Falling in Love with Tennessee

Hello friends,

Wow, it has been quite a long time since I have written a blog post.. and even longer since I've posted consistently.

Things change, though, and I am finding myself again in a phase of my life where blogging seems possible & meaningful. For quite a while I was very busy and just couldn't really find the time to write. My life had also taken on a more steady, predictable nature and I found that I didn't really have much to say.  But here we are again in another (very different) chapter of life and I think I have quite a bit to say.

In this post I am not going to try and catch you up on every detail of what has occurred in the last year (but especially the last 3 months), but I will give you the basic details with plans to share more later.  We relocated our family from Pleasant Grove, Utah to Nashville, Tennessee at the end of July.  My husband Nathan was accepted at Vanderbilt University to do his PhD in electrical engineering. He started his first day of classes yesterday, and will be done in approximately five years. Yes, five years. I know, it's a long time.  He is taking a straight-to-PhD route from his bachelors, though, so that is why it will take a while.

Despite how long it is going to take, we are comfortable here and very happy. He has a full-tuition scholarship with a generous monthly living stipend, and they also cover his health insurance, so as far as money goes we are doing fine.  Well, at least as well as we were when I was working as a poor, underpaid high school teacher... which brings me to the next great thing.

I quit my job, and I am now a stay-at-home mom.  I am the happiest I think I have ever been. I was afraid I would miss the validation that I get from working, but I am finding validation in other ways.  I am happy and content. And I get to spend all day with my little hunny-bunny, Evelyn.

What I hope to do with this blog over the next while is to share my experiences here in Tennessee so that friends and family back home (and anyone else who cares to read it), can see how we are and what we are doing here.  I also have dreams of starting a healthy food blog, and for now I think I will just share my healthy recipes here and aspire to grow that project into it's own separate blog.

I plan to update frequently, so please check back for more interesting stories regularly.  I have posts in the works that include some pretty entertaining stuff... like colonics, hot chicken, Tomato festivals, 6-legged cows and so much more.

Love you all.

Our New Home