After the first ultrasound 
7 weeks
Sunday, December 06, 2009
Monday, November 02, 2009
Bruno
This is our new kitten. We weren't exactly planning on getting a kitten, but when Damian picked Sasso up from the kennel they mentioned a kitten that they just rescued. So we decided to adopt him and call him Bruno.
Untitled from Sylvie Milverton on Vimeo.
Untitled from Sylvie Milverton on Vimeo.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Fall Days
Last week I had some meetings in Miami, and afterwards I took a flight up to Washington to meet up with Damian. We spent Saturday and Sunday in Sperryville, VA which was beautiful. I finally got to see fall leaves, fall colors... smell the fall air. It was great. I love the weather in Mexico City, but can't let a year go by without a bit of fall.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Thoughts on the News
1. Why is America interested in the Gosselins? I mean, I am as guilty (if not more!) as the next person of silly TV (Project Runway, Top Chef, and on and on)... but why do people care about what is happening with this completely annoying and average couple? Because they did IVF before the trend was not to transfer 6 embryos? Because they are breaking up? I admit to getting some interest in hearing about George Clooney's latest fling, or seeing photos of Alex Rodriguez hanging out with Madonna.. but I genuinely don't understand why these people are in the news. I moved to Mexico and all of a sudden there are all these weird shows and boring people. Does anyone really care? Apparently yes.
2. The Balloon Hoax. All I can say is: shame on whoever would lie about the fact that a young child's life might be in danger. Of course, no one is going to assume at first that you are lying... they will do all it takes to save the child. I just can't imagine what madness, lack of judgment, cruelty would persuade anyone -- let alone a parent! -- to lie about such a thing.
3. The piece by David Rohde in the New York Times about his kidnapping in Afganistan is fascinating. No criticism here, just waiting to read the rest of it.
2. The Balloon Hoax. All I can say is: shame on whoever would lie about the fact that a young child's life might be in danger. Of course, no one is going to assume at first that you are lying... they will do all it takes to save the child. I just can't imagine what madness, lack of judgment, cruelty would persuade anyone -- let alone a parent! -- to lie about such a thing.
3. The piece by David Rohde in the New York Times about his kidnapping in Afganistan is fascinating. No criticism here, just waiting to read the rest of it.
Thursday, October 08, 2009
Adjustment
All is well in Mexico. I usually have quite a lot of work at this time of year, so most of my time has been either working or resting. The weather has been really good -- usually it starts to get cooler in October, but so far we have had warm, sunny days. Not a lot of rain either. I have been curled up at home reading my Kindle and taking naps. Not a bad way to start October, I suppose.
I realized that with all the work, I was letting myself get annoyed all the time. To be fair, a lot of people can be annoying! Waiting and waiting (and waiting!) for someone (i.e. me!) to tell them how to do a thing and what to do. And in such a whiny way! Somehow I just reached a breaking point. Which is odd because that hasn't really happened in all the time I've been here. Perhaps it is because it's late in year and I'm ready for a holiday. Also, while it's been a great work year personally, the situation in Mexico has made the business environment a lot more complicated, so there is a general feeling of stress and anxiety, which is normal.
But then I had a realization: the annoying people aren't the slightest bit annoyed, they are happy. The only person who is suffering for being such a grump is me. (Well, and perhaps my darling husband). So on Tuesday I came to work with a big attitude adjustment, and it has helped. I decided just not to deal directly with the annoyers and cheer up: Whiny way of talking? delegate the discussion. Not getting a helpful answer? tell someone else to follow up. Lack of initiative? give someone else the task. And just in general, smile through a thing when I feel that irritation feeling welling up inside me. So far it is working like a charm. Part of it is certainly cultural -- I get frustrated when I can't communicate well, when my point doesn't get across, when things don't go fast enough because I haven't been able to align it properly. Hence my attitude adjustment: the problem is me, not them. And being annoyed only succeeds in giving me a bad day, and it certainly doesn't improve my communication. Plently of people understand English well enough that when I feel that it hasn't been explained, I can repeat in English. What a better way of dealing with something than turning into a grumpy mess! Who knew... With this new approach, I am sailing through our budgeting season without snapping at every poor soul who dares cross my path.
...................................................
