Welcome fellow bloggers! This is my fourth ICLW, and I keep on trying to find new and interesting ways to introduce myself.  If you would like a traditional summary of my  IF journey you can revisit my ICLW posts from April and May, or you can check out my timeline.  I also did a ICLW intro post in numbers.  I can add two numbers to this post:   89 OPKs and 44 HPTs.  That’s right.  I’m not afraid of peeing on a stick.

So, as an introduction for this month I wanted to give you some of my favorite things.

Green Pants:

I love my green pants from the Gap. Love, love, love them. They are a bit stretchy, they are cropped, and they are much brighter than this picture. I feel fun and sassy when I wear these pants. I also feel cool and hip which is sometimes a stretch for this ever-aging 32-year-old. Thirty-three in two months. I can’t help but imagine my eggs wrinkling and turning gray with me. But, for now, I have green pants.

Mac Book:

I started my PhD program with a top of the line Dell. I made an investment in a computer that was fast and had a lot of memory because I knew I would be using it A LOT. And I did. I used and used and used that laptop. I filled it up with writing and research and data. I filled it up to the brim. I was very loyal, and I was loathe to toss the sweet thing to the wayside. Yet, the time came when it wasn’t even functional. So, I bought another Dell PC. I had such a good experience with both the Dell and Windows operating system that I knew I was making the right choice. I was wrong. I purchased a Dell with Vista on it and it crashed within days and continued to crash and crash and crash and crash. Three and a half years later, multiple external hard drives, multiple viruses, and multiple system reboots, I have wiped my hands clean of the Microsoft operating system. Peace out and good riddance. This is my inaugural post withe the Mac, and I’m having a blast.

Virgin Mojitos:

I live in Palm Springs and it is dreadfully hot. I don’t drink a lot of soda because I hate artificial sweeteners, and regular soda has too much sugar for my cystic ovaries. However, I do love sparkling beverages. Cue virgin mojitos. Virgin for two reasons: One, I can’t run around drinking rum-heavy drinks all throughout the day for obvious reasons (never mind the sugar bomb in the alcohol). Two, my husband is in recovery so running around drinking rum-heavy drinks would make me an asshole, and I love my husband.

So, I made some mint simple syrup, squeezed the juice from one lime, crushed some fresh mint leaves and topped it off with sparkling water. It was and is the most refreshing beverage I’ve ever made, and it will be the lifeline that keeps me afloat this summer. To make the simple syrup combine equal parts water and sugar in a saucepan. Heat until the sugar dissolves. Add some chopped mint in the sauce pan and simmer for 15 minutes or until syrupy. Strain the mint bits with a fine strainer or cheesecloth. Refrigerate in a jar of sorts and enjoy at will!

I’m thinking of making other simple syrups ie berry, rhubarb, celery, etc. The world is a sparkling beverage of an oyster.

Shadow of Night:

I was the kid with the coke-bottle glasses reading in the corner. I love books. I always have and always will. Five years into my PhD program I realized that I probably could have simply become a librarian and lived happily ever after. Alas, it was not meant to be, but I still carry books with me all the time. Shadow of Night is my new read. I’ve been waiting patiently for this book to come out ever since I read A Discovery of Witches. See, I didn’t realize it was to be a trilogy, so I inhaled the book waiting to see how things were resolved at the end. To my horror and delight, things weren’t resolved and I had to wait to see what happened. Finally, we have book two in the All Souls Trilogy.

This series is a great summer read. The author has created a smart and fun storyline, but doesn’t weigh it down with dense and complex prose. I’ve discovered that my concentration has waned in the face of two miscarriages in three months,  and things are a bit slippery, so to speak. I like to think of this as a nice defense mechanism. My brain is in survival mode protecting my heart. No need to spend hours pondering the reality of the situation. So, light fiction is right up my alley these days. For those of you that liked Twilight, check this series out. Also, the movie rights have already been sold. Coming to a theatre near you.

So, there you have it.  Brief snippets of information about my every day life outside the realm of infertility.  Oh, and I’m currently 4 DPO and waiting patiently to test at 10 DPO. Welcome from ICLW, and thanks for stopping in!