A to Zed... courtesy of Miss Jaime

A. Attached or single?
Pretty attached, married!

B. Best friend?
I have a lot of best friends - my sister, Shelly, Jaime and Kelly. I have a different friendship with each of them, but they are all amazing friends to me.

C. Cake or pie?
Pie usually. I am a sucker for cherry pie. Yum.

D. Day of choice?
Saturday is the best because it is the most stress-free day of the week. You just completed a week so the stress of that is over and there's still one more day before you have to think about beginning another week. I like to just enjoy the day on Saturday.

E. Essential item?
My iPod. I must have music around me at all times or I go insane. I have numerous places to plug it in around my house. I hate silence for some reason.

F. Favourite colour?
Fire-engine red.

G. Gummy bears or worms?
Both taste like chewing on a piece of plastic to me.

H. Hometown?
If you're going by the place I was born - Hoboken, NJ. Great little town... has suddenly become trendy and overpriced, but I still love it. I say that most of my memories of growing up are in West Palm Beach, FL though.

I. Indulgence?
Food. I love to indulge myself in great food. Life is too short to not enjoy the pleasure of a good meal.

J. January or July?
January. July usually finds me sweating like a pig in the Florida heat or hiding in the dark of my house with the shades closed because I hate the summer here!

K. Kids?
Coming right up. February! Isabella Grace or Jack Lawrence shall prepare to make their entrance into this world... :)

L. Life isn’t complete without?
Good music, great food, lots of laughs, TRAVEL!

M. Marriage date?
June 2, 2007

N. Number of brothers & sisters?
2 sisters and 2 brothers.

O. Oranges or apples?
Oranges

P. Phobias?
Closed spaces. When I was studying in Prague, we took a tour of a concentration camp. One part of the tour took us into one of the underground tunnels in the prison... it was so narrow and low that I could touch both walls and my head almost touched the ceiling. I suddenly started to panic and felt like I might actually scream. I never knew that I had that fear until then.

Q. Quotes?
"The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step forward." It reminds me that I need to have patience and enjoy the journey... not all the big things that I want in my life can happen at once.

R. Reasons to smile?
Fall is here, we have a roof over our heads and I have a husband that loves me and takes care of me.

S. Season of choice?
Fall definitely. I love Fall up north. There is nothing more beautiful than seeing the leaves change. I hope to live where that happens one day soon!

T. Tag seven peeps!
Yeah, no.

U. Unknown fact about you?
I can name (and probably sing) most songs after hearing the first few notes. I know a lot of weird song lyrics and useless music trivia.

V. Vegetable?
I am a huge fan of artichokes.

W. Worst habits?
I bite my nails and grind my teeth.

X. X-ray or ultrasound?
Eh, doesn't matter.

Y. Your favourite food?
It is HARD for me to choose because I enjoy all kinds of food. Lately I've been obsessed with Mellow Mushroom pizza. They have the best crust! I also like Middle Eastern food A LOT.

Z. Zodiac sign?
Aries - fiesty, indecisive, and impulsive. I think I fit the bill!

Reading is really my escape. Especially since lately my life is all stress and anxiety. I found this list of the "Top 100 Books" and thought it was interesting to see what I have read from it (bolded). I have a lot of good ones to check out!!!

