Happy Easter to each and everyone of you :) Blessings to all!

I have been not posting lately, so many things going on at the same time. I have been trying to juggle between my family, that is the most important thing in this world to me, my First Birthday embroidered dress, Embroidea Custom Embroidery and re doing  My First Birthday Dress Website. It's turning out good and I am very satisfied. Other than that, I had a short visit to the ER with abdomen cramps and it turned out I have diverticulitis. What the heck!?!??! LOL that is a name that I cant even pronounce ! Yeah, once somebody told me that after the 40s, we start going down the hill LOL. That is too funny but, boy isn't it true? LOL

I am not complaining, as long as I am alive and able to do my work of Art and take care of my family, I am thankful for each and every day I get to be in this beautiful world. :)

Today I wanted to share something I found to be very cute coming from our eight years old daughter Isabella.

I have this thing with me, I have always had it and I got it from my father. I have a "look" for everything that sometimes I don't even have to say a word, I look at my husband or one of my kids and they know exactly what I don't need to say LOL It's a very good thing though because sometimes we are in public places where I don't want to yell at my daughter, all I have to do is look at her and she will know what I mean.

Today, at lunch time, I cooked Isabella fries for lunch, what she calls "Brazilian fries" I cut the potatoes a little thicker and fry them, for some reason Isabella thinks that my fries are the best!

Today at lunch time, she told me : "Mom, you make the best fries EVER!" I said "Thank you Isabella, do you know the difference in between my fries and the McDonald one?



Working on my first birthday dresses

"What is it mom?" Mine has a special ingredient, I call it love. Everything we make with love, tastes much better, looks better and feels better!

She said: "You will have to teach me how to do this because someday I will make this fries to my kids"

Yeah, I said: "You can tell them that your mom "used" to cook you great fries" I used the verb in the past.

She gave  me "the look" The one that there is no need for words but, she completed: "NO mom, I will tell them that my mom COOKS the best fries" 

Ok, I said, that works... I knew eaxctly what she meant...

I am so proud of our eight years old daughter... Actually I am proud of all my kids. They all turned out to be wonderful human beings. Thank you Lord.

Tonight we are having a "family night", we are all going to the movies to watch "Rio2" We loved the first one :))) Yeah there is nothing to do with the fact that we are Brazilians!! LOL

OK,  this turned out to be a long posting LOL. I just wanted to say "Hi" and wish you all a VERY HAPPY EASTER!

Enjoy as much time as you can with your family, they are the ones who loves us no matter what!

God bless and be with you all!

Zee

My First Birthday Dress

I am thankful for having happy moments to share with the ones I love :)

Good morning my dear kids :)

What a beautiful sunny day huh?!  And we are alive :) Praise our Lord...

Some people don't understand the difference about "bragging" and being "thankful"  that is really sad... Some people ask me if I dont have problems, how can I be happy all the time? 

I will tell you what. I do have things that happens to me that are not worth of mentioning... What for example? Well, dang, I will have to mention now...How about the fact that the holidays are coming and most of you will celebrate close to your family while mnie is miles and miles away? How about the fact that I have to take blood thinner for the rest of my life and keep often testing my blood to always be "in range"  between 2.5 and 3.5. Today for example my test result was 1.9, not good huh!? LOL Most of you dont know the fact that last Friday, due to my web hosting incompetence and misunderstanding, I got both of my website, the Embroidea and the First Birthday Dress ones totally deleted from the server.

