And so commences Meme day

A - Allison. That's my name.
B - Brunette, my natural hair color. It didn;t really see the light of day until these past couple years, but it is growing on me (not funny), so I keep it.
C - Christian, can't get around that.
D - Doggie owner, and I love my FURBABIES!!! Xeus and Lunabell are my pride and joy (well, they will have to share Baby Jethro in a few months), and I am overjoyed to have their happy little tails in my life!
E - Ecstatic, since we are expecting our first baby in November! (Here's hoping it's twins.)
F - Fashionista. I am happy to be one of those pathetic consumerist girls that purchases new items every season and wears them to death. :)
G - Girlfriend - I love to hang and dish with all my friends. (As a side note, I miss my close girlies terribly)
H - Hot, as in it's 80 degrees here today and it's 35 back in Michigan. Yay Virginia!
I - Inner-diva. I tend to be a little over-dramatic when it comes to things not going my way. It's sad, but a fact of reality I have come to embrace and accept.... no only if Shark Fin could do the same.
J - Jewelry. Coming from a family that owns two fine jewelry stores, I have more of it than I will ever wear. Also, I have a crap-ton of costume jewelry since I tend to over-accessorize. Hehe. :)
K - Kitchen Diva, something I never thought I'd say, but I really like cooking. A LOT. Cooking is fun! AND TASTY!
L - Laughs.... I. LOVE. TO. LAUGH!!!!!
M - Mamacita on the way.... scary, scary thought. I'm terrified.
N - Northerner. Gah, to be from Michigan, land of ice and sleet and generally nastiness for 6 months out of the year. And yet, to pine for my family to the extent I am considering moving back to the state (not to the nastiness of the Tri-Cities, mind you) after Shark Fin's time in the South is up. What a mess!
O - open to interpretation. I tend to ramble and can be selfish and complain and be sleepy a lot and really like material things, but I LOVE MY FAMILY more than anything. The rest, you can take how you want. I don't care.
P - praise-worthy.... at least I think so. :)
Q - Questionable, both towards myself and everything else. I am just curious person by nature. And I don't like rules for some things.
R - Redundant. I tend to say things I like a lot, to anyone who will listen, including myself.
S - Seeker of Truth, see C (and Q)
T - Truthful. I just don' like liars and (as hard as it may be sometimes), I try my darndest not to lie myself, not matter how much easier it will be. It's definitely a struggle for me, though, but one I am finally able to admit to to and address.
V - Vulnerable to depression, low self-image, etc. Dumb, but true.
W - Wonderful wife to the amazing, talented, and compassionate Shark Fin, my personal superhero. :)
X - X-pensive to maintain. Even with our budgeting trials and tribul;ations of present, I stil need a lot of food, and fun to survive. Just now, I was asking Shark Fin if we could re-institute my allowance. (It needs more convincing evidence)
Y - Young.... I'm only 24
Z - Zestfilled! What would life be without it?!

The most boring day ever

I officially think today is the most pointless day EVAH to be at work. It's 4:25 and really, I have only been here since about 11:30.... but OMG!!!! What a waste! I haven;t had to answer the phone to help parents or anyone, really, at all. I have just been sitting here at my desk, aimlessly crusing the interewebs, reading up on celebrity gossip and Rachael Ray recipes, watching the minutes click by ever so slowly. It sucks the big one.

I had enough time to call TriCare, oh lovely military insurance, and find out that my referral was fixed, AND I got to call and make my first appointment with the OB. April 18 at 9am. (That remins me, I must email my supervisor to tell them about that... right. Done.) Anyways, I am pretty flippin' excited about it and hoping & praying for everything to be on track.

To top it all off, it's 74 degress out, sunny and gorgeous.

I did have a nasty bout of "morning sickness" today which led me to a stop at the Walgreens on my way to work to get a large bottle of ginger ale. I made off with the ale, plus some 50% off Easter candy, some folic acid, and a lunchable. Apparently, the appetite had recovered.

Anyways, I hope Shark Fin makes something tastey for dinner.

Dandelions

I got this neat little card with a quote on it from church this weekend. (I wish I had a scanner at work so I could show it to y'all!) Anyways, it's chocolate brown with this awesome silhouette of of a white, poofy dandelion on it, with some of the little pods being blown all around like there is some breeze only it can feel. It has this quote on it:

" We were born to manifest the glory of GOD that is within us.

It's not just in some of us; it's in all of us. And when we let our own light

shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same."

- MaryAnne Williamson

I love it.

In other news, this weekend was A-MAY-ZING in a big way. Shark Fin and I labeled it as the "Purge Party Weekend," which is basically a fun way of stating that we had a lot of junk that needed to be dealt with to a) get ready for Baby Jethro and b) because we don't need it at all and it should have probably never made the trip here from Michigan in the first place. It was quite successful. We took one truckload to the Salvation Army on Saturday and my Jeep is full with another to go sometime this week. We took probably 20 bags of stuff to the dumpster and have a few items to put on Craigslist, mostly appliances that we got as wedding gifts and never touched after I unboxed them. Whoops. Shark Fin's momma and poppa, The Monarchy, sent us a care package, which as usual, was incredibly generous and large. I will never be one of those girls that hates their in-laws. They are WONDERFUL..... and not just because they sent us the Horton stuffed elephant from Horton Hears a Who for Baby Jethro. :)

My momma, Short Stuff, wants to plan a trip out to see us for a weekend in May. My relationship with her can be slightly complicated at times, mostly due to the fact that I was (and am) an extremely strongwilled and hard-headed child. I stopped wanting to be parented at an early age, and I am big on forging my own way, mistakes & all. She says this is why I never learned to cook or sew properly or swim.... all because when she was willing and ready to teach me, I wasn't having it. Oops (this is why I still cannot swim and am terrified of drowning). I can, unfortunately, be abrasive at times, which although unintentional, can hurt Short Stuff's feelings, making our interactions even more complicated. The point is, now that I'm pregnant, I kind of miss my Short Stuff and when she asked, ever so gently, if I would mind her coming out in May (in addition to her already planned trip in September and my trip to Michigan the end of June), I honestly said, "I'd love to have you come." Who ever thought that would happen?! Must be the hormones.....

