Alligators on the Castle Grounds!

I just heard about the 11 yr. old boy, Devin Funck, who was attacked by an 11 ft. alligator in Louisiana! How horrible! I cannot even imagine. My heart goes out to both him and his family. An event as traumatic as that will most certainly carry with it not only challenging physical healing, but emotional healing as well.

Alligators conjure up images in my mind of an animal that is big, dangerous, angry with a huge mouth and large teeth! They are sneaky, lurking in the waters, waiting to attack on their prey. Oddly enough I read that typically, alligators are docile. Docile?! How can that be? I obviously need to do more research on alligators, but this reminds me of how we all have emotional alligators in our lives. We build castle walls to keep them out, but somehow, through rivers or cracks and holes in our fortress walls, the emotional alligators, crocodiles and dragons of life manage to slip through to our safety zone. At first, we run and hide questioning how this possibly could have happened, after all, isnt' that what the wall is for? But little by little, we realize we have to face the dragons who've crept inside the castle walls of our lives. Some enter as small dragons, but the more we hide from them, they grow larger and larger, affecting not only our own mental health, but our relationships to those around us.

These emotional crocodiles take many shapes and forms- insecurities, anger, bitterness, jealousy, rage, to name only a few.
We often think we can fight them alone so we battle forward in our finest princess gowns, and tiara, with sceptor in hand, thinking they will surely notice our Royal Position and run, be we forget we can do nothing without the power of The King. He is the one who possesses and equips the armies needed to fight these battles for us. We must first come to Him, ask for His help, and acknowledge that our Power truly comes from Him.

William P. Young, author of the NY Times Bestseller, THE SHACK, refers to these emotional dragons as "The Great Sadness." He writes a wonderful fiction book touching on how we struggle so much with the belief that God is "especially fond" of us and the belief that He wants to help us fight the many emotional alligators in our midst. Ultimately, it requires our surrendering to Him and believing how He is truly kind, and loving and wants to heal us from the inside out.

I know I am now fighting some personal emotional crocodiles within the walls of my own Castle and as I sit here with sceptor in hand, I realize I must first bow my knee before The King. As my knee hits the ground, I feel a weight lifted off my shoulders and empowered at the same time; empowered by His goodness, kindness, protection and love. For me, my Castle is only truly Royalty and only truly protected within the Kingdom.

Kimberly Webb, Fan of Princess Bubble

Princess Bubble on CNN.com


We are thrilled to announce that on August 11th at 9:40 EST Princess Bubble author Susan Johnston will interview with Melissa Long on CNN!



Thank you to CNN for believing in our important message and helping us reach and empower girls of all ages with our message of the true way to "Happily Ever After!"

www.PrincessBubble.com

We at Princess Bubble are always looking for new cute store for our fairy tale!
With the price of gas, we stopped physically calling on stores and have been emailing. This has worked well and we have opned many new accounts. Do you know a store we need to contact?

I am posting some information about about Princess Bubble below. We are so passionate about the message of our book and empowering girls. If you can make a suggestion of a store you love (gift store,children's store..) and have some type of contact information we would be so grateful.

Princess Bubble has been so well received and was featured on The Today Show and many other shows.

Thank you and Happily Ever After!
info@princesbubble.com

The Anti-Princess Movement finds “Happily Ever After” in Princess Bubble
Many concerned mothers today worry about raising their princess. There is a royal struggle to have fun with fairy tales and at the same time teach girls the true meaning of “Happily Ever After!”
This is a story I can truly believe in and feel comfortable sharing with my children.”
—Noelle Williams, mother of three

“We’ve had countless women all over the nation tell us they wish there had been a book like this when they were little.”
—Susan Johnston, Princess Bubble author

Two Sassy Single Authors Redefine Fairy Tale Endings for Young Readers!

ATLANTA, April 18,2008—You know how the story goes—Prince Charming, “Happily Ever After,” The End, right? Is this the ONLY option today’s moms want to share with their young daughters? Two successful single gals are offering parents an updated version of the traditional fairy tale. No longer a “Damsel in Distress,” this princess travels the world, helps others, and finds “happily ever after” even before she finds her Prince!

With wisdom gleaned from their careers as independent, globe-trotting flight attendants, first-time authors Susan Johnston and Kimberly Webb have crafted a new generation of fairy tales that celebrates singleness and self worth. A contemporary fairy tale for all ages, Princess Bubble was written to reduce the overwhelming sense of failure, self-doubt, and despair that many youth face.

