Who is John Galt?

I was at the border the other day (coming back into the states)... i was getting all my documents ready.... looked up at the car in front of me and there was this bumper sticker. I thought it was the greatest. I laughed and laughed! I had to call my mom cause I knew she would know what it meant!! For those of you who don't know... it's from Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.
ok... so another sticker they have is on the rear window.... and you can't see it too well here, but it also goes along with the Atlas Shrugged theme.... it is an American Flag (i believe it is a music sticker because it says above it "Rage Against the Machine"... but that could also have to do with the book) and below the flag it says "Evil Empire". I was so excited because I got it. I wanted to go up to the car in front of me and say "John Galt Rocks!" but I didn't. They probably would have been like... crazy lady!!

My mom and I were talking the other day about the Relay for Life.... I did a post about it earlier (it should be below) and there is a picture in that post of my mom and a new friend of hers during the survivor walk..... well if you look in the background there is a little kid. You can't tell if it is a boy or a girl because it doesn't have any hair... but there it is, walking like the little survivor that it is!! I'm so glad that I was able to catch that moment. So touching.

Woot Woot! I'm American!!

After over a year of paperwork, preparation, and waiting.... I finally became an American yesterday. I went down to Seattle last Monday, had the interview and passed!! and got an invite to go down again for the Naturalization Ceremony. So yesterday Mom took off the afternoon and drove me down to Seattle and I did it! I now have my nifty little certificate and no resident alien card, and am going to have to get a passport and register to vote, and all that fun stuff. Here are a few pictures of the day... I felt like being dorky and posing for pics.so here i am being all dorky with my American flag (which BTW still has the sticker on it, and yes it WAS made in the U.S.A.)

so here is my mommy dearest.... self-taken photo, proof that she was there to witness this occasion.... finally after 26 years of being a Permanent Resident I take the plunge!here we all are swearing our allegiance.... and that we'll if needed bear arms for the country...


it kind of had this graduation feel to it... walking across the stage getting your certificate. it was interesting, they announced the countries that people were from, and there were a couple from the USSR (which hasn't been in existence since 1991)!! so i thought that was pretty cool!
aw... then there I am with my certificate.... and a goofy stranger in the background.

and then here are a couple of signs that we saw at the rest stop on the way back that made me crack up.....

Relay For Life

This Friday/Saturday was the Relay for Life by the American Cancer Society here in Bellingham. It is a very nice event. I helped my mom's team (Bob Wallin Insurance) out with their booth. We got there just after 2 on Friday to set up. The event's didn't officially start until later, which was good cause we were busy making posters and organizing. We couldn't start putting stuff out on the street until 5 or so when the roads were finally closed. They had the opening ceremony which was neat. They likened the walk to cancer.... you start walking and it's all good... but then it gets harder and harder... and around 3 in the morning you want to give up, but you keep walking.... fighting. (they say that this is kind of like the time in cancer where you begin chemo therapy) and then the sun comes up and things get a little easier (although if you ask my mom she'll say that anything after 3:30 isn't great until you've slept... and man-oh-man did she sleep saturday!!) They had a lap for cancer survivors which was really nice. The Luminaria bags are my favorite part. It's a pretty touching thing. We (mom, dad, marco and I) got to help light the candles this time. it was really neat. Marco and I stayed Friday night until after the bags were all lit, and then came back Saturday morning. Here is Molly at our little booth. We sold cookies, rice krispies, scotcheroos, soap, and book thongs.

Here is a pic of my mom on the survivor lap with a new friend!
My mom and dad lighting the Meynders Family bags.

Here they're all lit! It was BEAUTIFUL!!

"Three Things" Tag

I haven't been very good at doing the "tag's" in the past... but i'm going to try and be better from now on. On this tag:

you have to list 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 goals, 3 current obsessions, 3 random surprising facts about yourself and then tag 5 people that have to complete this too.

3 Joys
-Marco.... being with him, laughing with him, cuddling with him, driving with him..... just doing anything with him. He is so great and makes me so happy
-Cooking for family
-Baby hic-ups

3 Fears
- The baby will come early and I won't be prepared.
-Separation from Marco...
-The baby will be born with 3 legs, One with a right foot, and two with left feet.

