We’re off! We’ve created another blog for this trip. It has a map to show you where we are and our itinerary. You can sign our guest book or read our journal entries and view our pictures. We’ll try to update it as often as possible. You can check out our travel journal here:

http://www.mytripjournal.com/ellisfamily

In the meantime, we’ve purchased a bunch of DVDs from our local “movie store.” I now pronounce you Chuck & Larry, The Bourne Ultimatum, Rush Hour 3, and Lisense to Wed to name a few. We’ve also packed snacks, books and charged iPods. I think we’re ready for the 18 hours of travel ahead of us. In the meantime, here is a sample of the type of music I’ll be listening to as we fly.

ps - La Dolce Vita is Italian for “the sweet life.” We sure feel like we’re living it!

Hints revealed:
Maggie Grace and a crown = Princess Grace (one of our stops is Monaco, where Princess Grace Kelly was crowned and died)
Carnival Cruise - you all figured that one out
Sunflower - I was thinking along the lines of “under the tuscan sun” and as some of you pointed out, Italy is known for it’s sunflowers

You may know by now that Dean is coming. Luckily, we won’t be here when it hits. (if it hits) However, if it stays on the projected path it could be a Category 4 or 5 when it hits the Cayman Islands. Say a prayer or cross your fingers that this doesn’t happen. We would be safe, but our cars, home and all of our stuff wouldn’t be. Just in case, we’re moving all of our stuff to the back bedroom, upstairs. Nice, huh?! Pack, clean and get ready for our trip…. in addition to preparing for a hurricane.

This is what happens when your husband finds out that your computer takes pictures…..

The fun continues in this crazy house as we count down for our vacation….

Interesting what you thought of when I posted a picture of Sunflowers Another hint….

Well, I got my hair done this week …. I wanted it nice for our upcoming Carnival cruise and I really needed a little “me” time after exams. See this is “hell” month. A week of studying, followed by exams, followed by a week of studying, followed by a week of final exams! Yikes. I decided to go a little bit more blonde. Lighten the hair up and put in some highlights.

It turned into a disaster. Let’s just say, somehow the clearly incompetent hair girl at the overpriced, supposed to be the best on the island spa, did not know what she was doing. Somehow my description of remove the brassy - copper tones (from the sun) and add some highlights to lighten it up, translated into make the top of my head copper and leave the under side bright red. Here is what it looked like after she finished. By the way, my hair was light brown to begin with.

Needless to say, for the first time in my life, I demanded it be fixed asap. Let’s just say this almost cost me 200 whoppers from Burger King. Not that I eat at Burger King, but you get the point. And yes, that is a ridiculous amount to pay for hair, but I live on an island where everything is majorly overpriced. I went back for my second appointment, with someone supposedly more competent. She did a glaze and some low lights to even it out a bit. It looks somewhat better, but no where near what I asked for. I’m annoyed and missing my regular hair girl (back in Michigan) terribly. Oh I can’t wait to go home in December and have her strip down my hair and make me feel beautious again.

Here is a recent picture (the before) and a picture from today (after the 2nd appt).

Frank says I’m overreacting. He likes the hair. What do you think? Honestly, you’re not going to hurt my feelings. I’ve already come up with several names for myself. “Pumpkin head is cooking dinner now.” “Penny hair is running to the gym.” “Could you please or-ange for the new car insurance.” Frank doesn’t find these jokes funny. After all, he’s the one who paid that hefty bill.

ps - Here is another hint to continue our big secret! We are going on a Carnival Cruise to _______.

I will be riding the ferris wheel with Tom Cruise. Get it right ladies!

Just kidding. Yes….. you have guessed it….. we are going on a Carnival Cruise very soon…. but the questions is where???

More to come….

Thank you all for your kind words, comments, emails. I really appreciate it. Now that I’ve processed it, I realize I really have nothing to complain about. Time will go quickly and I’m happy right now in this point of my life. Plus, there are people waiting to go get their child. That is so much more difficult then me just waiting to get started. Let’s just be honest. Waiting sucks.

Sometimes I’m such a girl. I think it’s becoming more obvious because I am around many men all day long. (Med students are still mostly men.) Here are some of the girly things I’ve noticed about myself lately.

(1) Has anyone else seen those cute discover credit cards being advertised on the web? They come in pastel colors and you can get them personalized with your monogram. I immediately was like, “Frank - I want one of those.” He looked at me like I had temporarily lost my mind. He explained there was no need - I already have 2 cards that I use to keep my credit score high and to get free airmiles or cash back. I know I don’t need one. But, they are still cute.

(2) Now that I am done with exams, I have some free time on my hands. What have I been doing? I bought a gossip magazine and read it cover to cover while I laid in the sun. Then I came inside and searched the web for baby stuff. Cute nursery items. Not showing shirts. Blogs.

(3) What did I do after I found out we would be staying here longer? (Well, after I cried.) I wrote out our new timeline here and after. Of course, it included (in detail) the adoption timeline. This lead to doodling of baby names. Girly, I know. I admit it.

(4) Finally, I have been really trying to drink more water. It’s hot here and I feel dehydrated a lot of the time. Plus, I’m trying to get myself in better shape. So anyways, I’ve been drinking a lot of water and I have noticed my bladder really is the size of a thimble. I have a problem. It goes right through me.

So it’s official. There is no doubt about it. I am a girlie-girl!