1 Harry Potter series - J.K. Rowling (some of them at least)
2 Twilight - Stephenie Meyer
3 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
4 The Obernewtyn Chronicles - Isobelle Carmody
5 My Sister's Keeper - Jodi Picoult
6 To Kill A Mockingbird - Harper Lee
7 The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
8 Breath - Tim Winton
9 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
10 Break No Bones - Kathy Reichs
11 The Power Of One - Bryce Courtenay
12 Fight Club - Chuck Palahniuk
13 Magician - Raymond E. Feist
14 The Bronze Horseman - Paullina Simons
15 Mao's Last Dancer - Li Cunxin
16 Memoirs Of A Geisha - Arthur Golden
17 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
18 Cross - James Patterson
19 Persuasion - Jane Austen
20 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
21 The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
22 The Secret - Rhonda Byrne
23 Marley and Me - John Grogan
24 Antony and Cleopatra - Colleen McCullough
25 April Fools Day - Bryce Courtney
26 North & South - Elizabeth Gaskell
27 In My Skin - Kate Holden
28 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
29 A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini
30 The Other Boleyn Girl - Phillipa Gregory
31 Nineteen Minutes - Jodi Picoult
32 Atonement - Ian McEwan
33 Shantaram Gregory - David Roberts
34 Pillars Of The Earth - Ken Follett
35 The Pact - Jodi Picoult
36 Ice Station - Matthew Reilly
37 Cloudstreet - Tim Winton
38 Jessica - Bryce Courtenay
39 A New Earth - Eckhart Tolle
40 The Princess Bride - William Goldman
41 Running With Scissors - Augusten Burroughs
42 Anybody Out There? - Marian Keyes
43 Life Of Pi - Yann Martel
44 Seven Ancient Wonders - Matthew Reilly
45 People Of The Book - Geraldine Brooks
46 Six Sacred Stones - Matthew Reilly
47 Memory Keeper's Daughter - Kim Edwards
48 Brother Odd - Dean Koontz
49 Tully - Paullina Simons
50 Tuesdays with Morrie - Mitch Albom
51 The Catcher in the Rye - J.D Salinger
52 Eragon - Christopher Paolini
53 Eat, Pray, Love - Elizabeth Gilbert
54 It's Not About The Bike - Lance Armstrong
55 A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
56 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
57 The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho
58 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
59 A Fortunate Life - A.B. Facey
60 The Mists of Avalon - Marion Zimmer Bradley
61 The Notebook -Nicholas Sparks
62 Water For Elephants - Sara Gruen
63 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
64 The Host - Stephenie Meyer
65 Dirt Music - Tim Winton
66 Eldest - Christopher Paolini
67 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
68 It - Stephen King
69 World Without End - Ken Follett
70 Emma - Jane Austen
71 Temple - Matthew Reilly
72 Little Women - Alcott Louisa May
73 Lean Mean Thirteen - Janet Evanovich
74 Scarecrow - Matthew Reilly
75 American Gods - Neil Gaiman
76 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
77 P.S, I Love You - Cecelia Ahern
78 All That Remains - Patricia Cornwell
79 The Last Lecture - Randy Pausch
80 Past Secrets - Cathy Kelly
81 The Persimmon Tree - Bryce Courtenay
82 Husband - Dean Koontz
83 Plain Truth - Jodi Picoult
84 Wicked - Gregory Maguire
85 Spot Of Bother - Mark Haddon
86 Always And Forever - Cathy Kelly
87 The Road - Cormac McCarthy
88 Cents & Sensibility - Maggie Alderson
89 Me Talk Pretty One Day - David Sedaris
90 The Shifting Fog - Kate Morton
91 We Need To Talk About Kevin - Lionel Shriver
92 Everyone Worth Knowing - Lauren Weisberger
93 Hour Game - David Baldacci
94 Darkly Dreaming Dexter - Jeff Lindsay
95 The Woods - Harlan Coben
96 Half of a Yellow Sun - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
97 Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides
98 Scar Tissue - Anthony Kiedis
99 Infidel - Ayaan Hirsi Ali
100 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks

Amen brother

Jaime sent me this and I had to repost because it is fabulous.

I am so lucky that I've had a chance to see most of these beautiful places.

http://www.tomisimo.org/blog/2007/places/27-reasons-to-visit-spain/

Another journey first?

Steve and I have been discussing starting a family for the past six months or so. We've been trying to prepare ourselves both financially and mentally for the challenges of being parents. Throughout the whole process we've always been discussing whether or not we should wait - or whether the time is right. I personally know that I am more than ready to be a mother.

The only problem is that we really would love the opportunity to live abroad. We told ourselves that we could always do it later, when our children are older. I'm sure that that could be a possibility... but after having children, will life ever be this uncomplicated again?

An opportunity has presented itself:

There is this amazing organization, http://www.aassa.org, that places teachers in American schools in South America. I have a teacher friend that did this in Mexico for a few years. Basically, if you are qualified, you sign a 2 year contract and teach at an international private school that teaches the American curriculum.

I am applying. If all goes well, Steve and I will be traveling to Atlanta in December to attend their job fair. If I get hired, we'd leave in August 2009 and stay for two years. The best part is that we'd get to bring the dogs with us also. We'd also be paid in both local currency and USD.

First things first, I need to get that application in. Then we need to decide which South American countries we would want to live in.

I want to be a mother... but won't I be a better mother if I experience the things that I've always dreamt about? If I don't at least try for this, will I be resentful towards Steve and disappointed in myself? What if I start to feel stuck? I don't want to feel those things and when I have a child I want my life to be 100% dedicated towards them. I need to get my selfish "travel needs" out of the way.