To Us

Wedding Memories...

1. Where/how did you meet: We met in November of my freshman year of college. It was his first year (he was on a 3-year course). We met online in a chat program called 'burbs. We met face to face at the Manchester Airport 20 months later when I went to go visit him for a month! He came back with me to Florida for a month and a half. We've been together ever since.
2. How long have you known each other: Since 1995 - 14 years.
3. How long after you met did you start dating: We talked online for about 4 months before we made plans to meet up. We were friends up to that point but decided that we wanted to be something more.
4. Where did you get engaged: At our house! In December 2006 he sent Dave & I an evite from him and Les asking us to become Marriotts. He figured since we met online, we should get engaged online.
5. How long was your engagement: 9 months.
6. How long have you been married: 2 years!
7. What is your anniversary: September 22, 2007!
8. How many people came to your wedding reception: about 60.
9. What kind of cake did you serve: I don't remember. I don't think I had any other than the first bite. It was from Uk.rop's and I remember being annoyed by the "gold" detail. I asked them specifically if it was gold looking or just yellow and the lady told me flat out it was gold. Yeah, it was yellow! I was mad because I had told her that if it was yellow I would just change the color. I only wanted gold if it was gold looking.
10. Where was your wedding: in RVA. Most of my family lives in Texas, my parents live in Florida and Kevin's family were all from England. I figured if there was going to be a lot of traveling they might as well travel to us.
11. What did you serve for your meal: Mexican themed food! We went to A Shar.per Palate. They were awesome!
12. How many people were there in your bridal party: 8 - 4 bridesmaids, 1 best man, 2 ushers and 1 junior bridesmaid. No flower girls or ring bearers though!
13. Are you still friends with them all: Sort of. My sister was the MOH, Chicken, SIL and a sorority sister were the others with a former player of mine being the junior bridesmaid. The only one I don't regularly converse with is SIL. Not since her tiff with Kevin anyways. The best man was Kevin's mate from middle school (who with his wife wrote the most awesomest recommendation letter ever for our home study!) and the ushers were a friend of his from work (in England) and a good friend of mine from college.
14. Did you or your spouse cry during the ceremony: No.
15. Most special moment of your wedding day: While Kevin and I were waiting to be introduced at the reception he took my hand and squeezed. We were finally husband and wife!
16. Any funny moments: I fell down on the dance floor! I was dancing the Cotton Eye Joe (the real one not the Red Ne.x version) and either I or my friend stepped on my train and down I went! The photographer was still there so he got a few shots of it as well!
17. Any big disasters: Nope!
18. Where did you go on your honeymoon: Two years later we're here on a cruise in the Mediterranean!
20. If you were to do your wedding over, what would you change: Get automatic cars! Both Kevin and I have manuals and between his friends and family not wanting to drive in the States and my friends and family not knowing how to drive stick shift getting everyone to all the places was an ordeal!
21. What side of the bed do you sleep on: The side farthest away from the door. That way if someone attacks us, I can get away while Kevin is fighting them off! :)
22. What size is your bed: Queen
23. Greatest strength as a couple: Even though from the outside we seem like opposites, we are very similar in the ways that matter.
24. Greatest challenge as a couple: Early on it was adjusting to the differences between us culturally. Coming from different heritages, nationalities and religions there were some differences. It wasn't really a huge problem but we had to discuss things pretty early that most people don't face.
25. Who literally pays the bills: Kevin. I'm such a procrastinator that I never get bills done on time even though I have the money to pay them.
26. What is your song: We don't really have a song. There are lots of songs though that bring up happy, funny or special moments.
27. What did you dance your first dance to: "You'll Never Walk Alone" sung by Gerry & The Pacemakers. I was able to convince Kevin that we should get lessons so we had the whole dance planned out! This was good for Kevin cause he was really nervous about doing it and having the whole thing choreographed made it a lot less stressful for him.
28. Describe your wedding dress: White, simple and sparkly! It was empire-waisted with detail on top and in a band on the bottom. It had straps on the shoulder. Plus it was only $149! Steal!
29. What kind of flowers did you have at your wedding: I'm not sure. They were all #ff6600y though!
30. Are your wedding bands engraved? No. Since the design goes all the way around they don't resize them they just give you a new one in a new size if it no longer fits properly. Funny story though, our bands are matching and only a quarter size apart. So when Kevin gave them to the priest, the priest had to ask Kevin whose were whose.

