Scary

I went to work this morning to clean off my desk since I lost my glasses for about two hours yesterday under a pile of papers. I got to work around 9 a.m. When I looked out the window I saw police, police tape and a body under a tarp right across the street. Within minutes, dozens more police appeared and a vast swath of road and sidewalk were sectioned off. If I wanted to leave, I wouldn't have been able to.

Nearly three hours later I found out what happened. This is so horrible in so many ways. First the obvious — this woman was walking her little dog on a nice Saturday morning on a fairly busy street — one on which today there was some kind of charity race with tons of runners.

But also, my mother live mere blocks from here. Plus, I obviously just missed this. Had this been any other day I would have walked around the front of the building, but since our front gates are lock after hours, I went through the garage. I'm grateful to be OK, and I'm grateful that people stopped to help the woman and also to call the police. I wonder where her little dog is now... I hope he's safe. - Sarah

Gluttony

While we're waiting for the baby I figured we might as well take full advantage of our rare free time. So, this week we're going out to dinner nearly every night for Restaurant Week. Modeled after NYC's famed week, several fine dining establishments in my town offer prix fixe menus, with partial proceeds benefiting the Food Bank.

I made reservations at places that Tim and I could never afford otherwise and that we'd never tried despite having lived here our entire lives. Tonight I went with a former coworker to Zeus Gallery in the Museum District. I started with a salad that had pumpkin-seed brittle. I had pork loin with apple and fennel, sweet potato puree and greens, and then finished it off with key lime pie (a brownie size). I brought half home for Tim's lunch tomorrow. It was sooooo good!

Tomorrow Tim and I are going to Julep's, which I've been to and Tim hasn't. Thursday, after my mom and I go hear Cokie Roberts speak we're going to Bacchus. Sunday Tim and I are going to the Hard Shell.

I am going to be so fat come Monday. And the worst part is, the final photo from the magazine's fitness challenge is coming up really soon. I'm thinking I'll be on some sort of liquid diet by the time this week's up. - Sarah

What's Taking So Long?

We hit the seven-month mark earlier this week. Last year, when Tim and I were sitting on the front porch handing out Halloween candy to some pretty darn cute kids, I mentioned that that would be our last Halloween sans children. Well, as you know, our timeline has been adjusted a bit. What initially started as an 8-10-ish month wait has now ballooned to 12-plus (15 is within the realm of possibilities).

When people ask me what's taking so long, I really don't know what to say. Yes, there are thousands of children who need homes, particularly in Ethiopia. However, we have requested an infant up to 12 months in age, so that is somewhat limiting. Plus, the Ethiopian government shut down for a month or so recently to celebrate the county's millennium (they're on a different calendar system). Additionally, more and more people are aware of Ethiopia's adoption program (it's one of VERY few countries in Africa that allow adoption by Westerners), which in turn has funneled more parents-to-be into the cue.

Neither one of us are religious, but I do believe in a certain amount of destiny. Perhaps our wait is because the child we're meant to be with hasn't even been born yet. So until that time, our wait continues. All I can hope is that THIS will be the last Halloween before we're dressing up a little one for the festivities. - Sarah

We've Been Tagged

For the first time in our blog life, we've been tagged — thanks to the Gurskes, who are adopting from Ethiopia through the same agency as us. So here goes...

Jobs I've had:
Ice cream/drive thru gal at Arby's
Cashier at Party City
Babysitter
Marketing/inventory analyst
Editor, staff writer, lackey

Places I've Live:
Alas, I live in the town where I was born.

Food I Love (boy, what don't I love?):
Ethiopian food (I dream about it)
Chips and salsa/nachos (I could eat them 24-7)
Soup, especially soup that I make and Tim's chili
Sushi

Places I'd Rather Be:
Ethiopia (I can't wait to travel there)
Anywhere safe with my brother, who's in Iraq now
Ireland
Visiting my friends in England and California

Favorite TV Shows (I just got cable TV for the first time in my life less than 5 years ago, so I'm a full-on addict):
The Office
30 Rock
Pushing Up Daisies (it's new and it rocks, so watch it so it doesn't get cancelled)
Project Runway
Top Chef
Anything on Food Network
Best Week Ever
The Soup
Biggest Loser
MadTV

Books I Love:
Too many to count, but I just finished Tender to the Bone by Ruth Reichl and it's awesome!

People I'm tagging:
Leisa
Chou-Chou

-Sarah

A day of culture

Following the Gurskes' lead, Tim and I took in some Ethiopian culture this weekend at the National Folk Festival. This year is our city's last year as host, but there are plans to continue the fun next year when the festival moves on to another city.

The very first group we heard was the Moges Seyoum & The Yared Choir, Ethiopian Christian liturgical music based out of D.C. It was very moving on many levels, and I hope that when we travel to Ethiopia we can visit a church so we can hear it live again. We bought CDs to tide us over in the meantime.

And speaking of the Gurskes, we've been tagged for the very first time. I'll come back later today for that! - Sarah