design

Not alot of time to post, but did want to let you know we've made a few changes at Be Design! We've added another great person to our team AND we've changed our name to ruby & roja design. Check out our site for an explanation!

One more thing! Go over and check out 5 Minutes for Mom's new sister sites! We at ruby & roja had the pleasure of working on this fantatstic project too!

The Big Project

So I've been a busy, busy bee over the past few weeks. In addition to our regularly scheduled clients, we also had a doozy come up. Bigger than big! We at Be Design, now ruby & roja design (that's another post for tomorrow!), were commissioned to redesign the 5 Minutes for Mom site. Have you been to 5 Minutes for Mom before? If not, you gots to get over there! It's a great site with so many resources for Moms, great posts by Susan & Janice (the co-founders and identical twin sisters), lots of other regular contributors, and so many links to other Mom blogs it will blow your mind.

We worked directly with Susan and Janice to create the site of their dreams. And it turned out so well, don'tchathink? Stop on over and check out the new look, and if you've never been by before, stop and look around. I promise you'll find something pertinent to you. And leave a comment telling them how wonderful it looks and how smart they were to hire me and Beth :)

Oh, and I forgot to mention, there's another surprise coming from 5 Minutes for Mom tomorrow. It's a big one :)