Wow, lots has happened!

I keep saying that I'm going to post and then I never do! Maybe I should actually start doing it this time!

The last time I posted was September, a good solid 6 months ago. Since then a lot has happened. November brought the half marathon that I had been training for. I flew down to Atlanta for Thanksgiving and Carrie and I ran the half marathon on Thanksgiving morning. 2:33. Not bad for a first but wow were we tired (from all those hills) and I was sore, especially the next morning when I had to hobble around the airport because I was flying back to NY. I am happy that I did it although right now a half marathon feels a bit crazy to me so I'm staying away from them for a bit. (More on that shortly)

December meant family visiting and my recitals. It was a bit crazy having mom, Jeffrey and Francine all staying in the house (and dad in a hotel) but we managed it just fine. Things were crazy recital morning but I guess that's to be expected. My NYU audio guy didn't show and my video guy nearly didn't show because he forgot that my time had changed from 2:00 to 12:00. He showed up about 11:30 and just barely had enough time to set up his stuff (which he made a point of telling me. Um... I think it's your fault not mine that you showed up late! The last email he had sent me he said "I'll see you at 10:30", yeah, good times. We managed to get out of the hall in time and not get charged for being there too long but all that stress about the hall and my videographer made me stressed out and I didn't play as well as I could have. I also have now learned that maybe putting all the solo stuff on the beginning of the recital is not the best for me, as having people on stage really helps me calm down. This was shown a second time when Jeffrey and I did a recital in Seattle in December and I decided to do the same thing - not really sure why - and I had some issues in the first half as well. We had a really great time playing and Evan played with us which was awesome. I hope that we will be able to do this again, maybe next year, as I really had a good time. Playing with Jeffrey and Evan was incredible and definitely made me play better. I really really hope that we get to do another one!

In January Toshi and I went to New Zealand. I was coming from Seattle and we met in LA. Toshi decided not to bring his phone which was an adventure based on the fact that his flight was having issues and I was only able to contact him via texting on the iPad. Hopefully that won't happen again. We had an incredible 3 weeks in New Zealand (more on that later) and then he came back to NY and I went back to Seattle for another week. Mom and I spent a couple days in Cannon Beach and I had a great time being home.

February I came back to New York and it was strange being back with nothing to do. Although at first I really enjoyed having nothing to do, after about a month or so I got bored. So I became a volunteer at an animal shelter in Huntington (about 20 minutes away). I go as often as I want, spend a couple of hours and walk the dogs. I am actually really enjoying walking the dogs, much more than I thought! I had some favorites that have been there for a while and I walk them each time I go. My favorite, Fondue, is a little chiuaua and is just adorable. She, however, does not do well with other dogs so is having a hard time getting adopted.

In March I went home again. It became time to move the D'Amour grandparents and they agreed to move in with mom. This would make it so they wouldn't have to be on their own anymore and wouldn't have to drive which is key. Grandmama was diagnosed about 9 months ago with Alzheimer's and she's the one that does basically all of the driving - because of Grandpapa's vision - and she no longer can drive so them using a car was not really an option. Moving them was difficult as Grandpapa has gotten more OCD and moving Grandmama out of a familiar place was difficult as well. As can be expected, mom is having  hard time with them. Grandmaman has good days and bad days and mom says that sometimes she gets really angry and lashes out at mom and Grandpapa. She sometimes has times she seems like she's only stage one, but then there are symptoms, like lashing out and not recognizing people, that are stage 3. I have no idea how long they will stay living with mom. Mom says it's like having kids all over again, and I know it's really wearing on her. Sometimes Francine comes to help out to give mom a night off, but Michele isn't any help, or very little. Sometimes Francine helps get mom out of the house and they go do something fun. I know it's hard and I wish I could help more but I can't really, even if I was home there is not much I can do. I'm going home again in August and will be hard to see how Grandmaman is doing. She's the grandparent that has always been the most stable, with the least amount of health issues (other than medications) and it's so hard to think that at some point she won't recognize who I am and that when we do have kids, they won't ever get to know her the way I did.

After getting home from New Zealand I officially went off the pill and we officially started trying. I have been waiting for this for so long and after just a couple of months am frustrated. I thought it would just happen right away. February was kind of a guessing month, March Toshi was gone but April and May have been interesting. I use ovulation strips to test and we have a schedule to stick with which is hard on us both. I thought it would be easy but it's not. Unfortunately it's not officially an issue until it's been a year. A whole year. I really hope it doesn't come to that. In my plan when we move home in June - 13 months from now - we have a little one that's coming with us. If it takes a year, or longer, that won't be the case. Right now, if I managed to get pregnant the next cycle, the baby would be due at the end of February, already much later than I had hoped for. All we can do it keep trying and hope that it works and try to not be too stressed out about it. Having read forums and blogs I am realizing that there are a lot of people who have been at this a lot longer than we have. At some point we will talk adoption. I don't want to be 2 or 3 years from now still working on this, I don't want us to be 35 before we have our first kid. I know that Toshi is not particularly excited about adoption but we have so much to offer a child that I think we should take the opportunity to be parents even if the child is not biologically ours. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Now here we are at the end of May. Also in news I ran my first 10K about 3 weeks ago. The Long Island marathon weekend consists of marathon, half marathon and 10K (plus 5K and 1 mile on Saturday) and I ran the 10K. Originally I had 5 friends that told me they are going to run with me but in the end I ran it by myself because none of them had trained enough (and Kim had her recital the following weekend). I am now in training for my second 10K which is in August. It's a flat trail run, how cool is that? Marsha is trying to train with me. Then in September there is another and Jack wants to run that one with me. When I went to the expo for the LI marathon weekend I got all kinds of info. In there was info about triathlons (woah I know), and how there are places that have a little tiny mini one for those who have never done one before. Totally doable, even for me who hates being on a bike. I also found out about a close thing, in Oyster Bay that is just swim and run. I'm trying to convince Toshi to do the swim part (since you have the option of splitting it) but I might do both parts if I can't get him to do it. The tough part? It's the day after the September 10K whose course says it's "rolling". Not my favorite. I may be too dead to do it although after the 10K I wasn't nearly as sore as after the half.

I am also working on getting a job. Although I really like volunteering at the shelter, it's hard to motivate myself to get out there especially when the weather is not so great and not having a schedule is kind of rough - honestly I should just make myself one! Although I really do like it when I get there. I applied at Apple and got invited for the first interview but they didn't want me - not likely I would stay around because of all my schooling? who knows but oh well. I put in an application at REI and also our climbing gym (we are now members! and LOVING IT - well Toshi likes it, I love it! Not sure if I will be able to do it if I manage to get pregnant though...) and I just put in an application for Red Mango since there is one close by, just in the shopping center down the road.

Well, I guess that's about it. I'll try and write more often now that I remember this exists. :-0

In other random things - we are working on having less plastic things around the house so we've gone to a stainless brita as well as glass tupperware. We are also working on less meat during the week and often do one vegan meal. Toshi still likes meat and I give him beef about once a week as long as it's something I can easily add ground beef to - like curry, or just add a small steak for him. My next thing is trying to get sugar out of our diet, at least less in our diet than I know it is. We are better about snack foods and read labels, if you can't pronounce it, you shouldn't be eating it!