a MOTHER of a sale!

For all of you who wanted to see my belly, here you go! Just kidding... I had to sport this towel so I could try on all my new maternity clothes! Robbin told Billie Jo who told me about an amazing clearance sale + extra savings at oldnavy.com, and I got a little carried away. I really wouldn't have spent that much, but Noah encouraged my bad behavior! I got so many clothes, it is crazy... I DEFINITELY did my part adding to the McNeil girls' maternity pile. Just thought I'd give you a preview :)

The spoils!

Here's what my belly actually does look like (or did a couple weeks ago - I feel like it's grown a lot recently). I haven't actually gained any weight in the last month (which means I'm actually balanced out to an ideal weight gain so far since I was chub-wub in trimester 1 :)

I have the mid-pregnancy ultrasound in 3 weeks, so Noah will come with me. We are definitely excited to find out what we are having, and we'll let you all know as soon as we can!

New Presidential Candidate... It's someone you know!

Hi,

I don't know if you guys have heard this recently, it's been all over the news. There's an effort to elect an unknown random person as President... and it's someone we know! Watch this online video about the surprising new nominee (you won't believe it):

http://www.tsgnet.com/pres.php?id=357563&altf=Opbi&altl=Sbtifub

Jot back a note to let me know what you think!

Workin' 9 to 5...

So...the most exciting new thing happening in my life is starting work! I was officially hired at the University of Phoenix as an Academic Counselor, and I can happily say that I am loving my training. I really like the corporate world...it's kind of fun to pull into a big parking garage, join the herd of people dressed up all nice carrying their lunches, and use my little security card to badge into the new, nice building where I work. Besides that, I am a chronic nerd, so sitting in a classroom for 8 hours a day learning about boring computer systems and University policy is actually quite enjoyable for me! On top of it all, I cultivated a love for the smell of coffee when I worked at the Gateway, and pregnancy has multiplied that...I get to waft in the fumes of the coffee that surrounds me every morning and periodically throughout the day (especially on friday afternoons when people are trying to stay focused). It is heaven...

To top it all off, I got to buy some new clothes, and I got my first paycheck today!Oh how I love being busy and working hard...
Tomorrow I start doing observations of Academic Counselors currently on the floor (those who are working as AC's) for 4 hours a day then 4 hours of classroom, and Friday I take my final training exam. I do one more week of observations and classroom and then hit the training floor Counseling and contacting my real life students! After 3 weeks of on-the-job training, that's it! I'm a full blown Academic Counselor responsible for helping people graduate with their degrees from college!!!! Isn't that crazy? Definitely a grown up job...wish me luck!

6 Quirks

6 quirks about myself.
Here are the rules:

* Link the person who tagged you
* List 6 of your quirks
* Tag 6 other bloggers by linking them
* List the rules on your blog

Josh tagged me.

My 6 quirks are:

• I have a habit of answering my phone in a funny voice for some of my close friends and family and it's a different voice for each one (yoda, high pitch spanish squeak, etc) The problem is that when I'm somewhere like a client meeting with several strangers in the room and one of those people call me, I can't answer in my normal voice and that's how they know that I'm not alone or in a place where I can talk openly.

• I eat oreos by placing the entire cookie in my mouth and then drinking enough milk to soften the cookie and swallow it. Giselle taught me this. Thanks babe!

• What can I say... I have a thing for cereal! I like to eat rather large servings of cereal in big bowls multiple times a day. I feel like if I don't have cereal the day just isn't complete. I like every kind of cereal out there and I make sure that when we buy cereal we rotate through the brands and flavors. I like the healthy and the non-healthy. You can name almost any brand of cereal and I can assure you it has a special place in my heart.

• I also have a weakness for tech gadgets and software. I like to have the latest tech toys and I usually just own it just long enough to play with it and then sell it so I don't suffer buyers remorse. I should be gadget critic! I collect software... I have all the main titles for both mac and pc and I continually keep my collection updated with the best of the best.

• I am very adventurous and explorative. I would spend the rest of my life traveling and exploring the world if I could. My goal is to visit all 7 continents at some point of my life. I only have 3 left!

• I have a courtesy laugh that I tend to insert at almost any pause or moment of silence in a conversation or after little comments or jokes by others. I hadn't noticed this till it was recently pointed out to me. I guess it's so ingraned in me that it's just natural for me now and doesn't seem fake to me. I'm trying to at least catch myself so that I know when I'm doing it. If I've ever given you my courtesy laugh and you thought it was just that, "a courtesy laugh", rest assured that it was not. It was a genuin chuckle that sounds like a courtesy laugh! Haha

I now tag: Earl, Allen, Max, Tim, Rick, and Nik
I expect your wives to help you or to write them for you if you refuse... they'll tell it how it is!

No pain no gain!!

I've been playing on 2 indoor soccer teams and our Saturday team just finished the league tournament in first place! We showed up to the semi final on Saturday morning and had just enough players but not any substitutes. In indoor soccer, you get tired easily since the game never really stops so if you dont have any substitutes you get to run a lot! I sprained my ankle a few weeks back playing a game on my Thursday team so it's been pretty hard to play well since I have to wear an ankle wrap and a brace over the wrap. Anyway... long story short: We knew that if we won the morning game we would go on to the final that night for first place. I hurt my ankle again during the game (which we won) and had to show up that night to play again. Since I was limping and hopping around during the game, I wasn't doing the team much good. I couldn't just sit out because we desperatly needed all the players we could get so that we could have one person to rotate in and out so everyone could get a short break. So the second half we were up a few goals and I decided to be brave and play "goalie" and let our goalie play since he could run kick without hobbling. I was so scared to play goalie since I've never done it but we still did pretty good and I managed to do good enough for us to not loose! In the end we won 6-2 and took first place in the league!! We got a trophy and shirts and I limped home and iced my ankle for the rest of the night!