Sunday Funnies

I'm not experiencing any computer problems, but thought this was too funny! Enjoy!

Art Fair On the Square

This year was the 50th Anniversary of the Art Fair on the Square. We were also blessed by the weather gods today as it stopped raining just before the art fair began this morning. It was also very comfortable weather and overcast, making for an enjoyable stroll around the square. I went with my lovely artist friend Judy and we got inspired to paint again. Afterwards, we had drinks and lunch at the Old Fashioned restaurant. I went for the Mojito (Yum!) and Judy went for the Bloody Mary with a beer chaser. All I can say, is that our smiles were at least a mile wide.

This painting is by one of the artists at the Art Fair on the Square (Shelby Keefe) - this one is of the Chinatown in SanFrancisco. I chose this painting to post because this was Judy's favorite artist at the fair and because it's of Chinatown (China theme). I just love the bright colors and great brush strokes! (note: even better in person!)

Surfer Dudes!

Well, my sister sent me this photo of my nephews and it was just too cute not to post. Here they are just having a great time pretending to be catching some waves. I could just eat them up! I miss them so much!

July's Batch of Referrals Are Official!

Well, it's official now. Here's this months referral notice:
The CCAA has finished the placement of children for the families whose adoption application documents were registered with our office before January 25, 2006.

This is a 5-day referral month (Jan. 21 - 25, 2006). Only 170 days worth of referrals to go... Let's keep 'em coming... At current pace, I think we're looking at the latter part of 2010 for our referral.

I Have A New Idol

At the age of 41, Dara Torres has just made her 5th Olympics. As a fellow competitive swimmer I am astounded at the fact that she's still as fast as she is - even after having a child. She won the 50m and 100m Freestyle - my events!! Something to aspire to, I guess. As soon as my shoulder gets better, I'm going to have to hit the pool again. Seems like age just isn't what it used to be. Thank g-d!! In case you're wondering - I'm 21 and holding... I'll never tell!

Happy 4th of July and Rumors

Well another 4th of July parade gone by and still no daughter to participate in it. Last night my sister and I were reminiscing over the days of when our parents used to help us decorate our bikes with red, white and blue crape paper and we would go to our neighborhood picnic. It was always one of the highlights of the summer. Some day we'll get to do that with our daughter...

Rumor mills are buzzing and referrals should be coming out soon. Maybe January 25th is going to be the cut-off. 5-day referral batch. We shall see. Coming soon will be the dates of when the Chinese New Year was and that batch should hypothetically seem like a huge batch because no files were logged in during it. Right now it's looking like the end of 2010 or beginning of 2011 for us to receive our referrals. Kind of depressing since when we started the whole process it was going to be a 12-month wait - not 5 years!! They say, all good things come to those who wait. I certainly hope it's true!!

The Operation Was A Success!

Today Robert went in for his hernia operation - he had a laparoscopic inguinal hernia repair. He didn't sleep too well last night - he was a bit nervous about today. His doctor said that everything went well. His doctor even gave him a video of the operation. Weird, yes! That's my hubby though! He had to know what the operation looked like. Me - too grossed out to watch most of it. We got home from the hospital around 4 pm. He was a bit drugged up for a while, but he's beginning to finally get his head all cleared up and feel more like normal. Right now he's not in too much pain, just some oozing out from the incisions. His left leg is still a bit numb and he was a bit worried about it for a while, but it's just now started to get some feeling back in it. Yeah! He's going to have to take it easy for a few days, but he's going to be just fine. Here's a great shot of my poor baby! Everyone always looks smashing in their hospital gowns.

Testing the E-Mail method of Posting Into Our Blog

This is just a test to see if I can successfully e-mail into my blog - will the picture be included and where will it get placed in the post. What will be used, if anything, as the headline. Here goes nothing... The photo is one of many books in our future daughter's book collection - "Zen Shorts" which is a Caldecott Honor Book. It teaches Zen principles in a kid-friendly way that is easily understandable and relatable to them. Children are asked to view things from other points of view - a great lesson to be learned! The illustrations are wonderful watercolors that are just too sweet.

Note to others: It worked great!! Great way to circumvent the blogging problem when we eventually make it to China. I love it!!

How-To Directions:

1. Sign into your blog and then click on "Customize"
2. then, click on "Settings"
3. then, click on "e-mail"
4. you will see an address to the right of "Mail-to-blogger address". Use that e-mail address as your e-mail address to post messages onto your blog with. I think I filled in part of the e-mail address in the blank box?? Can't remember, though...
5. Your title of the blog post comes from the subject line in your e-mail address.
6. photos get placed at the top of the post and your e-mail message gets posted below them.
7. make sure that "publish e-mails immediately" is checked, otherwise your e-mails get saved as drafts, not posts.

Rhythm & Booms fireworks

Tonight was the Rhythm & Booms fireworks display in Madison. Robert and I went to the Memorial Union terrace to watch the fireworks go off and have a pitcher of beer. It was lots of fun - especially when all the drunk students were singing along to all the lyrics of the music as the fireworks were going off. Just added to the ambiance. It was really a great show. I think it's one of the largest in the Midwest. We also got lucky - NO RAIN!! We could see it raining in the distance, but we got lucky as it went north of us. Yeah!

Visiting Taliesin

Today I had a lovely day with Sabina. I cooked her a lovely gourmet lunch and then we took off for a 2-hour tour of Taliesin (Frank Lloyd Wright's studio and home in Spring Green, WI) and just plain hanging out together. As Sabina lives in Portland, I don't get to see her too much. Taliesin was really interesting to see, but is in some need of renovation. I LOVE the Prairie Style architecture, but could never live in a Frank Lloyd Wright home-too many oddities. Our tour guide was really amazing and had lots of great stories about the very eccentric "Mr. Wright".

After visiting Taliesin, I took Sabina to Mazomanie, a cute little small town on the way back to Madison. We stopped at this cute little cafe that I had been to before. We were quite surprised when out of the blue this cute little family circus took over the main drag (note: the main drag consists of about 6 buildings) - it was so cute seeing these little kids walking around on stilts. See a picture for yourself. The kids looked like they were having so much fun showing off.