It's My Blogiversary

One year ago today I started my blog. When I think back to how I was one year ago, I can't believe all that we've gone through to get us to here.

So I decided to take a look at this past year by the numbers:

180 - # of posts I've done in the past year.
91 - # of posts that were TTC related.
55 - # of times I/Kevin injected me with fertility drugs.
40 - $ it costs me each time I see Dr. Grrr.
36 - # of days till our cruise!
33 - # of average days of my cycle.
27 - Latest CD that I ovulated.
22 - # of days since Chicklet was born.
21 - # of appts I've had w/ Dr. Grrr.
16 - Earliest CD that I ovulated.

10 - # of days it took to get my renewed passport.

9 - # of cycles of TTC in the past year.
8 - # of weeks since we started our homestudy.
7 - # of co-workers who are/were expecting this past year.
6 - # of cycles that I actually ovulated.
5 - # of blogs I read who are preggers.
4 - # of Catholic Infertility Support Group (CISG) meetings in the past year.
3 - # of adoption orientations we went to before choosing JFS.
2 - # of IUIs we've done
1 - # of couples (that I know IRL) whose adoption went through this past year.
0 - # of BFPs.

Thank you to everyone who regularly reads (and comments on) my blog, those who have just visited once and any lurkers out there. While I do write for myself it always makes me smile to know that you all are out there standing with me through this journey.

Tagged again.

A gave me the Honest Scrap award recently and I'm just now getting to doing my part.

Here are the Honest Scrap stipulations:

1. Choose a minimum of 7 blogs that you find interesting and engaging *I'm gonna do 8 so that I fulfill my duties from the 8x8 award earlier with this one
2. Show the 7 winners names and links on your blog and leave a comment informing them that they have won the "Honest Scrap Award" or "8x8 Award"
3. List at least 10 honest things about yourself

Here are my 10 honest things:

1. I'm a tech junkie - if it's new and improved and a gadget, I probably own it.
2. I'm not a big fan of chocolate, especially plain chocolate. However we have to keep a huge stash of it around because Kevin is a chocoholic!
3. I was a biology & chemistry double major when I started college but after two years (and only being a year away from graduation) I changed my major to Graphic Design.
4. If I had stayed in college one more semester I would have come out with three minors - Biology, Chemistry & English.
5. Kevin and I still refer to the dogs as yours and mine. If I say "Your dog is under the bed," he knows I'm talking about Les. If I say "My dog needs a good brushing," I'm talking about Dave.
6. Until Kevin and I got married we didn't have pet names for eachother. We never called eachother Honey, Sweetie, Darling or anything else. Now we often refer to eachother as Husband and Wife. For instance if I need something I'll say "Husband, can I have a glass of orange juice please?"
7. I call Chicken "Chicken" IRL. When I introduce her to anyone I have to force myself to call her by her real name.
8. My sister and I are power houses at any board game we play together. Pictionary, Cranium, etc. If it's a team board game and we're on the same team we always win.
9. I suck at Scrabble and my husband and in-laws love playing it. They have score sheets from years and years ago in the box and can recall any game they've played just by looking at the score sheet.
10. I know how to code HTML by hand. I was taught that way and I really struggle using WYSIWYG editors. I've had dozens of website over the years that I've designed and coded and when I had my own business, that was the bulk of the work I would do.

And for 7(8) blogs I nominate: *you can choose whether to do this one or the 8x8 one from before.

1. Lucy
2. Amanda
3. Hilary
4. Becky
5. Jess
6. Andrea
7. Beth
8. A

If you're interested here's a past "10 things" that I've done.

8x8

I was tagged a while ago but I'm usually bad at these things and then I was tagged again the other day so I figured I should do this one first. This one is called 8x8.


The Rules:
Mentioned who tagged you: Lucy
Complete the list of 8’s
Tag 8 people

8 THINGS I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO:

1. Getting a BFP
2. Finishing our Adoption Homestudy
3. Start coaching again in the fall
4. Going on our honeymoon(ish) cruise!
5. Having a kid(s)
6. Visiting my parents in September
7. Seeing Chicklet (and Chicken) in September
8. Standing with Chicken at her wedding in June 2010.

