Hi

So, uh... hey. How ya doin'? It's been a while, so I thought perhaps we'd catch up.

So, the last time I wrote was last July. A few things have changed since then.

So where am I now? In pleasantly warm Philadelphia. Yes, Pennsylvania. I am married to a wonderful man, to whom I shall affectionately refer as The Husband. He is from Nashville, originally, so, no, I didn't marry a yankee.

We bought a house last week. It is an end-of-row row house. We have three floors. It doesn't mean we have a big house, it's just tall, with a small footprint. (Land is a scarce resource in Philadelphia.) We have a basement, too. I don't really know what to do with a basement. I mean, you can store stuff down there, I guess, but then it smells like basement. You can also go there during tornados except Pennsylvania doesn't really have those. So for now, it's empty. We don't have a garage or a driveway. We just park on the street. Luckily, there seems to be enough parking on our street and we can usually find a spot close to the house. Where we lived before, we often had to park down the street and around the corner, which sucks when it is cold/raining/hot or when you have groceries. Oh, and we have central air, which is almost unheard of in this part of town. Most homes have window units to keep the house cool.

I have a job. I am the Business Manager/Controller at Awbury Arboretum (click here or here) in east Germantown. It's a pretty casual job and I get to wear jeans. The people are great and I believe in the arboretum's mission: "to preserve and interpret Awbury's historic house and landscape, thereby connecting an urban community with nature and history." Click around on the website to find out more.

The Husband and I currently attend Circle of Hope, which is a Brethren in Christ church of Mennonite roots. You could say it's pretty different from my Southern Baptist upbringing and you wouldn't be wrong. It has taken some getting used to, but the friendly people are easing the transition.

SO... needless to say, the past year has been full of changes for me. Sometimes it's difficult for my little brain to process it all and there have been some ups and downs emotionally.

So that's where I am.

Where are you?