Recently in Sarah, My Niece Category

I haven't posted in forever - but this photo could not go unblogged.

Could this child be more beautiful? I love this picture ... a perfect moment with her. Happy Thanksgiving Sarah :)

Life has been busy. My business is doing really well :) ... hence absolutely no time for blogging. And honestly ... haven't missed it much :eek:

Wow ... it's unbelievable how fast they grow up.

Here's my niece, Sarah -- she's 2 1/2 - and calls me Wacy or Sacy... Steve is Teve and MacGyver is Gyver ! :hug:

We're in Cleveland for the long holiday weekend -- and she's spent the night with us at my parent's house. Steve and Sarah are playing hide-and-seek now :) I'm going to go join in!

Have you ever seen anything so cute? Click to see the entire picture ;) I can't believe my niece is going to be TWO in just over 2 months. Wow! They grow up so fast!

A friend from work gave MacGyver a treat from the Just Dogs Barkery. Is this not the cutest dog treat ever?

MacGyver loved it ... these were gobbled up almost as fast as the Frosty Paws doggy ice-cream! (Thanks to Addie for that idea ... he LOVED it. Found them at Wal-Mart for like $2.50 a box!)

I found a roll of film this week - and it was from way back in January of this year! When I had it developed, I was pleasantly surprised to find some sweet pictures of Sarah & my Grampy (her great-grandfather.)

I'm just the regular blogger here lately, aren't I? It's only been 9 days since my last blog though -- I'm doing better (well ... it's better than two weeks between blogs?!?). We're swamped with paperwork and things to get completed for our house. The process of buying a house requires you to sign your name at least 500 times (in blood ... ), write so many checks that you check your checking account balance hourly to make sure you still have enough there to cover, and coordinating your apartment utilities cutoff dates with the house utilities turnon dates is a surefire way to get a migraine. BUT we'll be homeowners at the end of it ... so it will all be worth it!

Oh -- Sarah is TWO months old today!!! I'll post pictures later ;)

A few TV and Movie notes:

ALIAS .... I still think Irina might be a good guy. She knows the only way Sydney will leave the CIA is if Sloane is taken down. Maybe she and Jack are plotting together? I want her to be a good guy now. Oh, and Freplica is freaky with her hypnosis.

BUFFY .... I kinda enjoyed last week's Andrew-centric episode. When he's introducing all the characters .... Buffy with her wind blown hair pouring the cereal, shirtless Spike the "'can't remember her name" slayerette -- cute! The only thing I definitely didn't like was anything to do with the Willow/Kennedy hookup -- I'm just not buying it.

GILMORE GIRLS .... Although I fully enjoyed the scene with Paris having a meltdown on national television and announcing to the world that she'd had sex -- it's not really believable that she wouldn't get into Harvard. Not believeable at all. It's almost a given that if you have generations of your family that have attended Harvard -- you ARE going to get in. Paris would definitely have gotten in because not only did she have the family connections .... but she had the grades and the extra curriculars. Not believable .... but a humorous scene none-the-less. I also enjoyed the sad/friendship scene between Rory and Paris afterwards. Rory is the only real friend Paris has ever really had...and Paris has never really known how to handle that. Good episode, as usual.

ER .... I was so sad when Carter put the ring back in his pocket and decided not to propose. Probably the right decision ... but nonetheless sad. Then when Abby found the ring .... ah. I wonder if she realized he was GOING to ask her ... but something she said changed his mind. Can you imagine if that happened to you? Whew. I can't wait to see what happens with this. I love Carter ... and have since day one.

Warning --
[rant starts here]
MR. STERLING .... On the recommendation of a friend - I watched this show for the first time about 3 weeks ago. I won't watch it again, and have emailed the network about their pathetic excuse for a well-written show. The show we watched had a plot based around the INS. Yes - it is a TV show - and yes TV shows aren't supposed to be totally realistic. However, this show is supposed to somewhat resemble The West Wing (who has a team of intelligent writers who know the value of correct research). The entire premise of the show was totally incorrect. An immigrant janitor working in a government building wanted to go home to say goodbye to her mother, who was dying. Her greencard hadn't yet been processed. The whole show was about Senator Sterling trying to get INS to let her go home. The problem with that is that she would have been allowed to go anyway. It's something called ADVANCE PAROLE (and if you want to know more about it - you can read my blog from March/April 2002 - Steve and I had to get this in order for us to go to England to see his family last year). When you apply for your greencard, you apply for Advance Parole at the same time. EVEN if she didn't have the approved Parole yet .... she had a first degree blood relative dying. That immediately qualifies her for Emergency Parole. All she had to do was go to the INS office and they would have granted her Advanced Parole. This show conveniently distorted INS law and regulations .... and therefore has incorrectly led the American public to believe something that isn't true. People who watch shows like this think that they are based on things that actually happen. (Oh and another problem is that the janitor had a child who was born here in the states ... hence he was an American citizen. Oh and additionally ... I very much doubt that an immigrant WITHOUT their greencard would be allowed to work anywhere near U.S. Senators and Congressmen. I'm sure greencarded immigrants do ... but I think you'd probably have to wait at LEAST until you were granted the greencard to work at the Senate building.)
[here endeth the rant]

MONSTERS INC .... I saw this movie for the first time over the weekend. HOW CUTE IS THIS? I watched it twice and enjoyed it just as much the second time around. Good movie! Get's two thumbs up from me!

