Wrapperlicious Goes To Hollywood - Am I Being Punked

When my husband lost his job two years ago, yes, I panicked. I was like WTH!!! When one needs extra funds, you learn to become creative as hell to make ends meet. And let me tell you, I know how to rob Peter to pay Paul...LOL. And that's when I created Wrapperlicious. Now I tell my husband all the time, "Thanks for sucking at your job Rob! You Suck! But, Thank You!"

But the point is, when you are faced with an adversity, you have to step back and look at the situation and say, "is this a blessing or is this a curse." Is this happening for a reason, if so, what is the lesson, where will this ordeal lead and/or teach me?

Well, Wrapperlicious was invited to the Disney Teen Choice Awards Gifting Suite in Hollywood. I had an amazing group of people help me get there, from flight arrangements, housing, to someone to care for my children. All the pieces came together like butter. My flight getting there was perfect. My neighbor graciously offered to care & love my children while I was away for a day. Life was perfect, just moving along without a hiccup.

The day of the show arrived and everything ran smoothly. My booth setup came out nicely, both Heather and Katie did a great job helping at the event. I mean everything was going lovely. The booth stayed busy nonstop. Celebrities waited patiently to see Wrapperlicious' hottest items, called Hair Candi. The day was totally INSANE with energy. I even had someone approach me about having my products in 150 of his stores. The day couldn't get any better.

After the show, we went out to celebrate and eat at this amazing little Mexican restaurant in California called, Eltepeyac. YUM! The line was around the corner, but it was worth the wait. Stomach was full, now it was time to repack my bags and head back to the airport for the redeye flight back to Houston. Sounds simple enough right. NOT!!!! The problem is that I was flying standby. Everybody and their mama wanted to fly the same weekend that I wanted to fly. How dare they. Okay, so now the real adventure & test of patience begins.

I did not get on the redeye flight at 12:34am, because it was overbooked, therefore I had to wait at the airport 6 hours for the next flight. I didn't want to have Ms. Heather pick me up, because I knew she had to work in a few hours. Being considerate, I said to myself, "Joy you are a soldier, you can do this. You can wait this out." I headed to Baggage Claim to retrieve all of my bags, which weighed over 140 pounds. Okay, no problem, I work out, I can do this. I then took a seat with about 5 other tired people and tried to get comfortable on the hard chairs and take a little nap. It was approximately 2am when the cleaning staff began to mop & buff the airport floors. So I guess there's no way I could sleep through that loud, annoying noise and I was cold as double hockey sticks too. Burr.....

I made it through the 6 hour wait game without a wink of sleep, a sore neck and a knot in my back. I RECHECKED my bags and headed back to the gate, ready to board the plane. NOT!!! There were too many standbyers and I, once again, did not make the cut. My bags were sent BACK to Baggage Claim. I go BACK downstairs and retrieved my 140 pounds of luggage and retook my hard, uncomfortable seat. Not discourage, I told myself, I'm gonna get on the next flight. Long story short, I was turned away FOUR times with no other outbound flights looking promising.

TWELVE hours later, I gave up, I let my pride go and called Ms. Heather and begged her to get me outta there!!! I endured a total of 24 hours of no sleep, no food and total exhaustion. Every inch of my body ached badly from walking around with two big suitcases, 1 big duffle bad, my laptop bag and another big bag that contained my banners & stands. While waiting for Ms. Heather to pick me up, I rec'd an urgent text on my cell phone that basically stated, "Pay your damn bill or get your damn phone turned off." WTH...not now...I don't have my credit card with me!!!! I immediately called Sprint, told them about my ordeal and the lady gave me an extension on top of an extension.

When Ms. Heather finally arrived, she gave me a big hug and took me out to eat at Cannataros, another YUM-YUM spot. Still tired, Ms. Heather said, "would you like to go back to the house and get some rest." I said, "No way, let's hang out!!!" She said, "Well I'm hanging out at church." I said, "Bring it on, but I need a church shirt, let's go shopping." I found the cutest shirt at the fashionable Target. LOL.

We go back to her house to drop off my 140 pounds of luggage and to freshen up. We head to church and the message felt like it was meant for me. I'm feeling great, despite the 12 hours of torture I just endured. As we are leaving church, I turned my phone back on, only to be met with 16 urgent messages. I proceeded to listen to my VM and to my dismay, there was lots of yelling & cursing. My dear husband was stuck in Oakland! Now is that really my problem, because I'm stuck in CA fool! What can I do for YOU! NADA! Needless to say, he was annoyed because he did not have his credit card and guess what, NEITHER DID I!!! But hey, I had Ms. Heather. Bless her heart.

Ms. Heather said, let go have dessert! Sounds good to me. We had dessert at Marie Calanders. OMG...Delicious!!! Dessert always solves everything...temporarily that is....LOL

I almost forgot to mention that my poor neighbor had no plans to watch my kids for days & days. I think the worse part for me is burdening her with my children, I feel horrible. So she has my three children, plus her two boys. I was wondering if they tied her up and stuffed her in a closet. I called and told her how sorry I was. She put me at ease and "said" everything was okay, but I know she is cursing me...LOL. I am truly sorry for putting you through this Ms. Barry.

