Second thread for bios?

[Rachels]

I LOVE reading the bios thread, but my poor computer is struggling to keep up now that there are 108 replies. It either takes longer than some labors or just crashes entirely. Since I have a decent computer and a cable modem, I suspect I'm not the only one with this problem. Can we start a second thread here? If we haven't met you, chime in!

-Rachel
Mom to Abigail Rose
5/18/02

[divabell]

OK, I'll go. My name is Lori and I'm 31 (32 in March). DH is Todd (he's 34). We live about 45 minutes NW of Boston. I’m originally from northern Indiana and have lived in MA for three years. Todd is from Little Rock and settled here after spending 9 years at MIT. We got married in September of 2000.

We have been TTC for about 3 months. So I still have a lot to learn about everything that comes up here, but I love reading what people have to say and can't wait till I can chime in more! I can identify with Shannon since I'm another overachiever and have been doing baby-gear research for months. (Congrats on your pregnancy, Shannon! Hope I can join you soon!)

I'm about to get my Ph.D. in musicology (which is basically music history). I graduate from Florida State (go Noles) in less than two weeks! I've been in school my whole life, as my dad loves to tell people, and I'm still trying to figure out what to do next. (Besides motherhood...) Hopefully it will involve music--I come from an overly musical family. I am a singer and love performing with a community choir based in Cambridge. Being a TA during grad school showed me that teaching wasn't my life's calling. I've been working as a copyeditor and proofreader in various capacities for the past three years, and I really enjoy it. I've been trying to establish a freelance business so someday I can be a WAHM. Some months are better than others, but I haven't given up hope yet! Thankfully Todd has a good job as a research scientist (in biology for now).

In my spare time I love to read, go shopping, and practice my newest hobby, quilting. I’m also addicted to home dec shows like Trading Spaces.

I don't have any pictures I can post now, but I'll work on that... Thanks for all the great advice that I get from this board. It’s my favorite one, even though I can’t join in too much yet. Stay tuned!

Lori R.
(TTC!)

[Rachels]

Lori, welcome! If you haven't already, take a look at the book *Taking Charge of Your Fertility* by Toni Weschler. It is an excellent resource. I found it really comforting, and I got pregnant the second month I used her methods.

How did you find your choir? I sing, too, but I don't have a place to do it officially, and I miss it. There's only so much mileage you can get out of "The Itsy Bitsy Spider!"

-Rachel
Mom to Abigail Rose
5/18/02

[nigele]

Hi Lori!

I love to quilt, too - I learned it last year and made 3 quilts for my baby when I was expecting plus a wall-hanging for his nursery. Since DS was born in July, I haven't even had time to look at my sewing machine - so get quilting while you still can!

Good luck on TTC. It took us 6 months but it seemed like forever. Just try to relax and don't get too uptight like I did!

Best of luck.

[natividad]

This is great!

My name is Natividad and I am 34. I am almost 27 weeks pregnant with my first baby. DH is 35 and works as an attorney for a government agency in Washington, DC. I, on the other hand, work in the education research field for the World Bank also in DC. I have a Masters degree and am in the process of completing the last few chapters for my PhD (hence the late night reply to this post ;-)

DH and I have been married for four years. We spent our first married year in Pittsburgh where my husband was an associate at a medium size law firm and I was attending graduate school. Since he had attended law school at Georgetown University, he had been looking forward to returning to the DC area. I also had had internships in DC while in graduate school and found the nation's capital area to be a great place to live. We settled in Arlington, Virginia three years ago and love it!

Our interests include traveling, playing tennis, watching foreign/independent films and entertaining friends at home. So far, this pregnancy has been very good to me. Even though my back has been giving up on me lately, I have not had any problems - didn't even have any morning sickness. We will see how the rest of it goes. I am in the process of (slowly) preparing our home for the baby's arrival. As far as work is concerned, I plan to go back to work (school loans) at least part time.

I am really enjoying reading this board. You are the nicest, most helpful cyber gals I have encountered and I look forward to continuing my participation on the board.

Naty (March 03)

[divabell]

I found my choir (the Spectrum Singers) through the website bostonsings.org (the Greater Boston Choral Consortium). They list all kinds of choral groups in the Boston area. Spectrum is a great group, but I don't know much about the others.

I did look at TCOYF and I'm trying it, so we'll see. This month's chance is coming up soon... Thanks for the tip!

--Lori R.
(TTC!)

[juliasdad]

"Cyber gals"??? Harrumph. :-)

We just had our first baby on 9/2/02 (the appropriately-named Labor Day). I'm... well... let's just say that I had my first child while I was in my 30's, and leave it at that. I'm a software engineer working in the semiconductor computer-aided design industry. DW is 34, and is a music educator and band director, grades 6-8. We're both musicians by hobby; we met playing in various local wind ensembles (her, trumpet; me, euphonium/trombone). We also enjoy scuba diving and sailing, although our caribbean sailing trip might be on hold this year. :-)

I think we have a big role-reversal thing going on. I do almost all of the cooking. She changes her own oil in her car. I'm the one who's going nuts doing research into baby stuff, getting stroller-happy, etc., while she thinks we should be able to construct anything we might need for baby out of old cardboard boxes and recycled tin cans (ok, I may be exaggerating here). We're in NW NJ.

