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bummed.
i had some disappointing news today. i can't really talk about it here - which sucks, because i'm not sure who reads. but if you know me well, you'll know i was in talks with something and those have fallen through.
how's that for a secret message, eh? i think i let myself count my chickens a bit and i really shouldn't have done that. i keep telling myself 'nothing ventured, nothing gained' but it still hurts a bit.
that news coupled with the end of our stay here at home is sort of freaking me out. i'm not ready to leave. heck, i don't want to leave. i want to stay here, safe and comfortable. i want to continue to spend 24 hours a day with my family and most importantly, my child. i don't want to go back to 'the daily grind'. i want to live in america, where for various reasons life seems easier.
see - not really one of my better days. sorry.
surprising news
many thanks to Deb who pointed out to me that i'm a finalist in the BOB (best of blog) awards in the 'Best Mommy Blog' catagory... if you voted to put me there, many, many thanks! it's totally made my night!
check it out here. Voting for the winner begins this Saturday, 1 January and goes through 17 January. i'd be flattered if you voted for me, but hey - no pressure. it's a joy to just have made the finals.
i've got an eery geeky glow at the moment.
sadness.
there aren't really any words for how shocking this all is... so i'll let the bbc tell you.
'More than 50,000 people are now known to have died, but more bodies are being discovered every hour in many of the countries affected.
Sunday's undersea quake triggered sea surges that also displaced millions.
International disaster assessment teams are arriving and local agencies are distributing emergency aid.
But the disaster zone is now threatened with outbreaks of disease, which the UN health agency has warned could double the death toll.
Sri Lanka, Indonesia, India and Thailand were among the worst hit by Sunday's 9.0 magnitude earthquake, which sent huge waves from Malaysia to Africa.'
such a major loss of life... i'm really bummed.
check her out...
look at my child. wearing her new dressing gown, red with a leopard trim. i'd tell you that she looks like hugh hefner to me when she wears it. however, i do not think hef has clifford slippers.
portrait
hey - here are some photos taken with both out new cameras... enjoy!
click here
i got a new camera... i got a new camera... i got a new camera... ig ota newca mera! see? i'm totally stoked. mary catherine got so many presents that she's still not opened them all and she's gone to bed for the night. bless. we just didn't want to make her open them at our pace - so we've let her open what she wants, when she wants. she's been so busy playing with her new little people that she's been very fun to be around today.
must run - we're starting a sex in the city marathon (thank you to my mom and andrew for both getting me series 5 and 6. more later. hope everyone had a great christmas.
merry christmas. god bless us every one.
ho ho ho
i can't believe we've been here a week. thank goodness we have over a week left to go. i never really looked back when i moved to england. never gave any real thought to what life would be like living so far away from my family and friends. and while i like where i live, for the most part, i really enjoy coming home and often contemplate what it would be like to move my current life back home.
would i like it? would i feel safe? and i think the answer is that i would get annoyed very easily and miss living abroad, but would get used to it in time. i miss my family like crazy - but do not miss living in america. i wish mary catherine got to be around her american grandparents as much as my friends' children get to be around theirs... and i see the hurt and envy in my parents eyes a bit and that hurts me.
so it's a very delicate line and most days i'm not sure on which side i fall. but let's not start thinking about sad things like leaving. after all - tomorrow is christmas eve and we have loads of time left.
today we had our first visit with an american santa. i am happy to report that not only did she say hello to him, she sat on his lap and didn't cry. this bodes well for tomorrow's big and all important meeting with 'the posh santa' at phipp's plaza. he's the one who met her last year and when she cried, dried her tears and told her not to cry because santa loved her. he's the real santa, i know he is. honest.
so that and to the lenox apple store tomorrow to inhale and absorb a little coolness.
from the new camera
oh lookie lookie.. daddy got a new camera and mummy got a fabulous photo of her most precious child. i am so in love with this photo and i must admit, the camera and the photographer have really shot some nice pictures already.
