Thursday, July 30, 2009

Long Time, No See

It's been so long since I posted anything here that I was not sure I still remembered how. If you're reading this, I have indeed found my way back and am not as foolish as I thought.

There is a lot of news around here so adequate reporting would take days and I love my loyal readers too much to do such a thing. I'm going to do an abriged version here for the moment, but please feel free to use the comments to request further information on a specific topic. With all of that spare time you have after you're done checking Facebook or Twitter or whatever.

1. We're heading for Chicago! Baby shower for our beloved Michele on the afternoon of Aug 15. We arrive the evening of the 12th and fly out on the 16th. Yes, it's stupidly short after an absence of 3 years, but school orientation is on the 10th and KINDERGARTEN starts on the 17th.

2. Elise is two weeks away from starting KINDERGARTEN. Our little punkin is officially school-aged now. Growing like a weed. Can't tell she lost her front teeth because they've grown back in already. Reads like a pro. Knows exactly what we're not saying when we spell words in front of her. Currently loves playing barbies and polly pockets with her BF Rista.

3. I just finished my 14th week of Weight Watchers, and would like to toot my own horn and mention the 18 pounds I no longer have on me. Kind of gross to think that I still have a little more than that to get rid of, but it is good to be off to such a great start. My number one tip? Sandwich Thins that are made by Orowheat. One point per nifty bun-like item, and it rocks. If it's not in your neighborhood grocery store, check Costco. Yum!

4. I am a sucker for small, fuzzy things. We have two foster kittens hanging out in the upstairs bathroom right now. They're both jet-black, and sweet as can be. A far cry from Mellie and Samantha. We've decided to call one Jane (after the character from Ursula LeGuin's Catwings books) and the other Hullabaloo. At some point, I'll get these little furballs photographed and shown here.

5. We've been enjoying time at the beach. I never knew I liked the beach until my friend Danielle showed me how to do it up right. She even helped get Elise to put her feet in the water! Hot days=time to hit the beach.

6. Andy is officially a published author! He and a friend/colleague wrote an article together which I happened to think was pretty doggone interesting.

7. My brother and my sister-in-law are back on this continent! And we were lucky enough to be the first stop on their return.

We approach our 3rd anniversary of living in California with no small amount of awe. When we arrived, we were a family with a toddler. We had hopes of a better career opportunity for Andy. I was recovering from the most painful of the 4 abdominal surgeries I'd had in just over 2 years. Never in our wildest dreams could we have anticipated we'd be where we are now. I can't seem to break the habit I formed when I was a kid of stopping in the middle of an adventure and exclaiming "Look how far we've come!" Isn't it fun? I'm pretty proud of us. And looking forward to the future!

On that happy note, I'd like to pass on this excellent clip Danielle shared with me:

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Returned from Down Under

I am officially bakc from my combination work and pleasure trip down under. Though I got back on the 3rd, my bag didn't get back until the 5th. Alas, the wonders of modern travel.

I had a great time with the multiple portions of the trip including business and pleasure in Sydney and then just plain old fun in Auckland.

If you're interested, picture are here.