25 Things Random Things About Me

So I got tagged on Face.book...here are my 25 Random Things:

1. I love sleeping in…er, I used to love sleeping in (pre-kids).
2. My original major in college was sports medicine (but I didn’t feel like going to med school).
3. When it comes to my parenting style, I’m a lil’ crunchy (organic advocatin’, babywearin’, breastfeedin’, baby food makin’, cosleepin’, cloth diaperin’ mama).
4. I love yoga for many reasons (the way it centers me, calms me, releases me, oh and makes my muscles burn), but don’t find near enough time to practice it the way I should.
5. I wish I would have continued swimming competitively after college (and so does my body).
6. I have never traveled beyond Kansas to the east or Hawaii to the west.
7. I might consider leaving my husband if Matthew McConaughey insisted…just as Robert would consider leaving me if Kate Beckinsale came a knockin’.
8. I love the ocean and want to live in a beach community someday. Ideally? The top 3 spots…Carmel, La Jolla, and Hope Ranch…I know, I know...keep dreamin' girlfriend.
9. I eat organic/vegetarian most of the time now (except dinners which the hubby makes and I eat graciously).
10. A package of Double Stuff Oreos, a box of Ding Dongs, or anything really chocolaty CAN heal a broken heart…for at least a little while.
11. My hubby and I are 8 years, 10 months apart (which explains a lot). So when he was graduating high school, I was in 3rd grade…he, he, he.
12. I can give and have given myself shots…sub-q and intramuscular.
13. I am always ‘working’ on my relationship with God.
14. I want to have more children (I know, I must be crazy if you know my history)...actually I have always wanted four children, though I'd be thrilled with just one more.
15. I am a night owl to the max…usually up to 1:00am most nights.
16. I dream of being a stay at home mom.
17. I would like to go to school for my Ph.D. in Early Childhood Education...when the time is right.
18. I love being a kindergarten teacher, but not as nearly as much as being a mommy.
19. I am super self-conscious about my body…especially after having kids.
20. I have broken a few bones...when I was nine, my dad fell off the roof onto my leg and broke it BADLY...a few years later, someone dove off the platform at swim practice onto my face and broke my nose (and it's still crooked)...and I nearly broke my pinky toe off on an ottoman last year (let's just say it was perpendicular to the rest of my foot).
21. While I am not diagnosed with OCD, I do have OCD tendencies.
22. I feel like (and some say I still look like) I am in my 20s still, but will turn 35 this year…ouch.
23. I once was a certified personal trainer.
24. I love rainy days and super clear, cold, crisp mornings.
25. My favorite sky is what I call “God’s sky”…when you can see the sun’s rays beaming down through a cloudy sky.
26. I LOVE my life and while there have been many, many obstacles and rough spots along the way, I would NEVER change a thing. I am who I am today, because of that road.

Okay...that was 26, but I like even numbers...:)

Not ready

Nope...I'm not. I'm just not ready to say my girls are 2 and "a half". And while I have a month left before they will be 2 and "a half", I don't know that even in that month I will come to terms with it. In my mind's eye...all things baby end at 3 years. In the next 6 months, we will say good-bye to...

diapers

pacies

sippy cups

booster seats/high chairs

Instead, we will be talking about...

big girl panties

potties

regular cups

regular chairs

preschool

Ugh. Did you "hear" that last one? Preschool. On Monday I will turn in two sets of registration forms to two different preschools. AND...the girls have been on a waiting list for another preschool for almost a year now. Of these three preschools, we will be on wait lists for two and the third is a lottery. We would like them to go two half days a week, but if we don't get in, no big deal. What's important is that they go to preschool when they are 4 to prepare them for kindergarten. This next year, as three year olds, it's for social and emotional development. So, we will know in March if we have won "the lottery" for one preschool (actually my first choice now) and if not, then we will be placed on their waiting list and hope that of the three, something opens up by August.

Sigh...I want my babies...

...to stay babies.

These pics were taken two years ago this weekend...look at those little faces...just 5 months old, 2 months corrected.

And now?

They grow up all too quickly...something I wasn't prepared for...and don't think I will ever be okay with. They will always be my babies, but still...

