quick update

Whew! Time flies, and now it's March. Here are some quick (and random) updates/thoughts:

1. Only 11 days until Kevin and I leave for our week-long vacation to Mexico! Woohoo! We fly into Morelia on the 13th and will spend 9 glorious days exploring Morelia, Queretaro, Patzcuaro, Taxco, Mexico City (maybe - depending on the safety situation), and maybe some other places. We'll be staying with my Dad, Horacio, and will be visiting a lot of family, including my youngest sister, Samantha. Sam is my Dad and my ex-stepmother's daughter. She just turned 9 last month, and, sadly, I've only met her once, when she was 6 months old. Needless to say, I am very much looking forward to seeing her again. I'm also really looking forward to introducing my husband to my native country (he's never been!) after 5 years together, and to seeing family I haven't seen for almost 9 years. EXCITED doesn't begin to cover it!

2. House-hunting is a looooong process. We have just decided to switch gears and are, for the most part, giving up on Southwest Minneapolis and starting the search in lovely St. Paul. Made a list of homes we've seen online that have struck our fancy, and we drove by them tonight just to make sure we liked the streets they are on, and - we LOVE them! St. Paul, really, is the place we should have been looking in all along, but I think I would have regretted not making a serious effort in my beloved Minneapolis (and we DID try - 30+ houses and nothing!). We are particularly excited about the Macalaster-Groveland neighborhood (you can see a map here - you'll have to zoom in, and it's number 14) of St. Paul, and we'll be looking at about 15 homes this weekend with our realtor. We'll keep you posted!

3. Kevin was in Florida last week for business, and he loved the warm weather and his trip to the Kennedy Space Center. It was absolutely adorable getting multiple phone calls from my extremely excited husband as he ran around the space center, completely enthralled with all the cool "space stuff." Cute!

4. I've quit my part-time job at the high school (they were wonderful about it, and I will definitely be staying in touch with the good friends I made while working there), to give myself an opportunity to focus full-time on school. I've been having a difficult time managing my time and being able to focus, and I really think that not working is the first step in setting myself up for academic success this semester. I've also started seeing my therapist once a week, and I think that will help as well (she is wonderful!).

5. Winter seems to be never-ending, but I am not minding it as much this year as we have had plenty of sunny (if freezing) days, and lots of fun activities with the lovely friends we've made. We are really enjoying our sunny apartment - especially Saturday mornings with cups of tea and Rick Steves on PBS (one of our favorite new traditions) - and are going to be sad to leave it, but of course we are also very excited about being in a home of our own this summer.

6. We are both SUPER looking forward to Spring, and I've been putting us in the mood with $1.69 bunches of gorgeous daffodils from Trader Joes all over the apartment - it's so cheerful in here!

7. The sewing machine my parents gave me for Christmas has been freed from its box and is sitting on my desk, as yet unused, and just begging me to get crafting! I have all kinds of projects in mind, but I think I'll have to wait until this semester is over - it'll be a summer of craft.

8. My dad comes home on from a 2-week trip to Asia (Japan, the Phillipines, Jakarta, Bali, and more) on Wednesday. Exciting developments with the tree business, and we are all excited to hear about his adventures when he comes home.

9. Dreaming about Christmas 2009 in our cozy new home, with both of our families - complete with snow and a roaring fire in the fireplace. Hmm - wonder if we can convince our parents and siblings (and anyone else who wants to join) that Christmas in Minnesota is sure to be magical...

10. The Amazing Race is the best show on television! I'm hooked and was very very sad to see Brad and Victoria get eliminated last night. Looking forward to seeing how the season progresses and will keep day-dreaming about Kevin and I auditioning for the show (oh man, would we ever bicker about directions).

11. Thinking of all the friends and family in our lives and feeling very very blessed by their love and support. Missing the ones that are far away!

That's all the random news for now. Love and peace.

The photo is of the Catedral in Morelia, Mexico. Can't wait!