Recently on the Kindle, I have read:
The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
The Commitment by Dan Savage
The Kid by Dan Savage
The Informant by Kurt Eichenwald
Traffic
An Irreverant Curiosity by David Farley
Drown by Junot Diaz (almost finished)
All are highly recommended. Except for Traffic which was a most pleasant read (perhaps because I spend what feels like 20% of my life in Mexico City traffic), but unless one is the mood for particulars of why so many cars going the same way can't seem to actually go anywhere, you could give it a miss. I enjoyed it. Can't wait for Junot Diaz to write another book, he is brilliant. Have I already listed all these books in another post? Can't remember and am too lazy to check!
I realized that with all the work, I was letting myself get annoyed all the time. To be fair, a lot of people can be annoying! Waiting and waiting (and waiting!) for someone (i.e. me!) to tell them how to do a thing and what to do. And in such a whiny way! Somehow I just reached a breaking point. Which is odd because that hasn't really happened in all the time I've been here. Perhaps it is because it's late in year and I'm ready for a holiday. Also, while it's been a great work year personally, the situation in Mexico has made the business environment a lot more complicated, so there is a general feeling of stress and anxiety, which is normal.
But then I had a realization: the annoying people aren't the slightest bit annoyed, they are happy. The only person who is suffering for being such a grump is me. (Well, and perhaps my darling husband). So on Tuesday I came to work with a big attitude adjustment, and it has helped. I decided just not to deal directly with the annoyers and cheer up: Whiny way of talking? delegate the discussion. Not getting a helpful answer? tell someone else to follow up. Lack of initiative? give someone else the task. And just in general, smile through a thing when I feel that irritation feeling welling up inside me. So far it is working like a charm. Part of it is certainly cultural -- I get frustrated when I can't communicate well, when my point doesn't get across, when things don't go fast enough because I haven't been able to align it properly. Hence my attitude adjustment: the problem is me, not them. And being annoyed only succeeds in giving me a bad day, and it certainly doesn't improve my communication. Plently of people understand English well enough that when I feel that it hasn't been explained, I can repeat in English. What a better way of dealing with something than turning into a grumpy mess! Who knew... With this new approach, I am sailing through our budgeting season without snapping at every poor soul who dares cross my path.
...................................................
Recently on the Kindle, I have read:
The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
The Commitment by Dan Savage
The Kid by Dan Savage
The Informant by Kurt Eichenwald
Traffic
An Irreverant Curiosity by David Farley
Drown by Junot Diaz (almost finished)
All are highly recommended. Except for Traffic which was a most pleasant read (perhaps because I spend what feels like 20% of my life in Mexico City traffic), but unless one is the mood for particulars of why so many cars going the same way can't seem to actually go anywhere, you could give it a miss. I enjoyed it. Can't wait for Junot Diaz to write another book, he is brilliant. Have I already listed all these books in another post? Can't remember and am too lazy to check!
Friday, October 02, 2009
America
I was in the US last week for a meeting, and had the pleasure of zooming to Philadelphia and seeing the family, and then zooming to DC to see Lisa. My sweet nieces were very sweet indeed. Sasha was singing away to her Laurie Berkner songs... every time there was a short break in the DVD she would squeal, I want Laurie Berkner! And then about 8 seconds later, another song would come on. Wash, rinse, repeat. Very cute. We took the girls to a place where you can play on bouncy bit inflatable things, but it was ideal because there's no division between where bigger kids play and where little kids play. Sasha was happy until some kids started bouncing too close to her. Pearl yelped at Sasha, get out! get out! The look of terror on her little 2-year old face was so cute, even though I felt bad. So then we played on a smaller one, and tried to avoid the bigger kids. That activity lasted 30 minutes before tears (Pearl's, not Sasha's) and to appease that, we went for Dairy Queen. Sasha wanted white ice cream and Pearl got a little sundae. And they sat in the back of the car having it quite happily.
I went to DC on Saturday night a bit late. Lisa and I had a lovely dinner at the Logan Tavern on a rainy and cold night. It was so fun to catch up, we haven't seen each other since December 2007 in Australia. Now she lives in DC again. Sunday we went shopping in Georgetown and did something that I think I have never done. We bought exactly the same dress and exactly the same bag. The shoes I got in Baltimore as a complete splurge after a long 2 weeks of powerpoint. They go quite well with the dress, I reckon.
