The "All About Me" Show

Biola has had an Employee Spotlight section in their on-line Employee Newsletter, and I thought I'd steal their questions.

What do you do?
For another 26 workdays, I am the Administrator of Student and Faculty Development for the Master of Arts in Organizational Leadership at Biola University. (Talk about a mouth-ful!) After that, I will assume an on-call consultant role with the MOL which will translate into a few hours a month while I assume my REAL new career as a Mommy. (P.S. I'm looking for a kick-butt description of what a Mom is... like "Primary Care Giver, Spiritual Advisor, Chef, etc."

Years working at Biola?
7.5

Height?
5'6"

Home Church?
Grace EV Free, La Mirada

Favorite thing about Biola?
The Community. I appreciate that this school is increasingly concerned about the importance of solid academics, and the marriage of academics with character.

Where did you work before you worked at Biola?
The National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

What time do you wake up in the morning?
6:45a.m.

Do you hit the snooze button?
Heck yeah!

What did you eat for breakfast today?
Wheat English Muffins

What was the last movie you watched?
Harry Potter... and Pride and Prejudice tonight!

What book(s) are you reading?
Just finished "Til We Have Faces," working on "Your Pregnancy Week by Week," "Secrets of the Baby Whisperer," "Tears of the Giraffee" (part of the "No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency Series"), and thinking I might give myself the treat of re-reading a Jane Austen.

What CD is in your player right now?
CD? What's that? My husband gave me permisssion to buy a Christmas CD today... and at the moment I'm listening to The Nutcracker, which is just vintage.

Favorite cartoon character:


Favorite flavor of ice cream:
Anything with fudge, anything with caramel. Cookie dough. No nuts.

Do you prefer Coke or Pepsi:
Pepsi for sure! (I miss caffiene!)

Do you prefer coffee or tea:
Coffee!! I love tea, though.

Favorite type of food:
REAL Italian food. Best meal ever was Ravioli in Sorrento.
or GOOD Seafood. the OTHER best meal ever was Crab-stuffed lobster at Legal Seafood in Boston

Favorite smell:
Christmas Tree

Favorite kitchen appliance:
KitchenAid!

Favorite color:
Depends... Red half the time, muted blues and greens other times.

Favorite holiday:
Christmas Eve

Favorite movie:
Tough one! Probably the Lord of the Rings movies, but Narnia could sweep them.

Favorite sports team:
My poor 9'ers. I still remember the 80's and 90's guys.

Favorite TV show:
Scrubs, except that it gets a little too raunchy occasionally.

Favorite travel destination:
Europe

Book you think everyone should read:
The Great Divorce, The Chronicles of Narnia. They have taught me more about God than any others I know of

Family
Where did you grow up?
The San Joaquin Valley

How many siblings do you have?
One older sister and one younger brother.

Are you the oldest, youngest, or a middle child?
The middle is definitely the best!

Do you have kids? How many?
1 daughter-to-be

Do you have any pets?
Not presently. Maybe a dog one day if it doesn't give me allergies.

Are you related to anyone famous?
Eric the Red
Tim Salmon (sort of)

The Unusual
What is something that most people would not know about you?
That I can actually be kind of shy sometimes. If I have to go to a party where I don't know anyone, I am extremely shy. I also really like being alone. Not all the time, but I enjoy my alone time.

What are your hobbies?
Piano, reading, crochet, travel, being with my friends and family, listening to good music, watching good movies

What is the most unique or random concert that you have attended?
Lowen and Navarro, which was held in a guitar shop in Santa Monica. It was really intimate feeling and the music was fantastic!

Have you lived anywhere unique?
One mile from the Capitol Building of the United States.

Have you had your 15 minutes of fame?
When I was in the 8th grade I reported for and produced a 1/2 radio show for a Fresno PBS station about the Yosemite Institute, which is a Science program for elementary school kids held in Yosemite Valley.


What place have you never visited but wish you could?
Benton, PA

Let's All Go to the Moooo-vies

I'm very much looking forward to this one. I had previously been skeptical of it because, hey, how can you beat the BBC version with Colin Firth? How can you do this wonderful book in 2 hours? But two Jane Austen fans (notice I said Jane Austen FANS, not Jane Austen FANATICS) have told me they really liked the movie, so I'm set to go. The Wonder Woman is my companion this evening, and we look forward to sipping our Starbucks and falling in love with Mr. Darcy all over again.

Ultrasound news

It's confirmed... it is in fact a girl. =) She gave us a really nice butt shot that left no doubts. Thank goodness... I have enough pink that's been given to me to last a lifetime! She is also a big baby... 3 pounds, 8 oz. already! This puts us either at having a big baby, or else it puts us a week ahead of schedule. We'll see. She is healthy, and so far seems content in there.

