Birthday Bounty Revealed

Welcome back from that short birthday break! 

We now return you to our regularly scheduled programming.

Now that the celebrations are officially wrapped up, and after having consumed more drawn butter than any human should, let's check out my birthday haul, thanks to the Hubs, and see how my fun-filled photo shoot turned out, shall we?

Allow me to introduce you to the gal who helped me ring in the big three-five, and who worked overtime to keep the tears at bay....I give you the newest member of my collection!....

It's.....

AQUARIUS!
Another Zodiac Girl!!

My feelings, exactly

Hell yes!

As you recall, a while back, long before my birthday, I had taken to this blog to express my fist-shaking frustration with Fate's lack of cooperation when it came to me getting my hands on more of the Josef Originals Zodiac Girls.

Months went by since that post and, still, nothing for old Jenna.
I was at the end of my hope rope, and was starting to feel downright depressed.
I couldn't even muster up the heart to blog. (Sorry about that.)
I just felt so damn defeated.

Was I ever going to be blessed with even just one more Zodiac Girl?

No.

Because as it turns out, all that pining and whining paid off big time because I was blessed with two!

Bam!
I got a Leo too, baby!

Boo-ya!

LEO

I actually got my Leo about 2 months before my b-day.
I'm glad I waited to share her, so I could have an even better, fuller birthday photo shoot!

Funny story about my Leo....

A couple months ago, I woke up before the butt-crack of dawn, and of course I did what I always do first thing: I check all my trusty Josef sources to see what was listed while I slumbered.

And there, just waiting for me, was a mint condition LEO for an out of this world, ridiculously low price.
I was so excited I was shaking.
And a little sweaty too, to be completely honest with you.
Like lightning, I added her to my basket, and attempted to check out, but I realized my credit card on file was expired. Not wanting to waste any time with running downstairs to get my new card to update my account with, I decided to instead pay via PayPal. So I went back to the item to hit Buy It Now instead, and simply changed my payment method. This took quite a bit of effort since I was fumbling and bumbling due to being so shaky and out of my mind excited.
Once I cleared that hurdle, the processing icon was just spinning, spinning, spinning.
And I was just sweating, sweating, sweating, thinking someone else was trying to snap up the Leo at the same time I was. It was processing for waaaay too long, and I was starting to panic.

Finally, the Thank you for your purchase message popped up and Leo was mine! All mine!

I can't even describe the relief that washed over me.
I fell backwards onto the bed, panting, nearly crushing my still sleeping hubby, trying to catch my breath and keep my heart from busting out of my chest. It was as if during that entire check-out time, I hadn't drawn one single breath.
Giddiness soon kicked in, and I had a wild burst of energy.

Just as I was about to open my mouth and sing a song of triumph, my phone dinged with another message:

Sorry! This item is no longer in stock.

"NOOOOOOOO!"
(Hubby is now awake, confused, and about to be annoyed as hell that he was robbed of his last 40 minutes of sleep over a doll)

My elation quickly plummeted into full-on despair.

After seriously contemplating walking out into traffic and laying down, I eventually came to my senses, and was able to figure out that this message came up only because, even though I paid already, I technically still had the item in my basket, which I had bypassed when I instead hit the Buy It Now button. So it was telling me an item in my basket is now out of stock because it was purchased, thankfully, by moi.
Whew! Talk about a total mind screw!
That was one wild morning, alright.
Once I was able to fully grasp that the Leo would indeed be mine, I was pretty much floating on air the rest of the day. The air seemed fresher. Food even tasted better! Yep, I had that glow that only a good Josef score can bring you.

But of course, my little emotional roller coaster ride didn't end there. Oh heavens, no.
The package (and my sanity!!) was temporarily lost at one point during transit, sending me into a tailspin of worry. But, thankfully, it was eventually delivered safe and sound, however just much much later than expected.

I'm sure you can imagine how totally unhinged I became during that entire transit time.
Yes, you know me well.

It was rough, to say the least.
I actually expected to have a white streak running through my hair when it was all said and done, like the mom from Poltergeist.

Needless to say, after going through that traumatizing experience, it was SO very nice to just sit back and be gifted my new Aquarius.
Let someone else do the sweatin', while I do the gettin', am I right?

So I am proud to announce that I now have half of the girls from this awesome Zodiac series.
Go me! Go me!

Now, please sit back and enjoy as I parade these honeys around a bit:

Behold, the fruits of my shoots!

Having some fun with my fabrics too! 
(I do have to admit, I bought these ones specifically for my Zodiac Girls)

Can't decide which background I like best.
Hmmmmmm

I definitely went a little hog wild with this shoot - it was SO much fun! 

: )

Yep, it was an excellent birthday, indeed. And thanks to my hubby (and Fate), 35 sure hurt a lot less than I thought it would.