And I'm all ready for this week's ! I missed last weeks inaugural post .... but am determined to do it this week. (Thanks for the house card!! You're so thoughtful!!)

ALIAS was AWESOME last night! Wow! I have watched the show since episode one .... and this one rocked! Again, I say, WOW!

New pic of my niece, Sarah (she's just over 3 weeks old now!) ... click it to enlarge it!

Don't feel like blogging tonight - maybe later!

It's been a busy week .... and Steve and I have both been sick (I'm mostly better, and Steve is hopefully at the end of the worst of it) - so blogging hasn't exactly been top of my priority list lately. Right now I'm taking a break from watching the playoff game between the TN Titans and the Pittsburg Steelers .... we're winning 14-10 right now - woohoo! I was downtown this morning and traffic was already bad with everybody going to the game this afternoon. Scalpers and tailgate parties everywhere! Hopefully our enthusiasm will not be for naught and we'll kick the Steelers butts all the way back to Pittsburg!

Thanks to everybody who left notes and emails about the birth of my niece last week! She is STILL beautiful as ever and continues to wrap around her finger everyone who meets her :) Especially sweet is how my brother has changed, seemingly overnight, into the doting father.
My brother has always been the wild, carefree, never serious, and GOOD guy -- and while I knew he would be a good father, I still couldn't quite grasp the concept of my brother (who used to mercilessly tease and torture me when we were children) being a daddy. However, the minute he came down the hall from the delivery room, carrying Sarah, it was just so sweet and precious. He was SO proud and she already had him wrapped around her tiny little finger. It was very sweet to see ... and this week, I called several times to just check in on Sarah and Mom Glenda (who is
recovering well from her c-section) - and he was just full of all sorts of information and stories about Sarah and what all had been going on with her. I think its great!! My parents are immensely enjoying their first grandchild - my mom said she practically had to pry my dad away the other night, he had been holding Sarah for about an hour and she said they were both very content to just stay that way!! (Although she can't talk much ... she's also the doting grandmother!!)

Last week while I was sick, I picked up my old copy of Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" and read it. Each time I read it I love it even more! After finishing the book, I quickly added the "Pride and Prejudice" DVD's to my netflix queue, and immediately upon receiving them in the mail this week, I watched them. It was the first time I watched the movie ... and I LOVED it! I knew that Mark Darcy in "Bridget Jones's Diary" was based on Colin Firth's portrayal of Mr. Darcy in "Pride and Prejudice" -- but I'm so glad I finally saw this movie. The movie was so faithfully adapted from the book and the casting of Jennifer Ehle (who portrays Elizabeth) and Colin Firth (Mr. Darcy of course) was brilliant! If you've never read the book or seen the movie ... I suggest you do both! It's a great tale of love, miscommunication, lies, social class issues, and of course, pride & prejudice!

We might be heading off to England again in April - if we can find affordable tickets. One of Steve's best friends, Dave (who was a groomsmen at our wedding) told us a few weeks back that he's getting married April 11. They aren't sending out invites til February/March - but they wanted to give us notice so that if we wanted to come over, we'd have time to book flights and arrange for time off. Sooooo ... right now flights are running around $700 each for that week -- which is way too much for us. Hopefully flight prices will come down a bit or maybe we can find a cool deal. It would be so nice to see family and friends again - especially when we were thinking it would be at least another year before we could go over. The wedding would give us a perfect excuse to take off! It's not a vacation ... it's a wedding, right? Faulty logic, I know.

Speaking of weddings. This must be the year for them! I'm a bridesmaid in one of my best college friends wedding in June - in Knoxville. Another friend from high-school is getting married in Boston in October. Two of my other college friends got engaged in the past few weeks and haven't yet set dates. And then of course Steve's friend Dave getting married in England! Something must be in the air.

Well - back to watch the playoffs. I hear Steve in there clapping and yelling and jumping up and down - so I assume the Titans are still winning! Excellent :)

My BEAUTIFUL niece was born today at 8:24 AM! She's simply perfect and weighs 5 pounds 12 ounces and is 19 inches long. A few photos available here!

I have no time to post much more.... but will try to blog a bit more this week :)