Christmas Photo Shoot

My wonderful sister-in-law, Crystal, is a FANTASTIC photographer. She graciously offered to take our holiday photo this year. A few weekends ago, Dave and I were rushing to get to a dinner party, Dave had been skiing all day long, we hadn't showered, and we looked a mess! Crystal had about 10 minutes left of decent light so I told Dave to quickly run upstairs and shave. (A monumental feat in itself). I pulled out the lipstick and eyelash curler and we ran outside. I have no idea how she does it, but Crystal is AMAZING! Our photos came out fantastic and you'd never know we were unshowered, unshaved and late to dinner when we took these photos! Here are a few of the highlights....Enjoy!

http://www.lovemephotography.com/

Reason 1,862 why I love my husband

He lets me dress him up as Santa!

First day on the mountain

After taking a very long break from skiing, I finally bought new new boots and a season pass. Dave and I went out to take a few runs and had a blast! My brother, Tommy,  met up with us for 30 minutes or so. My legs were burning so badly. I am completely out of shape! Four runs was perfect for my first day back.

Care package for Daniel

Two weeks ago, our adoption agency was sending some staff members over to South Korea for business. They were going to visit our Korean agency and Daniel's foster mother was going to stop by for Daniel's 7 month check up. We were able to send a few items over with our agency and they would graciously hand them to Daniel's caretaker. We sent over a Leapfrog stuffed animal which was programmed to say his English name, a soft blanket that we had slept with for a week (so it smelled like us) and a letter introducing ourselves. We also included a small gift from our town in Colorado for his foster family.

When the staff members came back to the states, they had the most wonderful gift for us! We received a 6 minute video of Daniel playing and 15 new photos. It was such a precious treat seeing the package in our post office box.

Making a Shutterfly book for Daniel

Shutterfly is Wonderful


With the holiday season approaching I know many of you will be making your Christmas cards and looking for great gift ideas. Shutterfly offers so many fun, creative products you can make. Shutterfly is also great in that it stores your images for you free of charge and always offers great deals.

Shutterfly has so many options for making cards. It's a great place to make your holiday cards. Here are a few of my favorites.

Shutterfly Holiday cards

I can't wait to make our holiday card this year. My wonderful sister in law is a professional photographer and takes AMAZING photos. I'm waiting for our holiday pic to be taken next weekend and then I'll get my Shutterfly holiday cards ordered! Shutterfly has designs for everyone and many different styles including Folded Greeting Cards, Flat Stationary Cards, and Flat Photo Cards. They have designs galore so I guarantee you will find the perfect one to send as your Holiday card.

My other sister in law, Yvonne, started a holiday tradition last year of making all the family members calendars for the year. She fills it with photos, birthdays, dated reminders and anniversaries. When you have a large family like mine, that type of gift is so thoughtful!

Shutterfly Annual Wall Calendars

While Dave and I wait for our little boy to come home to us, I am making a photo book of all our family members. I'm going to send it over to Korea for him to look at throughout the day. He'll have some familiar faces greeting him when he finally gets here next summer. I'm making a large (50 pages!) square book. They are so easy to create!
Shutterfly Photo Books

I'm also going to take one of the referral photos of Daniel and have it made into canvas wall art. It will go right on top of the mantle in the master bedroom. I'd post a photo of him here, but we're not allowed to because of legal privacy issues with our agency.
Shutterfly canvas wall art

Thanks for reading about some of the many great products Shutterfly offers and I hope you love the site as much as I do.

Referral!

Dave and I are so excited to announce the acceptance of our referral. We first saw little Bom Park photo’s on Wednesday morning and are so blessed to be able to accept him into our family. He will be called Daniel Park Delahoz and we cannot wait to hold him in our arms eight months from now.  He was born in South Korea on April 16, 2010 and is currently 6 months old. Please join us in welcoming him into our family!

Fall!

The leaves are all wonderful shades of yellows, golds, oranges and rusts. The smell of wood burning fires is in the air and pumpkins adorn the front doors of homes. I love this time of year!

End of silence

It's been pretty quiet around here lately. Quiet in so many ways.


The house construction project has finally ended. We have a few punch list items to clear off, but we're just about complete with the exterior renovation.