I went to DC on Saturday night a bit late. Lisa and I had a lovely dinner at the Logan Tavern on a rainy and cold night. It was so fun to catch up, we haven't seen each other since December 2007 in Australia. Now she lives in DC again. Sunday we went shopping in Georgetown and did something that I think I have never done. We bought exactly the same dress and exactly the same bag. The shoes I got in Baltimore as a complete splurge after a long 2 weeks of powerpoint. They go quite well with the dress, I reckon.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Rekindled
For an embarrassingly long amount of time, I have been in a reading lull. I read books, but it's not like I constantly have a book that I'm going through. I'll have a good one, and then it's a month of searching for another inspiration. We have a houseful of books, so there is really no excuse. Partly b/c I have such busy and full-on days, I just come home and read magazines or watch TV/movies/etc. Partly it's because we're in Mexico, so there's not a convenient way to buy new books. But then I feel guilty because we already have so many books in the house, I shouldn't need new ones... then guilty again because I love reading and can't seem to get into a reading groove... but the end result is the same: no reading plus useless guilt.
Enter: The Kindle
I love my new Kindle! Damian was the US the other week so he picked it up for me. I chose some books for him to download while in America, and in 1 week, I have already read 3 books. That is 3 more than I have read in... well, never mind.
I read Traffic which is, surprisingly, about Traffic. Not the most amazing thing in the world but read a review of it in the NY Times about a year ago and have been curious about it ever since, and I enjoyed it. Then I read a brilliant novel called The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz. Loved so much. And today I finished An Irrevent Curiosity by David Farley. Also great.
Everything about the Kindle is so pleasing -- it's so nice to hold, and read. No glare, no holding down pages. It's like hands-free reading. Last weekend we were at Playa del Carmen and it was super windy, but I just set the kindle on the table and read while I ate. No pages blowing around. No losing of place. I read a book a day on that trip! You can still easily move around the book -- check Table of Contents and Acknowledgements, it tells you how far along you are. It also has a built-in Oxford English Dictionary, so if you come across a new word, just click and it pulls up the definition. Usually I am MUCH too lazy to actually look up words, so I skip over, but it's nice to actually pause and work it out. Damian generally knows more words than I do, so he is usually my dictionary, but the other day I found a word even he didn't know, so thanks OED.
You can't do the wireless downloading in Mexico, but it's easy enough to buy books from Amazon.com with a US credit card, download to the computer and drag over to the Kindle. The books are usually $10/each, so it's less of an investment than paper. Easy to carry around. It is fab.
I am not generally an early adopter of technology (unlike my husband who is the early adopter of all things -- I usually wait for the hand-me-down version of his old things that seem just fine to me). But in this case, I took the plunge and I am so into it. I have found my reading groove.
Enter: The Kindle
I love my new Kindle! Damian was the US the other week so he picked it up for me. I chose some books for him to download while in America, and in 1 week, I have already read 3 books. That is 3 more than I have read in... well, never mind.
I read Traffic which is, surprisingly, about Traffic. Not the most amazing thing in the world but read a review of it in the NY Times about a year ago and have been curious about it ever since, and I enjoyed it. Then I read a brilliant novel called The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz. Loved so much. And today I finished An Irrevent Curiosity by David Farley. Also great.
Everything about the Kindle is so pleasing -- it's so nice to hold, and read. No glare, no holding down pages. It's like hands-free reading. Last weekend we were at Playa del Carmen and it was super windy, but I just set the kindle on the table and read while I ate. No pages blowing around. No losing of place. I read a book a day on that trip! You can still easily move around the book -- check Table of Contents and Acknowledgements, it tells you how far along you are. It also has a built-in Oxford English Dictionary, so if you come across a new word, just click and it pulls up the definition. Usually I am MUCH too lazy to actually look up words, so I skip over, but it's nice to actually pause and work it out. Damian generally knows more words than I do, so he is usually my dictionary, but the other day I found a word even he didn't know, so thanks OED.
You can't do the wireless downloading in Mexico, but it's easy enough to buy books from Amazon.com with a US credit card, download to the computer and drag over to the Kindle. The books are usually $10/each, so it's less of an investment than paper. Easy to carry around. It is fab.
I am not generally an early adopter of technology (unlike my husband who is the early adopter of all things -- I usually wait for the hand-me-down version of his old things that seem just fine to me). But in this case, I took the plunge and I am so into it. I have found my reading groove.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
