MOVED IN!

WHOOT! Dan and I are all moved in to our new condo downtown! We're loving it so much! We finally went hard all day Saturday to clean and organize the place (i.e., finally make it look like we don't live out of boxes!)

Dan invited a few of his friends from work, and a few of my friends I know from karate for a poker night, and Kelly brought over her Nintendo Wii- which was unbelivably amazing fun (thanks so much Kel!!!). Everyone was pretty impressed with our place, and the lovely color we picked out for our walls - which is called "urban putty" - it's like a really nice modern brown color that goes with just about anything. Dan actually used this paint color in his last condo. Unfortunately, we still can't find my darn battery recharger for my camera, so we're/you're SOL on the viewing of our place.

My fave part about living downtown so far so that I'm only a 5 minute walk away from my private practice (so I don't get the panicky feeling of being late for my appointments) and it's a 10 minute walk away from the gym (although I still much prefer the south side Clubfit). I also like the fact that we're pretty central, since I drive to all parts of the city to see my autistic clients. Dan loves the fact that it is only a 5 minute drive to his work (about 25 minute walk to work). When the weather gets nicer, we'll be pumped to go for runs in our beautiful river valley.

My parents just came back from a week of vacationing in Victoria, which probably was a nice thing to help them transition into the empty nest/launching phase. I called mom today (and had just seen her yesterday as I had to pick them up at the airport last night), and she seemed overly happy to hear from me. How cute! She did mention it's too quiet in the house (that definitely is a sign she misses us already!) Chinese people don't really like quiet. Dan and I will be cooking/hosting dinner for my parents and his sister's family this coming weekend. They all still haven't seen our place yet, and are dying to!

Today, Dan and I took Amanda, our niece, swimming for her belated birthday present. She turned 5 on Feb 28 - and boy, is she getting even prettier everyday! I remember her when she was just 3 months old- which was when D and I started dating.

I just want to take a serious moment to reflect on how fortunate and how utterly content I am with my life right now. About once a month, I conduct a workshop on Communication to couples in a marriage preperation course with my good therapist friend Linda. Last Friday was one of those times, and as usual, b/c most of the couples are in the same age range as me, I usually know at least one or two of the people attending. This time, I bumped into a girl I had met in my first year University French class. She couldn't believe that it was me who was running the workshop, and she said, "Oh my God! You're actually doing what you said you wanted to do ever since I met you!!!!" Although I knew this already, it was a really nice experience to bump into someone who realized I am living out my ambitious dream.

I'm so happy with my new job as a contract psychologist working with autistic children - it's such a great balance in my work life (I like to call it play). And it is because of this job, I'm able to afford my own free time to counsel inmates on Wednesdays, and work with traumatized children on Friday mornings. I'm fortunate to have such an amazing supervisor who is such a great mentor and supporter of my life. In addition, my private practice has grown pretty fast in the last couple months and I'm so thankful for that. I also couldn't have done all this without the love and support of my parents, who put up with all my mood swings over these years. I definitely couldn't have gotten this far without my friends (including my best friend and especially my therapist friends) - who truly understand what I go through on a daily basis. Most of all, I'm very thankful for such a wonderful husband who can support and share my dreams with me.

In this very moment, I can truly, sincerely say I love every single aspect of my life. This is only the beginning - I cannot wait to see how the next 2 years of my life unfold before me. What is most rewarding is that I know I've worked hard to get to where I am today and it's a bonus that it's been recognized. I cannot describe in words how good it feels to be where I am right now. Honestly, although I know I have much more life experience to gain as I age, my life truly feels as fulfilled as it can be at the age I am at. I don't know what else I could ask for (ok, if I really had to, I would ask to have an incredibly amazing metabolism - in which I could eat as much peanut butter as I please w/o gaining an once of fat- for the rest of my life)- but in all seriousness, I think that given the limits of life experience due to my age, I honestly think I could not ask for more.