New Toy and Adoption Reading Question

First...

I bought a Nike + iPod kit, and today was my first day using it - I LOVED it! Basically, it is a chip that goes on my shoe and syncs to my iPod. It keeps track of how far I run, my pace, calories burned, etc. It also allows you to set up goals and you can download workouts to help you train. I am hoping that this will keep me motivated and help me improve.

Second, and more importantly...does anyone have any good advice on adoption articles and books that are good to give to family members? I was thinking that maybe it would help my MIL if I gave her some legitimate reading material. I saw the book "Adoption is a Family Affair: What Relatives and Friends Must Know", by Patricia Johnston on Barnes and Noble's website, but I am clueless as to how good it is. If anyone has any suggestions, I would love to hear them!

Help me Decide

When I found out that my good friend L was KU, I decided that I wanted to make her a baby blanket. I have found that making a blanket/similar item for friends who are KU makes it a little easier to deal with my lack of children.

Anyway...I originally found a pattern for a rag quilt to make for L. The only problem is that all of the fabric that I like is quite expensive...meaning this blanket would cost much more than I am willing to spend on her. Other options that I have thought of are to crochet a baby blanket, just make a receiving blanket or bibs, or buy something from her registry. I just can't decide what to do...part of me is leaning towards crocheting a blanket, part of me thinks I should find another pattern, and another part says to just do something more simple.

If you have any ideas or want to help me with my decision, check out my poll or leave a comment. I would love to get some feedback!

Race Day!

On Saturday I ran the Salt Lake City 5K. I decided to sign up for this race a few months ago because I figured that it would give me something besides IF and TTC to focus on, plus it would be something that I would actually have some control over. I was planning on running the race alone, but then I got an e-mail from my dad on Thursday asking me when/where we were going to meet up to run together. My dad is an excellent runner, and apparently he had told me that he would run with me, but I had spaced it. It totally made my day!

Before we began the race, I reminded my dad that I am not as good of a runner as he is and that it wouldn't hurt my feelings at all if he did not want to keep pace with me. He was so nice and said that "he wasn't there to win anything" and he stayed with me the entire time.

DH took this picture of my dad and me just after we had crossed the finish line. My original goal was to complete the race in 35 minutes (I know, not super fast), and I am pleased to say that I ran it in 35 minutes, 31 seconds. I think that is close enough...goal met! I also finished 19th (out of 80) in my division, and right about in the middle of all the participants.

While we were cooling down after the race, we ran into two of our good friends, J and G. I had no idea that they were running, so it was fun to see them unexpectedly.

I am really glad that I stuck with it and ran this race. It was good to have something to focus and something healthy to keep me motivated. I think that I will probably start training for a 10K. It is nice to remember that their are goals out there that I can have control over and achieve.