Everyone I know is having babies...babies with interesting names! My invite list keeps growing...

Wade Julio - 3 months old
Morgan Evelyn - 2 months old
Corvus Benjamin - 1 month old
Rami Ian - 1 week old

At least one more is on the way before October!

Oh my.

I thought this might be easier than it is. :) How can a wedding cost this much? What I want? Not gonna get. I want an ocean, barefoot. Maybe... a man-made a lake, barefoot? Basic: family/friends, fun smiles, hugs. What I don't want spending lots of money, but it seems so difficult. Can't I just have sunflowers? Mariachi bands? mexican food buffets? Smiles? Haven't even broached the non-catholic wedding for all the extended catholic family! So much fun! at the end of it though, I think it's going to be fun, bringing me closer to my family, ganing a new one.

I guess it's dog week. It's amazing to me how much Moose just fits into our lives. and how sometimes that means we take this for granted. I forget sometimes how short the span of doggie lives are. They are there every day, with those big sweet eyes staring up at you, smiling, licking my tears away, celebrating my happiness, getting excited at squirrels, balloons, and curling up to bed with me when G is out of town. I need to give him an extra hug tonight, as the fleeting amount of time I get with him is swiftly brought to my attention. He's almost 4 now, not a puppy anymore.

I am dog sitting for an older dog, he can't see well, has a hard time with the door, and not walking into it. He had a hard time getting up and down stairs, even just getting up from lying down. He doesn't have many teeth left and slows down walking up hills, he's old, and it makes me sad.

And an old family friend dog passed away today. I remember when they decided to keep Chewy, when she became part of the family. I remember dog sitting for Chewy, how she'd chase her tail. I remember her circling the room at holidays, and those eyes, what a sweet girl.

I wish their lives were longer, but maybe then the time we have with them wouldn't be as sweet.

I was being a responsible dog owner today and got Moose his registration and liscense. I then went to see the adpotable dogs, and got all misty eyed, and well, I think I need another dog...when the time is right, and the right dog :)

I am exhausted. Perhaps, perhaps, two dogs are more work than one.

Halloween was sort of sad, only about ten kids. all very cute though :)

Glad to have Friday off.

I'm reading this book, that makes me realize how far my food travels. How even thought I think that I am making healthy/organic/sustainable food choices. But today, just today, my food traveled from:

Almonds - ca
milk - md
bread - ma
pb - mi
jelly - nj
apple - ny
lettuce - tx
spinach - ca
dressing - vt
chicken - ma
ice cream - ?
coffee - ?

Sigh. I drive a hybrid, but make my food use lots of gasoline.

I'll never beat my dad ;) I thought I'd finished HP quickly, Sunday morning. My Dad finished Saturday afternoon. Now I just have to wait for others to finish so I can talk about it :)

I have a glass problem. I started to straighten up today, since G is coming home tomorrow. I found 10 glasses not in the kitchen, 5 in the basement and 5 in the bedroom. What's with that? I come home, get a glass of water go to the basement (TV there) and when I go to bed, I take a glass of water with me. I need to take them back to the kitchen! It's a little hard to care sometimes when I am here every week by myself. Moose sure doesn't care if I put the glasses away.

I'm sitting in the basement (with my 5 glasses) and a towel wrapped around my neck. My co-worker is convinced I am suffering from "cold". Asian medicine, something about eight elements...and that I need to get warm, so if I put a scarf on my head and a towel around my neck, I'll be fine, and the headache will go away. At this point, I'll try it. When I go upstairs to ge tthe other five classes, I'll put on a scarf. Scarf? Bandana? Towels, Glasses and Banadana, now talk about an exciting life.

In other news, hmmm, nope, no other news. Oh, wait. My high school friends, Jared and Alexa are getting married! So I'm going to Cali in sept. 15-22 to go to the wedding, see my folks, sisters and show Geoff So Cal. I am very excited. I also just found out a grad school friend is getting married that same weekend. And so the weddings begin...I've been invited to 3 in the last 4 months!

I have had a headache for nearly two weeks now. There are some moments when my head doesn't hurt, but more than not it does. I guess I should go to a doctor..but what can they do? I don't really know how to explain a constant headache. That means I have to find a doctor, which is always a pain, I don't know the best way to find a doctor. Blech.

We took a whirlwind two day roundtrip adventure to New City, New York for G's grandparents 60th! wedding anniversary. This is his grandpa giving a long speech about his kids...

