Adopting in Ashburn

So the other night I saw Madagascar with my family. The best part of this film is when the "king" of the monkeys starts singing "I like to move it move it. I like to move it move it. I like to move it move it. I like to MOVE it!" The reason why this happened to be so funny was because the song was written for a rapper and the guy singing had an Indian accent. The next part is especially politically incorrect, but all I kept thinking was: the night I finally do get intoxicated, I am going to get in a cab and my cabby is going to be singing this song with that accent. We watched almost all of the credits listening to him sing it again. Fantastic. Other good stories from this week include driving up to Raleigh to see some old family friends. They first messed up the time. Then they didn't know where the restaurant they wanted to go to was. Then we got lost on bad directions from a concessionist at the IMAX theater. Finally we got to where we were going...

I will not say anything in the affirmative, but I found an excellent housing option today and am thrilled. I am waiting for yea nay's from my potential roommate(s) and then I am scheduling a trip up. If the guy will hold it - next week. If not, Friday. I'll go up and back in a day if I have to to find the perfect place (obviously I'll be checking out a few other places too just in case). Working Saturday definitely throws a wrench in there, but maybe he'll hold it. I have been using the AU search engine for awhile now about once a week checking back for updates. Hence today's find. Very excited (in a potential, not overly enthused way). So excited in fact I have done not too many other things today. Finished reading the Hahn book, still good. It helps that one of the characters has my name I think. However, I realized only on the reread where something I once did got its inspiration - I had already read it in that book. I am going to switch my laundry and...

A non-intentional prayer was answered today. Yesterday I was walking home thinking that my situation in finding a place was horrible, and that I could really just use one other person to help. Someone else who would be looking too. Then I wouldn't feel so alone, and I would stress less about it. My sister called today and offered to help me look for someplace. Just volunteered. I was so happy and relieved. (I said the prayer was unintentional because I have been praying alot about finding a place but only recently decided to be more open in my prayer - including now letting the Lord help me find a solution to the housing situation, of course because He knew best, I was going to stop being specific about how. Who said "ask and ye shall receive" isn't true?) My parents have been doing alot to help - like taking me up to the city, putting up with my bad moods, calling friends - everything. Dana and her family have been searching as much as possible, and I got a real esta...

My stress level was so high tonight that my chest actually hurt. My heart felt constricted - something it has been doing often lately. There are so many things I would like to be doing this summer, but until I find myself an apartment or other housing for next year I am afraid I will not be able to do or enjoy any of them. I have even hesitated on buying plane tickets because I am afraid I won't have a place and I'll have to cancel my trip to find one. Even when I fall asleep my dreams are stressful. Not like nightmares but, for example, one dream was that I worked long over on a project, missed a group dinner and then when I finally tried to leave they had just left and locked me in the building and I couldn't get out (although I did have my cell with me in the dream). I sleep like a rock but I am working so hard in my dreams, I wake up feeling like I haven't slept at all. Not good. Tonight was particularly bad. I got home from work (working extra hours this we...

It is time for a renewed spirit. I didn't have alot of success this weekend finding a place. In fact, only one of the places we looked at is still being considered (two others were certainly good enough, but had too many strikes against them on my count). But I am searching again. I know what I am doing. I am pretty sure I know how I'll go about it. All I have to do now is arrange for everything to fall into place. It is an awful lot of hurry up and wait. I started praying alot harder about it yesterday when everything seemed to be going pretty badly. Then today's homily was about not being afraid. And the priest talked about Job. Let's just say that in comparison, I have nothing to worry about. It doesn't make my problems less important to me, it just puts them in perspective - it could be much worse. So I am off to scour the internet again. There are all sorts of great places out there hiding. I just know there are. Here's hoping I can break the c...