It's quiet because all of the house guests have gone home. We went approx. 25 STRAIGHT days with house guests. My parents, Dave's parents, Dave's brother and family. I swear, after my parents left (they were the most recent guests) Dave and I sat in silence for about 24 hours. We were all talked out. It was strange to have an empty house. We loved having each and every guest and are so thankful we have family that loves to come and visit us.

As soon as the last guests left, I crashed. I've been sick for over a week now with a cold that has taken away all my energy. Quiet now because it took too much energy to talk. I've used four full boxes of tissues in 7 days. I think that has to be a record.

Most importantly (or most significantly) it's quiet because there wasn't any movement on the adoption list. It's been a rough month or so. I know I complained that we were number 8 for so long, but number 7 felt like an eternity. It's been easier to ignore the list and the blog than it would have been to post "No News Yet". Then, on Friday, I got an email from an adoption friend saying she heard there was a referral on Friday. Of course, it was after business hours so I had to wait all weekend long to confirm. First thing on Monday morning, I emailed our agency. It was a grueling few hours waiting for their response, but FINALLY we are Number 6! Amen to that!

It's not like me to be quiet. It's not in my nature to sit still. I'm typically always on the move and always talking about something. I'm ready to kick this cold outta here. I'm ready to begin renovating the little boy's room. I'm ready to be loud again.

Watch out World, Tanya's back.

Invasion

I have a large family.
I have a loud family
thus-I have a large, loud family.

And they are all arriving this weekend.
Pray

PS-My in-laws will be here also.

Hello, Fall. Nice to see you again

The chill is in the air and we are quickly saying good-bye to summer. Frost can be seen up on the roof each morning when we wake up now. Before you know it, snowflakes will be falling. I have an internal bet with myself that I'll see a few snowflakes before Labor Day weekend.

Seasons changing means progress to me, it means time is passing by and onto a new part of the year.

A few things that make me smile about autumn

• It being cool enough to make Chili
• Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte
• Being able to wear cute velour hoodies and pant sets out in of the house
• Heated leather seats in the car
• Fall colored decorations for the house
• The sound of the Aspen leaves blowing in the wind

4 months and counting...

Today officially marks the 4 month mark that Dave and I have been waiting for a referral. At times, the days and weeks seem to fly by. Other times, like now, it's dragging. I emailed our agency earlier this week to get an update and found out we had finally moved up a spot to #7 on the wait list. We had not moved in over a month. I was so tired of being #8. Any movement is good movement, but there is something fun and exciting about the countdown and the anticipation of movement. I like changing places on the list. It means progress. Dave is perfectly content biding his time and, at least it seems to me, just being patient. I have no idea how he does it. It's beyond my capabilities.


While we wait, we have been doing some much needed upgrades to the house. It seems like we're always working on the house, and we are. This month, we're getting a new roof put on, new trim painting, new stain and new garage doors. Working on the house and organizing the contractors is an experience! It takes so much time and I know now why people seem to take a full year off from their jobs when they are building a house. There are always decisions to be made, colors to choose, bills to pay, etc. It's a lot of work! But, I love it-I know want to build a spec house. I know, I know-I'm dreaming. But, what's life about without dreams?

Dave has completely been going outside of his comfort zone with working on the house. I am so proud of him. Dave's brother, Mike, came up for "work weekend" last weekend and helped Dave build a new deck for around the hot tub. We are so thankful!

Bertha

We've been having a visitor in our neighborhood lately. A HUGE mama bear and her two (adorable!) cubs have been walking through the yard pretty regularly. She and the cubs were up on the neighbors 2nd story deck the other day, our guest in the studio saw her sitting next to his car a few nights ago, and then last night, while I was watching TV, the mama bear was in my courtyard and looked right into the window! I saw her out of the corner of my eye and when I looked over to the windows, I screamed my head off. It was such a shock seeing her look straight in at me! I almost peed my pants!

My screaming must have startled her. She turned and lumbered off towards the rock wall. I grabbed my camera from my office and, after checking to make sure she wasn't in the courtyard any longer, opened the back door. I climbed up onto one of the rocks and watched her in my neighbor's yard for a bit before she and the cubs crossed the road and then proceeded to hang out on the other neighbors front deck. This bear is apparently used to being around people and is very comfortable around houses. While she’s cool to look at and I sort of want one of the cubs as a pet, the idea of a 400 pound bear hanging out in my yard is a bit unnerving.

