SparkleShan

I was cleaning off the memory card from my camera, when I came across some pictures that my 4 year old had taken. Every now and again she likes to take random pictures. Well to me them seem random, but as I look at them, they kind of make me think of what is important to a young child. Most of us can't remember much from that time in our lives. I know I especially can't remember how I viewed the world back then, which for me was 22 years ago. Looking at this photos makes me see how innocent that age can be. And it also makes me realize why kids that age can be so easily immediate by life in general. I posted some of the pictures that she took. Our 8 foot tree, from Emma's angel (3 feet 4 inches). Everything is so big when your this small! Self portrait . This was earlier in the year before she gave up her best friend Binky . Her favorite stuffed friend, Buster. She got him for Christmas last year. She brings him just about everywhere. And she even wraps him up in her old b...

I don't know why but every time my daughter has to go to the bathroom, she always asks for me to come with her. She is fully able to do everything in there on her own, although her arms are to short to reach the toilet paper. I wonder is she is starting that thing that girls do at bars or clubs when they always need to bring another girl with them. hmmm

I always found the group the Village People to be a little eccentric. Especially there song in the Navy coupled with those ridiculously tight costumes. I find it particularly funny. Today my four year old daughter asked me to find the mehna mehna song on youtube. So I did. After it was over see was looking at the other related videos and came across this one. It was so silly I had to share.

This is the MK-19 Grenade Machine Gun. I got to take this apart and practice firing it, but the simulator weapon was broken so I didn't to actually fire it. Which is OK , because I had to re fire on the M2, and my body couldn't take handling another 80 pound weapon. .

Yeah I did it. Today I got to learn to break down, put together and Engage targets with the M2 50 Caliber Machine Gun (nicknamed the Ma Deuce). These weapons are usually the ones you'll see mounted on a HUMVEE during convoys in the desert. Again this was mt first time, seeing, touching and firing this weapon. Let me give you some background. It Weighs 84 pounds (I'm 112), It's 65 inches long (I'm 61.5 inches). So I thought the charging handle on the M249 was bad, this was worse. I had to put both feet on the tripod and pull back the charging handle with both hands and that was still a struggle. Taking it a part wasn't many steps, but the bolt was heavy and you had to use a lot of strength to put the spring back in. So when I finally got to the simulator to fire it, I had pretty tight shot groups, but my contacts kept moving around in my eyes and they got so blurry at the end that I couldn't see the targets. This weapon gets 119 rounds to qualify and you need to ...

Today I am actually doing some real Army training, instead of sitting in the office doing administration stuff. As part of our training for deployment we have to fire several different weapons systems. I normally only fire the M16A2. But when we are deployed we have to be prepared for any situations, such as convoys and what not. I just fired the M249 (also known as the Saw) for the first time in my life. I have a lot of respect for infantry guys that have to fire those all the time. My body hurts! It doesn't help that I am only about five feet tall! My arms are to short To reach the charging handle comfortable, so every time I had to charge it, I would get this tingly feeling in my arm. It is very exciting to be behind an automatic weapon and just let loose. But I don't think this will be my assigned weapon, I just made the minimum you need to qualify of 35 hits.

One day I was looking at a friends page on myspace of a photo shoot she had done with one of her friends. The photos were amazing, so I followed the Banner to her page. I was even more amazed at the wonderful pictures that I saw. The photographer, Sacha, has a wonderful and unique way of capturing images and portraits . I was so impressed and inspired by her art work that I decide to write a blog and share her work with you. * Services include (but are not limited to): Family, Couples, Maternity, Adult, Children & Pets Portraits, Engagement, Bridal & Wedding Photography, Band Photography; Promotional & Live, Head shots & Portfolio Portraits, Holiday, Special Occasions & Event Photography. Sacha photographs primarily in the Southeastern Connecticut and Southern Rhode Island, but she is willing to travel (due to the wonderful gases prices, there is an extra charge for travel over 30 miles from her location). Studio is located in Mystic, Connecticut. If you are int...

