I am one of the luckiest people in the world! Yesterday I have the privledge of attending a political fund raiser for John Kennedy. He is running against Mary Landrieu for her U.S. Senate seat this November. Being able to attend such a high profile fund raiser was wonderful, but that isn't the best part. The featured speaker at this fund raiser was none other than President Bush himself! Yesterday afternoon, I stood no more than about 8 feet for the leader of our counrty! Talk about an adrenaline rush! He spoke for about 35 minutes. He had no script, and no teleprompter. He just spoke. He spoke about his beliefs about how to be President and how to do it without loosing who you are as a person. He cracked jokes (He is very funny!), and poked fun at himself. He talked about his wife, Laura. He is a great speaker, and seemed very down to Earth. After he finished speaking, he looked over at one of the 8 Secret Service Agents around him to see if he would be able to shake hands with a few people. He walked along the baracade, and shook hands and signed autographs. I got his autograph! He was standing right in front of me. I was amazed at the amount of Secret Service that surrounded him! He didn't seem to mind it. He just wanted to talk with us. He mentioned to us that he thought our LSU Football Team was a great bunch of kids, and our coach, Les Miles was a great guy! This is definitely one of the coolest things to ever happen in my life!

This past week has been one of the longest weeks of my life. With my grandfather being ill and ultimately passing away, I haven't slept well at all. I have, once again, learned alot over the past few days and weeks. I have learned that I really do need sleep in order to function. Without it, life is fairly miserable. I have learned that no matter how much you prepare for the passing of a loved one, it is NEVER easy. I have learned that my family is so very strong, and we will (and have) get through anything. I have learned the huge importance of youth in our world. A few of my cousins are now married, and have started families of their own. And since life tends to be so busy, I don't get to see them and their children as often as I would like. But, over the past few weeks, I have seen them a bit more. Their innocent smiles and goofy comments have gotten my family through this rough time.

My oldest cousin, Brandon, has two little girls, Kylea and Ella (3 and 1 year old). His youngest just started walking (or should I say running). She had my family members chasing her all over the funeral home this week. Her adorable little smile just lit up my day. His oldest girl, Kylea, actually reminds me of the way I used to interact with my grandfather when I was her age. When I used to visit my grandparents' house, I would always want to play "school" with my Paw Paw. I would make him raise his hand to talk, and take naps when it was time to do so. From the stories I hear from my aunts, Kylea does this same thing with her Gammy (her grandmother, which is my aunt). It makes me laugh because I guess that is just what grandparents do (listen to anything their grandchildren tell them to do). I would have to say, though, my favorite story that I heard this week was about Saige, my other cousin, Danielle's little girl who is 2 years old. Last week, while my grandfather was in the hospital, Danielle brought Saige to see her Paw Paw JoJo. While they were visiting, Saige was sitting on the bed with my grandfather. Without being promted, Saige stared talking to him. Her words..."Paw Paw, I got some new fwip fwops (Flip flops). You wike (like) dem (them)?" I laugh out loud everytime I hear someone tell this story. Just hearing her chat about anything and everything lately has been so funny! She comes up with the funniest comments, and she is so smart.

These three little girls have made this process so much easier for me. I almost feel like God gave us those three little girls so that when he took my Paw Paw, we would be okay. I guess the saying is true, when God takes a life, he brings another in its place! Thank you Paw Paw! I love you and I miss you!

Tonight my grandfather lost his fight. He joined my grandmother in heaven just a few hours ago. He fought a good fight, and his earthly body just tired out. HE has been in the hospital for three weeks, and about a week ago we decided that he needed surgery to remove his gallbladder. The doctors believed this was the cause of his most recent health problems. He cam through the surgery well, and was taken off of the ventilator within the first 24 hours after surgery. The doctors said this was a huge accomplishment considering how grueling the surgery was on his body, and how sickly the gallbladder really was. He improved over the weekend, and by Sunday evening they thought he would be going into his own room again. Monday afternoon he took a turn for the worst. MY entire family gathered at the hospital except my dad, who was at a conference in Washington, D.C. My grandfather rallied and made it through the night. My dad flew home this morning and was able to spend some time with his father. My grandfather waited until all four of his children were with him. He told his daughters that he loved them, and he responded well to his sons. He also waited for everyone to leave. Then he left us. That is exactly his personality. He was never one to complain or have any attention pointed at himself, so he went on his own without all of us hanging over him. We are all very sad to have lost him, but we know he is resting comfortably now in heaven with his parents, his sisters, and his wife. He was a great man and lived a wonderful life. He will always be remembered as a loving, caring, kind-hearted soul.

