Happy Birthday to Me!

So, tomorrow's my birthday! We received a really wonderful early birthday present today! The Dillon staff e-mailed us to tell us that they sent our official paperwork over to Vietnam. Our papers are on the move again! For those of you not on the adoption road, this is really good news, because it means that we are still inching closer and closer to completing everything even while we wait to be matched up with our child. Sometimes things tend to slow down a bit during this phase, so we're thrilled that our paperwork wait was really short! I'm all about cheering for every little achievement - however small - in this process, so Hip! Hip! Hooray! :)

I was thinking how funny it is to e-mail and chat with my adoption buddies every day, and yet know so little about their "real lives." I don't know when it's their birthday or where they work or what they like to munch on while watching T.V. - you know, the stuff you pick up about your friends just by spending time together. So, in honor of my birthday, I thought I'd tell you a few things about me that you might never know otherwise!

1. I love to cook. Not like to cook - I love to cook. I love having a home-cooked meal on the table for our little family of three. I'd rather have a pork roast in my oven on a cool Sunday afternoon than go to the snazziest place in town.
2. I used to build things. In my previous life, I was a structural engineer. I designed buildings of all types - condos, houses, stores, restaurants, churches, schools - you name it, I've probably built at least one! Now, I do most of my construction projects out of Legos - occasionally Lincoln Logs or Tinker Toys, but Legos are the most popular with my four-year-old by far!
3. I grew up in Colorado, but I really don't like to ski. I was never really enough of a daredevil to be a great skier. There was a time when I enjoyed an afternoon on the blue slopes, but now, after tearing up my knee a few years ago, it's really low on my list. I've felt shaky knees way too often in the past few years for me to ever want to ski again.
4. Beach vacations do NOT interest me. I really don't like to lie in the sun at all. I have ridiculously fair skin, and I just feel like a lobster in the steam pot the entire time. I really don't have tons of interest in visiting Florida again, outside of Disneyworld and perhaps an overnight in Miami just to see the architecture.
5. So, given #3 & #4 above, you may be surprised when I tell you that I am absolutely the opposite of a homebody. I don't like to be stuck inside for more than about 2 days, and sick-kid weeks are worse than a root canal to me! I'm a go and do, see and experience kind of a girl. I love to travel, and I love to visit cities. I've been to 40 of the 50 states, and 40 of the 50 most populated cities in the U.S. (Can you believe San Antonio is in the top 10 Most Populous Cities in the U.S.? You can learn something new from Google everyday!) I always want to stay downtown, and the more buildings the better, in my book - I've got to feed that little hiding architect/engineer in me somehow!
6. Many people joke that my true career path should be as a concierge - I love to tell people the insider secrets about the most fun things to do in any town. When we lived in downtown Chicago, I think I was the only local who actually enjoyed sitting next to tourists on a bus - I could give them enough good, inexpensive things to do to fill their whole trip! I also have guide books for just about anywhere we've ever been, because I love to read and study and learn about the places we are planning to visit. I don't want to miss any of the good stuff - and there's always good stuff! Just today I found a Canterbury Concert, a ballet, and a Christmas Children's Theater performance in Oklahoma City to take my in-laws to see during their next visit. My husband was laughing that only I could turn a trip to OKC into a cultural event! :)