-dan

[Shirale]

Welcome Dan!! If only all fathers could be stroller happy! :-)

[natividad]

Okay Dan, next time I will say "cyber folks" - sorry :-)

DH and I really enjoy sailing as well, although we are no experts by any means (we have yet to charter a bareboat by ourselves, that's how confident we are in our sailing skills). We love the Chesapeake, but in all honesty, our favorite sailing spot has to be the Caribbean. I grew up partly on St. Croix and have a real love affair with the waters of the Caribbean. Our favorite spot is Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands. If I could be in one place right at this moment, it would have to be sailing the waters of the North Sound, anchoring at Pusser's for a quick lunch and later on having dinner at Biras Creek. This would be close to heaven for us. We have not attempted to sail the Grenadines yet, have you?

We are foregoing our Caribbean trip this Christmas since we just didn't want to take any chances. Last year, we chose Jost Van **** (BVI) to spend the last few days of 2001. We had endless Painkillers at Soggy Dollar Bar and danced the night away several times next door at Ivan's Stress Free Bar. We welcomed 2002 at legendary Foxy's. That was definitely our most memorable New Year's Eve to date!

Welcome!

Naty (March 03)

[juliasdad]

Well, Splice the Main Brace, Naty!

Yes, the BVI is my home-away-from-home; I've bareboated 8 or 9 times there. North Sound is great... though I have to say that I've never experienced Biras Creek, because until their recent closing, I thought that nothing in North Sound could beat the restaurant at Drake's Anchorage. We just discovered Ivan's on our last trip; until then, I didn't have the confidence to try to get in through the reef at White Bay. Talk about laid-back...just grab a beer from the 'fridge!

I personally can't imagine New Year's at Foxy's. Must be an incredible party... still, I go sailing partly to get away from it all, and having to worry about 300 other boats anchored in an area that really only supports 40 is a bit stressful for me!

No, we haven't sailed the Grenadines. With the BVI being so convenient, such easy sailing, and so friendly and safe, well... I haven't developed much of an interest in trying something new.

The BIG problem is this year. Julia was born on 9/2. I have "commodore" (read: frequent flyer) status with The Large Chartering Company, which means I get a 15% discount. It's a program that I'm grandfathered in to (they no longer do this), and will keep my status as long as I charter once every two years. The two years will be up at the end of this coming June! So, we want to go; but it would mean leaving Julia for a week with either her grandparents, or her godparents (my sister-in-law and husband... they live a half mile from the grandparents, so both would really be watching her). Or taking her, of course, but I think that's a Bad Idea. Tough call. DW says that I can go myself, take my parents... but I hate that idea, and I'd be miserable without her there. So, I just don't know what's gonna happen!

-dan

[mama2be]

I love sailing...but I am so a 'wanta be"...moved to Annapolis because I just love the life of sailing. Went to greece for 3 weeks by myslef (pre hubby) and got on a yacht with a group of serbs and had the time of my life!!!! I was clearly "coffee captain", and no great help with the actual survivial of making it to our destination. Moved here to Raleigh and "the capital of sailing" here in NC is called Oriental, a small little town that I have become obsessed with...I drive out there often for a bloody mary and just to watch the boats.

Dogs are Spinnaker, Buoy, Sandy (she came with that name or it would have been more nautical)

Cats are Schooner and Cinder (DH had to name her for me to get her or she would have been a nautical name).

We actually came close to purchasing a small marina near Oriental last year...

Again I am an admitted "wanna be"...so you all have so much on me :) But I'll get there one day I hope!!!!

[nohomama]

Three cheers for Labor Day babies! Lola missed Labor Day 2001 by several hours but the majority of my 27 hours of labor didn't.

[natividad]

What, Biras Creek is closed! :-(

I hope they are just remodeling or something. I love the place. We have not actually stayed at Biras (why pay $600 per night when you could stay at Leverick Bay Resort for much, much less) ;-) DH and I had an unforgetable dinner at Biras the last time we were in Virgin Gorda. We were celebrating our anniversary and the staff really went out of their way to make our dinner extra special. I do have to admit though that for an intimate, romantic and delicious dinner you just cannot beat Drake's. You are right about that. The last dinner we had at Drake's was back in 1997 (wow five years already). I can still smell the aroma of the best squash soup I have ever had. I also had a dessert made out of chocolate, but cannot recall what it was exactly. All I know is that their desserts were the best around! On subsequent visits to VG we heard conflicting opinions as to whether Drake's was actually in operation. DH and I would love to stay at there someday. By the way, one morning we dinghy over to the island and hiked over to Honeymoon Beach. Yes, it was empty ;-)

By the way, there another awsome restaurant on Virgin Gorda - it is called Giorgios Table (I cannot recall this name exactly), but it specializes in Italian dishes. It is located on the other side of the island - at Savannah Bay. The beach at Savannah Bay is probably my favorite in the island, but gosh they are so many to choose from.