I love you, Paw Paw. And we are going to be okay down here. Watch over us from heaven, and take care of us. I will see you again soon!

I have lost my self-confidence. I just recently got out of a long term relationship with a guy I dated for almost 5 years. Getting out of this relationship was my doing, and my decision, but I still suddenly lacked confidence in day to day activities. I don't think I lost my self-confidence when I ended the relationship. I think I lost it in the months meading up to the break up. My self-confidence started to diminish because I stopped feeling important to my boyfriend. He let everything else be more important to him than me. He never made time for only me. He stopped being affectionate and stopped calling me as often. Slowly I allowed him to eat away at my confidence. I never should have allowed this, but I don't think I really noticed it until it was too late. In a relationship that had been going on as long as mine had, I should have been the most important thing to him. He took me for granted, and only really wanted to spend time with me when NOTHING else was going on. It took me a little while, but I finally realized that I am better than that and I deserved to be treated better than he was treating me. So I packed my stuff and left. In the months since I left, I am trying to figure out who I am again. I haven't been able to let go of him until now. And it is now that I can finally learn to be just me (without him). Regaining that self-confidence isn't coming easily, but I know it will take some time. He lost something great and wonderful, and one day he will realize that. But by then, it will be too little too late. I decided to live my life for me and not for him. Besides, "no man is worth your tears, and the one who is will never make you cry." I read that somewhere once, and it stuck with me! I am better for what I have been through, and one day I will find the man who will love me no matter what! And he won't let me go! Until then, I am just having fun!

As most of you already know, I added a new member to family last week! Daisy is 12 weeks old and only weighs about 4 pounds so far!! She is a shih tzu and her brown coloring is referred to as liver colored. That is slightly different from normal shih tzu coloring. It is a little more rare, which is why I liked it so much! She is so adorable, and currently the light of my life. After the rough couple of months I have had lately, it is so great to have such unconditional love from her. I also absoluelt love being able to take care of her!

For now, Daisy and I are staying with my parents because my apartment doesn't allow pets without a deposit. Since I will be moving soon, I am not going to pay it right now. My parents also have a shih tzu, Chloe, who is about 4 years old and used to being the only dog in the house. Daisy and Chloe are starting to play a little better. But yesterday, while they were playing, Daisy jumped up and bit Chloe's tail pretty hard! Chloe wasn't happy about it. Since Daisy is teething right now, she is trying to chew on everything, including Chloe's tail!! I bought Daisy a new teething toy so she has something, other than Chloe's tail, to chew on! Puppies are so much fun!

Online shopping has become second nature to most people I know, especially my shopaholic friends! I have used the internet to purchase items more than once. I mainly do it so I get a cheaper price and I don't have to drive around to multiple stores looking for what I want. I have never had a problem with this process...you pick what you want to purchase, add it to your basket, go to checkout to pay, and it is shipped to your door. There is nothing quite as exciting as getting that items on your front doorstep. Just recently, I followed this same process and purchased a Garmin StreetPilot c330 GPS system for my car. (It is long been needed for my job, and I finally broke down and bought it.) It arrived on my front step, and I was like a kid on Christmas morning. I couldn't wait to tear open the box and start using my new toy! Unfortunately, I opened the box and took out the Garmin box only to find that it was EMPTY!!! Imagine my shock! I immediately celled the company to inquire about this huge mistake. (Of course, it was Sunday evening, and the company was not open, so I called back first thing Monday morning.) The company immediately stared investigating the incident with both their shipping department as well as UPS, the company that delivered my package. So here I was, that kid on Christmas morning, and I still don't have my new toy! It has been almost 2 weeks since the package first arrived at my house, and I am no closer to having my covetted GPS system. My advice...don't buy on the internet unless you know, absolutely, that the company is reputable. I didn't know anything about the company itself, but I had found the company on the amazon.com website, so I figured I was safe. WRONG! Amazon.com is working to help me get either my GPS system or a refund. They are actually being more helpful thatn the company that shipped the item to me! Hopefully I will get the GPS system soon.

This is exciting...my first blog. I decided to attempt to get my thoughts out of my head and onto "paper." I tried to just write stuff down on paper, but somehow the paper ended up scattered around, my apartment and it wasn't very organized. (the same way my thoughts actually occur ...unorganized.) So this is my attempt at organizing them. You will have to be patient, especially since this may not work! Writing usually helps me to stay relaxed and calm. By putting my thoughts down in writing, I can better decide how I feel about something! I will warn you now, my life is somehow very complicated (not that I want it that way). Somehow lots of stuff seems to happen around me. I guess, in a way, that will make this interesting and worth reading for you!