Milestones, Motivation & a Massive Move

Milestones...

*photo note

3 years ago today I became Matt's wife. And now he's a part of who I am and how I see myself. Of course, he already was before we actually tied the knot- many of you know that living with your partner for years feels very much the same a being married- but there has been some changes in our relationship brought about through marriage, and they have been good ones. He is a great husband. He's funny and sweet and smart and strong, and I'm always happier when I am around him. I feel pretty darn lucky to be Matt's wife and I look forward to lots more years of wedded bliss ;)

Our wedding was kind of a throw back to "old" Los Angeles, and we are celebrating our anniversary tonight with a visit to the one of our city's most venerable landmarks, The Orpheum Theatre, to see Robin Hood with Douglas Fairbanks. We're also visiting our wedding and reception venues for  dinner and drinks and a little romantic reminiscing. I think it will be a wonderful night.

The Orpheum

And while it's a bit less significant, I get to celebrate another milestone this week. My dreamy little blog hit 100,000 visits. It's strange to me to think that so many people have stopped to see my little spot on the internet (even if a hefty percentage of them have only come through Google image searches... I still count them, right?)

100,000 visits, and I haven't even posted anything since the end of May... and before that, my posting had become few and far between. Hmmmmm. Makes me think a little. I have not had much desire over the last few months to write here or share in all the Dreamy or Happy Things that have been going on in my life.  Maybe it comes down to...

Motivation...

My original reason for starting this blog was so that when life got a little dark, or hectic, or stressful, I had a collection of beautiful, dreamy, wonderful things to turn to give me a dose of Happy. At the time, I was in school. Law school. Which, even for "born lawyers" is a rough place to hang out for three years. I found it a bit soul-crushing. I am not in law school anymore. So, maybe I don't have to remind myself as much to be Happy. Because in general, I am Happy. 

But there are other reasons why I have lost some blogging motivation. I don't really have much energy to post about pretty flowers or lovely sayings from wise old authors, because I am totally and utterly focused on something else. Something big. Something exciting.

A Massive Move.

Matt and I are leaving Los Angeles! I know most of you who read this blog have known for a long time, like, over a year.  Some of you only know about me and my blog because of our plans to move. But for reasons that I still don't quite understand, I wasn't allowed to blab it all over the internet until recently (Matt still hadn't told one member of his family- although every one else that knows us at all had know for ages- and didn't want her finding out here. I can't imagine she'd ever come close to reading my blog though, as I think she is allergic to both Dreams and all things Happy.) But I digress. The cat is out of the bag, and now I get to post whatever I want about it. So here's the big announcement:

Matt and I are moving to Edinburgh, Scotland! He is going to earn his Masters at the University of Edinburgh and I couldn't be more proud of him. He has wanted to go back to school for a while but was very particular about the subject and program (he picked a degree that is only offered in, like, three universities in the world! And while Nashville would have been interesting too, I'm happy he chose Edinburgh) I am going to work, and part of that is facing a job market as challenging as the one here, but I have full confidence that I will find something. We are bringing along our pets- which wouldn't seems too strange if we were talking about dogs (for some reason people assume  when you travel with animals that you mean dogs!) but no. We are bring cats. Three of them! And the whole thing makes for a mountain of paperwork. For us, for them, for the school, for the financing, for everything. And I have never been happier to do paperwork. Because I know that with every form we complete, we are one step closer to starting a new adventure!

source

We've been really fortunate that most everyone we know has been incredibly supportive and excited for us (there has been one exception but I am trying really hard to focus on the positive. There is so much more positive to focus on. Why is is so challenging to ignore that one bad vibe in a sea of good vibes?!)  We already have some friends and family member promising to come visit and we've received tons of good advice- mostly about how to handle the drastic change in weather, and where to get the best single malt Scotch... (as if Matt won't dedicate the first few weeks to that endeavor alone!)

We've also been fortunate to connect with people online we have yet to meet in person who are living in Edinburgh. I feel like we already have a few friends there!

So, I am sure that posts in the future will certainly have a different theme, at least for a while. I don't know if I'll turn this into an expat blog- I'd rather keep it a collection of things that make me happy, and figuring out this move and the adventure ahead is a big happy dreamy thing!


*photo note: You're welcome Matt! I was going to use another picture from our wedding (one that I don't remember ever seeing before!) but decided against it because you were making a Robert-DiNiro-esque fishy face. And I looked really skinny! (Hence me wanting to share it online ;) Who loves you , baby?!