I'm still alive.

It's been a long month. For starters, I moved. You already knew that, but settling into a new place takes quite a bit of energy - the good kind - but nevertheless, a lot of it. I've been getting used to the new house, new room, new neighborhood, and I've been nesting. It's been truly wonderful. I didn't know how much I needed that change (okay, maybe I knew a little bit).

I took a week long intensive summer class on addiction and family treatment. And it was, most definitely, INTENSE. The class was fabulous though, and now that I have time to breathe (25 pages completed and to be turned in by mail in the morning!), I hope to have some time to reflect a bit more on what I learned. The course was an emotional journey to say the least, and challenging in ways I hadn't expected.

And after that first week spent mostly in class, studying and in Pasadena, I've been gone every weekend of July. There was Karli's fabulous bachelorette party in Napa, complete with a way-too-short stay in a fantastic house on a vineyard and a felt-shorter-than-it-really-was road trip with Meghan and Robin. The following weekend was a much anticipated and much needed reunion with my favorite ladies from college to celebrate Elyse's bachelorette party down south. There was champagne and catching up, eating and laughing, and more eating and more laughing. And then the next week it was off to Seattle for Karli's wedding for a few days, straight to Portland for a few more days, and continuing straight on to Denver where I am at the moment.

And now, I feel, for the first time in a long while that I am able to take a deep beath and rest. I feel like the reset button has been pushed on my life, and I have a little time to reboot before anything is expected of me. There's been a lot swirling around in my mind recently so I'm so looking forward to having nothing better to do than to hang out with Em when she's not at work, and when she is - to use that time in the mountains to walk by the river, drink coffee, read books for pleasure, journal, think, pray, and process. It's a much needed break, and I couldn't be happier to take this little vacation and make the most of it to do my heart well.