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Friday, July 30, 2010

A Day Off!

Today both Dave and I were off! As much as I complain about my boss at my summer job, she has been giving me Fridays off as a compromise for working BOTH weekend days. Not perfect, but at least Dave and I get one full day off together.

Dave had an appointment with a new ENT today. He has been suffering from some (what we thought were) inner ear issues--popping, etc. The visit went well and the doc suggested that he get a mouth guard as his problems seem to be stemming from his jaw, not his ears. This is hilarious only because his mom (who is almost always right) was right! While we are not rejoicing just yet, we are somewhat relieved that all the signs seem to be pointing in the not serious jaw direction.

We also headed up to the Lake George outlets today. I had a few coupons, so I thought it would be a good trip. Dave ended up getting several things, but I did not have much luck. I was hoping to start some Back To School shopping, but alas. I did end up ordering that rose pendant from my last post. I realized after the fact that my link was bad. It was from etsy.com.

When we got home, we cooked dinner together! I don't know why we don't do that more often because we always enjoy it. We made rice noodles (we are trying gluten-free for a bit), chicken curry, and a vegetable medley. Dave's co-worker gave us fresh beans and zucchini, so I mixed that with onions and peppers. YUM. We opened a nice Malbec and had dinner on the deck. It was a really nice evening. I am so excited to watch "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" in a little bit!

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

A Toast to Good Fortune

I am a believer in fate and karma. Even though my Catholic upbringing preaches about free will, and I am a firm believer in the power of making choices, I also believe in destiny and finding your somewhat pre-determined path. I do believe in God, and I think He has a perfect plan for my life. I know this because in many ways, I feel like I have found it.

I am married to a man who truly couldn't be a better fit for me. We are alike in the most crucial ways, and yet we are different in ways that keep our relationship interesting.

I have a job which I am passionate about (teaching, not bartending!), and I feel so lucky to be where I am in life.

We are comfortable and happy.

If you asked me to pick one word to describe how I feel about my life as it is today, I would say GRATEFUL. I feel like I have more than I ever dreamed of, and much more than I probably deserve.

Dave and I save all of our good fortunes from our fortune cookies, and I wanted to share some of those with you today. These have been collected over 4 years, and I still love them!

"Like the river flows into the sea, some things are just meant to be."

"In a gentle way, you can shake the world."

"Excitement and intrigue follow you closely wherever you go." <-- that one was mine! :-)

"There is no end. There is no beginning. There is only the infinite passion of life"

"Your love life will be happy and harmonious."

"You will have no problems in your home."

And perhaps my favorite one, "Your dearest wish will come true."

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Boston Baby!

It's official! We book our Labor Day weekend to Boston, complete with tickets to a Sox game! YAY!

For those of you who don't know me in real life, we are HUGE Sox fans. We even named one of our dogs Fenway! Here he is:













We plan to hit the Boston Beer Works (http://www.beerworks.net/html/locations_fenway.html) before the game.

Who knows what else we will do! I love that D used to live in Boston, and that he knows about cool spots that might not be in a tourist brochure.

Go Sox!

Wedding Update!

As I mentioned in a previous post, our dear friends were married this weekend! In spite of the torrential downpours on Friday, Saturday ended up being a hot and steamy (but DRY) day!

We started with Spa Manicures and Pedicures from Kimberly's in Latham (http://www.kimberleysadayspa.com), and it was wonderfully relaxing!

The rehearsal dinner was at the Cella Bistro in Schenectady (http://tinyurl.com/2g5s79f)
The food was amazing--and the wine was even better! We ate and drank late into the night, and had a fabulous time.

The wedding ceremony was at Our Lady of Fatima in Schenectady. D cracks up every time he hears the word Fatima! The ceremony was perfect for John and Jenn, and laughter and tears were shared among the congregation.

The reception was held at the Appel Inn (http://www.appelinn.com). I had never been to this hidden gem before, and I was blown away by it's beauty. The outside terrace and the high ceilings inside made this the perfect venue for a summer wedding.

So, here are a few pictures of the day:


Thursday, July 22, 2010

The New F Word

I have always loved the country song "I don't have to be me till Monday" by Steve Azar. It has a snappy tune, but I love the message. It is about taking full advantage of your free time and to have FUN. Yeah, remember that? Fun? I think so many people (myself included) take life so darned seriously sometimes that they forget to cut loose and enjoy life.

"I can do what I wanna do,be who I wanna be
I got no one to answer to, soon as I turn the key
A cash machine, gasoline and we're outta here
Call it an early weekend, call it goin' off the deep end
Baby,you and me, we can leave it all behind"

I love it. Granted, most adults who have responsibilities that they cannot shirk, but is life so serious after all? Be honest, how many of the items on your To Do list really make you (or your spouse/family) happy or contribute to a greater sense of well being? Most of what I "have" to do is self-imposed busy work. While I am hard-wired to be busy, an efficient task master I do not think it is the best way to be. It reminds me of an article I read over the winter about just being. I think I get so caught up with what is coming next that I fail to live in the moment and just be. This is not a new revelation for me, but it is something I always need to be conscious of.

