A World of Change

I cannot believe the last time I posted was in November of 2009. My life has changed dramatically since then. I'll give a brief recap:

1. In spring of 2010 I graduated with my Bachelor's degree in Public Communications, and accompanying minors in Art History and Women's Studies. I must also pat myself on the back for a job well done, having graduated Cum Laude.
2. (This one is a biggie) My husband got a job in Hartford, Connecticut in September of 2010, so we made the move from Ft Lauderdale to "The Constitution State".
3. I'm officially retired from children's entertainment

That looks like a tiny list but it represents an incredible amount of change. I loved school. My core work in Public Comm. focused on rhetoric and as it turned out, I really enjoyed that field. I keep thinking back to Carl Sagan's references to a "Baloney Detection Kit". That's how I view the field of rhetorical studies. If you know how to properly analyze what people say, it's easier to determine if they're full of poop.

I have long been ready to move out of south Florida. For the past 10-12 years the extremely intense heat has been oppressive and draining on me, as were the increasingly conservative political leanings in the "Sunshine State". Connecticut, unlike what many believe, is not a liberal hippie mecca. It's just slightly left of center. But I think Nutmeggers tend to be a bit more pragmatic than the direction Florida has been heading in.

I'm finding Connecticut a breath of fresh air on many levels. It's cooler for one thing. I saw snow for the first time in my life this winter. As it happens, we moved to New England the one year that it saw historic snowfall. It was intense. One snowstorm in particular in January dropped almost 2 1/2 feet of the white stuff. I've heard that if you can get through the first northern winter, you're golden. I figure next winter will be a breeze. As it happens, I like snow and I like winter.

Spring in New England was breathtaking. It was just indescribable. All the snow melted and things just started popping out of the ground. There have been days that the wind was filled with dandelion fuzz. One day everything looked dead and then all of a sudden things started budding. Over the course of around 2 weeks the tree in our backyard went from bald to lush and green. One day I sat outside waiting for my son's bus to drop him off after school and the air smelled the way spring should smell; fresh, earthy and floral. Now we're headed into summer. We had one day this week where the temps hit 100 degrees. It still wasn't as blistering and comatose inducing as 94 degrees in Florida. It was also hot for only 2 days. Today temps were in the 60's and we were able to sleep with the a/c off and the windows open last night.

We sold our condo in south Florida almost immediately. We had a contract in less than 2 weeks of listing it. The underwriter for the buyer's lender dragged their feet going to closing though. So it took around 3 months to get to closing. We were able to sell it and wash our hands of the mortgage. We weren't underwater, which is a relief given the sad state of affairs of the current housing market. However we lost all of our equity, which stinks.

Our first day in the Hartford area we found a fantastic rental house. It's a duplex owned by 2 brothers, who live on one side and rent out the other side. We have enjoyed living here. It's a beautiful house and our landlord's maintain it meticulously. The backyard is a park-like oasis. Unfortunately one of the brothers is getting married, so the other brother will be moving into our side, which means we have to move in a few months. Bummer.

Adam's right knee is shot so he has surgery scheduled in 4 days. He's been in pain. My poor husband. I bought him an ipod to help him through physical therapy. He finally broke down and traded in his manual transmission car for an automatic.

Finally, I've been a bit burned out with the field of children's entertainment. It had been getting old for me. It wasn't fun the way it was 15 years ago and I was no longer able to make a living on it. This move gave me the opportunity to make a clean break. I'm very happy with that change. It has been wonderful to have my weekends back, to do whatever I want. For the past 6 months I have been working part time as a writing tutor at a high school. I sincerely hope I will be welcomed back next school year. It will be a double bonus if they have a full time position that would be a good fit for me. I now have weekends with my family though. I cannot remember the last time I had weekends to myself. Maybe high school? That was 20 years ago.

Since we moved to Connecticut we've been to a craft festival, an apple festival, we went apple picking twice, strawberry picking once (and we'll go more this summer-there are plenty of farms in Connecticut). My son and I went to a sheep and fiber festival and just this morning we went to a farmer's market. In a few weeks our town is having a summer festival which I'm really looking forward to. South Florida doesn't have stuff like that, at least not to the degree that this area does.

I taught myself to crochet around 5 years ago. Forgot how to do it. Then re-taught myself during my final semester in college. 6 months ago a co-worker taught me to knit. I like both, but I seem to be doing more knitting. Our niece is having her Bat Mitzvah in September and my cousin is getting married in November, so I'm gearing up to make a lovely shawl that I can wear for both occasions. I got a black dress for the Bat Mitzvah, I just need to get a more formal one for the wedding. I love the fact that I now have the time to do something like knit.

So overall, life is good. I'm going to try to post here more often and I need to post some pictures too.