~~~~~~~~JUST BECAUSE I'M IRISH~~~~~~~~ Doesn't Mean You Can Kiss Me

 ~ST. PATRICK'S DAY CARDS~

Thursday - March 17th

Let's all think SPRING!

 Maybe if we do our brown and barren lawns and gardens will magically turn a deep, beautiful shade of

~~EMERALD GREEN~~

I'm sooo tired of winter....bah!

Now...in all the years I spent selling on eBay and even now on my A Gathering Place website, I have never once offered anything related to St. Patty's Day.  I'm not really sure why...probably because I was always focused on painting pink roses and making pastel pretties with an Easter theme!

 ~NOTE CARDS, TOO~

Anyway...after years of collecting hundreds of vintage graphics and even more pieces of aging ephemera I've made it my mission to put more of them to use in 2011.

 ~ERIN GO BRAGH~

So...if you're full-on IRISH, claim only a teensy, tiny bit or have a tad more in you like me (or none at all), I hope you'll take a peek at my brand new St. Patrick's Day Greeting Cards and Note Cards.  They will be joining our brand new Easter Cards, Hang Tags and Notes so watch for them to be uploaded onto my website later today!!!  They were such a blast to design and I hope those of you who honor this lovely holiday (and nope, I'm  NOT talkin' green beer here!) will just love them!

Now...don't forget about my EASTER GIVEAWAY that is currently underway.  You can click HERE to read more about it or visit the blog-link at the top left of this page!

Hope you have an awesome day today!!  Tomorrow my Mr. AGPMan and I are going estate sale junking and I'm over the moon excited about getting back to what I love.

Love to you!

~~~~~~~~~~FOREVER MY FRIEND~~~~~~~~~~ Becky and Andrea the Nut

 ~ANDREA the NUT~

 7th Grade Photo

I first met my beautiful friend, Andrea (Andie), when the two of us were placed in the same homeroom class at the start of 7th grade.  The school year was 1970/71 and life in our growing Los Angeles suburb was truly exciting...or at least I thought it was!  

 

~BECKY the MOUTH~

7th Grade Photo 

I was about to cross the threshold from childhood into teenagerdom and was thrilled beyond reason to begin my life as a full-fledged junior-high school student.  That meant pantyhose, make-up, high-heels (small ones, per my father!) and the meeting of lots and lots of new friends cute boys.

 ~ANDIE the CHEERLEADER~

 Now...Andie was a real nut, and me, well, I was the unofficial class clown!  Combine those two lighthearted (notice I didn't say admirable) traits together with our mutual gift for gab, and one can easily see how Andie and I got ourselves into some real jams.  More times than not we were separated and not allowed to sit next to one another, which of course made our math class EXTRA BORING and meeting up behind the lunchroom gate all the more enjoyable.

 ~BECKY the CHEERLEADER~

(Don't Ask!)

By my account (and by every other girl and boy in our class), Andie was a knockout!  Not only was she funny and smart, but she was absolutely beautiful!  Oh...and on top of that she was NICE, too!  I'd have been perfectly happy to trade everything about me in exchange for anything and all of what she was...

 ~ANDIE the BEAUTY~

8th Grade Photo

By the time Andie and I made it to 9th grade I'd spent the night at her house at least a half a dozen times if not more.  We shared enough sleep-overs for me to dream about having pink rose wallpaper like she had in her 2die4 bedroom and to fall-in-like with her baby brother, Shaun...

~ANDIE IN PERSON~

Andrea was one of my dearest friends and so it's surprising to me now to realize how easy it was for us to lose touch with one another when my family and I moved away in 1974.  I suppose it's easiest to just say that people and interests change~  New friendships are made, fresh bonds are formed and life goes on and on and on...

  

~BECKY NEEDS BRACES~

8th Grade Photo

Facebook can be truly exciting when one is trying to reconnect with long-lost friends.  So~ when Andie found me and we linked back up in 2009 it was, in many ways, like the years just fell away.  We chatted on and off and I loved seeing pictures of her family and precious little grand-babies and hearing all about her life...

~ANDIE'S YEARBOOK NOTE~

Eventually time pressed in and I didn't hear from Andie for awhile...  But~I got busy (work and living does that to you if you let it) and I figured she was just busy, too!

Not so...

~GORGEOUS ANDIE - SENIOR 1976~

Just after Christmas I learned my longtime friend was in the hospital fighting for her life.  She was diagnosed with a brain tumor and is terminal.  Andie is currently too weak to undergo any further chemo treatment and I'm sad to say her days of living this side of heaven are numbered...  Except for a miracle she is not long for this world.

 ~ BEAUTIFUL ANDREA TODAY~

I'm broken hearted.

Today while I was praying for Andie and her lovely family I spent some time praying for my own imperfect heart as well.  I asked God to give me a sweeter spirit toward others and to forgive me for allowing some truly silly stuff to pick away at the person He's called me to be.  Because of Andie I'm going to try harder to make my Father in heaven proud...

"God be with you my sweet Andrea the Nut.  I pray God's mercy will reign down upon you this very moment and soften your pain and sorrow.  I know you are glory-bound and I give you my word...  I promise to meet up with you again someday, this time inside the Eastern Gate...  I love you...Becky"

~~*~~

Today I'm thinkin' I best get on with living the life I am called to live while I still have time...

Love to you...

~THE DAY AFTER...Sweet Valentine Memories~

 ~VALENTINE'S DAY 2011~

I'm hoping your Valentine's Day was wonderful and that you all were able to celebrate LIFE and LOVING with family, friends and those you hold most dear!

My Mr. AGPMan and I got all "spiffied up" for a night out on the town and dined at a fabulous Oklahoma City Restaurant.  Given the fact my husby pulled JURY DUTY for the day (hahahha!) I wasn't even sure he'd make it home in time to keep our reservation.  After sitting in the Jury Waiting Room for about half the day his name was called and so he had to return to the Courthouse again today!  Over the past ten years or so I've been summoned for Jury Duty FOUR or FIVE TIMES, but my guy's name has never come up even once!  ERRRRRRRRRRR!   So...you can imagine I was very excited when the summons came and this time HIS NAME was on the envelope!  HAR HAR HAR :)

~HAVING FUN WITH MY BELOVED~

I might have taken the ribbing jury-thing about bit too far because for a moment there I thought he might KILL ME! :)  EEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKK!

Truthfully...we try to always have at least ONE funny photograph taken of us doing something stupid each year.  This was the shot for 2011!  Our daughter, Adrienne, loves staging silly pictures and they honestly make for some fun scrapbook pages!

~MY DADDY and ME~

Again...hope your Valentine's Day was fabulous.  I'm paying for my over-indulgence in NON-WEIGHT WATCHERS dining...but I'm sure I'll be OK.  Maybe in a day or two...or three...or four...  :)

Blessings for a lovely day.

Love to you~