Please Hold

I got a phone call Tuesday from the Peace Corps. I had a nice chat with my placement officer and we went over a bunch things in order for him to place me where I am most needed and useful. At the end of the conversation he asked me about my timeline and if I would be available earlier than my early June nomination. I told him I could do that, so he told me I would be leaving May 10, 2010! In other words 7.5 weeks! I think I was able to sputter out a few words of thanks and appreciation before hanging up, but I am not totally positive about that. The country will remain somewhat of a mystery until I actually receive the invitation that he said would be here by Friday. Of course as any good Peace Corps applicant knows you can figure out the country pretty easily with a little research. I am keeping my lips sealed until I know for sure!

I can't believe in a matter of hours I went from practically giving up all hope that I was going to make my June departure to leaving an entire month earlier than expected! I think this is going to be really great for me, and with any luck I will make it the entire 27 months! I say luck because sometimes leaving isn't your choice, life still happens. I hope to be able to post very soon where I will be off to, so keep checking back for updates!

Dovizhdane!

Nobunny knows Easter better......

This is always a hard time a year for me, I love all things Easter candy! I load up on candy and then ration it out for the months following Easter just so I don't have to go through withdrawals. Cadbury is some of the best chocolate around and living in the US this is really the only time of year you can find Cadbury on our shelves. A lot of the other candy now comes around for different holidays (e.g. peeps) but I only enjoy them at Easter time. I hit the store and stocked up on my supply today, I am sure I will do that again before Easter, especially if I hear anything from the Peace Corps.

Just as a side note, as I was searching for photos of the deliciousness above, I discovered that you can by a box of these beauties for $59.99 from Amazon. That is a whole lot of creme eggs!

What a week!

I survived! I had an amazing week, but I am exhausted. Here are a few highlights:

• Spent last weekend with my brother and his family waiting for the new baby to arrive.
• Monday, Henry arrived weighing in at 9 lbs 3 oz.
• Spent a few days of quality time with my niece Ivy
• April came to visit me from Colorado
• Girls shopping trip
• Found the North Face jacket I have been wanting to get in my size, in the color I wanted, at less than half the regular retail price at the outlet mall!
• Ate sushi
• Road trip to Seattle
• Weekend with Becky and April in Seattle
• Green lake
• Piroshky Piroshky!
• Saw Mt. Ranier, the Cascade and Olympic Mountain ranges in Seattle for the first time
• Chicken Wings
• Sunday night dinner with April and the family including the little ones
• A week off of work!

I was sad to see April go, but now I can rest and get back into my schedule. What a week!!!

B.L.P.

Today I want to discuss the Biggest Loser Phenomenon or B.L.P. as I like to call it. I am referring to the unreasonable want or desire to consume fatty, sugary, unhealthy foods while watching really fat people work out. For some reason whenever I watch this show I want to eat unhealthy food and I know I am not alone. What is that? I am watching people literally have fat melt off of them, pushing their morbidly obese bodies to the limit and all I want to do is eat a cupcake. Last season I started craving (and making) cupcakes conveniently on Tuesday nights. So far my cravings with the current season are freshly baked cookies. More specifically choc. chip cookies, I made some last week to enjoy during the show. They were great! I inspired a couple other people to join me, I still feel a little guilty for that. Today I start craving fast food, how funny, I haven't had fast food in over a month I wonder why I could be craving.........oh ya, it's Tuesday, Biggest Loser night! But those contestants sure are inspiring aren't they! Perhaps I need to reconsider my viewing of this show.

B.L.P. hitting a waste band near you!

Dreams..

Have you ever had one of those dreams where you wake up still in the emotion of the dream? A handful of times I have awoken from a dream sobbing! It can take some time to console myself and be reminded that it was only a dream and not actually reality. Those are always the kind of dreams I hate having. It is like all the other dreams, good or bad, follow the rules and stay in your dreams but these seem to be the unruly dreams they cross some line between dream and reality making that emotion feel as strong as anything I have ever felt.
Well a couple of nights ago I had a dream like this except I wasn't crying I was laughing! I was laughing out loud and so much so that when I woke up my cheeks and sides were hurting. I continued laughing for awhile until I finally went back to sleep promising myself I would remember what I was dreaming about, and of course I didn't.

I am ready....

Ok, I am ready for Christmas! bring it on...........oh crap! So maybe it is a couple days to late but I really feel like Christmas now. ha! Well bring on the New year then. That I am ready for! 2010 is going to be an interesting year! I am very hopeful about this year and think it will have a lot of great things in store for myself along with friends and family!

I did have a very good Christmas even though I wasn't really ready for it. I got so many great gifts but the best thing I got this year was a small gift with the most amazing note attached to it from a completely anonymous "Santa". This person left me this gift at my parents home (where I celebrated the holiday). My Mom and I both suspected the same people but she asked them individually before I even knew about the gift and they both had the same surprised reaction and asked the same question. I don't know who it was but if by chance they read my blog I would like to say Thank You! That gift and note along with the anonymity was one of the most generous heartfelt gifts I have ever received THANK YOU!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! Bring on the New Year!!!

Whoops..

I have really been thinking about blogging since August (I promise) but again I find that my thoughts don't just write themselves. A lot has been going on lately and not so much all at the same time. First and foremost some very big news, I have officially been medically cleared by the Peace Corps and now I just wait for a placement officer to contact me!!! Yes it does mean more waiting, but I am in a new stage, one step closer to the intended goal which brings me that much closer to NOT waiting anymore. See how that works.

I just returned from a week in Hawaii and it was a much needed vacation! I was on the Big Island for a week! I went snorkeling twice, saw a dolphin, two whales (pretty close up) and a jelly fish! I took my first helicopter ride and saw lava flowing into the ocean! The helicopter landed in an area that was reminiscent of Jurassic Park like settings. It was beautiful and warm and I had great company with my aunt and cousin. I will try and get some pictures posted up sooner rather than later.

My niece is growing like wildfire and I can't believe we are about to meet my nephew in just a few short months! Christmas time is here and trying to find gifts for everyone is proving to be a bit more difficult than I had expected, but then again it always seems to be. I just finished the new Jon Krakauer book, Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman. It was a great read, struggled at times because it would dive in and out of historical facts and would reference many different groups and people that were at times hard to keep track of, but he did a great job (as usual with Krakauer) of detailing the truth behind the person. He illistrates strengths and weeknesses laying out the character of Pat Tillman with what I beleive to be dedication and respect. It is a very hard sobering read! It emphasizes the best of what Americans can be, and the absolute worst that the governement is capable of when they are trying to protect their own agenda and image. His widow, family and friends have developed the Pat Tillman Foundation, which educates people and promotes leadership and change through service. I highly recommend it. If you have ever loved someone you will cry! Be prepared!

I hope that everyone has a wonderful Christmas!