Shark Fin works late tonight, till 10 or so. Boo. I hate the late nights, mostly because of the exhaustion and the fact that even if I do take a nap when I get home, there is no human to play with even though I have energy again. (No offense to my furballs)

Back to the AMAZING weekend, though..... it was so good because Shark Fin and I really came together for a common goal. We worked hard, cleaned closets and cupboards out, deciding if any other crazy person could ever want this item, what we could donate and what should just be tossed. We made bologna sandwiches and blue lemonade kool-aid, reminisced about when we were youngins' in high school & college.... all that type of stuff. It was, well, to be honest it was just NICE. And Sunday was great, too. Something about Resurrection Sunday always makes me beam from ear to ear. Just celebrating and thanking God for how much he has doen for ME, his amazing grace, his love, his sheer belief in my abilities and dreams is always re-affirmed and solidified on Easter..... and my ham wasn't too bad either.

Ah, weekends.

The good ones alwasy end too fast.

DEATH!

And THIS is why stingrays are one of favourite animals.

Oh man.

Boyeez

After my post from a few days ago, I decided it was time to do some searching for boy names. (Someday, when I'm feeling particularly brave, I'll post my Baby Name Spreadsheet. Right now, though, I'm not ready to be that embarrassed.)

Here's what I came up with (and their meanings, 'cause I'm sucker for that):

Caden - Battle
Rhys – Enthusiasm
Findley – Fair Warrior
Ronan – Seal
Seamus - Supplanter
Torin – thunder

and these we already have:

Draco (dragon)
Griffin (reddish, also a mythological half-lion half-eagle creature)
Cooper (barrel maker)

Ultimately, I want to have five solid choices for each, with middle names from our friends & family. I know I'm neurotic, but such is life. :)

Thoughts?

Starting now, Friday is Meme Day!

Four Films I’d Watch Again
1. Dream for An Insomniac... although I can already quote the whole movie, I love it dearly and will watch it ill the cows come home (whatever that means). If I loved a quote from the movie even before I ever saw it, is it fate?
2. 50 First Dates.... truly one of my favourite movies EVAH. Again, highly quotable.
3. Singin' In The Rain.... What can I say? My childhood was filled with musicals, not cartoons.
4. PS I love You.... truly, a great chick flick. How can a girl not love the Irish accents?!

Four Places I’ve Lived
1. Saginaw, Michigan... home, sweet home.
2. Bay City, Michigan... my first apartment.
3. Ann Arbor, Michigan.... my first year of college. (ugh!)
4. Hampton Roads, Virginia.... bring on the BEACH! :)

Four TV Shows I Watch
1. Gossip Girl.... don't mock it till you try it.
2. Beauty and The Geek.... sad, but true.
3. Ugly Betty.... me loveee it.
4. Grey's/Private Practice.... they've been off for so long that I don't know if I even love them anymore!

Four Things to Eat
1. Mashed potatoes.
2. Jell-O No Bake Cheesecake with the cherry topping.
3. Chicken fried rice and an eggroll from Chen's.
4. Chili Cheese Fries from Sonic.

Four Places I’d Rather Be
1. In a new house
2. With Jess in Ft. Collins, Colorado.
3. Puerto Rico, brushing up on my Spanish
4. At the mall shopping, and being able to spend whatever I wanted (ain't that the truth!)

Consider yourself tagged!

When I am Queen

There are certaing that just must happen when I am queen.

• Everyone will work jobs they love. If at any point in time, they are no longer in love with their job or the place they are employed with that job, they may quit and move to a happier job/workplace with no repercussions or complaints.
• Families will get mandatory 6 month paid family leave following the birth of any child.
• Dinner will be a family event. Period.
• Holidays will also be a family event. Each newly-married, or newly-babied family will get to have at least one major holiday at their home, by themselves, within the first year of said event, with no complaints from mother-in-laws or parents or grandparents.
• Women will get one child/husband/boyfriend-free day each month, for gabbing and relaxing with girlfriends.
• I will be able to bring far-away friends and family to where I am with the twitch of my nose. (I will also be able to send them back the same way)
• Instead of looking for a parking space like a vulture, with a snap of my fingers, my car will fit in my pocket, no matter how crammed the backseat.
• My children will take naps everyday. Period. One hour minimum.
• I will have a fountain drink dispenser in my kitchen. Varieties will change weekly, with the exception of Cherry Coke & Lemonade Tea for me and Root Beer (ew!) for Shark Fin.
• Pizza Hut Pizza, chinese food and mexican yummies will be calorie & fat-free, yet extremely tasty...... and delivered to my house at random. :)
• Shark Fin will get long weekends once a month. He'll love that.
• Housing in Hampton Roads will be affordable and come with large yards. Someone will by our condo (aka Alcatraz) one month after we list it. Happiness will ensue.
• I will graduate from college with my Registered Nursing certification... in the next two years. *sigh*
• Cheesecake will be a weekly occurance.
• SpellCheck will automatically happen on anything I write.... even if no but me will see it.

There's more coming.....