I am a HUGE fan of the Hunger Games books and I am SO excited about the movie! Usually I don’t get too excited about promotional tie ins but I saw the Hunger Games nail polishes by China Glaze and fell in love! They have a ton of gorgeous colors. 
I controlled myself though and chose 2. I chose Riveting 
and Luxe and Lush
. LOVE them! I also really like Fast Track, Stone Cold, Hook and Line, and Smoke and Ashes but a girl’s on a budget. Electrify was pretty amazing looking too. Luxe and Lush goes on clear with big chunks of pearlized glitter. I like it over Riveting for my fingers and Riveting alone on my toes. I’ll be all decked out for the premiere! By the way, another reason I can’t wait to see the movie is that it was filmed right here in NC! They filmed in Charlotte, Concord (just North of CLT), and outside of Asheville. Funny, I don’t remember Lenny Kravitz asking me to hobknob with him!
Tag: China
Adoption Limbo
I get the occasional email and Facebook message from people wondering how the adoption is going. Well, up til about a month ago it was going pretty well. Our social worker came to visit and do our individual interviews last month and it went great. But we have had some more speed bumps. We are still working on the next steps I blogged about, but in the mean time we are dealing with some issues. Long story so get comfy. Continue reading “Adoption Limbo”
Space kidet Em
Yesterday I went to Shannon’s daughter Emily’s 4th birthday. Em is one of my favorite little people in the world. I just adore her. I can’t believe she’s 4 already! Seems like just yesterday she came home from China. Anyway, the kids bounced around at Space Kidets then we went back to Shan’s for pizza and presents. When it was time to open presents someone said “You can go ahead Emily and open a present.” She responded “No, I have to wait for someone to get the camera”! What a little ham! 
Look at that sweet face! Here’s Shannon trying out Em’s magic Tiana wand I got her (Shan’s cooking up a baby sister for Em that should arrive in the next couple months)! 
Hola or Ni hao?
I’m a planner. Considering we’ve been trying to adopt for 5 years now I’ve had plenty of time to plan. We’ve discussed everything from dating rules for our kids to who’s going to pay for their first car etc. One of the things I’ve thought about lately is languages. It is so important now to be bilingual at the very least. I took 4 years of Spanish in school. I can be cordial with the waitress at our local Mexican restaurant but I’m nowhere near conversational or fluent. I do have a book on tape on my iPod, I guess that would be audiobook now- old habits, and I’ve listened to it some . I bought it when we were working on our Guatemalan adoption. I think it would serve our children well if they learn Spanish, whether in school or at home. I’ve also been thinking about Mandarin, especially with my recent trips to the Grand Asia Market. China is clearly emerging as a world power so learning Mandarin could be a huge benefit too. I have Pimsleur’s Quick and Easy Mandarin on my iPod too. I haven’t made it past the first 3 chapters though. Once I got to chapter 3 we were disqualified from adopting from China so I had to stay away from learning it for a while. When I was with Susan at the Asian Market the other day we talked about this and she suggested teaching the kidlets Mandarin because they’ll likely pick up Spanish from friends and in school. I think that’s a good idea. I really admire people who are fluent in more than one language. Ooh, I know like 5 words in Greek, does that mean I’m trilingual? I think it would be really fun to learn the languages along with my kids. Plus, we can totally speak in Mandarin or Spanish when we don’t want bystanders to know what we’re talking about. Like a secret code!
Do any of you plan on teaching your children another language? If so, what?
Ni hao, y’all!
I went to the coolest place today. This new store opened up in our area and I’ve been wanting to check it out. It’s called Grand Asia Market. I Googled it and they have one in the Raleigh area. I checked out their site and all the reviews on Yelp. Turns out they have a restaurant and bakery inside the store. 
So cool! They have SO many cool things. 
A huge area filled with health and beauty aids. So many things written in Chinese and Japanese with no English translations. You know the Japanese make everything cuter so even hand cream and lip balm come in way cute containers. A couple big aisles of housewares. HUGE produce section, more noodles than you’ve ever seen in your life. A giant meat and seafood area with live tilapia. I’d never seen a live tilapia until today. I don’t know if I could pick one out to kill for dinner, but hey, it’s fresh! They were getting ready for Chinese New Year today. 
I bought 100 Jasmine tea bags for less than 16 cost at the regular American store! I also picked up some Thai tea packets. They carry all sorts of Asian things, obviously, but they also cary the Asian version of American products which is cool to see. Oh, and lots of European brands too. The staff was very friendly and all Asian which I think is a great sign. I spotted tons of Asian people shopping and eating there too. Another good sign. You know a place is good if their clientele matches their native cuisine. I don’t go to Mexican restaurants unless I see Mexican people eating there. I like authenticity! Next time I go I’ll try out the cafe. I hear it’s a real hot spot at lunch. I threw out my tiny bit of Mandarin, courtesy of Pimsleur’s Quick and Easy Mandarin audiobook!, and I scored a free coin purse at check out. On the way out I bought a lychee bubble tea. 
So yum!
Beans don’t burn on the grill
We moved into our current house 4 years ago. Since then CSP has been transferred to a new district. Now the possibility of him ever working anywhere near our house is pretty slim. In fact, his commute has steadily gotten longer and now is an hour long one way. To keep his sanity we’ve decided to move! Here’s a picture of our new digs. We move in next week! We will miss being so close to Marc & Sara’s house (my sister & BIL) and being just a mile from my BFF Christina’s house, but our new neighborhood offers so many plusses it helps to make up for it. CSP won’t have any yard work! It’s included in the HOA fees. Sweet! Plus we’re getting the vaulted ceiling in the great room and the hardwood floors that we lost when we moved into our current house. Packing is NOT fun and everything takes longer than you think but it will be worth it.
Now, what does this mean for our adoption? Over the summer we came to the point in our adoption process where the next step was home inspections. We were already thinking about moving so we put everything on hold. Our social worker is waiting for us to give her the go ahead once we get settled in the new joint so she can come out and start the home visits. It just didn’t make any sense to have the old house inspected then turn around and have to do it all again after the move. So, God willing and if CSP’s schedule allows it, then we’ll have all our home visits completed by Christmas.
We are so ready to be out of this house. It has been like a black cloud over our heads for 4 years. So many bad things happened to us here. Right after we moved in China changed their rules and we were out of their adoption program. Then we switched to Guatemala. I had knee surgery. Guatemala closed. I had a hysterectomy. We were matched up with a birth mother in SC. She changed her mind a few months later and broke the news to me over the phone while we were driving to Disney so I could be a bridesmaid in Lisa’s wedding. I had to deal with a huge family drama that changed a few relationships forever. CSP was transferred multiple times. Sara got sicker and sicker. I caught that nasty virus that put me in the hospital then led to pneumonia. Whew. It’s been a rough time.
We are ready for a fresh start! I’m finally having the motha of all yard sales that I’ve been wanting to have forever. CSP will have so much more free time after this move. Time to spend with our little nugget. We’ll be able to get that all wrapped up then start the waiting process. A really wonderful thing is happening to one of my best friends this spring that I am over the moon excited about. CSP & I are planning our next Disney cruise to celebrate his 40th birthday and our 10th wedding anniversary. SO many good things on the horizon! We’re moving on up!
Bless Your Heart 