8 interesting things. . .

i was tagged by Melissa today : 8 interesting things about me. not sure how interesting they are, but she asked for it!

1 : mushrooms are my all-time FAVORITE food. i can eat them any time of day and fixed in any matter. even raw. i love to take a raw mushroom and squish some shredded cheese on top and shove it in my mouth. Y-U-M-M-Y!

2 : orange juice goes with EVERYTHING. growing up it was pretty much the only thing i drank. i drank it with breakfast / lunch / dinner / snacks. i LOVE LOVE LOVE orange juice with chocolate. actually if i'm eating anything chocolate i crave orange juice. i know, it's a wierd combination. my husband (even after YEARS of this) is grossed out everytime.

3 : i am an only child. and it only took me a few years to figure out that i LOVE being an only child. even though i want a large family myself i can not imagine growing up any differently. i have the most amazing parents ever. i am still spoiled to this very day.

4 : i was in the band in high school. i played the flute and during football season i was a majorette and twirled a baton in sequin bathing suits at half-time. those were the days.

5 : i have an art degree. i started college in the architecture program, which is where i met my husband. but eventually decided to change majors. i do have my minor in architecture though. sometimes i wish i had stayed in it just so i would have had a difinitive career path. now i just work. no real career. although i don't really like the word career. it's so FINAL. like you don't have the option to change. i like to keep my options open. in all aspects of life. the happy, quirky little surprises along the way are what keep me going.


6 : my favorite place on earth is the beach. my parents and i have been going to florida (destin area) every summer since i was 6 years old. so it's almost like a second home to me. we have watched it grow from nothing more than a few hotels and mostly little houses on the beach to a booming touristy place with tons of high rise condos. it's wierd how much and how FAST it has changed. sometimes we talk about going somewhere else that isn't so busy, but we've been going there SO long it's difficult to imagine going somewhere else! michael & i went to the Dominican Republic for our honeymoon. LOVED it there. i adore the beach. i can't wait to take stella.


7 : i have a slight infatuation with hands. it is the first thing i look at on a person. any person. i have no idea why. grimy fingernails GROSS me out. but i still have to look. hands tell you so much about a person. i love to watch people who talk with their hands. sometimes if i'm around someone who does this i notice myself picking up their manerisms. odd but true.

8 : i absolutely HATE going to the grocery store. and i don't really enjoy cooking. i LOVE to bake, but not cook. this works out ok though because my husband just happens to be a FABULOUS cook and he enjoys it and does all (or almost all) of our grocery shopping. yep, i'm a VERY lucky girl. the downside to this is that when he is gone for even a day i revert back to college food. NEVER a good thing at my age :) but he always comes to my rescue. eventually.

EDITED : to tag Telissa

nothing.

well, i've received no updates. so i'm just going to assume that no news is good news and that we are still in pgn. why does this part of the wait seem so much more excruciating than any of our other waits? partly it's because i know she is getting older by the second and we are missing that many more milestones. stella will be 8 months old on dec 1. at this point i think we will be lucky to have her by her 1st birthday. that makes me sad. i think if we don't have her by then i might LOSE IT. not to mention we will have more paperwork problems before that point with things expiring. so those pgn reviewers need to HURRY UP. seriously.

we received a video of miss stella night before last. she is getting so big. on one hand i love getting to see her in action. on the other hand it makes the waiting that much more difficult.

today i'm just sad. today there is no light at the end of the tunnel. i just want my daughter.

couples shower pictures from 11/10/07

Finally : shower photos. Enjoy. We certianly did.

This is the beginning of the evening. Sitting around the dining room table having early cocktails.

Here are my parents after playing the HARDEST word scramble game EVER!!! We ALL needed a drink after that one!!!

Michael's parents playing our second game. We all had to put a paper plate on our heads and draw a baby face. Then we all voted on the winner. It was a really cute game!

Michael trying on his diaper changing tool belt. Gotta love a man who is prepared.

Just us opening presents.

Michael G . Jess . Me . Michael at the end of the evening. They threw us the most fabulous couples baby shower EVER. Yes, we love them. And we like to think they love us too!

My Jilli and I at the very end of the night just before our fabulous game of scrabble and halfway into our bottle of wine.

Jill the next morning. Sleeping off our bottle (and then some) of wine with Mater.

This is my with my parents right before they headed home the next afternoon.

The shower was so much fun. It was relaxed and we had so much fun with everyone! Thank you to Michael & Jess for throwing it. Thank you to everyone who took the time to join us and celebrate Miss Stella! We can't wait for you all to meet her!

YAY!

pre-approval : check.
finally.
maybe they can get it added to our file before we get kicked out of pgn for not having it . . .

i know i still need to post shower pictures . . . i'm working on it . . . just haven't felt motivated to do it for some reason.

we are IN . . .

PGN. case entered on 11/8. just found out this morning. how do we feel? EXCITED that we are in and are that much closer to the end / RELIEVED to know that this WILL end soon and our lives will go on / SCARED that so many things could still go wrong / ANXIOUS to meet our daughter and bring her home. i am filled with so many emotions today. everything has moved so very slowly in our case up until this point. we are praying and hoping that we are in and out of PGN quickly, that things go smoothly.

some friends threw us a couples baby shower on satuday, 11/10. it was so much FUN! it was at our house so everyone could see the nursery. no, the crib is still not finished. we put it up for the shower, but it is not painted yet. it still looked fabulous though :) just with the crib in there it seems so much more REAL. like we really do have a daughter coming :) i'll post pictures later today.

YAY for case movement :)

wine.

"wine makes daily living easier, less hurried, with fewer tensions and more tolerance." ~Benjamin Franklin

i have to agree. i'm having a glass as i type and i feel better already.

i am feeling exhausted tonight. exhausted with the adoption, exhausted with work, exhausted with life. i'm ready for a break. i'm ready for something to go the way i want it to go.

i am missing my jilli tonight. she is the one i could call at 10pm to have a glass of wine with and chat. if only she lived here again. i get to see her this weekend. i'm ready for that too.

i feel like my life has been on hold since we started this adoption. i'm ready to start living again. i'm ready for my daughter to be here, with us, where she is supposed to be.

i'm ready for alot of things. i'm going to finish my wine and then i think i'm ready for bed.

GO TEAM!

we did it! on saturday, 3 Nov 07 i finished my first 10K race! this picture was taken after our cool down and a little breakfast . . . it was AMAZING! i think i'm addicted! this is a portion of our running group . . . Mitchell, me, Michael G, and Ben . . . i totally would NOT have made it without them :) we plan to keep training and will be doing a half-marthon this spring . . . at least that's our goal! so cheers to running - we should ALL get moving!!!

photos :)

i had this lovely surprise in my inbox today. i can't wait to snuggle her!