I've named her Bertha. Bertha the Big Black Bear.

Being neighborly

We live in a very dog friendly area. No one leashes their dog and dogs are allowed to roam free. For the dogs morning “movement”, the neighbors all open up their doors and just let the dogs wander outside to go about their business. For some reason, unbeknownst to me, all the neighborhood dogs LOVE my yard. It’s like the smooth movin’ poop fairies all live there and it’s good luck for the pups to poop amongst my greenery.


The neighbors on either side of my house are pretty good about the dog bathroom deposits. About once every week or so, they will wander throughout my yard armed with their shovel and plastic grocery bags. They will remove a large bag or two (sometimes more) of poop and dispose of it in a way I don’t care to think about. Now that the weather has warmed up, my windows and the door leading out to the yard are always open. I frequently sit out on the deck to enjoy my morning coffee. In an effort to thwart the neighborhood dogs behavior, I’ve taken up the habit of yelling at them or shooting my nerf gun at them as they begin to squat. One of the dogs, a big mangy looking white haired dog named Max, rather enjoyed the game of nerf. He didn’t run from the nerf pellets but caught them in his mouth and brought them back to me. REPEATEDLY. He thinks this is a fun game. Believe me, it’s not! (That plan backfired on me) The other morning, as he was getting ready negotiate the rescue of the little brown kids I yelled out, “MAX! Stop! Go AWAY!”. He ignored me, left a huge pile of steamy brown goo and smugly walked out of the yard. His owner must have heard me yell because she came running over and apologized and removed the steamy smelly mess from my yard. I thanked her and she explained the woman who lived in our house before we moved in (who did not have a dog herself) didn’t mind the dogs using her lawn since she never mowed it and never went out there. The dogs have been used to claiming this as their own communal bathroom for years and years and they were having a difficult time getting used to the changes. (Therapy, anyone?) I jokingly said that we don’t have a dog because we don’t want to have to deal with the poop in the yard. However, that plan also seems to be backfiring of me.

Since then, the neighborhood dog moms are getting better and better about watching their dogs when they let them out. I am BEYOND thankful! However, there is now the awkward situation of thanking them. I mean, what are you supposed to? What if I’m sitting on my deck, listening to the birds and the river, enjoying my morning coffee and the peacefulness and a big ol’ dog comes over and does his business in my yard. If the neighbor doesn’t stop him in time, they will come over with the bag and pick it up. If I’m sitting outside I’ll say “g’morning” or something neighborly. But if I’m in my office, with the window open and she can see me and I can see her, do I yell out and acknowledge the poop picking up action to thank her? Or do I ignore the whole uncomfortable situation? I certainly do not want to be known as the mean neighbor. I want to be the nice one, the neighbor who brings cookies over around the holidays and the neighbor who always stops to talk. I don’t have a dog myself, so I don’t know what the proper poop etiquette is. The whole situation is just weird and odd to me. Bathroom behaviors are supposed to be private, something done in secret. Now, obviously, that’s not the case with dogs. They have no sense of modesty and will drop a squat wherever they are when the desire hits. I feel weird saying thank you to the neighbors who are diligent about picking it up and are considerate about our desires of having a poop free yard (is that really too much to ask for? Really, even for summit county?) But, I also feel weird about ignoring it and not acknowledging their efforts of keeping the peace.

Revolving doors

Our house has been flooded with visitors over the last few weeks. Oh, how I love a full house! Perhaps it's the "entertainer/hostess" in me.  Two weekends ago, good friends of ours from Colorado Springs came up to visit for the weekend. This past weekend, Dave's brother and his daughter came up and now we have our neighbors from when we lived in Denver staying with us for a few nights. There is always a constant state of activity going on in our house. We have had 5 adults, 3 kids, a 75 lb dog and a little bitty lap dog all stay in the last few days. Can I tell you about all the laundry I'm doing? Let's just say I'm flying through bottles of Tide on a weekly basis!

Waiting Game

I'm sure this will be the first of many similar posts, but this week the waiting has really been getting to me. We are still #11 on the list. There has not been any movement in a few weeks and it's killing me. FAMILY NUMBER TEN is a huge step (You have to write that in all caps, because its such a big deal!) for us. Once we become FMAILY NUMBER TEN we can start our home study, begin our parent training, getting our references in order, etc. It's huge! It means we're getting close enough to start all the major paperwork.