I am bummed I am going to miss the French Circle meeting again this month. I was pretty bummed none of the apartment complexes on the NW side of DC had 2 bedrooms available. And that is all the bad news from today. Isn't that fantastic? I have gone to work, eaten, slept, knitted, and watched television in the past 24 hours. However the most important thing I have done is make appointments. Lots and lots of appointments! We are seeing (Dad and I) two townhouses, one house, two condos, and an apartment during our visit up this weekend. Not to mention seeing AU for the first time in my life. I am so excited. I am going to make sure I have batteries in my camera and on my computer, borrow a cable and off I go! Plus, the phone call from yesterday wasn't as dead awful as I was afraid it would be, my FAFSA is finished, my room is basically clean, Marco bought tickets to come and visit (the States, not just me), and the banana-strawberry-walnut bread I made was a big hit! As ...

How would you like your brains today? Fried or over easy? Poached isn't yet an option - but it may be. Over easy is how my Dad puts it. Calm, relaxed, sure we'll find a place in enough time and within budget. Fried is the status of my brain after having stared at the computer screen for about 6 straight hours in the past two days alone looking for places. Oh, and the cold calling is fun too. Calling places and seeing if they'll have space available in August. Yeah, no. Or they do but their rate is about $200 more than the advertised price online. Or there isn't any parking. A million things going wrong more or less at the same time. Fan-tabulous. On the roommate front, we should be fine if I still have three people (three person apartments are significantly cheaper per person per month than two bedrooms). If not, I have to make one of the scariest phone calls of my life today to ask someone (who probably doesn't like me all that much, but is reliable and...

It might be time for a change. The title of the blog is no longer relevant, it's description a lie, and my life seems to be moving in a completely different direction now. I am contemplating starting a new blog which will continue to be like this, and leave this one - but write here in french. Or maybe the new one will be in french. Or I'll just change the title. Suggestions welcome. Today I "practically" found myself a place to live, finished financial paperwork (for the moment), cleaned the bathroom and vacuumed, researched interships and jobs, and folded my laundry. Pretty productive day. Hier soir je suis allee au reunion pour une groupe des gens qui s'appellent Mensa. Mais ils n'etaient pas la. Alors je m'arretter au librarie pour regarder (et acheter) les livres. Pas mal. J'ai commence de memoriser tous les presidents de mon pays et les choses important de leur "presidency." J'adore l'idee que un jour, je peut devenir...

Because my computer is being a major pain right now, this otherwise fantastic post will have to be abbreviated. Getting right to it... As you know, I am babysitting myself into some money this summer. The two kids I watch three days a week are really big sweethearts, but could use a little help with their song knowledability repetoires. So, being me, I decided I would try to help solve the problem. We sing anything I can think of: The Farmer in the Dell, Have you ever been down the water spout (high school chorus, ahh memories), Baby Shark (HOBY), Old MacDonald, the ABC song with me doing the sign language.... lots of stuff. Because one of the boys was bedridden the other day, I really had to pull out all of the stops in terms of variety of songs. This led me to my second grade favorite, The Little Old Lady Who Swallowed the Fly. Now these boys, 4 and 3, are pretty good at learning the lyrics if you repeat them often enough, but they usually hang onto the words from the beginning...

Not to worry, I haven't fallen into Homer's Odyssey just yet ... You scored as Cyclops . Cyclops is the team leader of the X-Men, and a skilled one at that. He loves Jean Grey very much. He's a strict and sometimes uptight leader, but he believes in his cause and he knows what he's fighting for... Peace between Mutants and Humans. Powers: Optic blasts Cyclops 80% Jean Grey 75% Storm 70% Beast 55% Colossus 55% Rogue 50% Nightcrawler 45% Wolverine 35% Emma Frost 30% Iceman 25% Gambit 20% Most Comprehensive X-Men Personality Quiz 2.0 created with QuizFarm.com So I took this quiz today figuring it would be fun. (Thanks to a friend of a friend for the link) I think this is pretty accurate. It characterizes me (similar to yesterday's blog, I think so) in a very true fashion. If you first met me while I was working on something - on a mission let's say - I would take one look at you and probably blast you. However, if you got me any other time, I would be more than ...

