New Year's Resolutions

I LOVE NEW YEAR'S DAY!! It's one of my favorite holidays. I like the idea of starting fresh, with new goals and challenges. New Year's Eve is one of my least favorite holidays. Something about feeling like I have to stay up late (11pm is late for me!) and the pressure of having to have a party to attend. Oye, the pressure!! I couldn't care less about going to a party, which explains why I agreed to babysit this year for a 5 year old and 15 month twins!! I think the twins will be asleep by the time I arrive, so let's all say a little pray that they stay that way. But I digress....

Back to my 2008 resolutions. I always write them down...that is key.

1) Perform some form of exercise 5 days a week, even if its just for 15 mins.
2) Save a set amount of $ every month.
3) Read 1 novel/month
4) Bake 1 new cake/month. January will be a Tres Leche cake.
5) Have crown molding installed. (This might be superceded by drainfield needs)
6) Paint/Decorate guestroom (See above disclamer)
7) Learn video camera and scanner
8) Be able to have a basic conversation in Mandarin

Happy New Year everyone!!

If things were any slower, we'd be going backwards!!

It looks like they're only going to make it through 12-19-05 in matching and we should start hearing about referrals next week. This is worse than the predicted "Horrid" case. This is bad...very bad. I'm now looking at a possible conflict with the Olympics and having to renew (for the third time, I might add) my fingerprints and I-171H. But hey, the good news is that this time, I'll be able to take advantage of our government's "One Free Renewal For You" program. So, if you ask when I'm going to get my renewal...I have no idea and I'm done trying to predict and plan. The only thing I'm planning now is a vacation...somewhere.

Map of China to help you vote

Using the above map and your sense of intuition...vote for which province you think Mary Alice will be from. You can vote on the red side bar. Keep in mind that the majority of babies come from the southeast provinces.

URGH!!!

Here's the Rumor Queen's latest projections. The only thing that could change these awful numbers is the fact that I just bought myself a ticket to go see Wicked at The Bob Carr Theatre on May 4, 2007. So I'm sure I'll being travelling on that day!!

Bunch O'Yumminess

This is a picture of some treats I bought at Chinese School today, while I was registering for next semester. One is a almond brittle and the other is some type of sesame seed treat...YUMMY! When I asked if I can buy it at an Asian Market in town, they said "No, you buy here..next week...I bring".

I'm all about learning more Mandarin...since I got a 91% on my test and won a prize!!! A $10 gift card to Barnes and Noble!!! WooHoo!! XieXie. Hen Hao. Zai Jian. (Thank you, Very Good and Good bye).

Lastly, there is a single gal on her way to China to pick up her daughter, Emily. You can follow her journey here. And Cheri and Shane are on their way to China today as well, to pick up Hope. They were one of the couples I met in Savannah, so it is very exciting to follow their journey. There is music on their blog, so be careful if you're at work!

Okay, Okay...Here's an update!!

Sorry for the delay in updating the blog...been baking Christmas cookies!! And this weekend is all about being decadent and not doing my chores. Vigil mass on Friday, followed by dinner with my posse at a new restaurant, "The Ravenous Pig" on Friday night; Chinese school and shopping on Saturday, brunch on Sunday at "Spice", followed by Broadway series musical, "My Fair Lady" and Vespers at Rollins College. Must get to gym at some point this month and clean my house!!

Now for the bad news...only 6 days of LID's referred this month, so they're through 12-14-05. That's 31 days to my LID. These scrimpy batches are killing me!