A New Year with Lots of Changes

Can you believe it is 2007 already? Happy New Year! I have been absent from blogging lately because I was so busy with the office shutting down and some other important goings on in our lives that I couldn't keep up! This will be a bit of a catch-up post, as well as a look ahead to the new year.

This new year holds some major changes for Bill and I: the most major one being that I am pregnant! I apologise if you are finding this out by reading my blog, I tried to tell everyone in person or on the phone, but I am sure I haven't gotten to a few people yet. Our baby is due July 25th which makes me 11 weeks pregnant tomorrow.

Secondly, tomorrow will be the first day that our office will be no more. After we lost re-election I have been very busy helping pack up the office and transitioning everyone on to new prospects. Since we found out that I was pregnant only 11 days after the election, I haven't worked too hard on finding a job for myself. I am still looking at part-time or work from home options--ideas are certainly welcome! I know that I will be incredibly busy once the baby is born, but worry about going crazy staying home without a job up until that point.

Which brings me to another new thing for this year--we just filled out an adoption application with the local Labrador Retriever Rescue Society. Call me crazy, but it is lonely in a house without a dog!

Another most welcome change the new year will bring is that Bill will finish his MBA in June. It has certainly been a challenging project, especially for him, to give up 99% of his free time to get the degree. We hope (and believe) the reward will be worth it.

Also in the news: we bought a new (used) car! I knew for sure I would go crazy at home with no car, so now we are the proud owners of a 2002 royal blue CR-V. Lots of room for a baby and all the stuff that goes with a baby and a big dog too. :)

So, as you can see we are in a huge time of transition. It is very exciting, and more than a little scary, as we face these changes in our life. Most importantly we are seeking God's will and direction for us and we are thrilled to see where He has us going!

Random Picture

I didn't take very many pictures when we were up in Connecticut for Thanksgiving, but here is a picture of John, Alisa, Bill and I that came out pretty well.

So...what are you going to do now?

That's all I have been hearing lately: what are you going to do now? Since we lost the election I am out of a job for the first time since college. I was so blessed to land in this office, I started here only a few weeks after graduation and only 2 days after my honeymoon ended. It is hard for me to think of starting the process over--a new office, new boss, new coworkers, etc. It will certainly be a hard adjustment. There are a lot of different options I have been weighing in my mind, discussing with people, and praying about. Do I stay on the hill, try to find something closer to home, does this change the timing of our leaving Washington, DC? Part of me wants to just be in denial and not even think about it!

I have been getting some great suggestions from friends and coworkers, and am certainly open to more ideas!

But for now...the answer is I don't know!

Twenty-six

Happy birthday to me! I am excited about the year ahead--the changes, the challenges, the adventures.

Celebration plans: Hubby is making me dinner tonight, then we are going to the outlets (b-day gift money burning a hole in my pocket--hehe) then to Baltimore to the Art Museum and out to dinner.

I guess 26 isn't too old to be excited about a birthday--I know someday soon I will feel "old" and not want to acknowledge a birthday, but until then: time to party!

Oh, and p.s. happy blog birthday too--it is a year old tomorrow.

Stress is....

your job depending on a "coming from behind" election just two weeks away...

40 billion different options when it comes to refinancing one's house...

one job that makes you take a week off the same week that your spouse is absolutely not allowed to take off...

a school that changes one's schedule (and therefore causing a later graduation date) multiple times with no apologies for messing it up...

I love Fall

It has been a long time since my last update--life has been pretty intense lately. Only 25 more days until the election and we are inundated with political ads, volunteering, poll numbers, and pundits predictions. I am very hopeful for the outcome of the election, I haven't lost total faith in the voters of the U.S. yet! It is sad how selfish and short sighted many people seem to be with their satisfaction of the current administration going up and down with gas prices rather than based on issues like the fact that we haven't had a terrorist attack in the U.S. since Sept. 11th.

In Ronald Reagan's words: "We need more Democrats in the Senate--like Custer needed more arrows."

Bill has been working so hard lately--he has been doing two jobs worth of work load at the office and has a really demanding MBA class. This burden rests on him, but I am trying to help out in any way that I can. We just have to keep the countdown going--five more classes until the degree.

Spoiled

As I sit here at my desk with my lunch of a Mango Apricot yogurt and a blueberry Trader Joes cereal bar staring at me I realize I have no appetite. And I know why. It is all my mom's fault. We visited them over the weekend and she spoiled my stomach with lots of yummy homemade foods. Thanks, Mom, now I have to retrain my stomach back to my normal diet.