West Coast Florida Nesties
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
AMA: COP
Today's Ask Me Anything is for ChangeOfPace.
I haven't checked your blog in a while, but do you know what your housing situation is going to be like when you go overseas?
Have you been learning the language?
Re: AMA: COP
Where is your favorite date spot:
What is it that you love most about your job:
Your biggest Pet Peeve:
Planning Bio | Married Bio
Family Blog
Yikes, I had no idea today was my day.
I haven't checked your blog in a while, but do you know what your housing situation is going to be like when you go overseas? I just about killed DH yesterday when he said, "Hey, I just found out we get our choice between two houses." I was so excited because I thought he meant for Riyadh, but it turned out he was talking about the stupid bachelor party he's planning (it's not actually stupid, I was just disappointed).
We don't know specifics about the housing, but we've seen sample floor plans. It looks like most of them are large townhouses with three bedrooms, four bathrooms, 2 living areas, and a decent sized kitchen and dining area. That's all I know for now. I guess we'll see when we get there!
Have you been learning the language? Not yet. I've been too busy with work and freaking out about all of the things I have to do before we move! I'll focus on it once we make it over there.
Where is your favorite date spot:
I don't know if I have one favorite spot, but I like going to dinner and we had a really great time several months ago going to this hookah bar we used to hang out at all the time with friends. It's was great just getting a table and talking.
What is it that you love most about your job:
I love the people. And I love having responsibilty and respect and being challenged. Ok, I like lots of things about it.
Your biggest Pet Peeve:
I don't know that this is a pet peeve, but I dislike arrogance. I know I've been told on this board that I sometimes come across that way online, but if you met me in person, you'd know that that's not me at all. I really value people who are humble and recognize the good qualities in others just as easily as they recognize the good qualities in themselves. I think it's great to have confidence, but life doesn't have to be about feeling superior. Intelligence, talent, beauty- it's not a zero sum game.
DX: 6/9/2011: Azoo ICSI/IVF only option for biological child
IVF #1: ER - 9/26 * ET - 10/1 * beta#1 10/13 - 140 * beta#2 10/17 - 477 * beta#3 10/20 - 1101
1st u/s at 6w6d - one hb * 2nd u/s at 8w3d - no hb detected 11/10/11 * natural m/c 11/13/11
FET #1 Jan/Feb 2012 - 3 delays - cancelled 2/13
FET #1.2 - May/June 2012 - ET 6/6/* beta#1 6/15 - 95 * beta #2 6/19 - 322 * beta #3 6/22 - 940
7/6 1st u/s @ 7 weeks - one beautiful hb - released from RE
EDD 2/22/2013
PAIF/SAIF/PGAL welcome
What did you decide as far as plastic surgery goes?
I'm 95% sure that I want it, but I'm definitely going to wait until at least next summer. I'd feel better about spending the money on it if I had specifically saved for it instead of taking it out of our general savings. Given where we're going to be living, I'll have to have it done when we are back stateside. DH says he doesn't entirely understand it because he thinks I look fine, but he doesn't mind if it will make me happy.
To date, what is your favorite place you've lived?
I've loved all of the places I've lived because they were great for the place I was at in my life when I was living there. For instance, Atlanta was a blast as a new college grad looking to party and go to concerts and fun stuff. At this stage in my life though, I think DC suits me best out of all of the places I've lived. I'll always love coming back here, as we are sure to do in the future for 2-3 year stretches.
What are you going to miss the most when you move overseas? (And if you choose family then what will you miss second most?)
I might have missed some posts...I thought Ragazza was referring to plastic surgery for Imogen...what are you getting done?
If you had total control over your next assignment, where would you like to go?
I think about this a lot and I'm having a hard time deciding. DH wants to do a tour in Africa and he thinks that the next tour would be the ideal time b/c DD would still be in elementary school. Many of the posts in Africa have decent elementary level education but quality declines in middle school and high school and I don't think we'll be ready to send DD to boarding school in 6th grade. Our top preferences in Africa right now are probably Nairobi, Capetown, and Accra.
Another part of me thinks that we should go for a dream post next- the ones that are really competitve- because we may never have as good an opportunity to get some of them again. To me, some of these would be Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Taipei. My logic is that most African posts will always be available (well, Cape Town is very competitive) because they are less desireable and, thus, harder to fill.
Are you a dog person? A cat person? Neither?
I neither love nor hate either cats or dogs. I'm kind of indifferent toward them. I'm not interested in having one of either anytime in the near future. They are a lot of responsibility- IMO more so than kids. Many people in the foreign service bring pets along, but they complicate things a lot. There are places where you can't bring them and other places where there are long quarantine periods of like 6 months where you'd be separated from your pet. That sounds really hard on an animal and I wouldn't want to do that to them. Also, as many diplomats in Egypt and Libya have found out, in the case of an evacuation, the State Dept does not guarantee that they can get your pet out and even if they can arrange something the cost is 100% on you and can be very expensive. The worst case scenario there is having to leave your beloved pet behind with no idea what will happen to them. I wouldn't want to risk being put in that situation.
I feel the exact same way!
Lauren, I thought you were thinking about getting a dog??
And...I feel this way about cats. They are OK, but I don't want one ever.
Ha! Yeah we were for a while, we were thinking of adopting a greyhound. MH is more into it than I am. Unfortunately, we are both lazy people about certain things so we haven't taken any steps toward really adopting one. We suck, I know :P
I'll chime in late, as usual.
Favorite books/authors?
Song you secretly love but don't want to admit it?
Saw below that you're interested in photography, any kind in particular?
My silly Lily is almost 4.
Favorite books/authors?
I love Russian literature- Anna Karenina is one of my most favorite books ever. I like a little bit of everything though I prefer classic literature, world literature, and non-fiction.
Song you secretly love but don't want to admit it?
I love "I Do" by 98 Degrees. Seriously. I don't know why. I added it to my iPod when DH and I were engaged and whenever it would come on he would go "Caw, caw" because there are like seagulls at the beginning of the track or something.
Saw below that you're interested in photography, any kind in particular?
I just want to take kick ass pictures of my kids and the places I visit. I bought a camera that is way beyond my abilities and I really want to learn how to use its more advanced functions so that I can justify the expense.
My silly Lily is almost 4.
I bought a Nikon D90, so it's not like a I got a professional grade camera, but it still has a lot of features that I haven't even scratched the surface of using. To me, I'm doing well if I can get proper exposure. I don't mess with white balance or anything more complicated.