February is the Month Of Love!

Happy February 1st! In honor of the month of love, I am going to post each day about the people I love and why I love them. It stands to reason that I am going to start with my Flower Dave. Why do I call him Flower Dave? I'll post that story at the end of this post so scroll down if you are interested.

Dave is the love of my life, not the first one, but absolutely the last one. Dave has taught me what it means to love so deeply that there are no words to describe it. While he was deployed, I learned what it meant to long for someone. How's that for an old fashioned word? Dave has shown me a life that I can live in with confidence that he is loyal and trustworthy. He doesn't send me flowers when we've had a fight, he stays and talks it out with me, and if he feels he needs to leave, he leaves in such a way that I know he is coming back. In fact, if he leaves, we will likely be continuing to work out our issue on the phone because we really want to work it out. More importantly that how Dave shows me he loves me and our life, he has shown Mason what it means to truly adore a woman and how to treat her. I mentioned not sending flowers when we fight, he sends flowers on my birthday, Mother's Day, Valentine's Day, and the first day of fall. I don't expect them and if they don't come, it's okay, but I do love them. Dave has planned dates for us that may be as simple as dinner in downtown, and as elaborate as tickets to a concert, dinner reservations, and it all started with an outfit I found on our bed with a note, "We've got plans for Friday night, plan accordingly." Yes, he is an amazing man, husband, father, and friend. Some say we got lucky, but I think it's more than that, I think we set up what we wanted to have, what we wanted to live and though we've had some bumps, we do the things we do because we want each other to know our marriage is important - you are important to me Flower Dave! Neither of us is perfect, and we've had moments we are not proud of, but they are far fewer than the ones that make up the happy memories of our life together that started in April of 1996 when I won him on the radio. I love you David, happy February 1, 2019! #MonthOfLove

Dave sent me a huge bouquet of flowers after our first date. I was livid mad! I told him after the date that I didn't want to "date." Here I was holding flowers so big you couldn’t even see me, but you could hear that I was not happy. When I finally was able to express myself I said, “Now I have to have this talk with him all over again! Didn’t he hear me say just friends?” I immediately called and thanked him for the flowers but before he could even respond, I started right in on him, “I thought you understood that I just want to be friends, I thought you got that I am not looking for a relationship…blah, blah, blah” Poor Dave, I don’t even know why it is that we are the great friends that we are except to say that we have always been true to ourselves and each other. We have never had to pretend to be anyone we are not. After Dave sent me the flowers and I became so angry, that made quite an impact on my family and friends. They thought I was crazy because I was probably the only woman in this lifetime to get angry with a man for giving her flowers, this became a defining moment in our lives. My friends didn’t know any of the new people in my life so I always had to explain who I was doing things with. Since Dave and I were dancing and talking often - as friends - I started to refer to him as “Dave, you know, Dave, the guy who sent me the flowers.” This went to just Flower Dave and then simply to Flower.

2001 - 2018

Our Family

Bubble Gum Alley, SLO 2017

Mardi Gras 2016

All my love! 2018

Julie's 50th 2017

Can't Fake the Lake! 2018

Wedding Day 11/9/01

It's About Time

Do you have time? Of course you do, you have the same 24 hours every day that everyone else has. What can you do with one minute? 60 seconds can be the blink of an eye or a lifetime, it's all in how you see it.

Out With The Old, In With The New Year Cards

Out with the old (Christmas cards) and in with the New Year Cards! Really, I don't think I am never going to send Christmas cards again. The New Year card is the way to go. Welcome, 2019! #NotFailing #NewYearCards #ILoveThis

Motivation & Momentum

"With regard to motivation and keeping the momentum. If you find that you can't stay motivated, maybe you are not working toward the right prize. If you don't feel the excitement and joy in working toward a goal, it may not be the goal you originally thought you wanted. Feel free to go back and rethink the things you aspire to and long for. When you are on the right track, motivation builds momentum. KP 2011" 

I wrote this back in 2011, and for the most part I believe it's true. I don't struggle with motivation or having the correct goals, I struggle with making time for the things I want to do. I am consumed with a long list of things I have to do for my home, my husband, my son, and my clients before I can even think about the things I want to do for myself. I know there will come a day when Mason is grown and out of the house and there is less to do for Dave and work, but then I wonder if I will still want to work toward those same goals. Time will tell.

Facing Fears Day Two

Facing Your Fear With Intentional Winning

What is Intentional Winning? How do you face your fear and do the things you want to do?

Intentional Winning in Life is victory by design: Creating the journey and the outcome for every aspect of your life by participating in the process. http://intentionalwinning.blogspot.com/ https://www.facebook.com/IntentionalW... https://www.instagram.com/kathypartak/ https://twitter.com/Kdpartak

I Want Success For You!

Has it really been a year?

It's hard to believe that it was a year ago that Mason made his national television debut on The Steve Harvey Show. It was a fun excursion for Dave and Mason as I was on my own adventure with Lisa Anderson in NYC. It's amazing to me that we get to live this life, yes, I work hard for it, I earn it to be sure, but I also know that I have people on my team who root for me, help me when I need a hand, and encourage me to go for it when I'm not so sure of myself. I look around and see bullies in the world, not just middle school kids, but full grown adults, and I think to myself, how awful do you have to feel about yourself to pick on others, and even worse, adults who bully children? When Mason is struggling with middle school drama, I remind him that it doesn't end with middle school, or high school, or college, or the workplace, or, or, or... The fact of the matter is that there always will be people in this world that not only find joy in hurting others but thrive on chaos and pain. It's sad but true. I advise him to do his best to eliminate these kinds of people from his life and when he can't, he's best off to not engage in the drama. Be forthright, honest, & practice the golden rule and things should work out just fine. Who was I talking to, him or me?

With that said, let me tell you I want to see you succeed. Not just reach the goal, reach far beyond what you can even imagine is possible. You see, it's not you OR me, it's you AND me, there is more than enough for all of us.

Enough of what you ask? Enough jobs, enough opportunities, enough open doors, enough leading roles, enough first places, enough abundance, enough prosperity, enough money, enough friends, enough party invites, enough love. It is not necessary to tear down those around you who are seeing success, stand up and cheer for them! Maybe if you stand up for them, you can stay on your feet and take the action you need to see what you want to come to fruition. If you do, I'm already standing and taking action, but I will cheer for you, I will cheer as loud as I can and say, "I'm so glad you are making this happen for yourself, how can I help you?" I will be there for you, lifting you up so you can do the same for someone else. What a wonderful world this would be if more people could see the good. I see the good, I see you.