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Wednesday, March 21, 2012

It's ICLW Time!

Happy ICLW!!

If this is your first visit to my blog, welcome and stay tuned for a bit of info about me. If you've been by before, well, welcome back!

The break-down on me:

I'm a 33-year-old, married, PCOS suffering, slightly retro, slightly metro Georgia girl who's been trying to start a family for 8 1/2 years. My other half (conveniently known as The Hubs) is British born and bred, but made the sacrifice to move to the States with me 6 years ago. We've been married 9 1/2 years and spent the first 3 years of our married life (and the preceding 6 months) living in England. My homesickness and dad's ill health precipitated our move to the US.

The last year has held a lot of changes for us. My dad had a stroke last May and spent the following 5 weeks in the hospital. He was home for 4 weeks when he had a massive heart attack and passed away. I've always been a total Daddy's Girl, so his death has left a huge hole in my life. Following my dad's death, The Hubs and I moved to a new home, as did my mom (we had previously lived next door to my parents). And, after much discussion, The Hubs and I decided to procede with adoption through foster care and are currently in the middle of our training and home study.

In addition to those huge changes, I am in the final 5 weeks of my Bachelor's degree. I will be traveling to Iowa (from Georgia) for my graduation at the end of April. I also work full-time. So, right now my head feels as if it's spinning with everything I have going on!

Did I mention that, in the midst of all that change, my best friend (apart from The Hubs) abandoned me to move off to Afghanistan for a significantly higher-paying civilian contractor job? Yeah, a tough year.

All this has helped to contribute to me being terrible over the last few months at ICLW. So much so, that I actually skipped last month because I didn't feel my failure on commenting was fair to the other participants. I have decided, however, to give it another shot this month.

I've also been atrocious at blogging consistently over the last couple of months, so I really need to work on that as well. Fortunately, the Blogging From A to Z in April Challenge begins in 10 days and I've signed up again this year. Hopefully I'll do as well with it this year as I did last year. If you haven't signed up yet, you should definitely head over and get your name down!

Other things that might interest you about me?

I love to read! I'll read virtually anything and I feel out of sorts without something to read.

I enjoy crocheting but it's been one of those things that have become a casualty over the last few months. I'm hoping once I finish school I'll get back to it since I owe someone an afghan!

I absolutely love singing! It's my greatest passion in life. I actually submitted an audition to my university earlier this week in the hopes of singing the National Anthem at graduation. Want to hear/see my audition? You can find it here.

The Hubs and I are major movie buffs and we try to go to the movies at least once a month (which usually equates to more like 2 or 3 times a month - this is what I waste my free time on).

I am a huge, Huge, HUGE Hunger Games fan! I cannot stress to you how much I love this series! The Hubs and I (naturally) have tickets for the midnight showing tomorrow night and I can hardly wait! It's going to be epic!

I have developed a huge (but harmless) crush on Josh Hutcherson who plays Peeta in The Hunger Games, which my amazing husband indulges gleefully. If he goes shopping without me and sees a magazine with Josh or anything relating to The Hunger Games on it, he'll buy it for me. He also informs me when JHutch is going to be appearing on the David Letterman Show (tonight!! Eek!!) - he really is a fantastic guy! Who finds my crush on a celebrity 14 years younger than me humourous =D

There are two socially concious organizations that I support and cannot sing the praises of highly enough. As an aspiring teacher and Social Science major, these are my pet causes. The first is To Write Love On Her Arms, "a non-profit movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide. TWLOHA exists to encourage, inform, inspire and also to invest directly into treatment and recovery" (definition taken directly from the TWLOHA website). The second organization is Straight But Not Narrow, founded to encourage teens who are straight to support their LGBT peers. Both these organizations help to prevent bullying and to offer support when bullying does occur.

Well, that's pretty much me in a nutshell! I hope I haven't sent you running for the hills! Got any questions? Feel free to ask!