8 THINGS I DID YESTERDAY

1. Went to a game night where I hardly knew anyone
2. Went to work
3. Posted on my blog
4. Went to agility with Dave & Les (and Kevin)
5. Had a really good agility class with Dave
6. Started my 2ww
7. Called R for the third time to get my follie measurements cause I kept losing them
8. Realized I needed to have sent out my passport renewal like last week and it's still sitting on the nightstand.

8 THINGS I WISH I COULD DO

1. Have a kid
2. Work from home
3. Play soccer better
4. Reach 12,000 steps in one day
5. Buy CS4 for home
6. Have a kid already
7. Make this IUI work
8. Be done with the 2ww (but only if IUI was successful)

8 SHOWS I WATCH

1. Lost
2. How I Met Your Mother
3. Medium
4. United States of Tara
5. True Blood
6. Survivor
7. Amazing Race
8. Real World/Road Rules Challenges

8 FAVORITE FRUITS

1. clementines
2. strawberries
3. green grapes
4. cherries
5. Bananas
6. pomegranite
7. pineapple
8. tamarindo

8 PLACES I’D LIKE TO TRAVEL

1. Italy
2. Greece
3. Egypt
4. Galapagos Islands
5. Japan
6. Australia
7. Vermont in winter
8. Trenton, NJ - to watch my cousin take the first of his priestly vows.

8 PLACES I’VE LIVED

1. L,Tx
2. EP,Tx
3. T,Fl
4. R,Fl
5. C,UK
6. S,Fl
7. D,Oh
8. R,Va

8 FOLKS I’M TAGGING
No one only because I'm doing this so late, but if you want to do it, then I'm tagging you.

Tomorrow I'll do the next one.

100th Post

For my 100th post, I have decided to do things a little differently. I didn't really want to do 100 random things about me, because this whole blog is about random things about me. And as Mrs. Deladubree says, "You can tell a lot about a person by looking at the books on their shelves." Of course, she's a librarian so she might be a bit biased, but I've decided to share with you 100 of the books you can find on my shelves. They might not be the best books or my favorite books (most of them are) but there's something about each of them that makes me keep them rather than taking them to a used book store. My intention is to comment on all of them, but it might take me a couple of days, so even though you don't see a new post, there will probably be new content.

Enjoy!

1. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy** – Douglas Adams - I think this was one of the first books I borrowed from Chandy (a friend from college). His mom sends him books all the time so his library has got to be huge! Of course in true fashion, I spilled kool-aid all over it so I was afraid to return it. Then one day after a couple of months of me holding it hostage, while he was in our apartment, he found it and took it back. Amazingly he still let me borrow tons of books afterwards. Anyways, good book, the trilogy is awesome. Don't see the movie though, you'll be sadly disappointed. That said Mos Def does an awesome job of Ford Prefect.
2. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe** – Douglas Adams - Second book in the trilogy. Very good. Adams does a great job in all his books.
3. Life, The Universe and Everything** – Douglas Adams
4. So Long, and Thanks for all the Fish** – Douglas Adams
5. Mostly Harmless** – Douglas Adams
6. A Treasury of Hans Christian Anderson - My sister bought this book for me. I'm not sure why though. Although in high school I was obsessed with The Little Mermaid (the Disney movie, not the actual story), so that might be it. I've not read all the stories in this book, but I probably will once we have kids.
7. Flowers in the Attic – VC Andrews - I had to read this book during high school. Every month each subject (department) had a book of the month. It was really weird when it was math's turn. Usually the professors just picked some random 100-page teeny-bopper book that wouldn't require a lot of concentration. They were the only department that did this. Anyways for some subject I can't remember we read this book. A bit of a weird selection considering my catholic high school. But my high school BFFs, Jan and Fonz, and I started reading everything VC Andrews afterwards. Now VC Andrews didn't actually write all the VC Andrews books. Her estate decided to cash in on her "ideas" by having a ghost writer write under the trademarked name of VC Andrews. When we found out, we were all crushed. Well I was. I had three different series (five books in each series) at that point (spent my precious allowance on those books!) and I gave them all away. But I kept the first book because it was something that we shared together.
8. The Prodigal Daughter – Jeffrey Archer
9. Shall We Tell the President? – Jeffrey Archer
10. Twelve Red Herrings – Jeffrey Archer
11. Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
12. Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants – Ann Brashares
13. The Alibi – Sandra Brown
14. Envy – Sandra Brown
15. Fat Tuesday – Sandra Brown
16. Exclusive – Sandra Brown
17. Standoff – Sandra Brown
18. Unspeakable – Sandra Brown
19. Lost Boys – Orson Scott Card
20. I’ll be seeing you – Mary Higgins Clark
21. Pretend You don’t see her – Mary Higgins Clark
22. Where are the children – Mary Higgins Clark
23. Remember me – Mary Higgins Clark
24. While My Pretty One Sleeps – Mary Higgins Clark
25. You Belong To Me – Mary Higgins Clark
26. Harmful Intent – Robin Cook
27. Mutation – Robin Cook
28. The Timewaster Letters** – Robin Cooper
29. Return of the Timewaster Letters** – Robin Cooper
30. Jurassic Park – Michael Crichton
31. The Inferno – Dante
32. The General’s Daughter – Nelson Demille
33. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter – Kim Edwards
34. The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
35. Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert
36. The Lais of Marie de France
37. Carter Beats the Devil** – Glen David Gold
38. Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
39. Lord of the Flies – William Golding
40. The Other Boleyn Girl – Philippa Gregory - I'd been hearing a lot about this book and author. Also I knew that a movie was coming out soon so one trip across the Atlantic I stopped by W.H. Smith and picked it up. I thought it was good. I saw the movie about a year after I read the book with a friend who's really into this time period. I liked the actors in the movie but I think they tried to smush too much into a 2-hour movie.
41. The Boleyn Inheritance – Philippa Gregory - I bought this book because I enjoyed The Other Boleyn Girl so much. After reading this one though, I decided I wasn't a Philippa Gregory fan and so I stopped here.
42. Mythology – Edith Hamilton
43. The Scarlet Letter – Nathaniel Hawthorne - I didn't really like this book but we had to read it Junior year in my Honors English class. The best part of that class was that my high school BFFs, Jan, She and Fonz were in this class with me. It was the only class all four years that all four of us were in. Sadly it was also one of the last classes that Jan and I had a together. Senior year we had no shared classes, after three years of being in at least two or three classes with each other each semester.
44. Good News Bible - Yes this book is always filed under H for Holy Spirit. Ten years of theology class and that's the one thing I hold on to. When I was in the 3rd grade we all had to buy a bible from the school (no other edition/copy/version was accepted). My parents decided that I should pay for it out of my own pocket so this might be the first book I ever bought. I've had lots of bibles since then (all lost over the years) but somehow this one has stuck around
45. New American Bible
46. The Iliad – Homer
47. Italian Phrase Book**
48. Into Thin Air** – Jon Krakauer
49. The Key to Midnight – Dean Koontz
50. Mr. Murder – Dean Koontz
51. Twilight Eyes – Dean Koontz
52. She’s Come Undone – Wally Lamb
53. To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
54. Wicked – Gregory Maguire
55. Rebecca – Daphne du Maurier
56. Perfect – Judith McNaught
57. Paradise – Judith McNaught
58. Remember When – Judith McNaught
59. The Mwindo Epic
60. The Norton Anthology of Literature by Women
61. Metamorphoses – Ovid
62. The Song of Roland
63. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone – J.K. Rowling
64. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets – J.K. Rowling
65. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – J.K. Rowling
66. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire – J.K. Rowling
67. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – J.K. Rowling
68. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling
69. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – J.K. Rowling
70. Empress – Shan Sa
71. The Blackstone Chronicles: An Eye for An Eye: The Doll – John Saul
72. The Blackstone Chronicles: Twist of Fate: The Locket – John Saul
73. The Blackstone Chronicles: Ashes to Ashes: The Dragon's Flame – John Saul
74. The Blackstone Chronicles: In the Shadow of Evil: The Handkerchief – John Saul
75. Nightshade – John Saul
76. Punish the Sinners – John Saul
77. Shadows – John Saul
78. A Midsummer-Night’s Dream – William Shakespeare
79. Romeo and Juliet – William Shakespeare
80. Rage of Angels – Sidney Sheldon
81. The Stars Shine Down – Sidney Sheldon
82. Frankenstein – Mary Shelley
83. Bergdorf Blondes – Plum Sykes
84. The Debutante Divorcee – Plum Sykes
85. Lord of the Rings: The Fellowhip of the Ring – J.R.R. Tolkien - I bought this book on a whim one day. I knew the movie was coming out soon and so I wanted to read it before the movie "ruined" it for me. I only got through 30 pages though before I put it down. I haven't felt the compunction to pick it back up again. I've seen all three movies though, I think they're awesome. One day I might read it, so for that reason I've not gotten rid of it.
86. The Romance of Tristan and Iseult
87. The Aeneid – Virgil
88. Candide – Voltaire
89. The Age of Innocence – Edith Wharton
90. Quidditch through the Ages – Kennilworthy Whisp
91. To the Lighthouse – Virginia Wolfe
92. Women in the Old Testament
93. PHP and MYSQL
94. Design and Layout
95. HTML 4
96. Norah’s Ark* – Judy Baer - I really wanted to like this book. It's about a Christian woman finding love while sticking to her beliefs and morals. But come on! Three of the (small) town's hunkiest men all fall in love with some chick who dresses like a scrub and has the frizziest hair ever? Maybe I'm just a cynic and not able to see beyond the package, but I wasn't impressed with this one. My friend B lived a better story about a Christian woman finding love while sticking to her beliefs and morals.
97. Something Blue* – Emily Giffin
98. Baby Proof* – Emily Giffin
99. The Constant Princess* – Philippa Gregory - I guess I'm a sucker for pain because in a moment of weakness I got this book at my last trip to the library. It's now the only book (of my library books) I haven't read so I need to decide if I'm going to read it or if I'm just going to return it. I mean, I've read about the later wives I might as well read about the first, right?
100. The Time-Traveler's Wife* – Audrey Niffenegger - This book saved my sanity this past Christmas. It was the book I brought over with me when I went to visit the ILs and escaping into this book helped me through this dark period. :) I want to re-read it so I keep renewing it at the library. I think I might just have to buy it. Also, I had just seen the Doctor Who episodes Silence in the Library and Forest of the Dead so I was really interested in the whole concept.

