Birthday Update!

So my birthday...It turned out to be a pretty great day! School was fun because most of the kids knew it was my birthday so they all wished me a happy birthday. Two of my 9th grade girls made me a card, and I even got a birthday hug from one of my seventh graders. Some days they drive me insane, but on other days, they are so cute! I got home from work to find this beautiful flower arrangement on the floor with Mattie and Fen sitting next to it. The card was signed from the 3 of them which was adorable. D also sent me an e-card with Hoops and YoYo, who are my favorites! Unfortunately, D had to tutor that night so we could not go to dinner, so I went shopping instead. I bought a bunch at NY and Co. and I *think* I found a dress for M and M's wedding in October. When I got home, D was not tutoring bc his student never showed up!

Last night, Friday, we went to dinner at Chianti's in Saratoga. We had been wanting to go there for a LONG time so I was so excited to finally try it. My meal was phenominal! I had filet mignon with a gorgonzola sauce, garlic spinach, and roasted potatoes. I may be a chick, but I love red meat! Then we walked to Starbucks bc I wanted a pumpkin latte. It was a pretty chilly night; fall is definitely in the air. When we got home, I curled up in bed with my latte and a book and I read for an hour. I was in heaven! See below for my purchases... (image sources: nyandco.com, bonton.com)

Quotable Quotes

I have been meaning to post some of my favorite quotes, so here they are!

“Life is the art of drawing without an eraser.” John W. Gardner

“Memory is a way of holding on to the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose.” Kevin Arnold

"When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, "I used everything you gave me." ~Erma Bombeck

"Age does not diminish the extreme disappointment of having a scoop of ice cream fall from the cone." ~Jim Fiebig

Last day

of being 27! Yes, tomorrow is my birthday. I am hoping that I have a good day because today kind of sucked. Did you ever have a day where everything went wrong? Yeah, that was today for me! Work was beyond frustrating, some people aggravated me, Fen peed in the house twice...and the list goes on.

However, I will not have my last blog as a 27-year old be negative, so here is a list of great things that happened while I was 27:
1. we celebrated one year of a fabulous marriage
2. we have great jobs
3. we have hysterical dogs
4. even though our house is always messy, I love it
5. we are healthy and happy; I was recovering from surgery about this time last year
6. we have everything we need and most of what we want
7. we have the most supportive and loving parents, grandparents, and siblings
8. we have many great friends who we adore
9. we love spending time together doing nothing
10. we traveled to DC, NC, Boston, VT, ME
11. we have started our adoption journey and have so many amazing people already
12. we have had good lives which enables us to have hope
13. my dear friend found out that she is expecting a baby girl and my other dear friend gave birth to a precious baby boy
14. my golf game improved
15. I have taken more time to pursue my hobbies of reading, candle-making and other nerdy things

Here's to the future and all the adventures that lie ahead!

Where has the time gone?

I can't believe I haven't updated my blog in so long! A lot has happened so I'd better get typing...

First and most exciting, we have started our home study!! We have been filling out so much paperwork and gathering so many documents that it seems like a second job. We are more than half way finished with this set of paperwork. We still need to get our finger prints done and get our letters of recommendation back. We have also left the most difficult part for last...deciding what type of child we feel we could parent in terms of race, drug/alcohol exposure, etc. We have had an on-going conversation, but we haven't made any concrete decisions just yet.

It has been a month for baby showers! I had one last weekend and one yesterday. Yesterday's was for my good friend B, who is due November 18. She is having a girl so the shower was all about pink! We had a great time catching up with gals from college and celebrating Baby CMB! :-)

We are playing in a couple's golf tournament today, and I am pretty excited. We haven't played at all since school started so who knows how we will play.

Can I go to the bathroom?

Yes, that is the question I heard more than once after I finished going over the syllabus and I asked, "Does anyone have a question?" Ahh the first day of school. It is exciting in many ways, new students and some old ones, new school supplies, fall clothes, and looking forward to the weekends! So far, my classes seem very excited, which is a positive spin on hyper as all get out! Maybe it is just because it is the first day of school, who knows! I like that they are enthusiastic. One student actually told me that "class was really exciting today!" Granted she is the child of a teacher, but it was nice to hear considering that I didn't think the lesson was all that special. It was great to see man of my students from last year. I know we are not supposed to have "favorites," but my last years 7th graders were just the best. While they were not perfect, they were just a really nice group of kids.

Football kicks off this week, and I am thrilled about that! I just made my pick-ems for our league and hopefully they are good ones!

We hope to get our homestudy started very soon. Our CW called today and is supposed to send us the paperwork soon! I am so ready to get moving on this.

It's official!

We are moving ahead with our adoption! We have signed on with our agency! We had our consult yesterday morning at Starbucks. Right before she showed up, I spilled my WHOLE grande pumpkin latte all over the table, in my purse, on D, and on the floor. I guess I was nervous or something, but that is just so typical of my personality. And of course, she walks in while we are scrambling to get it all cleaned up. She was great about it, and said that she knows we will be understanding when our DC spills something. We signed all of the papers and are now waiting for our social worker to get back to us so we can get the home study started! Yay for progress! We are especially excited because we thought we would have to wait longer for our consult, but the CW came in on her vacation to get us started. We are so happy with our relationship with the agency thus far, and I can't wait to do more.

Some updates:
For our anniversary, D and I went to Boston for a few days. We caught a game at Fenway (we won 8-4), went to Quincy Market, saw the park and did some shopping. It was so great to get away just the two of us.

B's baby shower is coming up so soon! September 19! I wrapped all of her gifts already and made a diaper cake for her. I can't believe how soon Baby C will be here.

My birthday is in 19 days! I will be 28!