Three most common disorders in girls: low self-esteem, depression, and eating disorders

In 2003, breast implants tripled from 3,872 to 11,326 in girls under age 18

Girls ages 12 to 19 spent over $8 million on cosmetics in 2005
(Source: Report of the APA Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls,2007)

“I adore sharing the Princess Bubble message with my daughter because it teaches her that happiness comes from within,” said Kim Daniels, mother of two.

Princess Bubble stars a princess who is confused by the traditional fairy tale messages that say she must find her “prince” before she can live “happily ever after.” Princess Bubble dons her “thinking crown” to research traditional fairy tales, interviews married girlfriends, and even takes counsel from her mother, who advises her to sign up atFindYourPrince.com. With a little help from her fairy godmother (this is still a fairy tale after all), Ms. Bubble discovers that “living happily ever after” is not about finding a prince. “True happiness,” the book reveals, “is found by loving God, being kind to others, and being comfortable with who you are already!”

“We are definitely not anti-Prince,” said Webb. “We just believe that young girls today are bombarded with so much inaccurate advice on how to build their self-esteem—messages that focus on the outside rather than what’s within. We want to change that message.”

ABOUT PRINCESS BUBBLE and BUBBLE GUM PRESS: The Princess Bubble message, cleverly articulated by former Delta flight attendants Susan Johnston and Kimberly Webb, seeks to find an alternate ending to “happily ever after” and change the notion that life begins and ends with finding your Prince Charming. Looking to bolster the poor self-esteem of female youth and the stigma that many single adult women carry, Johnston and Webb believe“this is a book for women of all ages, a story they can believe in and share with their children.” In upcoming adventures, Princess Bubble will travel to distant lands where the knowledge of every new culture will enrich her flourishing life.

-30-

Related: shopper, princess bubble, market, gift store, childrens store, buyer

If I Produced The Bachelor TV Show...

When I am doing my VERY brief work I always have crazy ideas and if it is Saturday,like today, I actually have time to blog about them. Who has not tuned in for at least one of The Bachelor/Bachelorette show?

I know lots of people have watched,because these reality "stars"-I guess they are stars-go on to have a career based on their limited appearance on this show. Magazines buy their baby pictures, they host other shows, they become news anchors, run for office...

First, let me tell what I hate about the show. Then I will share my idea for a twist

"The Fantasy Suite" which glorifies one night stands with multiple people! Who knows what goes on behind close doors? But, we are lead to believe things are happening that are not for the cameras. Are the morals of our world crumbling so much that no one else thinks sleeping with 3 different guys you have known a few weeks and know you will never see at least 2 of them again-is not disgusting?

Now for my idea. (For example purposes I am using Bachelorette as the show) Have two bachelorettes. The two can be very much alike in they are both a size 0,young and beautiful. Or the two can be very different. Sporty/Girly, Funny/Serious, Career Oriented/M.R.S. degree, or the old North/South.

When you have two bachelors you add many,many twist. The girls do not know if the men are more into the other girl and playing them (like real life) The girls do not know who the other woman is eliminating because and a guy cut by one girl may stay on the show with another. (I have not worked out the details on how you would keep that a secret from the girls without the men letting on that someone is gone.) Then there is a likely hood that two women are at their own final rose ceremony with the same guy. Talk about the most dramatic rose ceremony ever. Or you end up with two different couples. If the girls are down to the last 4 with totally different men. Then you could move the women in together and let them discuss their choices and help the other choose...

I think this would be very interesting and add life to the show.

If you have not found your prince-check out www.findyourprince.com-this is not a dating site. This is a fairy tale about being happy single or married!

The Real Housewives of Atlanta?

Bravo is airing a new show about Atlanta. Too bad not one of these housewives live in Atlanta.

4 out of 5 of these women are black, which is not too far off. I looked at the demographic of Atlanta and African Americans make up 61.39% of the city’s population. But, remember these women live in the burbs. I looked for demographics in Alpharetta and race was not mentioned. My suburban housewife friends have told me the demographics in their children’s schools are so diverse-representing so many countries it looks like a Benetton ad. These mothers bragged about this feeling this would make for a well rounded education for their child; so I am guessing the burbs are not 61% African American.

A few comments I heard from clips of this show on Entrtainment Tonight that made me really look up from my laptop were– the one white woman said she was “A black girl in a white girls body.” And another woman said that Atlanta was the black Hollywood.

Atlanta may be the black Hollywood with all the rappers and athletes here. But, I thought it was odd that the producers would use the clip of this white woman and she would feel the need to mention she had some type black connection. To me, this screamed we have no intentions of being diverse.

