Remembering Wendy

Today I am deviating slightly off topic to remember someone integral to who I am - my twin sister Wendy. We were born 15 minutes apart and were identical twins. Yes, we had our own language and could re-count stories of feeling each other's pain. She was my best friend and really my other half for many years. To this day I still walk down the sidewalk to the right, not in the middle.

Today is a sad day for me as it is one year ago today when we lost Wendy to cancer. I miss her terribly.

This is why I enjoy following twin blogs like Double Happiness, Salsa and others. They are a joy for me to peek into their happiness and a healing balm for me as well.

Then and Now

The passage of time.....

Dahlia turns 2

March 4, 2005

Dahlia turns 3

2006

Dahlia turns 4

2007

Dahlia turns 5
2008

Dahlia turns 6
2009

My beautiful girl is so grown-up!

Reminds me that each minute with our children is precious and should be treasured. (If only I wasn't so 'brain-dead' most of the time.) It's one of the reasons I wanted to start this blog - to force me to pause and really take in everything before it passes. To freeze frame bits and pieces instead of living on fast forward.

I give you permission to remind me 0f my words (gently, of course) - should I show signs of forgetting.

Three Years!!!

This This picture was taken as we exited the courtroom

in Feb 2006, fully expecting to be home from China with Milana

within the year.

Sigh.....

March 15th 2006 - March 15th 2009

3 years

36 months

156 weeks

1,095 days

26,280 hours

1,576,800 minutes

...gettin' the drift?

There's a smell of a rumor in the air!

....and the rumor is we might be looking at Milana's face (referral picture, I mean) sooner than later. There.....I said it!!! And I 'm not taking it back.

Explanation: Rumor Queen (China Adopt Talk) just gave it an R2 (which is about a 40% chance of being true). We could have our referral picture by end April/beginning May on the outside and maybe even earlier!!! For those who don't know who Rumor Queen is - think Holy grail. Oh happy days. I was gearing up for about another 3 months because it seemed like we were in another slow-down (how many does that make it now?) so I was settling for a referral by June/July and travelling in ...aug..g..g August. But now there are distinct rumblings that we could have a speed-up. Oh God....please make it true. Dahlia will be starting college soon ; 0.

To be continued..............

PS. I need help with posting my pictures. I want to move them around and write where I want but it's only giving me templates that I don't like and can't maneuver. I know it do-able - but I can't seem to do it. Directions/advice/tips are all welcome. Thanx

Dahlia's Birthday Bash

I just love birthdays (well....let me rephrase that) I LOVE birthday parties. It's a time to have fun, celebrate something great, see dear friends, eat, drink and be merry and all that. I also love to watch the progression from occasion to occasion. I've been trying to duplicate the same type of image each year for different occasions so I can watch the growth and changes from one frame to another (without having to schlog through a myriad of photo albums or files). I'm very visual so I like to see things.........ayh...that didn't come out right but you know what I mean.

So here are some pix of Dahlia's 6th birthday party (Mulan theme).

My Art Gallery Website

Finally........it's done. After a long time and many requests to get this on the web....here it is.

www.ode2beauty.com

Hope you enjoy it!

Cheers.

Dahlia turns 6

It's certainly an old cliche - but nonetheless true - I can't believe my sweet little baby girl is 6 years old!!! My Mom always said "hang on - it's goes so fast" and of course, she was right. I've blinked and 4 and a half years have passed. We had a great day - quiet - just us. Her big party (Mulan theme - her choice) will be on Saturday with all her buds ( and my buds too....I mean their parents).

This picture is from our Disney trip last Nov where Dahlia met ALL the princesses but meeting Mulan was a thrill. We got to greet her at her dressing room door and walk out through the courtyard with her. I'll rephrase that - Dahlia greeted her and walked out with Mulan hand-in-hand while I did back flips and (rather unseemly) air leaps in an attempt to capture some pix of the event. (I admit I'm a bit of wild thing when I want a picture.) And of course Dan can prove it as he was video taping my lunges. (Not pretty.) I stifled the urge to yell "Cut - can you two back up and walk out a little slower!" Bottom line is we have some lovely pictures of our princess meeting "the princesses" and thus the inspiration for this years birthday party.

And as an aside - it looks like the cut-off this month is March 6th so...........9 more days! That's all - just 9 wee little days. Sigh.