But, for now, we're still at #11 on the list. I'm sure the family that is currently #1 on the list is feeling as much frusteration as I am, if not more. I cannot even image what it's like to be them right now. All I can think about is soon, that will be Dave and I. For now, I need to be content where we are and look at the small milestone of our journey. Like becoming FAMILY NUMBER TEN!

Weekend chores

My husband was supposed to have a big IT change going in this weekend and was going to be required to work the entire day on Saturday and well into the night. It’s a beautiful weekend in Summit County and I was planning on occupying my time while he was working with some projects around the house and yard. In our family, I’m the project person. I generally do the “fix it up” projects, whether its something like organizing the garage work bench or re-hanging a towel bar in a bathroom. I like doing it, while Dave 100% detests it. He hates yard work and fixing things. I’m ok with his distain; I came to grips with it a long time ago. He would rather watch Star Trek or CSI than work out in the yard. He has other roles in our family and fills those needs very well. Being the handy-(wo)man of the house is something I’m comfortable with and don’t mind doing.

Anyway-my list of projects for the weekend is pretty long.  So long that I put it into an excel spreadsheet to organize it by room and section of the house. And then, I added in a column of things to buy to help with the projects. Yes, I am a little OCD and overly anal when it comes to planning.  The goals were to:

·         Re-paint the foyer wall where all the shoes scuffs are

·         Remove a shelf in the wine closet, paint behind it and then hang up a new wine rack

·         Remove the light fixture in the master bath, repaint it.

·         Remove the towel bars in the master and repaint

·         Rake front lawn

·         Power wash the garage doors and driveway

·         Wash all the windows in the house

·         Clean out the gutters

·         Prep front flower beds

·         Go to GoodWill

There are about 10 other projects on my to do list, but I don’t think they will feasibly get done this weekend.

Dave’s work project got cancelled at 6pm Friday night. Frustrating for him and his team, but also frustrating for me. You see, I’m ok with the fact that D doesn’t like to do projects and yard work. I don’t mind doing them. I get a HUGE sense of satisfaction when I fix something and make it nicer. I love it when I can stand back, look around me and say, “I did this, I made it look good”. It’s just something I enjoy. I think Dave feels guilty he doesn’t like doing that kind of stuff. I think he feels like he should be helping me out.  Then, when he feels guilt for not helping, I feel guilty for not hanging out with him. It’s an endless cycle…

While his help and company is nice, I don’t want him doing it if his hearts not in it. It’s something I enjoy and find peaceful. As weird as it sounds, projects relax me. Sitting on a couch watching Data and Capt. Piccards’ next adventure in the space time continuum is D’s way of relaxing.

Now that he’s not working this weekend, I don’t know how far along in my list I’ll get. I have a feeling the list will get placed to the back burner and I’ll get sidetracked. I'll end up speding some precious time with him and I'll enjoy every moment of it. But the list will still be there next weekend...

"If I had a million dollars..."

Last night Dave and I were watching one of our favorite shows, The Biggest Loser. Seriously, this show yanks on my tear jerkers big time. Half the time I'm watching it, I'm holding back the floodgates.

 Anyway, during the last challenge (running a marathon), when the contestants completed the 26.? mile run, they were awarded with a check for $10,000 to give to the charity of their choice. I asked Dave, "If you had to give 10K to a charity today, who would you give it to?" We talked about it for a few minutes and couldn't decide. Then, I had an idea-if I had ten grand to donate, I would send it to the orphanage that our future son is going to come from.  

We don't know who is he at this point, and what his birth mother will be going through in the next few months. If possible, I would do everything I could to make sure she has good medical access, emotional support and counseling as she makes the decision to relinquish her rights. Whoever you are, dear birth mother, please know that Dave and I are praying for you and want the best for your life. We promise to take care of our little boy each day of his life. Although I don't have the money to donate (I should go on the BL and get it!), I will do everything I can to support you in other ways.

Sharon's Home in Seoul, a place for unwed mothers to be

Back to the grind

A few weeks ago I went back to work. I took a position as a trainer with a software company specializing in plastic surgery practices. It's basically the same thing I was doing before in my past job, just with one of their competitors. I loved my time off from work, but it was time to put the brain back into use. I was completely ready to go back to being a working woman.