What if the only black woman on a show with 4 other white women said, “I am a white woman in a black body?” First, I would feel sorry for this woman that she was not happy in her own skin. Secondly, this black woman would probably hear from her race many comments about this statement.

Personally, I do not care about her race. But wonder what about Atlanta or the suburbs are the producers saying/portraying.

I copied the below about the show.



Bravo reveals ‘The Real Housewives of Atlanta,’ preview to air July 30

By Steve Rogers, 06/26/2008

Cross another state off Bravo’s ever-growing The Real Housewives list.


The network has announced that it will air a 30-minute “special preview” of The Real Housewives of Atlanta, another new version of its The Real Housewives reality franchise, on Wednesday, July 30 at 12 AM ET/PT.

The Real Housewives of Atlanta marks Bravo’s third attempt to replicate its original The Real Housewives of Orange County reality series. The first spinoff, The Real Housewives of New York City, debuted this past spring. Similar to the format’s West Coast original, it follows five New York women (only four of whom are actually married) as they attempt to juggle their busy schedules and highfalutin lifestyles.

The network announced it had ordered new seasons of both reality shows – Orange County’sfourth and New York City’s second — back in April.

At the same time, Bravo had also announced it had ordered The Real Housewives of New Jersey, a second spinoff of the format. The show will follow five of the Garden State’s most affluent women and their families, including the “McMansions and lavish lifestyles of these women and all the drama that money can buy,” according to Bravo.

Why the network has now decided to debut — at least in “special preview” form — the previously unannounced Atlanta edition before the New Jersey edition remains unclear, however Bravo is still proceeding with New Jersey edition, according to a network spokesperson. Except for today’s Atlanta“special preview” announcement, the network has not announced a regular premiere date for either new edition yet. When it debuts, The Real Housewives of Atlanta’s season will air as seven one-hour episodes.

The Real Housewives of Atlanta is being produced by True Entertainment, an Endemol subsidiary, with Steven Weinstock, Glenda Hersh, Shari Solomon Cedar and Kenny Hull serving as the show’ executive producers. True’s previous credits include Gastineau Girls, HGTV Design Star, and Unwrapping Macy’s. (Although they share a common branding, each The Real Housewives version is produced independently. The Real Housewives of Orange County is produced by Evolution Film & Tape whileThe Real Housewives of New York City is produced by Ricochet Television.)

The five women who will be featured in The Real Housewives of Atlanta’s season — and their Bravo-released bios — will be:

DeShawn Snow — Snow and her husband Eric, captain of the Cleveland Cavaliers, recently moved to their dream home in Alpharetta, GA. Mother to three boys: nine-year-old EJ, six-year-old Darius and five-year-old Jarren, Snow is an active member of the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church. She exercises her faith by running The DeShawn Snow Foundation, a non-profit organization focused on improving self-esteem in teenage girls. She is a regular on the Atlanta social circuit and extremely active in local philanthropy, sitting on the board of three different charities, all while expertly juggling her busy social calendar with being an NBA wife and keeping up with her boys.

Kim Zolciak — Zolciak lives in an exclusive gated townhouse community in Duluth, GA with her two children, 11-year-old Brielle and six-year-old Ariana. Zolciak is single, but happily dating with hopes to marry again in the near future. She also has her sights set on fame in the music business as a country singer, and is currently working with Grammy award-winning mega-producer Dallas Austin and will begin recording an album later this year. A staple on the Atlanta scene, Zolciak balances life as a single mom with a vivacious social life.

Lisa Wu Hartwell — Hartwell, a resident of a luxurious country club community in Duluth, GA, is a busy career woman who wears many hats - she owns her own real estate firm, Hartwell & Associates, a jewelry line called Wu Girls, a baby clothing line, Hart 2 Hart Baby, and juggles a budding acting, modeling and writing career. She’s a devoted wife to her husband, NFL player Ed Hartwell, and their three children 13-year-old Jordan, ten-year-old Justin and one-year-old EJ. When she’s not running one of her many businesses or running after the kids, Hartwell is very active in Atlanta’s social scene.

NeNe Leakes — Leakes is an active member of Atlanta society. She resides in the upscale Sugarloaf area of Atlanta with her husband Gregg, a successful real estate investor and business consultant, and their two sons, 18-year-old Brice and nine-year-old Brentt. Leakes donates her time to various foundations and is the founder of The Twisted Hearts Foundation, which brings awareness to domestic violence against women. Never one to sit still, the outspoken social butterfly also hopes to open a luxury boutique hotel in the very near future.

