Check out this photo from National Geographic – I can think of few things more wonderful than living under a sky that smiles. We actually noticed the alignment Sunday night when driving home from TN after Thanksgiving – nothing like standstill traffic to allow time for stargazing. I wondered aloud if the brighter star was a planet, and it looks like I was right. Cool.

I cannot possibly thank everyone enough for making my birthday wonderful. We really stretched it out – celebrating with an early (unbeatable! amazing!) gift from hubby on Sunday, family the day before, and friends the day of. I received countless calls, texts, cards, emails, and messages – I feel so loved! Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Now, aside from birthdays and smiles and astronomy appreciation, I do have to share about my recent/prolonged experience with Beach Camera. I must say, beware. They do have great products and reasonable prices, but those attractive offerings are no good when you can’t purchase them easily. This was our second time using them, first last summer when we bought our sweet LG high-def fancy TV, and this week when I found a good deal on a new camera. However, they use some sort of system in billing to test the credit account by filing a small transaction, calling it an “authorization”. This did not pass the fraud filter of either VISA or my bank, so the transaction was denied. I failed to remember until that moment that the same thing happened last time, with our TV. So I contacted billing and the representative was very hurried and careless – skipping any introduction or formalities to launch straight into the “order number?” prompt, so I do not know her name. Lucky me, I’m 2 for 2 with her in my calls…anyhow, I explained what my bank said and she cut me off, saying “do you have another card?”. I didn’t care for her approach, but I tried AMEX next, which is typically fail proof -  it worked with the TV purchase in the past, and I wished I’d used it from the start. However, it seems this associate never filed the second transaction since I received no confirmation via email, there was no record on my order history, and I received a duplicate email the next day stating that I needed to contact my bank and the billing department. Amateurs! I vowed then & there that I will not be doing business with this company again. But, the story has a happy ending: I canceled my order with Beach Camera first thing today, and placed an order with Amazon – I am getting my spiffy little pocket Canon afterall – with free shipping and for $10 cheaper, even better! Moral of the story – go with a company you can trust. The end.