Blogging at naptime.

If you want to feel popular one day a year, I have a few handy steps for achieving your goal. #1. Figure out when your birthday is. #2. Advertise this date on Facebook. #3. Get lots of friends on Facebook, it doesn't matter if you talk to them in real life. Virtual friendship has many merits. #4. When your birthday rolls around sit back and watch thousands of people tell you how great you are and what a happy birthday they hope you have. #5. Feel totally great about yourself, despite the process of aging and making poor eating choices on your birthday. All this to say, I had a pretty delightful birthday yesterday. It included all of my favorite things minus one favorite person in my life currently residing in China (though not for long!). Here are some things that made my birthday utterly wonderful. Sausage Egg McMuffins and Hash browns. Breakfast of champions. My first visit to the clothing store H&M. I fell in love. And b...

Here are some names Josh and I are pretty certain we won't name our child: Banjo. Audio Science. Dweezel . Ya'Majesty . Jishelle (A beautiful combination of our names. We were THIS close to convincing Leland and Ashley to name one of their children this. Surprisingly, they declined so it's still up for grabs) Question: How old does your child have to be before you buy them one of these?? I think we have the yard for it. Sidebar: Even ponies think swoopy bangs are the coolest. Current Disappointments: #1. Waves of nausea. I thought I could defeat them. They're fighters. Moxie Crimefighters to be specific. They make a lovely little woman like this go from happily laying in an open sunny field in her cute maternity top... To bravely trying to hold down the teriyaki she just consumed at her desk at work.... I am that lovely little Asian lady. Well in the sense that someone on a team to Cambodia once thought I was from the Philippines . I get that a lot. Disappointment ...

Like any good wife/future mother, the goal I set for myself before having children was to make it to Disney Land one last time so I could ride the big kid rides. Check. Our wonderful 2 year anniversary Disney Land trip in May was everything I hoped. And now, less than 3 months later, my previous goal having been accomplished, I have now moved on to bigger and better things. Well, maybe not technically "bigger" at this point. More like the size of one of these little guys... So far I have to say that motherhood is a breeze. Aside from wanting to place a Disney-themed cot underneath my desk at work and take a nap every 15 minutes, I am very much enjoying pregnancy. I've already been given quite a bit of attention for my little legume, as well as books on how to raise this creature, and even organic onesies! (Jillian Michaels would be so proud) Apparently childbearing is something people have been doing for years and Josh & I are fortunate enough to not only have a treme...

"Writing can be a pretty desperate endeavor, because it is about some of our deepest needs: our need to be visible, to be heard, our need to make sense of our lives, to wake up and grow and belong." - Anne Lamott And this is why, more than 2 months after my last entry, I am dusting off this space in an attempt to inhabit it once again. I made one New Years Resolution this year. And it was to write something, anything, every single day of the year. I made it to January 3rd. But now I am being terribly inspired as I read through Anne Lamott's "Bird by Bird" where she will slowly reveal to me every single thing I ever needed to know about writing (I have lofty demands..) and a tad bit uninspired as I spend forty hours a week refilling vacant copier paper trays, sweeping away the unsightly remains of mangled staples, visiting the exotic land of "bulk mail," and entering numbers into a computer that each reveal the generous donations of people giving back...

Josh and I became quite the "accomplished" (perhaps too generous a word) cinematographers during our time in Cambodia, and to show that in its fullness, I thought I would post some of our personal favorites here so that the thousands who flock here daily would have easy access to our videos in one concise post. Oh the hours of research I am saving people..... First, my personal favorite, our Batman video, where Josh discovered previously unknown courage. And I discovered video sound effects! Next, our "Crib." The place we spent nearly 3 hours total when not out with teams :) And finally, our extensive series of discovering the lost ruins of Angkor. We needed a hobby.

First of all, as a public service announcement I would like to share that I think Blogspot is out to get me. Because for all of the time I spend attempting to format the layout so that the pictures and text line up just right (to perfection!), I will look over at my husband's computer as he's reading through and see things completely out of place. So please feel free to use your imagination in regards to what the page should look like if it is not aligning properly on your computer. Thank you. In other news, it has been quite the week for Josh and I as we watch the calendar days pass by and the one marked with "Josh and Michelle Depart" draw closer and closer. Pretty surreal. And yes, that day is TOMORROW by the way! Wow. In an important piece of news, I had intended to end my time here by maybe working on my tan a little this week before leaving (I have very clearly defined priorities), but rainy days combined with a general dislike of being in direct Cambodian s...