The One Year Mark

Well, today we have been "officially" waiting for buttercup for one year. One year ago today, CIS received our I600A and our wait officially began. However, we were actually waiting to begin a long, long time before that, but that is when we could throw our hat into the ring and send in our first official paperwork. We hadn't even officially signed with an agency yet at that point. I had no idea at the time that we would still be waiting now. I feel like we are definitely closer.....but still have a ways to go. I have been having a wide range of emotions these past couple of weeks. One day I will feel so positive and that we are so close, and then I will come crashing down to reality that it is one year later and here we are still.....waiting. No referral. I know I am not alone in this wait, and actually it has allowed me to meet some really great friends that wait along with me. However, I do wish we all had our little ones and could be planning play dates already! (As you can see above, it is not keeping Bijou from resting comfortably. :) This cat knows how to relax. She knows not what's in store for her-she just likes to hang out in her room.)

To commemorate this momentous event, M & I went to an awesome Vietnamese restaurant for the first time last night. It's been open only about 9 months. I mean, OMG, it is my absolute fave restaurant now. It is a little pricey, but the kind of place where service is key and we are talking the fold-your-napkin-for-you-and-put-it-on-the-back-of-your-chair-while-you-are-in-the-ladies-room-and-pull-your-chair-out-and-hand-it-back-to-you-when-you-get-back kind of service. Nice. The food we had was so yummy and the presentation was lovely. I had the pho and it was the best I have ever had. Don't know if we will be able to go every week, but let me tell you the next few special occasions and we are there. Can you tell I liked it? It was a nice way to end the year of an ever growing wait. One year down........ let's hope we are on the homestretch and buttercup shows herself soon.

Happy 4th of July

Happy 4th of July Everyone!
We took some time out of more fun of cleaning out the basement and taking all the stuff to storage to make room for the AC contractor to do his magic. You know--day off of work--more time to get some house stuff done! :) But we did manage to make our yearly tradition of watching the fireworks with our friends and god-daughter. She is almost 5 now, so was into the sparklers, but not so into the loud booms. I got some cool pics of the fireworks.



No more news on referrals--we got some promising news about a week ago that made us think things might be moving along soon, but this has not happened yet. Still hoping we hear some news this week.......

Some interesting changes are coming at work soon--our department will be leaving our current firm at the end of the month and reopening the small firm that closed when we merged with this firm a little over a year ago. Opportunities have arisen and we are all excited to be making the move back to resurrect the company we loved so much. The new office is less than 5 mins from home in a converted 1920-30's old house which we have been having fun selecting all new finishes to give it a much needed face lift-- office first impressions are quite important when you are an architecture/ interiors firm so we are hoping we can get the look we want with what with what we have to work with. (The owner seems to be a little reluctant to give us free reign.) :) Just what we need--extra work! It is good news though and should be well worth it.

Hoping referral news comes soon for those waiting.....including us.