Good-bye to summer

There is already a fall feeling in the air here. We've been getting more rain and a lot more fog in the mornings. I'm trying to brace myself for the gloom. In order to do that, I am mostly thinking up all the things I will do indoors once the bad weather hits. For example I have a new cross-stitch project in mind (if i ever finish the current one) and I want to crochet a blanket for us as a Christmas present (we decided he would pay for the yarn and it would be our Christmas present to each other). And my reading list has been growing every day. So I think I will survive the winter, even if I end up buying some kind of UV light to increase my vitamin D levels.

I have been doing a lot of thinking recently. Mostly about life. By that I mean, until now I've always thought, "I just need to get through college" or "I just need to get through grad school." I did what I had to do to survive those rough times when I was working for basically minimum wage ($8.25/hour) at PetSmart just to pay rent while finishing my studies at Georgia Tech, or when I was working at EPA three days a week while taking classes at Duke and acting as a teaching assistant for a class that went late into the night once a week. Those were temporary stages I went through to get where I wanted to be. But now I'm starting to realize, I am finally at the place I worked for all those years.  I am working full time, I am living my life much in the same way I expect to be living it for the majority of my future. So that has made me think a lot about what I want to spend my time doing and what I want to spend my money on. This is no longer high school, college, or grad school. This is it, this is the rest of my life.

So to spare the gory details, I've just been doing a lot of thinking. It is pretty unreal, where we are living and how much life has changed and I just want to make sure I am fully appreciating everything that I have in the moment.

Brad and I have tried to be as active as possible whenever it is nice out. For example, a few weekends ago it was too chilly to really swim but we biked over to Mercer Island (an island in the middle of Lake Washington, just a few miles from us) to read in a park.

We biked on that highway that you see behind Brad's head! Over the water! There is a special lane separate from the cars for bikes/peds. 

In a park on Mercer Island

The water was really shallow, clear and warm.

In order to save money, we booked tickets back to Atlanta to visit family for Thanksgiving instead of Christmas. We are trying our best to rebuild the savings that we spent on moving out to Seattle. Home ownership is on our mind in the next few years and we want to be prepared to make a down payment when the time comes. I think we will have fun having our own little Christmas together (hopefully with a new blanket!).

I have been working late every night to prepare for another trip to Montana (where we are actually collecting blood/urine). I am hoping all the overtime will pay off when it comes to be review time. Consulting is more difficult than I thought, especially when most projects are over budget the minute you start them. But I am just doing my best. Thankfully Brad is in a similar position, in terms of having more than he can possibly manage to get done. I leave the house around 7:30 AM every morning and don't get home until after 6 PM with no lunch break. I used to think I would never be the kind of person who would work such hours, but now that I have so much work to do, I understand.

So I guess that is life right now! I miss everyone, wish that part of my future involved being in touch more often than I currently am...