Bale Bale (Clap Clap, Shimmy & something like a Shuffle Ball Change)

My bollywood dance class is going well, even if I am the oldest and goofiest of the bunch. Yep, a class that is sufficiently out of my comfort zone, but so fun. At least most of the others in the class are also PhD students (even though they look 1/2 my age). We are working on a routine to this song from Bride and Prejudice, a movie I've yet to see, but need to rent. It's not the same routine they do in this blurry clip, but this kind of gives an idea of what some of our moves are like. When I get some time, I'm going to browse my outfits options in "Curry Hill" in Manhattan. I want my holiday party to be a show stopper. Oh, the things I'll do to pass the time while we wait and love a paper baby.

ps: I'm asking for tap shoes for Christmas. I'm planning on taking tap in January.

Happy

Am back from my hometown, Gainesville, Florida (aka Hogtown). Had a wonderful time hanging with my folks, helping them around the house and doing some shopping for Baby Girlfriend....we are still waiting on our court date. More soon. xo

new beginnings

I have a new friend named Jordan. She is awesome and she has moved into the neighborhood, which is sooo lucky for me. She has the best style. I am coveting this piece of artwork recently hung in her new apartment. I can't help it.

My favorite day as a New Yorker

Today was the NY Marathon. Here are a few of the pics I took....

IMG_0996.jpg, originally uploaded by cloverlandfarm.

These gals were in the 2nd pack of elite women. We've met one of them at the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.

IMG_1110.jpg, originally uploaded by cloverlandfarm.

This fellow is one of the Maasi warriors who ran with Edward Norton. You can read more about their project here.

IMG_1149.jpg, originally uploaded by cloverlandfarm.

You can see a few more photos here. To me, there's nothing more fun or inspiring to watch than the NY Marathon. I lose my voice every year. Maybe someday I'll try it myself.

I *heart* Bono & Mick (subtitle: What about Bollywood?)

So here's something we might not easily get to do once baby girlfriend comes home: Last night we went to the 25th Anniversary show for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the Garden. (above pic courtesy of RollingStone and more pics here).

The best part was our tickets were FREE! (Check this out).

We had obstructed view seats, but really could still see a lot, plus the promotion co. kindly provided TV's for us to also rely on.

We saw a looong list of folks: Aretha Franklin, Lenny Kravitz, Metallica, Ozzy, Annie Lennox...but the highlight for sure was U2 (they UNobstructed our view at that point) who played with Bruce Springsteen and Mick Jagger. We didn't do the U2 tour this summer, so this was a fun plan B.

In other news:
* waiting on our court date

* going to brunch with a new NYC friend who's little baby boy is in the same care center RIGHT NOW as our little baby girl (hopefully we'll get to travel together... that'd be so fun!)

* i had a running eval with a PT and haven't been able to run for the last two weeks as i've been building up hip strength which should help my knees out

* i missed passing my comprehensive exam by 1.5 freakin points! but i am not disappointed, as this is typical in my program and kind of like hazing. so i now set about revising (they give me until end of Jan, but i'm gonna be done by end of Nov. no way this thing is going to drag on thru the holidays and baby girlfriend prep).

* leaving the BK for halloween...am so over getting egged.

and my biggest most exciting news of all:

* i've signed up for BOLLYWOOD DANCING at the nyu gym and i start on Tuesday. The only "Bollywood" film I've seen is Slumdog...so I barely know what I'm getting myself into, but I figured it'd be a fun, out of my comfort zone kind of way to pass the time waiting to travel. Supposedly I'll learn a routine that can, according to the class description, be performed at a community center or the like. Just wait for my holiday party!

I grew up a Gator, though I went to Florida State and was a Seminole for a while. Yeah, I'm a fair weather fan. I love this....and I'm headed home in just one week. I've got some tail-gatin' in my future. Can't wait.

Oh we love our baby girl

slide, originally uploaded by cloverlandfarm.

We had such fun sharing her picture with friends this weekend. And we've decided on her name (keeping her birth name first and adding a middle name). We will call her by her birth name. We videoed an ET friend and our Amharic teacher saying the names of her birth family so we can remember how to pronounce them correctly.

After Ethiopian church (and a full Ethiopian meal) we saw the Lucy exhibit in Times Square...today was the last day and the Ethiopian history and information was awesome. Lucy is awesome. (They were selling shirts that said "I *heart* Lucy"). Ethiopia is bad ass.

After we loved on Lucy, we went to church (again) in our neighborhood and shared the news with our friends who had yet to hear or see her picture. Celebrations all around again. Very fun.

Really hoping for a November court date. Waiting to hear....

Basking in our Referral!!! (Hey Ho Baby Girl!)

These post referral days are so bright we need an umbrella, courtesy of Cindy!

What an incredible gift and blog post of support to find the day after our big news. Cindy's celebratory post (on her password protected blog) was complete with an mp3 of a Dolly Parton song (in case you go looking for it in the link above and are like, wait...what?). Miss Dolly is my all time favorite artist. What a celebration indeed. Thank you Cindy!

Now, if only the 3rd season of Big Love would appear on iTunes I'd know all the planets are aligned.

Wow, so relieved that season of waiting is O V E R! Am so done with the tension of the last few months!!!

**Edited 10/24: Thank you for all the well-wishes and words of kindness! After receiving a glowing medical review from Dr. Aronson, we officially accepted our referral yesterday morning. We can't stop looking at her picture and BBC looks at it sooo much that I'm afraid I'll never get to hold her when she comes home. :)

Referral!!!

On October 17, 2007 we attended the international adoption info session with Wide Horizons for Children.

On October 18th we filled out the first bits of paper work and popped them in the mail.

We turned our dossier in on May 30th 2008.

After 16 months and 3 weeks of officially waiting to hear...

.... we finally know.

Today at 1:51 pm our social worker called to inform us that we have been matched with a

5 month old baby girl!!!

We are shocked (thought it would be a boy)!!!

And thrilled!!!

And ready to knit!!!

Whooooooooo hooooo!!!

:: sugar fail ::

Smushed halloween cupcakes from Billy's are better than no halloween cupcakes! Thank you, Jason!