The other news is that my placenta has not moved up from the cervix. It was expected to grow upwards with my uterus, but it has not moved. Ther is no threat to the baby, but does mean we will need to talk about delivery options. What this would have meant if we didn't know about it is that there would have been quite a bit of bleeding, endangering me more than the baby. However, because modern medicine knows to check for this, it's really not a big deal. There is a chance, possibly a good chance, that I will need to do a C-section. We'll see... I find out Monday. I am not worried, though.

The Baby Wash

Thanksgiving week was officially a success. After an evening drive up to Selma on Tuesday, we had an early "feast" (as Emma calls it) with my sister and brother-in-law before he left Thanksgiving Day for Seattle. (He arrived safely on Saturday and starts work on Monday morning).

Then we had a nice time on Thanksgiving Day with Steve's brother's girlfriend's family in Oakdale. Mom Earle and I declined the Black Friday shopping and enjoyed sleeping in. The major hilight, of course was when Jamie's dog ate two of our host's chickens. The Hershey visitor center, on the other hand, was a big disappointment.

Then back to Selma/Reedley for my "Danish" shower. My aunt put on a really nice tea for me with the Danish relatives invited. I love this group... we just sit around and gab and gab. They really spoiled me, too, and I just keep hoping there are no surprises when this baby is born, because if it turns out to be a boy, he's going to have a very pink identity crisis. =) We get another ultrasound tomorrow, so I will get to check again. Emma was sort of the mascot of the shower. She couldn't remember that it was called a shower, and coined the term, "Baby Wash." She was my little helper with the gifts, which was so cute. And I just have to say, I ROCK... my thank you's are finished already!

The dreams continue

Okay, this time I dreamt that the pope was shot. My family was invited to the funeral, and while there I discovered that I was in possession of the gun! I knew I hadn't shot him, but didn't know what to do with the gun. I was trying to take care of my little niece, Abby, and she was a handful, so I never got around to telling anyone about the gun. The longer I waited, the more nervous I was that they were going to think I did it! Steve asked if I was feeling threatened by Catholocism...

Two Day Week!

I'm working a little later tonight, but it doesn't bother me at all, seeing as how I work only 2 days this week. Today I go do academic advising at our Orange County site, which should be fun. This seems like a nice group. I have several other groups who are very demanding. This one seems to understand that if you have a question or concern, you ask politely. Go figure.

I had the craziest dream last night that kinda freaked me out. I dreamt that I looked outside and this white VW Jetta was sitting outside our house, and a guy who looked a lot like Jack Nickelson was just staring at our house. (Of course it was late at night in the dream.) I went outside--for some reason I went through the window--and the guy pulled a small machine gun out on me. I got back inside the house in time, and he didn't shoot, but apparently I wasn't to leave my house. I woke up still feeling like I was supposed to call the cops.

Then I dreamed Steve and I were going through our wedding ceremony again, and I hadn't done my hair, and couldn't find my wedding dress and shoes.

In cinematic news... Harry Potter, two thumbs up with a special thumbs up for Patrick Doyle's new score... Scrubs took a little while to warm up, but is still quite funny, though I'm still bummed they have to let it be crass once in awhile... and Madagascar was cute.

The weekend!

Only 1 hour and 43 minutes until the weekend! I'll start out the weekend at the Chorale concert tonight. It was supposed to be an alumni reunion, but it's been put off until the Spring so they can get a proper mailing out. I hope to at least see a couple of locals there. Always strange to see old friends with a new belly.

Then tomorrow morning... Horray for Harry! Looking forward to this one big time!



So rare that there are so many good movies I want to see. Walk the Line, Narnia, Harry, Pride and Prejudice... not to mention the home-front, where Scrubs' 2nd season is just out. All in time for Thanksgiving!

Update

I am muchly reassured. The hospital was much better than expected. Certainly not a Four Seasons, but definitely a respectable Best Western, and not a crappy Motel 6. The atmosphere was calm, and I heard NO ONE crying in the delivery room. The nurse who led the tour was a cutie and really did a great job of reassuring and encouraging all of us. It's nice to have a picture in my mind of where we will go and what it all will look like. I was glad to find out that if my mom makes it down here, she can be in the delivery room with me, and if BOTH my mom and dad make it, they can both be in there. That's my dream... for me to have labor start on Saturday morning so that my folks can both make it down in time to be there. I would love for my Dad to be there in the room to help me think through things and tell me what's going on. At any rate, it was a good experience.

The biggest double standard works to my advantage...

Why is it that women can think men are cute and talk about them and it's not sexual? I don't know, but it gives me the right to come up with top 10 lists.

My sister and I were trying to remember all the people on our "top 10" list of cuties. So far...

