World, meet Ashley Merikle

Wow.  I just can't believe it has only been 9 days.
The world got to meet Ashley on Facebook about 4 days ago. Seeing as I now function on all of like 4 hours of sleep a day, I've not fogotten how to use a camera but having the time to upload photos is a whole other story.  There's one of her on Facebook though and thank ya'll for the comments.

Here are ten things I don't want to forget about her in this first week of life together:

Ashley is perfect.  Almost too perfect.  So perfect that we think this is a phase. 
I could set a clock by her rhythms...eat/release/play/eat/sleep/repeat
I LOVE waking up in the morning (yes, at 5:30 now) and bringing her to bed to sleep another hour
She smells so sweet and feels so soft. I can't get enough of holding her
I adore watching him with her
She has the biggest, brownest most gorgeous eyes
I love rubbing her cute little tummy
She is so photogenic - you'll have to take my word on that one I suppose
Everyone thinks she is the most precious little girl.  I happen to agree of course (smile).
She doesn't cry when we put her down at night.  Remarkable!

I'll come back and edit with a photo.

Creative Day

Got a bit creative with it today. Been a while and felt really good.

Clink on the links to go to the online gallery and comment as you wish.

Good Life

Life is good.  As always was and always will be.

Perspective.

 Merry & Bright

Missing a special Christmas guest.

 The Happiest Place on Earth

Fun at Disney.

 Thanks for looking and enjoy.

Happy Birthday!

To on eof the greatest, sweetest, most awesome people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting.  Something cheezy for the "don't make a big deal about this please" birthday boy:

R: Rooted.  You are strong, know what you want and just sway in the breeze.  Stay grounded.
O: Outgoing. No wallflower, you make and keep friends easily and for life.
B: Beautiful.  You tend to not think it, but you are all around beautiful.  Especially your soul.
E: Enigmatic. [i AM a Cornellian...big words = good]. everyday.  still a mystery that I love puzzling through.
R: Real. Never fake and showy...totally down home "what you see is what you get".  But also real sensitive.
T: Taken. (smile)  All mine.  Nothing makes me happier in this world

You are my world as I am your's.  If we live our lives by milestones, often, we fixate on what didn't happen and/or only remember the days of the big events.  So much of life happens between the milestones.  Don't forget to live that too.

Love you with all my heart.  Happy 40th!

I miss...

Lots.  But mostly:

Working only "one job"
Having Wednesdays where I could work from home
Long walks on Alki Beach
Laughing out Loud with him
Going on photography jaunts with him
swimming laps
planning bodacious trips with him
scrapbooking with gluesticks
having an organized scrap room
my mom
my brother
my sister
my nephew
but especially her
shopping at thrift stores
buying purses and shoes
shopping for groceries
snow
kissing the pig every morning
itunes
Sushi Fridays
Movie Fridays
Having my own desktop computer
gardening
swimming laps
sleep
washing dishes by hand
El Paso
jumping in a lake
riding a bike
the Oregon Coast
trips to Mt. Rainier
river rafting
Shorewood Dr.
playing with my pirates
Liisa
my birth certificate (I know, I know)
traveling
Rachel and Alex
PHS
Cornell in the springtime
my old boss Sharon
a bazillion JLS meetings a week
my Sunfire
upstate NY
that summer of intense fun and severe heartache (or heartburn??)
black lab puppies that were never mine to miss
wood blinds
baby ducks
Southern California (cannot believe we almost moved there this week)

life
I miss life.

Yeah, I've got a great one and plenty of responsibility to go with it.  But there are bits large and small of life before today that I miss.

Balance would be great again.

You would think...

...that I would have a ton to say with all that is going on in our lives right now eh?

Meh.

Gets to a point where one thing means you need to say the other means the other needs to come out and then I get back to looking at the bookshelves and thinking that reading a book would be better than writing a blog entry and...cycles.

No, not those girly cycles.

My general cycles. Sometimes I have to share with the world. Sometimes I have to journal to myself. Most times, it just depends on the mood. And since I'm hungry and will likely need to cook dinner tonight because I didn't clean and I didn't go to work (though I put in my 60+ this week), I sigh deeply and go rummage for something to cook.

I need to start doing grocery shopping again.
Still alive. Barely.