My life changed today

My life changed today.

Or maybe it was yesterday.

Yesterday we made the decision, today we made the phone call.

My husband and I have made the decision to adopt.

And when I say "we made the decision," what I really mean is that we've spent a lot of time in prayer and in discussion and we've come to the realization that we are being led to adopt.

And it feels amazing.

Other than our parents we haven't really told anyone yet. For now it's just us, until we know we're approved. (If I can keep the excitement to myself!)

This afternoon I called the Nova Scotia adoption line. I spoke to a kind woman who took our names and contact information. She gave me the basics and I was told we'll be contacted within 10 business days.

The waiting has begun.

I hung up the phone and cried.

I am scared.

And I am excited.

My life changed today.

Our Vacation; Part 1

J and I just got back from 8 days in the US. J's sister Rachel was getting married in West Virginia and we decided to use the wedding as an excuse to actually go away. The town Rachel was getting married in was less than 2 hours from Washington, DC so we thought we'd spend the first couple days of our vacation being tourists before things switched to wedding mode.

Our flight from Halifax to Philadelphia was J's first time on a plane.

Getting from the airport to the hotel ended up being our first challenge. We had borrowed a GPS to use only it hadn't been completely updated with the area we were travelling. (My dad felt awful!) J talked to the guy at Budget about renting one, but he suggested we head to Walmart and just grab a cheap one to save some money. We got directions from two different people but ended up hopelessly lost before finding the Walmart. To make matters worse, it was dark and it started raining. Not just a little rain, but torrential rain with thunder and lightning. It was super scary.

We eventually made our way to a gas station where J ran in to try to get directions. The clerk at the gas station didn't speak strong english, but we headed in the direction he pointed. We ended up stopping for directions again at a Starbucks. We found a shopping centre and the first store we came across was Best Buy. It was getting late, so rather than try to find the Walmart we just ran in there hoping they'd have something cheap. The staff there were wonderful, but we definitely ended up paying more for a GPS than we planned. At that point we just wanted to find the hotel though so we didn't care.

By the time we got to the hotel we had been on the go for about 11 hours. Luckily, the staff at the hotel (the Metro Points in New Carrollton, Maryland) were awesome. They were friendly and helpful and we were checked in and on our way to our room in no time.

I am definitely missing having a king-size bed to sleep in!

Fortunately, the non-updated GPS ended up being pretty much the only hiccup of our whole trip, and things definitely got better from there. We decided to visit the Smithsonian National Zoo our first day but it's going to take a whole post of it's own.

Still here!

Hello!

I'm still here, I promise.

I've been absent due to a major lack of planning. I was getting ready for vacation, on vacation, and getting everything ready to go back to work after vacation,

J and I had an amazing time on our first real adventure, but I'm not sure travel is totally for me. You would not believe how stressed out I got every time we were driving in Washington (so many more people so obviously way more cars), and when we went through customs coming home. (And all we brought home were a few souvenirs and a bottle each from the duty-free store!)

I'm working on a recap of our trip and hope to share it with you soon.

My Week in Pictures!

Not a whole lot happened over the past week, but I think it's important to document even the not-so-exciting weeks. They're definitely part of life. And a good part - I can't imagine how exhausted I would be all the time if I didn't have those weeks where I spend the majority of my evenings at home on the couch with J!

1. Our church celebrated it's 15th anniversary on Sunday so after church we all stuck around for lunch and of course some group pictures. It was great to hear some of the memories of people who were responsible for the "birth" of the church. I've only been going since shortly before J and I got engaged but he's been there since the beginning. (J's dad is our pastor, I'm not sure if I've mentioned that here before or not.)

2. One of my many purchases during my shopping spree last week. I love the way this top flows, it's very flattering. I'm looking forward to wearing it on our vacation in a couple weeks.

3. I still love these sunglasses. I wore them to church yesterday and got a ton of compliments. J still doesn't like them, but he's not the one wearing them. ;-)

4. I may not have any kids to let lick the beaters (which I totally plan on doing) but if I'm making anything with peanut butter I always let Daisy lick the spoon. I made peanut butter pie for the church potluck and it was a big hit!

5. Thursday night I just didn't feel like cooking so J and I decided to use one of our Christmas gift cards and headed to Boston Pizza for a last minute date minute. After supper we did a bit more shopping for our trip. (We splurged and bought us both a t-shirt from East Coast Lifestyle to wear when we're in the US.)

Hope you had a great week!

Confessions of a shopaholic

I am turning in to a shopaholic. And it's not a good thing.

I guess it's not an entirely true thing either. I've gained a little weight since last summer. Enough that I don't feel fully comfortable in all my warm weather clothes. Since we're heading to Washington in (let me just check my countdown app...) 17 days I figured I needed to bite the bullet and head out shopping for some outfits that I felt good about having my picture taken in.

One of the two new pairs of sunglasses.
(J hates them, but I love them!)

I spent about $200 yesterday, the bulk of which was at Marshall's. This was my first trip to Marshall's, but it felt just like being in Winner's. I was super successful there though, and came home with a pair of cropped jeans/denim capris (I have no idea what the correct word is, all I know is they're longer on me than they would be on a normal person but I love how they fit) and four tops. Three of the tops are casual and one is a little dressier and will be perfect for a nice dinner out. I also ended up with five pairs of flip flops, two pairs of sunglasses, and four head bands from Ardene. I also bought a pair of capris from Reitman's but ended up taking them back when I found a pair of denim bermuda shorts that I LOVE at Wal-Mart of all places. (The Wal-Mart shorts were by far my favourite purchase of the day.) I grabbed a couple plain t-shirts at Wal-Mart too, I just can't pay $20 for black v-neck tee when I can get one for $7 at Wal-Mart, it just doesn't make sense to me.

