Well hello.... long time no blog!

It's been a while.....a very long while since I've written a blog. As I began writing about my marathon training, I felt a need to catch up first.

My last post was December 2012 and even at that time my posts started getting very spotty. This is partially because we moved to Dallas in 2010 and when we first moved, I really struggled in adjusting to my new life there. Work, friends, culture, everything was different. It took quite some time to feel settled. Initially there was no love to share, no "Laura's Latest Love" that I could find. But it was by no means all bad! I just needed some time to adjust to my new surroundings.

So I'll sum up the love: I was so glad we lived closer to family for a few years. I have some truly great memories hanging out with my father-in-law, brunches with my mom and sister, and reconnecting with one of my best friends in the world, the future Mrs. Grubbs. We also made a life time friend who even became a great traveling companion venturing with us to both Tahoe (twice) and Thailand.

I also had the opportunity to go back to school and obtain my Master's in Public Health, which was a dream come true. During my two years in grad school I made another great friend in Kaley. As I spent two seriously grueling years in school I found a camaraderie with someone who experienced my pain. I was thankful that she a) was going through the same experience as me and b) was also the total Type A, driven, married female with whom I could relate to both personally and professionally. She definitely made the experience more tolerable and I'm so glad to have gained a great friend to boot.

Towards the end of school I lived with one of my nephews for a semester, which was valuable time with him for which I will always be thankful.

Though I wish I could have spent more time with every one of these people I'm glad we had the time we did while living closer. As I scoured through my photos of the last few years here are a few gems. I'm sad there's so many pictures I DIDN't take but there's another lesson learned I suppose.

Snapshot of good times in DFW!

Brent says there should be a completely separate blog on how my hair styles have changed over the years, Ha! Also, I at some point I need to dedicate a entire blog to Thailand and graduate school... but not today.

Overall, I learned to appreciate a new environment (Dallas) for what it had to offer and stop looking for Austin in every corner. That was a very important lesson for me to learn. Dallas has great food, fantastic museums, and this overall experience served as a reminder to not take special moments for granted. We lived closer to family, made new friends, and I got to live a dream. Not bad Dallas, not bad at all.

This was a long lesson though, I would say it took about two years before I really found my happiness again and then it was off to grad school which was a new form of blissful self-torture with no time for my husband much less writing this blog.

Now, back in Austin...

I'm happily reporting from my "home" in Austin and living my dream career as an Epidemiologist....wow, I still can't believe that's what I do... this job was always a fantasy for me and here I am! I've been back in Austin for a year in December and I just love life.

Now that we're all caught up, time to get to the meat of my marathon training! Update coming soon.