New Year's Eve at Foxy's was indeed crowed, but we were already staying at White Bay and thought, why not! It was nice to do it once. Actually, we were expecting Great Harbour to sink with thousands of people, but in reality it was not that bad. Maybe 9/11 had something to do with it. After midnight at Foxy's, we immediately hiked back to White Bay (talk about a hike) and spent the rest of the early morning there. But you are so right about the hundreds of boats that anchor for the New Year's bash - we would not advise anyone to set foot in the waters of Great Harbour the next day, whew!

Naty (March 03)

[juliasdad]

No, Biras isn't closed... Drake's is. :-(

-dan

[spu]

Hi Lori,

We're neighbors! I live in Ayer! My DH is a research scientist too! He works in Cambridge at a pharmaceutical company. What a small world! I'm originally from Chelmsford and my DH is from Westford.

Congrats on getting your doctorate degree! You must be exhausted!

susan

twin girls 7.20.02
charlotte & else

[egoldber]

I am also very addicted to quilting, although I have more fabric at this point than I will ever be able to use!!!. I have managed to make a few small things since Sarah's birth, but it is very hard to find the time.

[nigele]

I went crazy last year and spent $1,400 on a sewing machine and now I won't be getting much use out of it for a while! I'm considering putting it on eBay and when I have time to quilt again (in a few years) I can buy a new machine with new features. DH reminds me of how I just HAD to have this machine!

[egoldber]

If it makes you feel any better, I have FIVE sewing machines that are being very poorly utilized at this point!!! LOL! Although to be fair to myself, one is on permanent "loan" to my SIL and one is a serger (that doesn't count since it's a different type :) ). I mainly use a new one I bought earlier this year, but I still have my first one I bought 11 years ago. There are some things that I just LOVE that machine for.

If you do decide to sell your machine there are other places than eBay to sell sewing machines. This website http://rummageads.com/rummage/ caters to knowledgeable sewers seling to other sewers. You can get better prices. No affiliation, just a wistful browser of that site, lol. :) If nothing else, it will give you a pretty decent idea of what the going rate is for your machine.

HTH,

[divabell]

Lisa and Beth, what kinds of quilts did you make for your babies (to actually use, as opposed to wall hangings, etc.)? I was thinking of making some rather elaborate things till I remembered you can't put them in the crib. Do they use your quilts for tummy time, or are the quilts just more decorative? Just curious.

I too have way too much fabric, especially considering I just started quilting a little over a year ago. My husband would really like to see me finish at least one project... so I better get started now! :-)

--Lori R.
(TTC!)

[divabell]

Wow, it is a small world! We live on the Westford side of Littleton and seem to end up in both Westford and Chelmsford very often. I love living in this area.

My DH works at MIT Lincoln Lab in Lexington--so not quite as bad a commute as your DH has! (I used to work in Newton... I can sympathize...)

I'm very glad the Ph.D. is done. It's been a long road--over six years (not counting my master's). But considering that during that time I moved up here, bought a house, got married, and worked full time for part of the time, I don't think I did too badly. :-) I'm happy to be moving on to the next project... the baby project, as DH calls it!

--Lori R.
(TTC!)

[egoldber]

I made one for tummy time. I didn't do an elaborate "baby" quilt for the crib because, as you say, you can't use it in the crib. I am planning to make a "nice" quilt for her big girl bed when she moves out of the crib.

[nigele]

Hi Lori,

I made a cute patchwork type quilt with doggy fabrics since he has a puppy-themed nursery. I also received a fabric panel from my MIL which I used for another quilt. Both of these are for tummy time, stroller, etc., not for the crib. I also made a really cute "Attic Windows" quilt using a fabric that had babies sitting on clouds, while we were TTC. I had planned to hang it on the wall but changed my mind about the nursery theme. I do use it for tummy time. I made one quilt specifically for his wall - I bought a Mary Englebreit "Everybody Needs Their Own Spot" panel off of eBay and this wall-hanging is over his crib.

Do finish your projects now - you will be surprised at how little you will be able to do once you have a baby!

Beth - thanks for the link. I will check it out and think about selling my machine after Christmas. (I figure nobody will buy a used sewing machine in December!)

[sntm]

(snicker) We aren't quite that reversed, but I do often refer to my DH as the "darling wifey." Since I'm never home, he does all most of the cooking and all the bill-paying/electrician-calling/laundry-washing/bed-making/invitation-responding. All the other residents' wives consider him one of their own (especially when he used to do handyman stuff.) I am convinced one day to come home to him playing poker with the girls while discussing "The Young and the Restless" ("Mr. Mom" reference.)

shannon
not-even-pregnant-yet-overachiever
trying-to-conceive :)
PREGNANT! EDD 6/9/03

[gour0]

These are the two most recent getting to know you threads.