I was trying to sum up what I know about dating (after watching the second half of "How to Get the Guy" last night (after the devastating Gamecock baseball loss)). So, I categorized the types of guys I have had exposure to and for everyone's good, renamed them. Then, I wrote what I learned from each of them. Besides vicariously living through the stories of my friends, this is all the information I would have to offer. **These are in no particular order and they occasionally characterize more than one person.** Mr. Big. Intelligent, charming, and exquisitely good at disarming me. Perhaps too good. What I learned: Open relationships give you alot of freedom - and sometimes too much space. Letting myself go sometimes is as important to my mental health as being a goodie-two-shoes. Verbotten. Reserved, complex, understanding, great listener, patient, helpful, sporty, and obviously, taken. What I learned: Restraint held for long periods of time is better left restrai...

Today, after a two-month grace period and much accidental procrastination ... US Federal Tax form 1040EZ SC Tax Form 1040 SC Schedule NR (meaning Nonresident) And close to $100 coming in the mail before the end of this year. Gotta love getting your own hard earned money back from the government. Tomorrow's task: FAFSA. To declare myself in independent or remain dependent. That is the question. Secondary and, I think, perfunctory question: do I like staying on my father's health insurance? Being dependent certainly has its advantages. And I have two paychecks to cash. And a monetary transfer to send my parents for every penny they put out towards my car while I was gone. Then I am set for the summer. **Large sigh of relief** Special thanks to my best friend for calling me to wish me a happy birthday today. One month and two days late he can still make me feel special. Perhaps this is payback for the birthday card I have had for almost three years but haven't sent ye...

1864 Abe Lincoln renominated for President by Republican Party It is on the history bar today (slide down on the left hand side of the page) and I thought it was particularly interesting considering I started reading a book called, Mr. Lincoln's Wars last night. It is thirteen short stories that reflect the life and times of President Lincoln. I want to delve into all this history. I either need to start understanding history or politics if I am going to be the president of the US one day (the dream, the dream, and don't laugh, because I know you are). I am still with Kayla and Kim on the "you can't not lie and be the president," but maybe I'll try to change that. I hope living in DC next year gives me a pretty good perspective on the political system and whether or not I will be able to tolerate the "spinning." I am going to school to learn how to do it, so I guess I better make sure I know that I can morally stand it. If you witness drops in my m...

By request of one of my favorite people ... Woohoo! Jubilation partout sur le monde petite Sidonie est nee!!! J'etais vraiment contente hier quand je suis recu les photos de la maman et bebe. Felicitations a tout le monde sur cette occassion glorieuse! Ce weekend etait bien passe avec le babysitting, le chien-sitting, et aussi les chants. Mes parents et moi, on est dans une petite chorale de l'eglise et dimanche apres-midi il etait un concert/spectacle. Rien extrordinaire. Franchement, c'etait un peu comme les chats qui mourir. Il me donne plasir de chanter et un mal a tete d'ecouter. C'est pas de tous comme les Champanules. Eh, mais peut-etre on peut ameliorer le son par le fin d'ete??? Les autres nouvelles ... j'ai lu deux livres les deux jours passe. Le deuxieme et le troisieme dans le series de "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants." Je les adore. Ils sonts vraiment pour les ados mes j'adore quand meme. Ils sont traduisent et j...

I'm not writing alot. I promise you and me. Got home from Denver safe and sound. Have completely finished The Devil Wears Prada . Loved it. Babysat, saw Over the Hedge at the movies, took the kids to the park, went to the pool, had Sonic with Mom for dinner, then hit up the choir rehearsal at church (the dying cats have thinned in number). This morning I made sure my money got here from France. Suckers (sorry, PG-13 there, but deservingly) waited an extra week to process my money transfer and the exchange rate dropped six cents on the dollar and I lost $60 in the wake. Not thrilled. However, the money is here, so I can finally pay my parents back. I watch West Wing, hello, it is so good. Saw Access . It is an episode in Season 5 all about being a press secretary and highlighting the ups and downs of the job. I so want that job. To get there though I need an education, so.... I called American and I am officially registered for 12 hours of masters credit in Public Commu...