mary catherine totally almost 'gets' christmas. well - we're still working on the jesus part - but she has her little people nativity set and went to bed singing happy birthday jesus, so maybe we're closer than we think. she loves the trees, lights and music. it's really cool to see things through her eyes.
it's late and i'm waxing poetic.
atlanta.
we're here. the flight wasn't too bad. i mean, it was as good as it could've been i suppose. mc was fabulous for the first two hours, a little less fantastic the next four, absolutely almost unbearable for the next hour and asleep for the final two. we've definitely had worse flights before. mc's now passed 47,000 miles in her log book. 47,000 miles in two years. we'll pass 50,000 on the way back.
we also found out that we brought some friends with us over to the states. lice.
so we've all had shampoo treatments and our bedding and toys washed and dried. i am repulsed at the thought of parasites crawling around in my child's head. oh - and my husband's too, since we pulled one out of his head this afternoon as well. hopefully we've gotten rid of them. ick ick ick. i just keep reminding myself that lice don't actually like dirty heads, so it's the CLEAN children that get them.
i've gotten a christmas pressie early - mom bought me a pair of birkenstock 'boston's ... (see picture two posts ago) i think i look like a gnome in them - and i really really like them. thanks mom!
andrew got an early christmas present as well - the camera he's been wanting. so look forward to lots and lots of photos from our trip. i've asked him to take as many as possible and he's really enjoying using his new camera.
enough for now.. we're watching mary poppins and it's almost my favourite part. ahh.. man, being around my family just rocks my socks.
the last day in the office
glory be. glory be.
and, to boot, we're 98% packed.
this is not like us.
:)
the most wonderful..erm.. stressful time of the year.
we're almost halfway packed. in advance. this is not like us.
other fronts aren't running so smoothly. work is as stressful as it's ever been. sorry that i've not posted more - but things are crazy. i think it's nature's way of ensuring that i really enjoy my upcoming holiday. meanwhile, have a look at more of my wants..
  
Christmas Par-tay..
Our last weekend in town before the big trip to the states. I think it's safe to say that we packed it full of excitement and fun.
Our good friend A stayed with us Saturday and Sunday as her husband and daughter were visiting with family. A is a gazillion weeks pregnant and I was very happy that she stayed with us. I am also very happy that she did not go into labour while staying with us! It was nice to have her around all weekend and wrapping Christmas presents in our PJs and watching movies all flopped out on the sofa... it was just a very comfortable time.
We went to the theatre for MC on Saturday. Oily Cart's Hippity Hop. It was good and MC really enjoyed it. I didn't find it as good as the last show we'd seen from them - but we'll certainly make efforts to see whatever they put on as it is very fabulous to see MC interacting with the puppets and characters. She really enjoyed the music and even helped out during the show - which totally floored Andrew and I.
We took A to Bodean's bbq for dinner on Saturday night. We managed to get table in the downstairs Rib Room restaurant. Man oh man was it tasty as always. MC had bbq chicken and heaps of mashed potatoes. V tasty.
Yesterday was our Christmas party we hosted for our friends. We had SUCH a great time - really enjoyable - even with six toddlers and two newborns and loads of parents in the house. So many people and much fun. You can see a slideshow of the action here.
My mom and I found some really kooky knitted hats at a thrift store when I was home in Atlanta back in March. We bought all nine of them, washed them and gave them to all MC's friends with scarves my grandmother made. The children went crazy laughing and sqealing when they put them on. It was hilarious. I'm still not sure why they thought they were so funny. To me - they looked like six little billiard balls running around. Or six little horse jockeys rambling about. VERY funny.
Three more days until we leave. So much to do... sorta. :) More later.
the BOB awards
time to get nominating for your favourite reads on the Best of Blog Awards... not that i'm saying nominate me, by the way. it's a good way to find new stuff to read and if you feel like nominating your fave-o-rite blogs, then go for it. click here.
more wants.. not needs, mind you.
