Long time no type!

Hello World!
Sorry it seems as though I've temporarily fallen off the face of the earth. Life has been keeping both Jose and I very busy! Of course, I'm still cooking, nothing will stop me from making new dishes! Not even my own funky digestive system.

Anyhow, in just a few short days we will be moving into our new apartment! I am so excited, it'll be our first "home"! It's likely we've purchased almost every possible cute decorative objective from the thrift stores here in Austin. I've never done so much thrift shopping in my life and I think I'm an addict! Sometimes I'm amazed at what cute objects people throw away. Just last weekend I purchased this really sweet Pillsbury Dough Boy sugar/creamer set...and, no, I don't drink coffee, but I've always wanted Pillsbury Dough Boy paraphernalia, even if I refuse to buy his pre-made cookie dough. (I was a big fan of that stuff as a kid, now I have a pride issue about buying even canned beans or practically-already-made cookies/cakes--one day I will make everything from scratch, I'm determined!)

In just a few weeks, Jose and I will hopefully be working part-time, and in just a little over a month he'll be starting his final year of college...then it's time for the great move to wherever Jose wants to go to law school! Sometimes I think I'm more excited than he is, though I'm sure he's looking forward to it, but I'm coming down with that former military brat syndrome. What are the symptoms? Well, for me--I feel awkward staying in one city for too long. Don't get me wrong, I've always wanted to settle down and feel like I actually have a real home (instead of feeling the way I did during the "moving years," as if I lived in a storage facility loaded with the many boxes I refused to empty, since I'd have to start packing right after unpacking the last box, anyway).

But it's not exactly time to officially settle down yet, if you know what I mean. Even when Jose's in law school, we'll still be going back and forth, probably during the summer months, between Texas and Connecticut...or New York...or Virginia...or California (depending on where he decides to go). So it seems I've adopted a few ways of the gypsy, but once that biological clock starts ticking, and I start buying onesies, bibs, and bonnets with my college insignia embroidered on them in tiny pink or blue letters, I plan on settling down, most likely here in Texas with my far from cowboy, not quite city slicker, but wonderfully dorky hunk of a hubby, wow...what a long title I've given him, and what a run-on sentence that was!

In much fewer words, I'll sum up my blog absence excuse like this: Life is good, lots of sunny days...but we're still in Texas, literally and figuratively, so the weather changes in the blink of an eye. No complaints here, though, at least we have an umbrella of blessings to keep us dry when it pours; it helps us last through the unexpected storms, if you will. Speaking of the weather, now in a more literal sense, the lightening and thunder outside are pretty intense right now...I will definitely miss these Texas storms when I leave. But I am looking forward to seeing the first snowfall of another state's winter season, and mostly...living life the way it was meant to be lived under any conditions: loaded with love, full of thanks, and stuffed with meaningful moments, like the after-effects that develop from sharing a near perfect Christmas dinner with the people who've inspired us to live that way long after we've broken all our other New Year's resolutions.

I'm grateful that I can finally see I have so many things to be grateful for.