oops...

i just moved across the country! i'm going to start a blog and be really good about writing everything we do and my new job and how i'm feeling about living out of state for the first time and.......

oops. 

fast forward two and a half (!) years later, and here we are. a website. a creative name (the most important part, right?), and a blank draft, dated august 6, 2011, about a week after i moved. 

let's try again.

i'm a 20 something (i can only say that for a few more years, yikes) that moved from cleveland, ohio to denver, colorado a few summers ago. other than those 4 glorious years of college (diet: pizza and natty light.  wardrobe: jean skirts and too short tank tops. priorities: dollar draft night at stadium bar and grill first, class second- sorry mom), i've never lived away from home. and only a 4 and a half hour drive from my childhood bedroom, i still considered myself in the "safe zone". the "mom i'm so homesick i want to come home this weekend please come get me" zone. ok, that only happened the first weekend of freshman year, but knowing i was close to home was a comfort. 

my favorite (out of dozens) of my ohio-themed shirts.
you can find your  future favorite shirt here.

out of college for 3 years, living at home (are you getting the sense that i'm attached to home?) and teaching special education in a cleveland suburb public school, we (my pennsylvania-based boyfriend and i) decided to move. he used to live in flagstaff, arizona (never been? go right now.) and loved everything about the west. my sister had recently relocated from ojai, california (never been? go after you go to flagstaff) to denver.  i started applying for teaching jobs in denver not really sure it would go anywhere, and before i knew it i was calling j one may afternoon saying, "i got an offer, i have to be there in july, are we doing this?!"

my parents and some of my closest friends at my going away party
at our favorite summertime bar.

2 apartments, 1 dog, and 1 house later, here we are.  i'm still trying to find the balance of missing home and enjoying this adventure. some days i'm ready to pack my bags and head for cleveland, but the beauty of colorado and the forever friends i've made keep me here.  

j and i at the top of deer mountain in beautiful estes park, colorado.
please excuse the look of sheer exhaustion on my face and just focus on the view :)

my sister and i at red rocks amphitheater for a late
summer yonder mountain string band concert.

thanks for visiting!