  
friday.
what a week! so busy at work and my mind is starting to churn with the thoughts of what to pack for the upcoming trip to atlanta. andrew's version of packing is throwing stuff into a bag the morning we leave. i can't cope with that - but most often end up packing that way because i get grumpy that he won't help beforehand.
however, this year - i am not packing more than a pair of jeans and a few shirts. the dollar is weak and it's christmas time. so i'm making a list now of what to take and it's blessedly short. i hope i can stick to it and, more importantly, stop andrew from throwing everything but the kitchen sink into the bag the morning we leave. it's like he panics that he might not be taking enough and therefore takes everything. very frustrating.
on another note - my daughter found a tampon this morning and was convinced that it was a fruit stick. nice of tampax to wrap them in shiny paper not unlike these. it was the first time i ever had to say the words 'honey, that's not a sweetie, it's a tampon and you can't eat it.' to anyone. i was cracking up on the inside, but mary catherine was pretty upset.
on another note - check out the new fun google toy.
what a morning i've had... very enjoyable indeed. as i was running late this morning, i came in on the DLR and tube. here's the weird bit - i actually enjoyed it! now, i was about 1.5 hours later than i used to be and the crowds were much lighter than i remember.. but my ipod and i made music videos of what was going on around me and it was very enjoyable.
do you ever do that? listen to music and look for minute details in your surroundings? try it - very entertaining. more later..
so many wants.. so few days til christmas
 
man i love cath kidston.
i can't help but stare..
check this out.. be prepared to get a little squinty.
this past weekend we went on the santa train! more photos from the event can be seen here. 
more from the 'how not to parent' files..
mc has a cold. last night we put her to bed with a cotton ball with a few drops of olbas oil on it tucked inside her pillowcase. olbas oil is a natural decongestant that we've used on all of us at one point of another.
mc woke up crying very hard and just wouldn't stop. eventually i got it from her that her eyes hurt and sent andrew into check out her pillow. the oil had soaked through the pillowcase and gotten into her eyes.
after a call to nhs direct (i love this service) we were told that olbas oil is toxic and that we should flush her eyes and get her to the emergency room as soon as possible to check for corneal damage. even though she'd calmed down and her eyes had cleared up, we went ahead and took her. i mean, we hadn't been there in a few months, right?
they saw us immediately and checked the ph in her eyes by sticking tiny bits of paper into them. she did really well and her eyes were fine. we were in and out of there in 33 minutes flat. whew.
on another note - i got a call today that things may be brewing on another horizon. not that i can mention them just yet - but it could be interesting.
oh and on the final note.. not only have i just dribbled soup on my shirt, but i checked our bank account today. we have approximately £49 on deposit. damn.
loo nirvana
a came for lunch today. after fantastic bbq we toddled on towards geek heaven - the new apple store on regent street. oh my goodness. it's the largest apple store in the world and really beautiful.
we made our way past the new imacs and ipods .. past the olympus mini-mju camera that i'd love to have (in red if you're listening, santa) and the palm zire 72 pda that i'm really considering. but the best part was when we found the toilets.
i love how apple is brilliant with design. even the bathrooms at the apple store were slick, clean and minimal. as i sat and pondered my digital existence, i noticed that the matte silver metal doors on the stall - well - they are the exact same brushed metal as some of the applications on my powerbook. the next time you isync your world - just know that you're looking at a door in the ladies at the apple store on regent street.
i think i've reached a new level of dorkdom.
ahh - wednesday.
mary catherine's Ampa took this picture of her. i love the attitude. mmm hmm.
a's on his way over to my office at this very moment. i'm taking him to bodeans for some bbq bliss.
i am dying for a haircut - i've found myself eyeing up my scissors here at my desk wondering just how badly it would look if i tried. desperate times, you know what they call for.
more later.
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