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 :)

life lately: preparation

1/2/3: a typical evening

4/5/6/7: playing music

8/9: setting up the tent!

life lately: a day on the mountain

On Saturday night, my mom called and asked if I wanted to hit the slopes the next day, and I said "yes!"  It has been so long since I went snowboarding... the lift ticket tag that was still on my coat said 2008, but the last time I remember going was back in college, when my friend Steph was visiting:

So that's kind of a mystery... but anyway, it has been a long time since I went down a mountain.  I always forget how much fun it is, which I think is really just the result of my selective memory protecting me from wanting to go since I really can't afford it.  But anyway, it was pretty much a perfect ski day except for the wind, which was pretty out of hand by the end of the afternoon.  I was exhausted when I got home, and flopped on the couch to eat coconut chocolate chip cookies (which I was randomly inspired to bake late Saturday night) and watch a documentary about the ballet (First Position).

I feel so lucky to have been able to learn to ski as a kid (when I was in high school we got to take half days off and go to the mountain every week during the winter--pretty amazing), and I'm happy to say that it is like riding a bicycle--I was able to pick up right where I left off.  And thanks to mom for inviting me along!  It was fun :)

life lately: o christmas tree!

Sadly, K wasn't able to participate in the tree-cutting festivities this year because he was in the midst of the madness of finals week (and my youngest brother didn't make it up from Boston), so it was a small but celebratory crew.  We had mimosas and fruit salad and mom's special egg dish and then went up to the Christmas tree field to cut the tree for my apartment before coming back down to cut down the monstrosity behind the house for mom and dad (please note: the hacksaw wasn't cutting it [ha, literally...] so dad had to get out the chainsaw, and then the tree almost fell on mom--ha!).  Then we went back inside for eggnog and cookie baking (and I took a nap--too much day drinking) before heading into town for a performance of David Budbill's play "Two for Christmas" (he taught my Young Playwright's workshop for several years in middle and high school, but I had never seen any of his plays before--whoops!)

I finally got home around midnight and K and I got the tree up and lit, but we didn't end up decorating it until a week later, when his finals were over and he could finally relax.  I love having the tree in our apartment--it makes everything look so cozy :)

life lately: thanksgiving

I know I'm more than a little bit behind on this Thanksgiving post, but better late than never, right? (Right?) I've had some... issues lately. First of all, I did buy K's Nikon D3000 from him and have been using it sporadically (these photos were the first batch!) but I'm a little afraid to break it. Also the memory card on my point and shoot got corrupted somehow and I didn't get around to buying a new one until yesterday evening! So basically, I'm finally up and running again. Or at least strolling. Problem #3 is that the CD-ROM drive on my laptop decided to stop working, so I can't install the software to transfer files from the new Nikon to my computer, so I had to get K to put the files on his computer and then transport them to mine with his USB. Anyway, all that = delay. In other news, this is the pie we ate:

I'll be back soon with photos from the Christmas tree cutting!