My wonderful husband has been working on the Embroidea one but the First Birthday Dress according to the web hosting will take between seven and ten days to be back online. I already know the consequences of those mistakes, Google might punish me for that and I might have to start from ground zero again. Does that bother me? Yes it does. Do I let those "small" problems TOP the fact that I woke up and got out of bed today and I am ready to spend one more day in this earth with my USA Family? Hell NO!!! Do I blame on the "poor satan" for all the shit that happens? Hell NO LOL  That "poor horned guy" is blamed for everything bad that happens LOL I believe in "free will"  I let that satan cooking marshmallow and hot chocolate right there in hell where he lives, cuddling with is "satan wife" LOL

Nothing in this world will be more important and worth of "bragging" about than the fact that I am ALIVE!!! :)

All the other stuff I can start from scratch. It wont be the first time I have to do this :) With any bad thing that happens to me, I learn precious life lessons that makes it all worth. 

So for a few people that might think that I am always bragging about my "perfect life" the fact that I post pictures of my new "satellite looking puppy" my opportunity to see one of my favorites singers, etc. I am not "bragging" at all. I am sharing my moments of happiness with my family in Brazil and with all of you my dear friends love me and whom I love so dearly.

I do have "shit" happens to me all the time BUT,  I would rather talk about the happy things that are the biggest and most important ones to me.

I am normal LOL Yes I am like everybody else here, I have bad and good moments but no matter what happens I will always praise the Lord for the good ones and dont waste my precious energy with those things that are not so good.

Today, I am so THANKFUL that, I am alive, the sun is shinning and I can work from home having our home thermostat on 73 degrees and a space heater right in front of me :)) ah, and yes I am thankful for our beautiful "satellite ears puppy" coming all the time and kissing me :))

Let's count our blessings and dont focus on those not so good things dear kids. Life is short enough, let's use our energy to be happy no matter what comes our way :)

God bless and be with us always...\

Love you all

Zee

www.myfirstbirthdaydress

Thank You dear Lord for one more day ...

Beautiful  My First Birthday Dress

Dear Lord, thank you very much for this day.

Thank you for watching over my family, giving me patience, wisdom, peace of mind, thank you dear Lord for all the blessings you bring to my life. Since the moment I wake up in the morning to the time I go to bed to rest, my heart is full of joy because I know you are with me every minute of my day.

Thank you  Lord for the opportunity of owning my own business and keeping it running smooth. Thank you so much all the Customers I have and the moms and babies who buys my First Birthday Dresses. You know I make each one of them with love.

Life is so precious and I have so much to be thankful for. I am not talking about material things but the ones that money cant buy. 

My First Birthday Dress

As I switch off my machines and get ready to have some rest,  I know that tomorrow will be another day and I will be closer to have my dream becoming true. You know my dream dear Lord. I BELIEVE that the entire universe is conspiring so that my dream will become a reality soon.

God bless and be with us always.

Zee

www.myfirstbirthdaydress.com

"If I had a day that I could give you...

Its 9/11, a very sad day to remember what happened in our Country. God be with the Victims of 9/11.

Today, for some reason, to me, it has been like one of those days that we feel like we are at peace with the universe... One of those days that feels like we can conquer the world... That is how I feel right now.  I have a beautiful family, wonderful friends and Customers...

I look around and see my machines running smooth, work getting done, it feels like everything is in harmony :) This is how I wish my life were all the time... Yeah, I know it isn’t possible all the time but you know what? I am enjoying it as much as I can. I am taking advantage on this precious feeling I have inside me right now to be thankful for everything that Lord has given to me, every little thing I've gotten with my hard work. I've learned early in life that nothing comes easy to us, everything that we want very badly has to be deserved. I've learned that everything that comes easily, goes away easily... I want everything to never go away so, I don’t mind about working hard for it. I want the love of my family, friends and customers to always stay with me. When I am gone from this world, I don’t want people to remember me for the things I used to have but for the difference I've made in their lives. I want to be healthy and I want to always have the strength to help others in my community who needs me. That is why I live for.

You might be thinking, today is September 11th, it's a sad day to our country, a day to remember all the victims of the 09/11 attack. Yes it is a very sad day but, I am taking some minutes also to pray for the ones who suffered and still suffer because of that day.  Unfortunately that happened, but, let’s look forward to a world of peace to every single nation in the world. Peace starts at our home, lets teach our kids the right thing to do, lets teach them better with actions and not only with words.