I am a very crafty person. I paint, draw, crochet, make cards, make jewelry, etc. Just about anything with art, you name it I can do it. This year my daughter and I decided to make Christmas Ornaments and put them on the outside of gifts that we are giving to people. We went to JoAnn Fabrics where they had unpainted wooden ornaments all of sorts. Angels, Santa, Snowmen, Penguins, Snowflakes etc. Some of the ornaments had a Slot that you could add a picture to the middle of the ornament. Emma and I painted the ornaments with acrylic pants and glitter paint. Then I added a picture of Emma to most of the ornaments. Everyone always wants a picture of a cute little, blue eyed, blond hair girl! I thought this was a great way to make the gifts more personal. And it helps Emma develop her art skills. Below are come pictures of some of the ornaments we made. I was very proud of Emma, she painted this snowflake all by herself, blending different colors together. I painted this snowflake with wh...

It is amazing what companies will us these days to make Christmas ornaments. Today while shopping at Target with my 4 year old. We picked up some small ornaments that she picked out, of Dora the Explorer. The are little figurines of the characters from the show. I have seen this before so I wasn't to surprised. We also have the same type of ornaments with the Characters from Sponge bob square pants. One thing I saw in particular had me laughing. It was a traditional Red Stocking, but on the top was a black Darth Vader Head! There were also other various ornaments or Transformers and other Star Wars Characters.

I recently discovered mobile blogging. I can send a text message from my cell phone and it posts to my blog. It's a little time consuming typing on a cell phone, but at least I can use it if I need to post a blog while I am at work. For some reason, the Army has blocked Internet access to blogger.com.

You might have noticed that my most resent blogs have all had to do with Christmas, in some way. The blog isn't going to be taken over by an all Christmas theme. But in keeping with my theme of the overall blog, "its about my life and what I feel like writing about" at any present moment. The reason I have been writing about Christmas is because I love! It's not even about getting present. I love giving presents to people, especially my 4 year old daughter. My whole family as always got together to help decorate for Christmas. So naturally this is what I am thinking about mostly. It helps take my mind off of my up coming deployment to the Middle East, which will be taking place next Spring. I hope to continue writing my blog while overseas, there will be a lot of new experiences that I will sure what to write about. This will be my first time being deployed in support of the "Global War on Terrorism" (if that's what you want to call it). It is the second...

If you are looking for particular traits in you Christmas tree such as, how prickly are the needs, the smell or needle type. I have outlined several popular trees sold in Connecticut and the Northeastern United States. Fraser Fir The Needles are Soft, blue-green, no more than an inch long. Needle Retention is Excellent. The scent is a Pleasant fir smell. It is Native to Virginia, Tennessee & North Carolina White Pine White Pine needles are very soft, green & 3 to 5 inches long. Needles retention is good to excellent. The scent is mild. Native to Eastern North America. Good for people that like a softer look, but the branches are unable to hold heavy ornaments. Balsam Fir Needles are 1/2 to 1 inch in length, green, silvery-white underneath, fairly soft. Needle Retention is good. Has a very nice fragrant scent. Native to Northeastern and central U.S. & Eastern and Central Canada. Douglas Fir The Needles are soft and usually 1 to 1 1/2 inches long. Needle Retention is exce...

I have been seeing allot of propaganda lately, that Christmas is turning into a Pagan holiday. I was very disturbed by this comment. So I decided to look up how different religions celebrate Christmas. I also wanted to find out where some of the traditions comes from, such as decorating a Christmas Tree. It just bewildered me that at this day and age that people are still or religious ignorance . Especially when thinking what our country was founded on. Catholicism wasn't even allowed in this country in it's first decade of existence! I am a very opened minded person when it comes to religion. I don't believe that one particular religion is more "right" then the next. I actually like to read about these and experience them for myself. I was raised Roman Catholic and went through all the "rights of passage" of becoming a god Catholic adult, first communion, confession and confirmation. I have Wiccans in my family so I have also done extensive reading on ...