The shopping continued today with two tops and a necklace at Old Navy, and two necklaces and two earring sets and Icing. (How I managed to get out of Icing with only four items is a mystery - everything was on sale for $5. One of the necklaces I bought was regular $22 and I spent $23 total including taxes.)

I was so excited to find so many things I actually felt good in! I was going to order a couple other things online but I think I'm just going to wait and do a little shopping when we're away. (I have to admit that I can't wait to check out Torrid in person - there are definitely a ton of things on the website I want to try on.)

Now, I know a good fashion blogger would have pictures of all of her purchases. But I am so not a fashion blogger! So you'll have to wait to see my purchases until I recap my Washington/West Virginia trip in about a month.

Book Review; "Summer Rental" by Mary Kay Andrews

Summer Rental
Mary Kay Andrews | June 2011

Amazon Synopsis: Sometimes, when you need a change in your life, the tide just happens to pull you in the right direction…

Ellis, Julia, and Dorie. Best friends since Catholic grade school, they now find themselves, in their mid-thirties, at the crossroads of life and love. Ellis, recently fired from a job she gave everything to, is rudderless and now beginning to question the choices she's made over the past decade of her life. Julia--whose caustic wit covers up her wounds--has a man who loves her and is offering her the world, but she can't hide from how deeply insecure she feels about her looks, her brains, her life. And Dorie has just been shockingly betrayed by the man she loved and trusted the most in the world…though this is just the tip of the iceberg of her problems and secrets. A month in North Carolina's Outer Banks is just what they each of them needs.

Ty Bazemore is their landlord, though he's hanging on to the rambling old beach house by a thin thread. After an inauspicious first meeting with Ellis, the two find themselves disturbingly attracted to one another, even as Ty is about to lose everything he's ever cared about. 

Maryn Shackleford is a stranger, and a woman on the run. Maryn needs just a few things in life: no questions, a good hiding place, and a new identity. Ellis, Julia, and Dorie can provide what Maryn wants; can they also provide what she needs? 

My Thoughts: I picked this book up at work on a day when I had forgotten my e-reader. Truthfully, I think I grabbed it because the main characters were all in their mid-30s and since I recently turned 33 I felt like reading something about characters my own age. (I read a lot of YA dystopian fiction, so it's rare for me to read something with characters who aren't teens.) Anyways, long story short, I couldn't put this book down. I wouldn't say it was super deep and thought provoking, but by the end of the book I felt like I really knew the characters. Their lives felt real to me. (They could have been my girlfriends I wrote about yesterday.) The setting and the situations all felt very real. Yes, things were all neatly tidied up by the end of the book, but it didn't feel contrived in any way. I definitely recommend this book for a beach/patio read this summer. I don't think you'll regret it!

The best part of the book for me though, was that it got me thinking about a weekend away with my girls. We're just trying to nail down dates now, but it looks like we'll be spending a couple nights away together for the first time in close to two decades of friendship. I can't wait!

What are you reading this summer? Anything I should check out?

My Week in Pictures!

I think I like the idea of doing a phone photo dump each week. I take so many random pictures with my phone it's hard to narrow it down though. Okay, that's totally a lie. At least half of the pictures on my phone are either food or one of my fur babies. But I managed to find some that show what I was up to last week.

1. This is Lil Eatily. It's one of the "food trucks" at Truckside, a new indoor food truck food court in Dartmouth. We had supper there Saturday night. I had pasta from Lil Eatily and J had fish from U-Pick Fish. We both enjoyed our meals. 

2. I was in charge of the nursery Sunday morning at church and I couldn't resist snapping a picture of these two cuties colouring together. 
3. For Mother's Day J and all of his siblings gave his mom a family ring with all their birth stones. She burst into tears before she even looked at the ring. As soon as she saw the box from People's the waterworks began. 
4. My amazingly smart friend Jenn was interviewed in the local paper as part of a nurses' week feature. She's a labour and delivery nurse and a strong advocate for breast feeding. 
5. My staff spoiled me with lots of birthday treats. (Including chocolate covered jujubes which are my absolute favourite.)
6. We are finally starting to get some sunny, warm, spring weather here in Nova Scotia. Two evenings in a row I laid outside reading while Daisy played in the yard. It was wonderful!
7. At work this week we presented a cheque to Threads of Life. We raised $1305 as well as providing a barbecue for participants in their annual Steps for Life walk. I love that my job allows me to do stuff like that. 
8. After supper at Truck Side Saturday night we headed to the Middle Spoon for dessert and drinks. If you're local and you've never been I highly recommend it. Dessert ended up costing more than dinner, but it was totally worth it. 
9. This picture shouldn't even be included because it was taken today but I absolutely love this picture of J and Daisy and I couldn't wait until next week to share it. 

I love that it's so easy to take pictures with my phone, but I find I never get pictures printed anymore. I need to start getting prints again I think! (And I might start with that shot of J and Daisy.)