Winter is Quickly Approaching

Well, Winter is fast approaching, but we are not getting ready to hibernate. Life in the condo is brilliant! It's afforded us the ability to spend more time on the things that matter to us, and it will enable us to do a lot more adventuring.

With this in mind, we are looking at the various options we'll have once Evan finishes his degree. The graduation application has been submitted and approved for this Summer being his final term. There are a lot of possibilities, and, in the mean time, we'll be taking some shorter trips to tide us over.

The first of these is back to the U.K. for Christmas. Christmas is not a holiday either of us relish in, but it means a lot to our U.K. family, so we are off next month. Andy has been homesick, and the tickets were surprisingly low for the time of year; this way we can bring some joy to our family in England while also alleviating the homesickness. Being us, however, the U.K. isn't particularly adventurous, so we'll be taking a jaunt to Florence, Italy while we're away! Bought Rick Steve's Guide to Florence and are very impressed with it.... getting excited to put it to good use.

Work is ticking right along for both of us. The spa has been a little slow for Ev, but this means people were anxious to pick up shifts, and the holiday is already covered. Andy is in demand as usual, and his boss was very gracious in her support of his need to go home for the holidays.

Let's see... Ikea trip was a success for the most part, and we settle in more each day. It took us until last week to get some of our art up, but we finally did, and that made it much more our home. Although we'd kind of grown used to the simplicity of bare walls. Next stage is finishing with knick-knack display and clearing out the garage of the stuff we moved over but decided we don't want/need. Then we'll set up part of the garage for an art studio for Andy. The coolest part of our latest house projects is that they are one-time deals. At our old place, it was an unending list which grew ever longer, but in the condo environment, the list gets shorter and shorter. We even feel a bit lost sometimes with the free time we now have.

Enough for now, and we'll post again in a couple weeks. Love to all!

"What are you waiting for?" - Lope de Vega

Halloween update

Spent an interesting Halloween watching the now annual Thriller zombie dance in downtown Bellingham - quite fun - the videos are on You Tube for those interested. Also went to Hellingham - an improv murder mystery show at the Upfront Theater (the one owned by Ryan Stikles from Whose Line is it Anyway?). Apart from that we have been busy getting settled in, unpacking, changing addresses, working out our new routines and getting ready to enjoy the increased flexibility that will now be ours with the move to the condo.

We are totally loving the condo and living here - so nice. Very happy. Have a neightbor from Canvey Island, Essex (where Andy's grandparents used to live). Big Ikea trip for tomorrow (discount coupon inhand!). Looking at our travel options while Evan continues with his degree - only three more semesters left ... Looking towards our plans prevously laid out but slightly delayed due to the move .... Lots to get going now ....

That's all for now!