and, we're back!

Okay, I've been procrastinating for a very long time on posting something on this blog. I got overwhelmed when I started to fall behind again, thinking I would need to catch you all up on every single thing that's happened in our lives between the time I stopped blogging with any measure of regularity, and now. It was too dang much for me to wrap my head around, and, so, I procrastinated. Then I decided, well, okay, I'll just pick up from where we are now, and make it a goal to blog with consistency for the remainder of the year (and then I'll make a new goal for the new year). So, if it's okay with you, I'll skip past a low-key summer in the Cities, and right on to our trip to Spain and France at the end of August/beginning of September. Except, I'm not going to do that right now because I've got studying to do, and the trip really deserves it's own post (or two). I just wanted to put it out there, into the blog universe, so that I have something to hold me accountable so that sometime this week I actually follow up with a recap of our trip (and pictures --- so many pictures!). For now, here are some quick facts about life as it currently is:

1. I'm back in school on a full-time basis. Changed my major to English (from Poli Sci), and it has felt like coming home. I am taking 17 credits (5 classes) this semester, and so far (we are in the beginning of the fourth week), very good! I feel more engaged, motivated, excited, and energized than I have in months. I am taking four English classes, including an editing class, a literary non-fiction writing class, a Shakespeare class, and a literary analysis class (listed in order of how much I like them). I'm also taking a statistics class, which means that, after nearly a decade of on-and-off collegiate life, I am FINALLY fulfilling my math requirement! Next semester I will also take about 17 credits, then one more class during the quick 3-week May session, and then --- oh man it feels good to be about to write this ---- GRADUATION. And, the party of a lifetime, which has been a decade in the making. Can I get a WOO-HOOOO?!

2. Kevin is still at 3M, and is currently applying for new positions within the company. This is how the company structure is, with people at Kevin's level changing "businesses" (what the individual divisions at 3M are called) every couple of years. Lot's of good prospects for him right now, which is wonderful.

3. Kevin has gotten a bit more into woodworking, which means I got a brand new coffee table for our anniversary! I'm very impressed, and excited about his new hobby because I've been promised a new dining room table by Thanksgiving. Sweet! Until he is able to build his tool set (as in, actually get a single wood-working tool), he's been using the plans from this site (check out these dining tables --- one of these will be in my house soon!), and going to Home Depot to have the pieces cut to the specified sizes. I'm thinking I need to start saving up for some cool saw, or whatever kind of tool my handyman wants, as a Christmas present.

4. October will be a month of small trips for us. Kevin runs the Chicago Marathon (for which he's been training very hard) on the 10th; I leave for Texas on the 14th, and will be driving back with my mom that Sunday (yay for Mom starting her life of travel with an extended stay at Casa Shevlin!); I am running a 5K race on the 23rd with my dear friends from our Ithaca days, Emily and Alison; we are home Halloween weekend, and then my beloved Nicole gets married in Orlando on November 6th (which means a mini-reunion with our third musketeer, Sarah, and the men, of course!). Then it's practically Thanksgiving, which means time to chop down our Christmas tree at the farm and decorate for the holidays, then it's December, which means my 28th birthday, and then my family comes to Minnesota to celebrate Christmas and New Year's with us. And, my mom will be here with us until February, so, needless to say, we are looking forward to an awesome next few months!

And that's about it for now. Here are a few pictures from our trip to Europe, as a preview of what's to come in my post about our trip. Enjoy!