Colin Firth
Viggo Mortensen
The guy from Sweet Home Alabama (Josh Lucas)
Ewan McGreggor
Christian Bale (Batman/Laurie from Little Women)
Peyton Manning
Sean Connery (he'll be cute until he's 90)
Oliver Wood (the chaser for the Gryffindor Quidditch team--is it bad that I'm, like 8 years older than him?)


George Stephanopolis gets an honorable mention, even though he's "blue."

The long, dark corridor

I'm about to go visit the hospital in which I will experience the worst pain of my life. It's called "The Stork Tour," and it is a tour of the hospital where little "Pearl Earle" (as my office-mates are calling her) will enter the non-liquid world. I am not a total whimp, but I wouldn't say I'm the toughest girl out there either. On two ends of the spectrum are my sister, who voluntarily performs surgery on her own feet without so much as a wince, and another member of the family circle who, God bless her, cries every time she gets her blood-pressure checked. So I figure I fall somewhere in the middle. I'm definitely in the "use drugs if possible" camp. When I broke and dislocated my baby toe 7 years ago, the E.R. doc said, "Can we try this without the anesthetics first?" I naively said yes. Many tears later, he went to get the shot. So how will I do? I don't know, you tell me!

Oh, and...

We just got tix to go see the Narnia red-carpet premiere at Downtown Disney. Woo-hoo! Looks like a nice birthday for Steve!

Monday Update

Wow, what a busy week back. Steve's sister moved into town last week Monday, so we've been helping her move and making sure she had a place to hang out. It's hard being new in town, and we wanted her to know she's always welcome here.

Monday last week I had a routine check-up, and was totally stressed about the weight gain. Luckily I had only gained 3 pounds in 5 weeks. I was hoping she would jump up and down or at least say, "good job," but instead she says, "well, I guess that's okay." I say again: Never tell a woman she's gained too much weight... you will never be forgiven. Of course, I was so stressed out about the weight gain, my blood pressure was too high. Can't win!

The rest is a blur. Got the carpet in! Finished the pool! So much to do... have to Christmas shop, finish registry, get ready for T-giving, etc.

The trip

Okay, the trip. Here are just a couple of pics from our trip.


Fun with cameras. While we were taking this picture, a helicopter was flying over all the mall buildings looking at the roofs. Later we discovered they were preparing for the Rosa Parks viewing that night.


One of two really cold days. The rest were really nice. It was great to be out in the cold air and actually feel like it was FALL!



This is on the way to see the place where I lived for a semester in college. What a walk to work it was!


I love this shot. I think this was my most meaningful trip to Arlington. Possibly because I wasn't trying too hard to make it meaningful.


Aren't we cute? =)

It was a great time together, tons of walking, really looking at our capitol. Some hilights were getting to hear part of a Supreme Court case, and actually seeing Cheif Justice Roberts in the mix. We heard a news report on that case later, which was really cool. I really liked Arlington this time around. It was beautiful, and I felt we really got to experience it. We were walking on a road, just the two of us, and some Army guys came riding along on horses with a casket pulled behind on a wagon. It was an amazing moment. We did a lot of pictures of law enforcement and military. It seems to be a theme with us when we travel... we're interested in the uniforms, the tasks, and the people. Other hilights... seeing the Marine Marathon in DC. Races are so cool. I love all the people on the sides cheering for the runners. It is one time in our culture where just about all you experience is encouragement.

I loved seeing "my" old city with my beloved. In many ways, the magic of the city was broken for me and I became again a tourist instead of someone with a DC address, (however short term). But it was a beautiful week and it was neat to compare the snapshot of my life with my life then. I can't help but praise God for where my life is now. He has protected me and given me so many joys. To stand in the same spots 8 years later with a wonderful, loving, faithful husband and carrying my unborn daughter was something to make me catch my breath.

A tribute to Ruth

She'd kill me if I put up a picture of just her, so let's just say she is in this picture. Today is my good friend, Ruth's last day here in the office. She was someone who dropped out of the sky for us 4 years ago when we needed a Marketing Coordinator, and has since become a dear friend. She is moving on to be the Director of Public Relations for the Southern California branch of the Special Olympics. I think I"m avoiding feeling anything because I know it is going to hurt when she is gone. She is the person here who really "gets" me, the one that I bounce everything off of, the one I go to when I need to process, and the one I HAVE to talk to after I've watched one of our shows on TV. She laughs easily and often and is one of the kindest people I know. She can be tenacious when it really counts, too. I will miss the dayliness (how do you spell that??) of just telling her the dumb stuff like, "Our carpet came in last night!" or "I made these rockin' scones yesterday." She always gets it. I will miss hearing about her doggies and her everlasting decision-making.

Here's to you, Ruth, and a wonderful career with the Special Olympics. Love the socks off of those guys.