It was nice to meet G's cousin, I actually made the 5 month old nephew laugh, so G'f siste-in-law liked me. And I was brave in the face of spit up. Hurray for me :) Now I am exhausted.

I'm reading this amazing book. I can't put it down. I read it on the metro, while I'm walking to and from work. I find myself touched on nearly every page. Angry, happy, elated, scared. It really makes you think, and I feel a but frustrated that I am not doing more in the world.

This man, gets lost trying to summit K2 in honor of his sister. He ends in failure in a small village in Pakistan. This inspires him to start building a school in this town. He has no money, no house, but an overwhelming desire to help these people that have helped him. And he dedicates his life to helping them.

The name of the book comes from the advice a village elder in Pakistan... "You must make time to have three cups of tea with us. The first time you share tea with a Balti you are a stranger. The second time you take tea you are an honored guest. The third time you share a cup of tea, you become family and for our family we are prepared to do anything."

This book is about Muslims in Pakistan, Muslims that asked this man, an American building schools in their country, for no reason other than to educate children, they asked him for forgiveness, the day after 9/11 happened. FOr nothing they had done, but for other Muslims. Meanwhile he receives hate mail from Americans, hate mail for building schools for children that have never had the chance to get an education. And Americans say he will go to hell for helping Muslims.

What kind of world is it that we live in?

http://www.ikat.org/

so hard to motivate. work is not motivating. nope. just not.

Very Tall cousin and bride (and very short grandma :)) Wedding made me feel old. Young folks staying up until 4 am. 1:30 was my limit.

Been spending lots of family time...with extended and other people's family. Makes me miss my immediate family...including the McKay portion of the family :)

Here is a photo from my cousin's wedding, my cousins and me :)

Today I put up two pictures, of my "psuedo" niece and nephew...soon I will have to add another picture! Oddly enough the girl is in pink and the boy in blue! I am just going to have to start calling them my niece and nephew since it takes so long to explain. One woman at work thought L was so Cute...her youngest just graduated high school, and she said she wished her kids were cute again :) Now I won't get so many complements about Moose however...poor Moose. Apparently he had some ice cream this weekend that didn't agree with him, dog sitters, can't trust 'em!

It is a Monday night. I am sitting on the couch, eating strawberries and cheese, drinking a glass of wine. I can't quite decide if I am lazy, lucky, insane or happy. I am tired, I know that. Work was actually not bad today. It's amazing how the energy can change just by who is there. So calm and relaxing today. I almost enjoyed it!

I went and saw Knocked up this weekend. Both Geoff and I were traumatized by this movie. I think perhaps any desire I ever had to give birth have been squelched and buried. Actually showing a baby crowning. No. No way. Not happening to me. Nope.

Being the boss is hard. Draining. I can't even sit down at work for a few minutes and check e-mail. No more researching where to go on my next vacation. Instead, I have to worry about if people are happy, if work is getting done, if I'm missing anything, the office circuit breakers, going to the hill, the GAO response, interviewing interns, staff meetings, signing timesheets, oh and of course my entire real job, scheduling conference calls, writing communication plans, analyzing data, trying to explain to my bosses bosses boss why I'm not wearing a skirt (icky)...and trying to breathe. I get home and want to fall down, but it's just me and Moose, and a house to move. We are moving Again! this weekend. I am excited about the move, but exhausted. I feel bad that Moose might miss out on his last two doggie classes. He is doing so well! So much to move! So little time. Oh, and due to a journal entry I read briefly, before it disappeared, i imagine behind a filter that I am not a part of :) I was inspired to listen to the Bright Eyes album, perhaps shifting my mood to a more introspective place...reminds me of past places I no longer go. And makes me wonder where I want to go. The radio has been talking to me this week...a story about moving to Colorado, a song about taking each day at a time because we have only so many on this earth, a story about a woman named Meghan who went to work and meanwhile all her friends came and moved her from her old house to her new one (ok, I admit to this just being a fantasy, but her name really was Meghan). But I continue to breathe and dream and fall down exhausted at the end of the day. And wait for the weekends when Geoff comes home to rescue me :)

I found a web-site that let's me list my silly books (the ones I buy for the plane that I don't really need to concentrate on and make travel go by quickly, but that I'd be embarrassed to keep on my shelf permenantly) and get points for sending them to people. Then I get to request books and they magically appear! http://bookmooch.com/

Oh, and my boyfriend is the greatest in the whole wide world, even if he leaves for four days of the week, and takes absurd pictures of me while I am getting the paper in the rain.