February 12x12

I'm not a big fan of the 12x12 on Sunday, because it feels like a such a boring day to document. But, one of the things I like about the 12x12 is documenting the mundane things as well as the fun. So- I added our dumb coke point entering and books I'm reading in an effort to accurately document our lives.




1. the next two books i'm planning on reading are Dead Aid by Dambisa Moyo and Moneyball by Michael Lewis. both of these authors recently spoke at the Tate Lecture Series. Dambisa Moyo was especially interesting, because she talked about her recommendation of completely removing all foreign aid to Africa. she isn't proposing to do it tomorrow and without warning, but recommends giving governments a timeline and then cutting off the faucet. given that i work in HIV i am especially interested in her thoughts on how her idea would translate to fighting HIV in Africa.

i also loved listening to Michael Lewis- did you know he is married to Tabitha Soren? he actually made finance interesting. one of the things i love most about this lecture series is the diversity of speakers. next up Michael Pollen. yikes i better get cracking. i'd like to reread In Defense of Food before his lecture.

2. i'm rereading the Hunger Games trilogy in anticipation of the movie and i'm finishing the last book. today was the perfect day to get cozy, because it is dreadfully cold here.. low 40's. i'm a big baby, although in my defense it's hard to get climatized in Texas because the weather isn't consistent. today it was very low 40's (although with the humidity, it was much colder) and in 3 days they are anticipating 70's.

3. my cute calendar from ms. amy. it makes me happy.

4. even lulu's bagel is in a loving mood. she was fascinated on how the heart shape formed.

5. ted and adam making pizza crusts to freeze. we made a total of 6.

6. two of my most favorite people in the world. this is sarah my hugely talented friend. i almost exclusively wear her jewelry and i get a compliment on them every.single.day. seriously, do yourself a favorite and buy her jewelry. i promise you won't be disappointed. not only do i think she is awesome, but so do my kids.

7. ted's valentines all ready to be delivered. thank you Design Mom.

8. one of my young women got me hooked on york peppermint patties. i forgot how delicious they are.

9. ted and lulu after church. my mom made them their cute church bags. some sundays i'm amazed we make it through church intact.

10. lulu's cute valentines for her classmates. the boys are getting mad libs and pencils (again, thanks Design Mom) and the girls are getting melted crayola hearts. i even used my japanese washi tape (also from ms. amy) that i've been hoarding.

11. we enter coke points for free stuff. they consume a huge amount of diet coke at adam's work, so we also enter their codes in addition to ours. we probably drink too much, but thanks to coke points it has paid off. we have gotten lots of movie tickets, frequent flyer miles, great backpack, etc..

12. lulu helped ted with his valentines. they really work well together.

Wednesday Forecast

HIGHS:

1. Today is my mother's birthday she is 59 years old. Happy Birthday Mother. (you know I love her if I'm posting that picture of myself)

2. It has been in the mid 80's here for the last couple of days.. LOVE IT.

3. I watched Lulu put a piece of paper in front of the fan and giggle when it would float away. She did it for almost 10 minutes.

Jessica and Marcelle

4. Yesterday my girlfriend Marcelle was in town. She was here for a two day conference, but they canceled the second day due to Hurricane Ike. Instead of leaving early, she kept her original return flight and spent the day with us. We had brunch at a yummy restaurant and took advantage of the beautiful weather and headed to the arboretum. It was a lovely day. Thanks Marcelle.

5. Adam and I attended the first of our dates at the Tate Lectures series. Remember last year we heard Azar Nafisi and Tony Blair speak? I enjoyed it so much, Adam and I selected 4 lectures we wanted to attend this year. Last night was Sam Nunn, David Gergen, and James Baker. It was nice becasue instead of focusing on the candidates, they chose to discuss the things they thought the next president needed to focus on. Of course the big topic of disucssion was the state of the economy and specifically government "intervention" in the business world. Although I wish I knew more about economics and the business world in general. Note to self, must study up before the election. On the calendar- the president of Liberia, the longest serving director of the MET, and the US Ambassador to China. It should be a great year.

LOWS:
We had a perfect storm brewing. My brother in law moved his Africa trip up from July to June. Adam's program director has a daughter graduating from college and so he is otherwise disposed for several weeks in June. Which leads to... today. We just found out that Adam's graduation is scheduled for June 5. Yep, if you have been paying attention you are quickly realizing that I am scheduled to go to AFRICA the first two weeks of June. Blast.

I. JUST. LOST. AFRICA.


It is hard to be sad when you know you are celebrating something everyone has been working towards for 11 years, but .. I've dreamed of Africa for.. forever. I know I'll just go next year instead, but I had it in my hand... my HAND. There is an upside- I'll be in town for graduation and get to see my handsome fellow receive his chair and help him celebrate all of his hard work and Lulu's recital is scheduled for the same weekend, so I won't miss that either.