I finished up a lot of projects around the house. I sanded down the black chair and repainted it. It looks good, but not perfect. I guess as my first venture into furniture refinishing, it's not a bad turnout.  I also painted an old weathered wicker chair and table super bright colors. The chair was a dingy white-ish, gross brown color, but now it's bright lime green. The table got painted barn-red. Both are sitting out in the elements under a tree in the front yard. I'm not sure they'll make it through another winter, but they'll look great this summer.

 I cannot wait to sit in them out in the sunshine!

In baby-land, three of our good friends are having babies in the next month and a half. We had a wonderful gathering to celebrate this past weekend. It was a beautiful day and the mommys-to-be got lots of love and attention.

Number 16!

Today is the day our formal application was received at AAC Adoptions in Berthoud, Colorado. We are officially Family Number 16 on the Korean baby boy list! I am hoping and praying we move up the list very quickly. The waiting begins...

With all the sudden free time I've had lately, I have been knocking out some projects around the house. I fixed the back door of the house by installing a new door bottom and sweep and I replaced the back of an arm chair for the living room. Imagine the chair without the circular design, it had fallen out.

I bought some paint for the chair last week while I made a Home Depot run to Avon and am hoping to sand it down and re-paint it sometime this week. This is one of the furniture pieces I purchased when the Furniture Room store in Denver was going out of business in 3 hours after I got there to originally buy a coffee table. I probably paid $10 or something for this chair. It used to be in our bedroom at the Stapleton house and I loved it there! It was a perfect chair for reading in. Now it sits in our living room. It's not the best place for it, but it doesn't fit anywhere else. I bought the same color paint to correct the chips and scratches, but now am thinking I should have been a bit more creative and painted it a sky blue or bright orange.

I also bought some flat black spray paint and am hoping to re-paint the powder rooms' light fixture and towel bar. Once I'm done with that project, I'll post before and after photos.

I've had an ad on Craigslist for a few weeks asking for someone to give me free house plants. This woman in Vail contacted me and was giving away a 6 foot tall tree. It was HUGE! (And filthy, dirty and dusty) I brought the furniture dolly over with me and picked it up. The tree got a little damaged on the drive home and it's now a bit shorter than the original 6ft, but it's still pretty cool looking. It takes up a ton of room in the house. I love it, but I'm not too sure my husband agrees.

A new beginning...

Alright, alright, alright...enough already. I have had this blog forever, we're talking months here, and I have done nothing at all with it. I'm not sure if it was because of a lack of time, a lack of creativity or because of a lack of motivation. Who knows? I just haven't. To all the people of the world (well, really, just in my little world), I've heard your cries. I've heard your pleas. I've heard your requests. So, here you go...


As you may or may not have heard, my "life" has recently changed and I'm suddenly with a ton of time on my hands. The title of the blog is ”living the corporate life...", however, I'm not so sure it's pertinent any longer. I want it to be, but I'm not so corporate any longer. Are you getting my drift? I don't want to come out and say it. Please don't make me. Alright, I'm not working any longer. Phewww. That was tough to say. Yes, my position with the corporate giant is now gone and I'm left floundering in the wind. I'm actively looking for a new position, but nothing is biting. Perhaps, this little blog of mine will explode and I'll be the next Dooce or Pioneer Woman. Perhaps I'll make my millions and never have to work again. The husband will love that! All I need to do is learn boundaries of what I'm allowed and what I'm not allowed to post online. I'm always one to toe the line and see what I can get away with...this could be fun!

Anyway, I've been left with a ton of time on my hands and I'm bored out of my mind. I have gotten so used to my working world that I don't know what to do with myself now that I'm not working any longer. I should be out skiing or snowshoeing, or at least, doing something outside of the house. I live in an amazing place-one of the best little ski towns in the states. But, I've been lazy. I've spent the first few days of unemployment sitting on my couch, watching TV fit for a 13 year old. I finally got over my wallowing stage and am now ready to conquer the world.

So, welcome, to my blog! I'm planning on using this as an outlet to my job search, an outlet to vent (and I have lots of venting to do!) and an outlet for my rambling. I have no structure as of yet, so you'll be as surprised as I am as we go along.



Let's have some fun!