Sheree Whitfield — Single socialite Whitfield, a resident of the exclusive Sandy Springs area of Atlanta, juggles her busy home life with a packed social calendar. She is a busy working mother to three children -Tierra, Kairo and Kaleigh. Whitfield prides herself on her fashion sense, and owned her own upscale clothing boutique - Bella Azul - for years before closing up shop to focus on her next business venture, a clothing line called “She by Sheree.” Whitfield is opening a new chapter in her life as a single mom while balancing her entrepreneurial spirit and active social life.

www.PrincessBubble.com

Runaway Bride and Sue-away Bride Both from Gainesville, GA?
I just read the below article and thought it was funny that this ex-bride was also from the same area.

Do I think something funny is going on in this areas romances? I DO!
Woman Sues Ex-Fiancé, Wins
POSTED BY: DUFFIE DIXON
GAINESVILLE, Ga. -- A Gainesville woman has successfully sued her ex-fiancé after he called off their wedding. A jury ruled it was a breach of contract and ordered him to pay $150,000 in damages.

Rosemary Shell holds a large, glittering engagement ring in her hands. She no longer wears it on her ring finger, but instead keeps it in the box it came in. She says it's a reminder of what could have been.

"He changed his mind for no good reason," said Shell.

She's talking about Wayne Gibbs of Gainesville, a man she dated for five years. Shell says when he said he wasn't interested in marriage she moved to Pensacola, Florida and started a lucrative new job earning $81,000 a year plus bonuses and benefits. Then Gibbs showed up.

"He asked me to marry him. He gave me a ring and I gave up my life and my career and I came back to Gainesville. He told me he would pay my bills, that we would be married by the holidays and we would live happily ever after. I believed him," said Shell.

But two days before the wedding, she says Gibbs left her a goodbye note saying he couldn't go through with the wedding. He also wrote her a $5,000 dollar check. She says she tore up both and instead sued him for breach of contract.

Shell's lawyer, former Hall County District Attorney Lydia Sartain, successfully argued before a jury that Gibbs owed Shell what she'd lost in salary plus pain and suffering.

"He callously allowed her to quit her job, move back and into his house where she had no income and then after a couple of months he just put her out on the streets and said 'you know you're on your own'," said Sartain.

After just a day of testimony, the jury sided with Shell and ordered Gibbs to pay $150,000 dollars in damages.

Neither Gibbs nor his attorney was available for comment. Gibbs did testify that he didn't feel he owed Shell anything, especially since he'd let her keep the engagement ring.

The ring Shell now keeps in that box and plans to sell. She says she hopes the next woman who receives it has a fiancé who will follow through.
www.PrincessBubble.com

What do you say to a friend with cancer?

This is not a blog where I tell you what to say.

This is a blog where I ask, "What do you say?" My dear friend has stage 4 Melanoma. She has 3 children and a father dying of cancer and a brother that recently died of cancer.

I want to be positive. To tell her I know God can do anything and I do believe that. But, I also want her to be comfortable telling me as much or as little as she wants about being scared, having moments she is not hopeful or even days/weeks. Having a place to vent. This precious amazing girl worries she will seem lazy if she rest because we live in this world so fast paced we see resting as negative sometimes verses a form of medicine the body needs!

She worries about losing her hair and gaining weight because these things make us feel beautiful, worth, loved, the person the see in the mirror and recognize. I am sure losing your hair and physical signs of the disease also are just constant reminders of the battle. When you look the same physically there is always my favorite place-denial.

In fact part of me does not even want to call my friend. How awful is that! But, she lives in another state and I want to just forget she has cancer and live in denial and think she is at home well having the fantastic life she should have. Calling her I am reminded, this is serious! But, what I would not give to be able to call my own father again. I know if she is taken from us I would regret that I did not embrace and cherish each opportunity to talk with her.

I also feel that maybe others feel this way because she calls me back when I say you do not have to-- and talks at length-which I am thankful for-but feel she must not be telling all of this to many people because she has so much going on. Or maybe she is and is hoping for just one person to say what she needs to hear. I want to be that person. I want to say something that will get her through this.

Then there are people who have told her if her faith is strong enough she will be healed. Are these people off their rocker? God promises us healing but that is often the ultimate healing-healing from this world and an eternal life with Him. I was guilty of comments similar to this once. My mother was healed of breast cancer when she had 6 months to live. Now, it has been 12 years! Praise God! Right after that I thought- you just have to ask!!! I still believe we need to ask for healing and believe it is possible-but we just do not know why God heals some and takes others.

