life lately: seasonal shifts

Since I've kind of been hiding out in my road trip recap posts for the past several weeks, I thought it was probably about time I posted a little update on my post-trip life.  Part of the reason I've been hiding out is that it was a very rough transition--more difficult than I'd anticipated.  That can mostly be attributed to the fact that we didn't have a home for quite some time.  We lived with my parents when we got back and were looking for an apartment (because the one we'd lined up while on the road didn't pan out), which was stressful because we were looking at places over an hour away from where we were living at the time.  We finally found a place, moved in over the weekend of August 24, and it quickly became apparent that we would not be able to stay there (basically, no insulation, noisy upstairs neighbor + new puppy, didn't feel "right").  So we started looking for a new place.  Meanwhile, I had gone back to work and K had started classes, so now we were juggling those responsibilities on top of the stress of finding a new place.

And then... we found it.  Our house.  I still can't really believe our incredible good fortune, but we are now living in our own little cottage on the shores of Lake Champlain.  Like, that last picture?  Is our backyard.  It was still a little tricky for the first few weeks we lived here because I was commuting 1 hour each way to work, but for the past week I have been working from home and IT. IS. HEAVEN. Seriously.  I love everything about everything right now.  I'll admit, I still feel a little bit "off", but we're starting to build up this little life for ourselves here that I. JUST. LOVE.  It's mellow, which I need right now, and we're surrounded by so much beauty and peace and gorgeous fall weather that I wouldn't even be able to find anything to complain about if I tried.  So there's that.

In other news, I cut off all my hair.  In the photo above it is air-dried and most definitely not styled, but while I do love the sleek bob that it transforms into I also love the messy, flippy version.  SUCH a needed change.  Also, I replaced my broken laptop with a fancy new touch-screen version, which feels very decadent for some reason.  And I bought an iPhone.  Admittedly I won't have it until the end of the month because it is backordered, but I finally took the plunge. (I was so against it for the longest time, but eventually decided that having one will not make me one of THOSE PEOPLE who can't look away from their screens.  I just want to Instagram [I can't help it!] and use GoogleMaps when I get lost--which is way too often.)

So that's what I've been up to lately!  Just in case you were wondering :)