3 Goals
- Check out the public library... use it, and stop buying so many books (not that i would ever quit buying books, but it would be good if i reduced the amount a little)
- Get downstairs finished... the 2nd window in, the first one finished, the walls spackled and painted, pictures hung, furniture arranged.... etc.
- Photography.... for now get a good photo printer, work on my Photoshop skills, and save up so i can eventually get a sweet camera

3 Current Obsessions
-Learning all I can about cloth diapers
-Reading.... more specifically reading for SRT '08... I want to get my list done!!
-Getting all prep-ed for the baby

3 Random Surprising Facts
-not so surprising to some... but I get migraines from chocolate and avocados... (I'm adjusted for the most part, but somedays I really miss chocolate!)
-I enjoy family history... finding out who is related to who and interesting little stories.
-I graduated college with 4 degrees in 4 years.

I tag... Jen, Claire, Amanda, Heather, & Jocelyn!

Interesting Things I Didn't Know....

Ok, so I was reading thru an older Oprah magazine and I found this little blurby article very interesting. It was put together by Rachel Aviv.

ON YOUR MIND - 5 facts

Women aren't moodier than men, drinking doesn't kill brain cells, and no one's proved that listening to Mozart in the womb makes you smarter. Neuroscientists Sandra Aamodt, PhD, and Sam Wang, PhD, bust a lot of myths about the human mind in Welcome to Your Brain (Bloomsbury), a fascinating guide to our favorite three-pound organ. Some findings from their head trip:

1.EXERCISE SAVES YOUR MEMORY. Working out feeds oxygen and glucose to your neurons and helps prevent the brain from shrinking with age (memory decline can begin as early as age 30). Drinking up to three glasses of red wine every day also lowers the risk of dementia by half.

2. JET-SETTING CAUSES BRAIN DAMAGE. In adjusting to new time zones, your brain releases stress hormones that can weaken the temporal lobe, which is involved in learning. To alleviate jet lag, spend some daylight time outside after you land: The natural light will help reset your internal clock.

3. DISCIPLINE IS MIND-ALTERING. Willpower-strengthening exercises may actually change the brain regions involved in planning and decision making. Plus, willpower in one aspect of your life may influence another. "[P]ractice difficult tasks such as being nice to people you don't like," the author advises. "It might help you stick to that diet."

4. STEREOTYPES FOG YOUR BRAIN. When female test takers are asked to write down their gender on the first page of a math exam , their scores go down-but when they hear a lecture on famous female mathematicians beforehand, their scores go up.

5. ORGASM HAS ITS DOWNSIDE. Oxytocin, a hormone released during orgasm, increases people's willingness to trust others. Subjects given oxytocin by nasal spray were two times more likely to give their money away to a trustee for investment. The lesson : Never make important decisions during or immediately after sex.

This One's for Steph!!!

he so wanted to give you a hug after his icky-sweaty workout....

and the chick's have a home

Marco and my mom had a blast putting the chick's starter coop together. My mom was so excited to get her chicks (the last 7 of the season) and put them in their new little home. They designed the coop so that when it's a nice day the chicks can go outside and eat the grass (or whatever they do)

Summer Reading Thing 2008

So I was checking out a friend of mine's blog and she is involved in the "Summer Reading Thing 2008". I thought it sounded interesting, so here I go. I'm going to join up. It's pretty easy. I totally encourage everyone to sign up. If you go here, all the details are there. (sign up here)

Basically you pick books (or a book) that you want to read this summer. (it does have a finish date) Post 'em on your blog, do at least one review, and do links back to the main (SRT08) site. (Mom, I'm here if you need help with this part)

I'll have my list of books (which by the way I'm so not going to get thru.... just trying to be ambitious) on the sidebar of my blog with links to reviews as I finish the books. Hopefully this will help me have a little more focus on what I'm reading... avoid that whole reading 10 books at once (maybe not). and there doesn't really seem to be any rigidity... you can add or delete from your list as much as you want.

Ok. So here goes..... my list of books, in no particular order:

Prodigal Summer - Barbara Kingsolver
The Host - Stephenie Meyer
One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Breaking Dawn - Stephenie Meyer
A book of a Thousand Days - Shannon Hale
Love in the Timie of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
Anne of Green Gables - L.M. Montgomery
The Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver
The Blue Castle - L.M. Montgomery
Atonement - Ian McEwan
A Hundred and One Days - Asne Seierstad
The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
World without End - Ken Follet
Pillars of the Earth - Ken Follet
A Yellow Raft in Blue Water - Michael Dorris
Like Water for Chocolate - Laura Esquivel
The Good German - Joseph Kanon
Rasputin's Daughter - Robert Alexander