Girl Talk, "Gold Digger" and Outright Lies

When Vicki hired Duff I have to admit I was concerned with working around a guy in such a small space with so much "girl talk" going on. My concern quickly vanished as I go to know Duff and I realized that he was more girl than guy. Not to discount Duff's masculinity, I mean he is a very handsome and fit man; he just thinks like a woman and understands us better than we understand ourselves. We have had some great "girl talk" including Brazilian bikini waxes.

I watched Duff juggle parenting and work. I must admit this was a role reversal, I thought. Duff is a very patient and wonderful father and he adds an interesting dimension to the office. It has been fun getting to know him and I enjoy his male perspective.

This leads me to insurance. The insurance business is a very respectable career. I have learned a lot over the last few years and continue learning daily. I graduated from college with a BA in Business. I majored in Management and had a double minor in Marketing and Finance. I am very thankful to have this education, but with that being said, I have this enormous desire to unleash my creative side which has nothing to do with insurance. I have been designing and making jewelry and clothing forever.

My Mom still has the cat diaper that I sewed with her sewing machine when I was five years old. It is a fashionable pink cotton thing adorned with a ruffle across the butt complete with a hole to accommodate the tail! I was putting clothes and jewelry on my animals' way before it became fashionable. They were most forgiving and no animals were ever harmed in the process! However, now I want to design for people! A natural start would be with jewelry. I've been making jewelry for the past 5 years using semi-precious gemstones and antique centerpieces. I love this look and noticed something similar worn by a Mom at the school bus stop 4 years ago.

This Mom is Lorelei who you saw on last night's episode and has turned out to be my best friend. I could write an entire blog on her! She is a wonderful woman and mother and I would trust my life with her. Since she was also designing jewelry and had a similar style, I thought it made perfect sense to partner up with her. After all, two heads are better than one-right? Thus, "BELLA ROCHE" (beautiful stone) was born. We are currently creating the line and I promise it will be coming soon!

Now, let me get to my new car. Here is the scoop....BRAVO provided a limo for me for the 5 AM photo shoot. After 10 hours of holding oranges, continuous smiling and trying to get that "sexy look"(which never happened)--I was exhausted! George called and said, "Can I send a car for you?" I thought he meant a limo. I explained to him that I already had transportation. I'm sure you saw my surprise as I walked outside and saw the beautiful convertible. It took a few seconds to sink in as to who it was for. As I've said before, George is incredibly generous and is always looking for ways to help people. This is where I will bring up that ugly "G" word that a few nasty people have called me. Referring to me as a gold-digger really is more of an attack on George than me by implying he is of no value to me without money. Please you guys, you should know that money can't buy a good character. Trust me, I've dated wealthy men with few morals. I've learned my lesson!

Everyone that knows George would tell you that he is a wonderful family man with a big heart and has a knack for creating successful businesses. He is a loving and caring father, honest, genuine, sincere, somewhat shy, helpful, hilariously funny, highly intelligent, ethical, level headed, calm, athletic, a true gentleman, concerned about the world and loves people and animals. I happened to fall in love with his heart, not his pocketbook. You can't fake that. Life is way too short to be with someone you really don't want to be with.

Therefore, I think anyone referring to me as a gold-digger is one of two things. 1) A stranger to George or 2) Envious of the attention that he is giving me.

Back to the car for a sec...other than the fact that it looks sexy and is super fast, I am completely clueless of the various types of cars there are. Keep in mind, I'm a farmer's daughter and that back in "my day" driving a tractor to school wasn't out of the question. Whatever started that morning was fair game! Receiving this CLK63 probably didn't mean as much to me as it did to Jo who has a better understanding of the finer things in life. I was more impressed with George's desire to make me happy and to let me know that he missed me and was thinking about me, rather than the type of car it was. The feeling that overcame me from his generosity was priceless and impossible to put a dollar sign on. Also, my college marketing professor would get a kick out of knowing that I now know what a Rolex is. During a discussion in class on status symbols (25 years ago!) I had to interrupt him to ask what a "Rolex" and a "Mercedes" were! Sometimes life teaches the lesson better than the classroom.

Lastly, on a more serious note, I feel that I must address something going on in our lives right now. There have been columns, blogs, and postings that contain untrue information about George and me. There seem to be "some biased people" trying to create an image for us that we just don't have. This is facilitating hatred and has even produced death threats.

My own personal information, (including my cell phone number!) was published on more than one site. Because we have taken the necessary steps to protect ourselves and our families, we have been labeled bullies. This has all been very hurtful and disturbing to us and our children. The only request and hope that we have is that our children remain in a loving, nurturing, safe, drug-free environment and that they attend school every day. Is this really too much to ask? Do we really sound like bullies exhibiting bad parenting? End of story!

I have opened up my life to you and you are seeing my reality. Simply put, you are watching a love story unfold and the unification of our families-nothing more, because there is nothing more. We are painfully normal, perhaps borderline boring, but we are exactly who we want to be and have always been.

Thanks to those that have provided encouraging comments and to those having the intelligence and wisdom to see the truth.