I have been dealing with a lot of frustration lately from people I adore. When I talk to this friend with cancer I am reminded just how trivial my anger issues really are. Well, at least till I hit another bump in the road.

I just am so sadden that a sweet, wonderful, loving, godly woman is having to fight this disease with all she has when Bin Laudin who has spent so much more time in the sun than my friend is probably in a cave somewhere plotting evil and and cancer free.

I bought my friend a t-shirt that says it all "Cancer Sucks!"

Amen
www.PrincessBubble.com

Flight Attendant becomes Space Cadet!
Flight Attendants are used to having your hands in trash. When I was a flight attendant, not only did people hand me all kinds of gross things-but you have to literally push the trash deep into the can because of the limited space on flight. You get past all the "glamour" of doing things like this quickly.
A French flight attendant will become one of Europe 's pioneer space tourists after picking a chocolate wrapper out of the trash and finding a winning number in a competition to fly to a route she never dreamed to bid for-space!
Mathilde Epron, 32, said she had bought a Kit Kat chocolate bar at her local grocery store but initially threw the wrapper in the trash, telling herself that "it's only others who win."
A couple of hours later, thinking back to the competition, she decided to try her luck and went through the trash can in search of the wrapper, and found the winning code inside!
"For someone who works in air travel it's really a dream come true," she told local radio host.
A spokeswoman for Nestle in France confirmed that Epron had won the prize! On this flight Epron has positive space! The four-seater, fighter-sized aircraft built by Rocketplane, a company that builds aircraft intended to provide cheap flights into space.
She will receive four days of astronaut training in Oklahoma City before boarding the Rocketplane XP aircraft which will reach an altitude of (60 mph and allow a five-minute experience of weightlessness. (Which is a huge comfort to any flight attendant old enough to remember the weight restrictions we used to have to meet!)

I am thrilled for you and hope you have the ride of your life!

It Is Hard to Be in Business with a Friend!
)

I just wrote the words “Kim Webb was a tremendous help in taking the story of Princess Bubble from an email Susan originally sent out to her friends to a beautifully published book. Her friendship is extraordinary and priceless to Susan! But, sometimes it is hard to be best friends and business partners so Susan has bought Kim’s interest in Bubble Gum Press and will always be grateful to Kim for her love and passion for the message of Princess Bubble!” on our site www.PrincessBubble.com

As I was writing those words, I was grieving the loss of my business partner. But, I know I still have the dearest friend anyone in the world could ever ask for!

It is just HARD to be business partners and friends. Here is a little of our story in case this can help anyone else and probably mainly to vent my grief since I am not really telling this story to the one I tell everything to—my best friend/ex-business partner.

I wrote the story of Princess Bubble and Kim thought the story was missing and needed to be told to the world. Having always been the most attention deficit person in the world, I said, “Join me so it will get done!” What I did not realize about myself was I am the Queen of Attention Retention when I have a passion. I guess up until Princess Bubble I never really worked on anything that I thought could change, empower, encourage people/girls the way I feel about the message of Princess Bubble. Having a passion that burns like a wildfire makes you excited every minute of everyday to work on something this powerful.

Kim, also passionate about the message, became the ADD one in our partnership, which is totally unexpected because she is brilliantly focused and taught herself Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian!

My background prepared me more for this project. My family has always owned a retail/wholesale business and I started buying for our store as a tween. I majored in public relations and understood the value of the media.

We both made a million mistakes along the way and knew absolutely nothing about publishing, so we have been blessed beyond measure. But, I saw early some of Kim’s mistakes in the few areas I knew something about. Then this weird control freak person came out in me that had been hiding under a blanket of apathy my whole life. I had learned to sell/promote my family’s wholesale line as a child; therefore, I assumed that ANYONE would know the basics I knew! Turns out they don’t.

Then the miracle of all miracles happen! We were asked to be on the Today Show! But, Kim said she only had limited availability. Limited availability! We are unknown, self-published authors. In my mind, if I was getting married that day I would have canceled the wedding to be on the show! Plus, my father had just suddenly died and I was crushed beyond measure. The good news of the Today Show was this fantastic thing I could focus on through my tears and pain.

The show was kind enough to work with us and we appeared in a segment with Ann Curry. But, ever since then our business relationship has been strained with our different views of work and commitment.

Thank God we have a friendship that is sibling-like in nature; where, despite the fights, you adore the person so much that I can fight, fight, fight and then say, “Whatcha wanna do tonight?”

Our new personal story reads, “Once upon a time there were two princesses. The two princesses realized their kingdom was crumbling with both of them ruling. But, they knew as friends they would live ‘Happily Ever After’ forever