It has been a long time since my last post (roughly 8 months, to be exact). So far, 2016 has been a year of change. Lots of it.
After two years in the Central West End, I returned to the St. Louis suburbs – but this time, as a homeowner! I moved to an idyllic neighborhood in Kirkwood over Memorial Day weekend. Even though homeownership has brought new challenges (yardwork and many trips to Lowe’s), I feel so lucky to have landed in such a perfect, quiet place. I am still working on making it my own, but I’m excited to spend some happy years in this house.
Kevin and I went to Disney World in June, right after I moved into my new house (this trip was planned before I started looking for houses). We stayed at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge. I am addicted to the zoo here in STL (just ask my friends, coworkers, or family), so this trip (Disney + animals + lovely meals) was absolutely magical.
This summer, we ventured up to Chicago a few times to visit Kevin’s family. Our first trip included an amazing day at Summerfest in Milwaukee, that culminated with seeing Paul McCartney in concert. I can’t even imagine what it must have been like to see the Beatles 50 years ago. (Also, I love Wisconsin summers.) Our second weekend trip included my first-ever Chicago White Sox game 🙂
Life changed dramatically a couple weeks ago, as Kevin is now living in Ann Arbor, MI to pursue a PhD in aerospace engineering. Suddenly, I have a lot fewer plans and a lot more free time. I’m making the most of it, though, and am going to Pure Barre classes a lot more (5-6 times / week! – class #150 is today), watching Gilmore Girls, and making an effort to try new dinner recipes. Long-distance relationships are not fun at all (we used to live 1 mile from each other; now it’s about 500), but I am glad that it is close enough that I can fly for 3-day weekends and drive for longer trips.
I’m also staying busy with SWE and have accepted that this will not change anytime soon. In addition to being named as SWE’s FY17 Outreach Committee Chair-Elect and continuing to run the Wow! Innovation Challenge, I am also trying to manage my workload for the upcoming Region i conference in STL (6 months away!) and working on everything related to WE16 in Philadelphia this fall. I’m swamped but happy 🙂
This weekend is sure to include a lot of baking (I’m planning on trying my hand at macarons for the first time!), a couple Pure Barre classes, finally unpacking everything in my second bedroom, and some more quality time with Lorelai and Rory. Follow along on Instagram for pictures of everything I cook 🙂
Kate
Planes & Pink 