*Technically these are library books, but they're sitting on my bookshelves right now so they count.
**These are actually Kevin's books, but I've read them and liked them (we have very different tastes on which books we'll read) so I put them on my list.

Tag I'm it!

I've been "tagged" by Trolley. She sent it to me by email, so I'm pretty sure she doesn't know I have a blog (not many people do). But anyways, here I go.

10 Random Facts That You May or May Not Have Known About Me

1. Kevin and I have known each other since we were 18(him)/17(me). We met our first year of university and became interested in each other shortly after.

2. I met my husband on the internet before there was match.com, chemistry.com, eharmony.com, etc. We traded emails, letters and phone calls for a year and a half before finally meeting each other face to face.

3. I was a Hillary Clinton supporter. Still am really...Go Hillary 2012!

4. I don't believe in the death penalty.

5. Kev and I share our last name with a major hotel chain. If I'm traveling I always find these hotels and steal their pens, stationary, napkins, etc. Anything with my last name on it. I figure it's owed to me for being asked every single time I say/spell my last name "Ooh, as in the hotel?" Yes, people, as in the hotel.

6. I believe the opposite of love is not hate, but indifference.

7. I wanted to get married on 7/7/7 because 7 is my lucky number. I swear! That number always comes up in my life. Then I wanted to get married on 7/14/7 because it would be exactly 10 years and 10 days since Kev and I first laid eyes on each other. We ended up getting married on 9/22/07 because of circumstances out of our control and it was the most beautiful day ever!

8. I love playing school sports. As an adult, I've belonged to a softball team, kickball team, dodgeball team, and soccer team. I might go for volleyball next.

9. I LOVE coaching youth soccer.

10. I think I'm one of the reasons that my SIL and my husband don't talk anymore and it makes me really, really sad.

Okay that's it! Most of the blogs I read have done this already, but I might "tag" you if I find one I like to read that hasn't.

Tomorrow is our NYC trip! I'm so excited. I'll try to take lots of pics to post!