insta-dump and fupdates (aka fun updates)

hello hello blogland!

we got blasted with a LOT of snow over the weekend.  those of you from pleasant homelands where weather minimally impacts your life may not be aware, but when the multiple feet of snow hit michigan it actually severely impacts day to day life.

more specifically it turns us into homebodies, which may not sound like a big deal to some of you, but steve and i are antsy folks; we get a pretty irked when we're all cooped up.  on the one hand it means our holiday decorating is totally off the chain and steve has turned into a magical housekeeping fairy.  on the other hand, it is pretty unappealing when the balance of life is reduced to jobs and stress-cleaning.

the bright silver lining to everything, however, is the exciting news about our upcoming relocation (it's hard to be TOO mad at the snow when i might be spending my next few winters in the desert).  as usual our specific information is limited, but at the moment it's terribly fun to speculate whether our new home will be defined by surfers, starbucks, mountains or cacti, and it's definitely reassuring to have a mental picture of our extremely irregular 2014 timeline.

to add to the fun my boss is leaving (apparently i'm a rough person to supervise... everyone keeps quitting the job of 'becky's boss') at the turn of the new year.  there's no question about it-- the stir crazy is here, change is coming, and i can't wait!

here's to the start of many insane weeks ahead.  happy tuesday y'all!

word count:  36,443

the winds of change

well it's officially too cold to go to work without a jacket anymore, and let me tell you that is the opposite of awesome.

autumn is so bittersweet.  a warm sunny fall day in michigan is as close to perfect as this place gets, but they are few and far between the cold, rain/snow mix days that remind you winter is a six to eight month season round these parts.  on saturday we got one of the nuggets of indian summer and we tried to stay outside as long as we could until we met up with my family to celebrate my grandma's birthday.

with the official end of summer over the weekend, it feels like everything has switched gears entirely.  it's hard not to notice the seasonal changes when hoards of college students are constantly around.  now is the time when the huge outdoor parties begin to shrink indoors.  people are more fashionable now until they have to begin hiding under layers of wool and down-filled parkas.  i can't say i'm excited for the freezing weather ahead, but with a few exceptions, now until christmas is typically a time of year that completely flies by.  perhaps its the inclusion of steve's birthday right around thanksgiving, or the fact that our dating-anniversary falls between thanksgiving and christmas, but we rarely get a chance to come up for air until the new year once october rolls around.

through all this, the thing i'm trying to focus on most is getting back at that dusty word document known as my work-in-progress.  though the thrill hasn't quite worn off of getting engaged and moving in together, the novelty of it all doesn't quite clog up my brain as much as it had been doing.  now that the weather is taking it's uglier turn, i'm hoping it will be easier to stay busy with indoor projects like my writing.  a busy life is a recipe for writers block, but i'm optimistic that the holiday stress will seem small compared to all the madness we've been through lately.

word count: 25,024