 There is one thing about  the numbers 9/11 that makes me smile big. Yeah :)) on February First of 2006, my daughter Isabella was born weighing 9 pounds and 11 ounces. God bless the day she was born. :)

Let's always have positive thoughts, positive people around us, positives actions bring us positives results.

Dear Lord, thank you for this moment of infinite peace I am experiencing right now. It's a beautiful day out and it's a beautiful day within :)) Nope, I am not on any kind of drugs, what makes me feel like this, I would say, is the love of our Lord that I  will always have in my heart. :)))

Quoting John Denver I would say "If I had a day that I could give you, I'd give to you the day just like today."

Have a peaceful day my loved ones :)

God bless us always...

Zee

www.myfirstbirthdaydress.com

Celebrating a decade in the USA. Thank you America :)))

10 years ago, we were arriving at the O'Hare Chicago airport. Tamy,  my oldest daughter, Pink, my beloved poodle and I...

This morning I have been going through my memories, I remember how different it was to us, Poor pink had just had her hair cut and she was so cold and shaky, when I finally let her go outside to pee, she peed for so long.. Poor thing.. Then, I remember our drive on  our way to Springfield, it was so much different from the things I used to see on TV... I had another image in my mind of how things were like here in the USA.
When we finally got home, Brian's house was so little and I thought that all the houses here looked like doll houses LOL. Oh boy, something that I think it was the hardest to get used to, it was the fact that we had to keep all the doors closed because of the heater or air conditioning. Our doors is always open in Brazil, so that seemed insane to me to keep the doors closed all the time but, oh well, if we must, we must LOL

It was a small house but very cozy, Brian prepared everything to receive us. Tamy's room was so pretty and well painted and so it was our bedroom. I didn't like the mismatch couches and the old trunk that he used as coffee table in the TV room but, I knew that would change soon LOL.

It was a lot of things to get used to, Tamy had no problem adapting to this new Country, she fit right in.

All my first time doing everything was a  disaster LOL, my first haircut in the USA, my husband took me to one of the fast and cheap hair cuter places and when he went to pick me up I was sitting on the sidewalk crying because the lady cut my bangs so short and made me look like a Native Indian girl in Brazil. My first time driving in the snow, oh gosh, I will never forget. I had no clue how it was like and we lived in a very busy street, I had to be very fast getting out of the driveway, that day boy, I learned what making donuts was like, my first Chevy tracker started spinning in the middle of the street like crazy and I thought, what the heck is going on???? It was fun thought... LOL

 

 

My First tornado, oh boy, that was the SCARIEST thing in my life. Isabella was 3 weeks old and I was all by myself since Brian and Tamy went to pick up his mother at the airport in Saint Louis... I will never forget that day...

But oh the first snow... The first snow was AMAZING :) Anita Phillips, my first friend in the USA, called me and told me to look outside and oh my.. Its was snowing... So beautiful. Thank God for Anita and my friend Beth Hall who helped me so much at the beginning of our journey in the new land... You guys made things so much easier for me... Beth is in heaven and resting in God's arms, Anita in a decade has moved to Brazil, came back to the USA, got divorced, re married and is happy, thank Lord... Love you Anita :)

The American culture is so different from the Brazilian one... Once I got used to it things got easier to me. I remember something that really got my attention when we first moved here was the patriotism of the American people. Every house had a flag, I remember emailing my friends about that, how beautiful it was to see how Americans love the country. Now, I am half Brazilian and half American. I love this country too and I want to see this wonderful country get better and better, no matter which party is in command, no matter, if it is Democrats, Republicans or Tea Party, I love America and I am thankful for being so welcome so well into this Nation.

Today I want to say, THANK YOU USA for allowing us to live here, have my beautiful little family, grow my business and don't be afraid to dream as Eleanor Roosevelt, said  "The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."