By the time we made it back to the house, I could barely keep my eyes open. I barely undressed before I passed out. I was...so...tired, but before I had a chance to close both of my eyes, I noticed a few ants in the bed. OHHHHH NOOOOO!!!! Totally exhausted, I didn't have enough energy to shoo them away, I just layed down and passed out. The ants and I are best friends now....but my luggage is now infested. ARGH!

Today is a new day and I am STILL stranded in California, with no way out and the standby list still FULL!!!! My poor neighbor still has my kids, I have no idea where or what happened with my husband, my car is still parked in an expensive parking lot in Houston and I had to shake my weave out to make sure ants weren't taking up residence.

The Moral of the Story is, throughout this entire ordeal, I stayed true to who I am. I never yelled, never sighed, never blamed anyone, cursed or cried. I wonder, is this a test of my character? Is it to teach me patience, endurance or an opportunity to further build my soldier like character? As Ms. Heather says, is this experience a curse or a blessing. I don't know...but I am very thankful for not breaking and for having wonderful people in my life path to help me through my journey of life.

So no matter what adversity you're going through in life, having a poor attitude will not change your situation, but it's an opportunity to learn and grow from the lessons bestowed upon you, because you too may not know if it's a blessing or a curse.

How My Children Have Changed My Outlook in The Work Place.

As I entered the office this morning, the "Super Mom" in me instantly kicked in.

Super Who? Okay, she is an innate instinct that has unfolded since having children. I opened my boss's door and noticed his prescription bottle had been sitting on his desk for weeks. I immediately had to investigate this matter. I hurridly picked up the bottle and noticed that it was his heart medication and it was EMPTY. I thought, "Houston, we have a problem." I really like my boss, but if he kicks the bucket, I'm out of a job. Wrapperlicious has been good to me, but I still need a steady income, but more importantly, I need health benefits for the entire family.

As my boss nonchalantly came in this morning, he had no idea what was to come. I walked into his office, raised one eyebrow and I asked him if he already filled his prescription and he said no. Without hesitation, I held out my hand and told him to give me some money and that I would pick up his prescription for him. He looked at me funny and said, "Joy, that's not in your job description." Now as I get older, things just fly out of my mouth, I just can't seem to control these sudden impulses. I then said to him, "Well if you die, I will suddenly be out of a job, so it is part of my job description, now give me some money!" Like an obiendient boy, he handed me $60 dollars. I took off....I mean, Super Mom took off and filled his prescription.

On the contrary, BEFORE I had children, I would have NEVER cared enough to make sure any of my boss' took their meds. I would have thought, "I'm not their mother and that's not in my job description." Now that I'm on the other side of this spectrum, caring for others seem as natural as caring for my own children.

The Moral of the Story is that our life experiences help define who we are and who we become as people. Our experiences add to our unique character. Also, our experiences can make us stronger, but unfortunately, for some they can also make us weaker. As I've said before, what matters most is what you choose to do with your experiences. Life my dear, is a priceless teacher and we always have choices.

How Was Wrapperlicious Born?

Many people have asked me the same question over and over, which is: How was Wrapperlicious started?

I am a true believer that everything in life happens for a reason. I believe that everything we experience in life is to teach us something or to make us stronger & wiser. I believe experience, both good and bad, is the wisest teacher of them all.

I've ALWAYS been a creative person. I am a true example of being a Jack of all trades. For example, I draw, I'm a licensed hair stylist, makeup artist, an event planner, a costume designer, a repair person and so much more. If you give me some aluminum foil, some string and a crayon, I could make a fierce outfit out of it...HA! I can take just about anything and create something from it. My best friend used to tease me all the time and tell me that I could make a ponytail look good. Well....she was right....that IS true...smile.

Well....when my husband lost his job last year, I was forced into finding additional means of work on top of my full-time job. I didn't know what I was going to do to make ends meet. I was desperate. I searched the internet for months and months until the customized party favor world found ME. I said, "now THAT is something I know I can do!" I knew I was good with the computer and my boss gave me the uncanny opportunity to learn photoshop. I have absolutely no use for photoshop at work, but he asked and I said, "HELL YES!" (See....another example of things happening for a reason). I then taught myself how to use photoshop, which has been the spring board to Wrapperlicious. I took all of my computer knowledge and put it into designing personalized candy wrapper favors. It has been one of the most rewarding things I've ever done in my life. It allows me to use my creative abililites to design things that I know will bring joy to the lives of others.

Wrapperlicious has been so fulfilling that it has already caused problems at home. Both my husband and my children get upset and/or feel neglected, because of the time I spend on the computer designing wrappers or fulfilling orders. It's frustrating sometimes, because I simply can not be all things to everybody. And trying to find a balance is very challenging at times too.

So as you can see, I took an adversity and made it into something positive, which brings me back to my earlier statement, that every experience that we go through in life is to teach us something or to guide us down a different path. Perhaps my husband losing his job was the catalyst to make me find my true passion in life. On the contrary, if he never lost his job, Wrapperlicious would not have been born. So thank you honey for sucking at your job! Tee...hee..hee....I'm just kidding.

The Moral of the Story is, no matter what ordeal you're going through in life, you should try your hardest to take something positive from the situation. Every life experience gives us a chance to grow, but the key is what you choose to do with that experience. It's very easy to accept defeat, but fighting the battle with every fiber in your being makes you a true warrior. Don't get me wrong, you may lose the fight, but doing your best ALWAYS makes you a winner.