This year we got on December 1st . We got our tree from the Lions Club and it cost $70 for an 8 foot Frasier fur! It goes to charity so that was the good thing. I feel bad cutting a real tree, but I love the look and smell. When I have my own house I would like to get a tree that I can plant in the yard after Christmas is over. We decorated the tree with ornaments that we have been collecting over the past several years. I even have some from my childhood that my mom let me have. In 2005 I went to Egypt and I brought back three hand blown glass ornaments.

Every year during Christmas my daughter and I make a ginger bread house from one of those kits that you can buy. It usually consists of her trying to eat all the frosting while I put the house together. Then she decorates the house with candies. This year we had the choice between a ginger bread house, a ginger bread Christmas tree or a ginger bread nativity scene. My daughter choose the nativity scene. Once again she ate most of the frosting while my mother and I tried to make Joseph, Mary, a sheep, a camel and the three wise men out of frosting. We gave up on the wise men but managed to make Joseph, Mark, a sheep and a camel. While my daughter made baby Jesus and two wise men. He actually looked a Little like Chunk from the Goonies movie. His eyes were not parallel. The picture shows our final product. The next morning it looked like a hurricane had whipped through it. My daughter is only 4 and has no self control so she ate Mary's head.

If you are interested in ballroom dancing or are a fan of Dancing with the Stars, then there is a great site out there for you. One of the founder's of the site is Tony Donvaloni who was the professional partner of Jane Seymour on the latest Dancing with the Stars Show. Similar to myspace or facebook, you can create a profile and add friends. The great thing about this site though is that there are different groups you can join and talk to other people about any topic of ballroom dancing. Tony and Maksim (also seen on Dancing with the Stars) post video's called "Dance Talk". They talk about different subjects in ballroom dancing and about their experiences as professional dancers. There are several other professional dancers that endorse the site including; Paul Barris, Hilary Fleming, elena, Grinenko, Snejana Urbin and Ysenia Adame. If yiu are interested in Ballroom dancing you should think about signing up for this site by going to http://www.ballroomdancechannel.ni...

As I said before I had re-opened my Princess Emma's Jewelry website site at I have decided to expand with another similar site that is easier to remember. http://www.princessemmas.com/ This site is still under construction at the time so there are only a few items available. Check out is also offered through paypal and you don't have to have a paypal account to pay with a credit card which is a good thing. So check out my site. As also I do custom jewelry commissions for any occasion.

I recently reopened my jewelry website. I hand make and design all the jewelry. With fine products such as sterling silver, pearl, swarvoski crystals ect. I also custom make bridal jewelry and hair accesories. If you are looking for unqiue, good quality jewelry at inexpensive prices go to http://www.princessemmas.ecrater.com/ I can also custom make jewelry to match your needs or colors for your bridal party!

The Tri-State Regional Fred Astaire Studio Dance competetion will be held at the Mystic Marriot in Groton, CT from November 1-4, 2007. Schools from the Northeast Region will be competing. There will be a Banquet held on Saturday at the conculsion of the competition, which will feature a performance by one of the top ranked US Ballroom couples.

I have done a lot of research on site for ballroom dancing including music, shoes, costumes ect. Below are a few of the best sites I have found http://www.ballroomdancers.com/ This site has videos of American and International Style Dances in both smooth and Latin that show you how to do the basic steps. The site also has a lot of other useful information for ballroom dancers like where to buy costumes and shoes and music. You can even sell your costumes of buy used ones on the site.

I was searching for a place to start taking dance classes again after a 7 year break. One day while on my way to the Sea Swirl in Mystic for dinner, I drove by the Mystic Packer building I saw a sign for Fred Astaire Ballroom Dance Studio. I was interested so I went home and did some research online. I found there website easily http://www.fadsmystic The Fred Astaire Dance Studio in Mystic Connecticut just opened in February 2007. The two owner's, Roglio and Vadim , were previously teachers at the Hartford and Glastonbury Fred Astaire Studios before opening there Own Studio together. I decided to take advantage of there online introductory offer of 3 classes for $35 dollars. With this offer you receive an introductory group class, a private lesson and a practice party. I fell in love with the Studio right away. The teachers were professional and extremely nice and great at what they do. If you live in this area and are interested in learning ballroom dancing you shou...