A few in the queue and NEW me!

I actually have a couple of posts in the queue...waiting to be finished before being posted. So in the next week, you should see a few new posts with old dates. The girls have been sickies and combine that with teething...and well, it results in nothing getting finished, from my blog entries, to dishes, to laundry. Every time I get started on something after putting them to bed, I just don't have the chance to finish it before one or both need me because they are having trouble breathing, are coughing, sneezing, etc. My poor lil' sickies. :(

I DO, however, have a moment to share with you some very exciting news! Well, exciting in terms of my blog...don't get yourselves all worked up thinking it's something ELSE people...I can already "hear" what some of your minds are conjuring up...:)

So...I'm getting a makeover! No, not me, but this blog. Erin will be making this blog look fabulash...so much so, you won't recognize it! If you have a blog of your own, or even if you are inspired to start one of your own, why not get all decked out with me? Check out her amazing work...I know you're going to love it just as much as I do! She's running a great deal through the end of January...it's impossible to pass up...so what are you waiting for???

I can't wait to see the new "Choosing Hope!"

Just Us

It was July 1998. Robert and I were both in recovery mode from the demise of two very long relationships when a mutual friend decided we should meet...yes, a blind date. Robert likes to say that I "avoided" his phone calls for nearly a month, but to be honest...I was just really busy...wink, wink. Truthfully, I was. We did talk a couple of times on the phone and Robert even "stalked" me at the gym one night unbeknownst to me...checkin' out the "rearview" while I was on the Stairmaster. Nice.

Our first date, well more like first meeting, was at Noah's Bagels for lunch...talk about safe, huh? Short and sweet with an easy escape for both of us. It wasn't love at first sight, but there was something there. Our conversations on the phone became rather lengthy and I felt like I was in high school again. Our first official date? We went down to Redondo Beach to have dinner at The Cheesecake Factory and then saw the movie, Saving Private Ryan...how romantic. Great movie...just not exactly "date" material. Still, we both loved the movie. I'm pretty sure I cut off the circulation in his hands at least a few times during the movie.

Our next date would be an evening/night trip up to Santa Barbara for dinner on the pier and then a long walk on the beach. Just a month into dating, our feelings for each other were deepening and the "L" word while not spoken often, was being thrown around as a possibility. We both could not believe that we were falling for each other so fast. Over the next 8 months our relationship would continue to blossom...and then suddenly come to a screeching HALT. Robert was having a little trouble with the next step, the next level of committment...so he suggested we take some "time apart."

A month or so into his "break" from us, Robert decided he was ready to move on...however, now I wasn't ready. Funny how that works, eh? A few months later, we both were finished figuring things out and decided that being together was where we wanted to be...and had always wanted to be. The next year or so would go by rather uneventfully. There was talk of marriage, family...but still no engagement. It was at this point Robert likes to say I gave him the ultimatum...you know "poop or get off da' potty" (in toddler terms, of course). I like to say that it was time--time to make a decision to take our relationship to the next level or go our separate ways. This was, oh, about November of 2000. A couple months go by...and still nothing...Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's? You've got to be kidding me, right? Plenty of opportunities to pop the questions, but nothing.

On January 6, 2001 we went out on a date. Actually, we went to his sister's house for dinner. She and her family live in Manhattan Beach. Ah, very convienient and close to The Cheesecake Factory where we went for dinner on our first real date. So, very casually, Robert suggested we go there to meet some friends for drinks and dessert. Sounded good to me.

Now, if you know me at all, you know that dessert is my thing. The only true way to judge any restaurant is by it's dessert menu...and if chocolate anything is NOT among the choices...there really is no point in moving past the hostess check-in. Just turn around, walk out, and find a real restaurant (with chocolate, of course). So what do I order? Strawberries and whipped cream. You got it. For the first time in my life, I decide to order something without chocolate...come to think of it, I don't think I was feeling very well (not ordering chocolate?). Little did I know it afforded Robert a perfect opportunity.