14 comments:

Mrs. Gamgee said...

"I feel out of sorts without something to read."

Oh honey... I sooooooo hear you!

A few years ago, before I got married and I was living at home to take care of my mom while she was dealing with cancer, there was a wildfire threatening the whole city. We were evacuated, and after the frantic packing, finding people to take our animals, and getting settled in my grandmothers little condo, I realized I forgot to pack a book. I hadn't let the stress hit me until that moment, and I ended up a bit of a basket case. All because I didn't have anything to read. I ended up finding a Danielle Steel novel in my grandma's bedroom and carried it around like a teddy bear for an hour. Yup, I'm odd.

:)

Kristin said...

Can I say how glad I am you are doing ICLW and I hope you start posting a lot more?

Love you tons and I've missed you.

A Shadow of My Former Self said...

Hi! I read your blog & have a request...please report back on the Hunger Games movie. I have heard all the hubbub but have not read the books. Although I am above all else a reader, I think the movie looks interesting too. Which should I do first, the books or the movie?

Lynn said...

@Mrs. Gamgee - Not odd at all! When I have nothing to read, I've been known to read the back of household products (shampoo, kitchen cleaner, Pine Sol, etc). Anything is better than nothing!

@Kristin - I've missed you too! And I promise to try to do better about posting!

@A Shadow of My Former Self - I will definitely report back on the movie! In my opinion, I'd read the books first. The books are told from Katniss' (lead character) point-of-view in her internal monologue. Without having read the books, I'd be worried that I wouldn't understand the significance of everything that's happening. But, again, that's just my opinion!

On a side note, I'm ridiculously excited because Josh Hutcherson is on David Letterman RIGHT NOW!!! I should really be going to bed since I have to be up for work in 6 hours, but, I'm willing to sacrifice ;D

Casey B said...

Hi, Lynn.

I'm a first timer here, and I'm blown away by your singing voice. I really hope you get the gig to sing at your graduation. Good luck with your adoption journey.

Best wishes,

Casey

Becky said...

I am SUPER excited about the Hunger Games. I'm way too tired to stay up to see it tonight, though, but I have already bought tickets for hubby and I to have an honest-to-goodness date night on Saturday to see it. SOOOOOOOO excited!!!!!

Happy ICLW!

Emily @ablanket2keep said...

I didn't know you sang! Your audition was great! I hope you get it! I support TWLOHA too. Such a great organization.

Trisha said...

I hope your year turns around and that the adoption process goes smoothly for you. Happy ICLW!

ICLW #61

marwil said...

Visiting from ICLW.

I'm so sorry to hear about your dad. Losing a parent is really hard.
Also, best wishes on your adoption journey, how exciting :)

Mark and Amy said...

Hi from ICLW!!! It was nice to "meet" you!

Daryl said...

Hi from ICLW. I'm so sorry about the loss of your dad. My mom passed away almost two years ago, and I know how difficult it is, not only missing one parent but worrying about the other. Good luck with your adoption journey. Foster adoption holds a special place in my heart, and I hope to do it too, one day.

glitterandinrabows1 said...

Hi, I'm here from ICLW. I am glad to have found your blog because my husband and I are in the early (really early) stages of pursing foster-to-adopt, so I will be interested to read more about your experience. Good luck!

Unknown said...

I'm so sorry about your dad. You have a lot going on! Congrats on getting your Bachelor's Degree soon!

ICLW #43

Kathy said...

Happy ICLW!

So glad you decide to participate again this month! Thank you for sharing your story (it was a good refresher for me), where you are at in your life now and some really interesting things about you.

You are in my thoughts and prayers as you live through this difficult time in your life.

Thank you for visiting and commenting on my blog, I glad you liked/appreciated my latest Gatekeeping post.

ICLW #6

P.S. I tried to post this comment a few days ago from my phone, but it wouldn't save it, so I am back again to try from my laptop. :)

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