11 Months Down!!

Wow! 11 months have passed already! Practically a year! If the next 2 years (and hopefully no more than that!) go by this fast, I think this wait will be somewhat manageable. This year has gone by pretty fast. The retail therapy has helped! lol Although I have been really good for several months and have only gone shopping for my secret pal, it helps to go shopping and to plan all the things I will buy! lol

I actually did go on a bit of a shopping spree last weekend and bought just "a few" things.. LOL I couldn't resist a good sale! Plus, I've become obsessed with ladybugs, so there is a theme on some of these. Here are the pics...

Also, I found out that my Secret Pal (the one I don't know yet) has been sick recently and I think she reads this blog so I want to say to her, I hope you are feeling better very soon! I was a bit worried when I didn't hear from you, so I just wanted to wish you a speedy recovery.

40 IS THE NEW 30! Repeat... 40 IS THE NEW 30!

Happy birthday to me!

Happy birthday to me!

Happy birthday dear meeee-eeeeeee!

Happy birthday to me!

Ok so I am still here. I didn't shrivel up and wilt away now that I am 40! The world didn't come to an end. In fact, I am almost excited to be 40 (don't get carried away, I said ALMOST! lol). See I figure, I get to start over, beginning of a new year so to speak, new decade. I kind of get a do-over (since 40 is the new 30 and all). I get to do everything that I didn't get to do in my 30's! My 40's are going to be SO MUCH better than my 30's!!! I'm pysched! Maybe I've been watching too much Oprah... lol Nah.. 40 will be great! I'll get to be a mom, hopefully not once but twice (I got 10 years to do it!). I am going to travel more even if it is little cheap road trips. And hey, I'm going to CHINA! Woohooo! And then maybe Ethiopia, or Vietnam. Who knows where my second child will come from. Maybe China again! Ok let me calm down a bit! haha Let's get the first child first. haha That's what hubby likes to say, but hey I'm a planner, it's what we do, PLAN!

I'm going to loose more weight!! Which brings me to my weight update.. I am extending my birthday weight goal till the end of March as I have 12 more lbs to go for the first mark. Then after that I'll have about 55 lbs to go. I plan to start hiking again when it starts getting warmer. I don't think I'll loose 12 lbs in 2 weeks..haha But that's ok, as long as it keeps going down I'll be happy.

New Blog Look

I've been working on redesigning the blog a bit. It's still a work-in-progress. I had to tone down the pink a bit as I have been pink-obsessed lately. I love these color combinations. I've been thinking about what colors to do in the nursery and this would be a cool color theme. I originally was thinking about purple walls, but I'm starting to rethink that.




I started making this small baby quilt/blanket which has pinks and purples in it with a few bolder colors in the flowers, and I have additional fabric for curtains and accessories, but I am thinking that I should do a more neutral color on the walls so I can change the whole color scheme with fabrics. Still debating. Or I can do funky on the walls with color and design (originally thinking painted flowers all over the place - flower power!) and have all the fabrics be neutral pulling out certain colors from the walls. Hmmmmmm .. decisions, decisions! I think I need to hit the fabric store one day soon!

Mental Birthday Preparation

I know this will sound weird, but I feel like I've been on the verge of 40 for several years now, maybe about 5 years. I think it started with the biological clock ticking.. I was about 35 and heck, 40 was right around the corner!! Then the clock got louder and louder and during the "infertility years" of 36, 37, 38, I might as well had been 40. With every thought, it was always right around the corner. My mom had me right before she turned 40 and I had always had my mind set that I would be finished having kids way before 40. Initially I thought, I was about 35, I could pop out a couple before I hit 39. Well that plan didn't work out too well either. So basically I spent 5 years pretty much turning 40 and dreading every minute of it. I think I got it down pat now for Friday!! Except that I am coming to terms with it. For one thing.. I threw the biological clock out the window since we started the adoption process, which brought so much peace of mind. And I don't feel like I'm 40 (however that is supposed to feel). And I am slowing coming to terms with the fact that I'll probably be 42/43 by the time we go to get Raven. And hubby told me the other day "40 is the new 30" so I'm going with that! I gotta say.. I really does still feel weird that I will be 40, but I have big plans for my 40's!!!

In reflection of my 30's, I think I've accomplished some significant things. I was living by myself when I was 30 (since I was 18 actually) and I had just finished changing careers by going to technical school for a year while on unemployment (was in Accounting). When I finished school at the end of '97, I was working 3 jobs while looking for my first technical job. I got my first technical job in '98 which is still the same job I have today except it was outsourced so now I work for another company. I met my hubby at this job in 2000. We've gone to Vegas and I got to see the Grand Canyon, something I always wanted to do. We bought our house in 2004, got married in Niagara Falls in 2005, got another cat and a dog and remodeled our kitchen and some other small projects. And we started the adoption process in 2006, LID in 2007. So looking back, I think I accomplished alot.

My 40's are going to be even better than my 30's. First of all and probably most importantly, I will be a Mom!! Some of my other things I want to do in my 40's is travel more (CHINA FOR A START!), but not necessarily huge trips anywhere. I just want to see more of the US. Eventually we want to move out of NY, so I'd like to travel around and get a feel for other states. I also want to focus more on enjoying life instead of just trying to keep up and get by. I'd love to take a cruise one day, I want to go to Disney. I'd love to see California. I'd love to start hiking again. I'd love to go hiking with my daughter!! It would be great if I could start some type of business, but it would have to be something I really enjoy, because life is too short to be stressed all the time! I want to be more active. So many things to do! I think I will be more at peace.

So with that, I think I'm pretty prepared for 40! Bring it on!

First Date

8 years ago today, hubby and I went on our first date. We went to the movies and saw Pitch Black and the rest is history! The only reason I remember this (admit it already Babe, you forgot, again! lol) is because it's 2 days before my birthday. I almost forgot myself today, until we were watching the news and saw what the date was... haha So obviously we weren't celebrating.. haha

I just realized I have almost no pictures of us together from back then. This is one of the pics that made it into our Dossier.

Dec.28, 2005 - Jan.4, 2006 Referrals

I'm way late on this post since referrals came out last week, so I'm just posting this pretty much for my own documentation.. lol One day I might go to blurb.com and make a book out of this blog which I think would be cool since I'm not really a scrapbooker other than a little digital stuff, and very simple scrapbooking things. I do love pretty paper and embellishments though, just never seem to find the time to paly with that stuff. BUT ANYWAY... I'm getting off topic here. So the CCAA matched families with LIDs of 12/28/05 - 1/4/06, so 8 days, 2 of which are weekend days and one holiday, although I don't know if anyone was logged in on 1/1/06. Still better than 3 or 4 days, but I'd like to see at least 15 days at a time. I want my "red thread" on my little pic above to get longer faster!!

I'm going to try to post more a little later.