Our friends came...drinks came...dessert came. I took a few bites and felt full. Again, SHOCK. Me? Not finish a dessert? Surely I must have been very ill that night. That's when Robert steps in as the super sweet boyfriend...offering me just one more bite as he feeds it to me. I smile and take that last bite...and bite into something hard. My first thought was that it was some kind of strawberry stem...but it was awfully hard. I take it out of my mouth, look down and see a ring, covered in whipped cream. OMG! It was an engagement ring! I then looked to my right and saw Robert, down on one knee, taking my hand and asking me to be his wife, his love for life. The tears started streaming down my face and of course, I said yes. All of this, in the middle of the bar at TCF with our friends and a slew of strangers watching. Everyone broke into cheers and applause. It was a truly unique proposal. Good job, honey...;)

The next 10 months would be spent wedding planning...something I had always dreamed of doing. Then, on November 3, 2001, we would be married before God, our family, and friends. The wedding was on a beautiful Saturday morning...the weather was perfect. The ceremony was held at St. Lawrence Martyr Chruch in Redondo beach, with Robert's brother performing the ceremony (he's a priest if you didn't know)...a church with a lot of family history--weddings, baptisms. Following the ceremony we would venture a few minutes away into the residential neighborhood of Palos Verdes Estates for a reception overlooking the ocean. If you've never seen the La Venta Inn...its nothing short of amazing. I'm not a banquet hall girl...I like things to be more, well, organic. This place was exactly that. Not only are the ground gorgeous, but the view is breathtaking, and the venue itself, a sprawling one-story 1920's Spanish villa...a place we hope to revisit in 3 years for our 10 year anniversary and a renewal of our vows.

And that is the story of how Robert and I became "us." Up next...let's buy a new house and start a family! The first went really well...and the latter? Well, that didn't exactly go as planned.

Stay tuned for more...

Quiet

Things have been quiet around here...well, as quiet as possible with two year old twins. We're all recovered from our illnesses and still wading through the sea of toys that floods each and every room of our house. We're hoping to get a handle on that this next week...again, I say "hoping."

We went to Disneyland last week. Uncle Matt joined us for the day and the girls were thrilled with that...if you could have seen their faces in the car when they woke up at Disneyland...WITH Uncle Matt in the back seat of the car! We had a later start than we're used to and didn't get into the park until 3:00...and it was a tad busier than we're used to...but we stayed until closing (8:00) and managed to pretty much ride everything we usually do. We didn't have time to go to California Adventure, so we missed the Pixar Parade which the girls LOVE, but figured with our limited time, we'd do Disneyland...and do it completely instead of bopping back and forth between parks. We are thinking about going again next Wednesday...it should be empty. Then again, we're also considering a day or two in Santa Barbara with the zoo, the beach, State Street, the Mission...hhhmmmm...decisions, decisions!

I'm enjoying my last week or so of vacation and then it's back to work. Really, this Wednesday through Friday gig isn't so bad. The team leader duties are what kick me in the rear...I may be 50% but that part of the job is still 100% which is why I end up taking so much stuff home. I'm still waiting to see what I'll be doing next year...first things first...thanking God for having a secure job. It looks as though our district is going to be hit hard, as are so many school districts. I am just trying to work out whether I'll be 80% or 60%, so 4 or 3 days a week. That's the beauty of a job-share position...it has to work for all involved parties. I don't really want to be 80%, but I suppose the extra money won't hurt and it'll make my team leader duties a whole lot easier to manage.

Robert is going to a new shift soon that will be SOOOOOOOOOOO much better for all of us, so we are excited for that.

Not much else to report...things are just, well, status quo. I'm trying to figure out a way to add more photos. I'm thinking I may just give out the password to my Photobucket account and share photos that way since Blogger doesn't have an album option and honestly, uploading/posting them one at a time on here kinda' makes me crazy (I tried it and hated it), which is why I did the Slideshow via slide.com. I'm also working on photo montages right now...updating our March of Dimes montage for 2009 and then putting together a montage of the girls for year one and then years two and three on One True Media. What's nice about that is when finished, I can purchase DVDs of the montages and have them for the girls when they are older.

Oh, I changed the playlist around a bit...added some new songs, removed a few...this is more representative of where "I" am at right now...kinda' all over the place in terms of songs, artists, genres...but hey...like I said...it's where "I" am...:)

A little bit o' Christmas