 

                  

Forever thankful for what I have

 

Hi there :)

How has your  day been so far? I haven't accomplished everything I wanted to get accomplished today... Oh well there will always be tomorrow...

Do you think so? We wish we could be so sure about tomorrow, we hope that tomorrow will come, but, for now all we have is the precious present, the "right now".The future is uncertain... I feel like I haven't accomplished too much today but, at the same time I am so glad that all the work that I have done today, all my embroideries, my precious First Birthday Dresses, my house chores, being a mother, wife, etc. All that I have accomplished today was well done. That is the most important thing.

Right now, when I just switched off all my machines, I am having a little time to myself and I don't want to think about tomorrow. So, I need to learn how to turn off my brain for the rest of the evening and relax.

We had a wonderful weekend also. We got Isabella's new bedroom painted and new carpet installed, she feels so happy and thankful. For the first time she finally has gotten a bigger room that is not cluttered. I have never seen her so happy, since she got back from school I have heard three times so far... "Oh mommy, I love my new room" :)) It feels good to know that our little one appreciates what she gets, it was worth of all the hard work, all the paint in my hair, the stress of  having all that furniture in the hallway... My little girl is happy and if she is happy, mommy happy as well :)

At this moment, I feel so thankful as well for the gift of being able to work from home, to be able to pick my daughter up when she leaves school, having her coming to my room and talk to me once in a while. I think every mommy in this world deserves this gift and then I feel so lucky that I have it.

Many people has asked me if I  have never thought about having a store front and get my business out of my home. Who doesn't want to get bigger? Of course I do but, not until Isabella enjoys my company. Maybe when she is older and doesn't want me around no more, then, I will think about that, but, right now, I am happy and thankful that God has given me this opportunity. Thank You Lord for everything you have given to me and thank you for this day. Rainy or sunny, cold or hot, as long as I am alive, It will always be a wonderful day no matter what.

Thank you for my Family and friends. Thank you for my wonderful customers and my business...

Lets let the evening begin :))) SMILE :)))))))) Life is  good...

God bless,

Zee

Back from Iowa City

Hi there :)

Nice being with you again :))

Here I am back home from my trip to Iowa this weekend.

I am proud to say that I am part of this wonderful non profit organization named Pilot International. Last Friday, a couple of friends and I drove to Iowa City to our Midwest Convention. What a blast we had. It was so nice to see my wonderful friends in Pilot, it feels just like I have a huge family wherever I go. we always meet new friends, and see the old ones. All of us with the same desire to make a difference in this world. Pilot International was founded and chartered as an international service organization in 1921. The main objective of this organization is to promote the awareness and prevention of brain-related disorders, and improve the lives of those affected by such disorders, through education, volunteerism, financial support and research. I am so proud to be a member of this organization and feel so happy that I can help others.

I had a wonderful time with my Pilot friends, learned a lot, but, it is so good to be back home where my husband and daughter were waiting for me. What a lucky woman I am for having such a supportive husband, who feels the need of letting me go after my dreams, giving me wings when I need to fly... Thank you Lord for being with us during this trip where You kept us safe and brought us so much joy.

I got back home a few hours ago, spent some time with my family and now, I am back to my pc where I checked and replied e-mails.

I feel so anxious to see my new First Birthday website working just like I want it to be. I have so many ideas and I hope that soon I will be smiling big because my dream will come true. Do what I love doing, making people smile, and helping others at the same time. I feel so blessed.

Thank you dear Lord for everything  that you have given to me and thank you for giving me patient and wisdom to understand that things happen in the right time.

Thank you Lord for my wonderful Family, friends and customers,

God bless and be with every one of you who is reading this post. You! yes, YOU! You are so important... So special...

Thank you for your company and please, let me know if you think that there is anything else that I should be doing in order to make this world a little better.

Talk to you soon...

Zee