So how are you going to fit some fun in today?

Monday, July 19, 2010

Still Half Full

As I was updating my planner, I realized that the month of July is more than half way over! This is very sad because I feel like summer vacation has just started and because we already took our summer trip. Working full-time at the golf course also makes time fly by as I am always looking forward to my next day off! I am super-excited that I am only working today and Thursday this week! This week promises to be great for the following reasons:

1. Most importantly, our couple BFFs are getting married on Saturday! John has been our good friend since 2005 when we met at Union. He has such a HUGE heart, and we are so happy that he and Jenn found each other. YAY!










2. In preparation for the wedding, we will be getting manicures and pedicures on Friday!










3. We will hopefully get in to see a house we have loved for a while. We met with a builder yesterday, but we are just not sure what we should do. Online, this house is AMAZING, but we have learned not to fall in love with a house until we see it in person!











4. I hope we will play golf this week, maybe even tonight! Last year, we were getting out about once a week. This year, D has only played 3 times and I haven't played at all! The horror! One thing that I don't believe I've told you is that the course at which I work is also an airport! There is a runway right in the middle of the course. It is really cool to tee off and see a plane taking off or landing! What makes it even cooler in my opinion, is that they are all smaller planes. Yesterday, we had a helicopter land! You can see it in the photo below.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Sunsets

I have always loved the beach and an amazing sunset. Since, sadly, I don't think we will be at a real beach again this summer, I found these:











Thursday, July 15, 2010

I take my job very seriously...

For the past week, our neighbors have been out of town on their annual family vacation. While they are away, they asked me to keep an eye on their home, water the plants, and get the mail. Oh, I also need to feed their fish. In return, they have granted us use of their swimming pool. Well, needless to say, I am not one to waste a chance at a pool since we will never have one of our own. I have been faithfully floating in the pool every day for one hour. I am staying caught up on my magazine reading and have quite a nice tan. Can you believe it? I have a tan! I didn't even tan when we were in the Dominican Republic! For years I assumed that my Polish and Irish background would work against me forever, but now I realize that I just needed to be more persistent!

Friday, July 9, 2010

Nursery Inspiration Part III

So I FINALLY found and purchased lamps for the nursery. While I am mostly traditional in terms of my decorating style, I am leaning much more toward modern for the nursery. As you know, the room is a parakeet green, and we are doing brown and either pink or blue accents depending on the gender of our baby. I found these adorably simple lamps at Target for $16.99 each:












Now on to the artwork that I have been seriously lusting after...the good news is that they are PERFECT if we have a girl. The bad news is that they are $25 each plus shipping from Paris! It makes perfect sense that what I would fall in love with would be just out of reach, but who knows, maybe I will get them eventually! I want all 4 of these for a wall mural:

Monday, July 5, 2010

Happy Aniversary!

It is hard to believe that it has been 2 years already! It has been a really wonderful 2 years, and I still feel just as lucky and happy as I did on our wedding day.

I am not sure how we will celebrate just yet. I have to work for most of the day, but we are planning to have dinner out on Friday night. Tonight we will probably take the dogs downtown to walk around. It may sound dull, but Saratoga is so pretty and I love it!

Friday, July 2, 2010

The Big "A"

Growing up, Pop always used the phrase The Big "A" when we were excited about something. The "A," of course, standing for anticipation. He would say, "Anticipation is 90% of the satisfaction!" Let me tell you, I no more enjoy anticipation now than I did all those years ago. The other Big "A" that I don't deal well with would be adoption.

I started this blog as a chronicle of our journey to becoming a family of 3 (well 5 if you count Mattie and Fen), and yet my posts are NEVER about adoption. Whether that is a subconscious or conscious choice, I am really not sure. I know how much I love reading about other people's journeys yet I cannot bring myself to share ours. For one thing, so far it has been a surreal whirlwind of emotions, highs and lows. I find myself so internally conflicted about adoption a large portion of the time. Uncertainty never sits well with me, and adoption is all about uncertainty. Trusting that what is meant to be, will in fact be. The philosopher in me believes that in theory, but everyone knows theory and practice are two very different animals.

My mom keeps telling me to let go and let God do His work. Again, great thought but not realistic for me. I am a person of action. Ask me how quickly I had our paperwork filled out! We have only been waiting for 4 months. In fact, when I checked to see how long it had been, I was surprised that we had already crossed the 4 month mark. It doesn't seem long, but in some ways, it seems forever long. I think if I had an end date in mind after which we would have a child, I could wait somewhat patiently. But alas, I do not. Anyway, it felt good to get some of that off my chest. Here's to waiting!