It is nice to remember (and see) that sometimes, miracles do indeed happen. Sometimes they are small and sometimes they are very very huge and sometimes they are short-lived and sometimes not, but the most important thing is that they happen.

Now, and update on me. And us:


The summer is winding to a close. It's been a great summer, and I can't believe how fast time has flown. How is it the 9th of August already?!? 
I'll have a full week this week - I'm working a bit extra this afternoon, and then lots of cleaning of the house, and I'm meeting some friends for lunch on Thursday and possibly doing lunch with another friend another day this week. Then next week, my mom is coming to visit!! I'm so excited - it'll be the first time that she's come to Birmingham for more than a day trip. I'm planning to take her to Chez LuLu, and we'll probably cook some, and do all sorts of fun stuff :) I love being friends with my mom!

  
What I also can't believe is that Mark starts school next week as well. It's crazy to think that we have less than a year before another major life change. I love it here in Birmingham, but I am ready to settle. I'd love to stay here, or go somewhere else, or whatever we need to do, but wherever we end up, I want to plan on being there for a while. 

Kelly also starts back to school very soon, and I'm excited, because it'll be easier (I think) for me to come and visit her! She and the girls are moving into these apartment-style dorms that are new on her campus, so she'll get to be in sort of a suite-type-room for her senior year! (Oh my gosh, my sister is a senior. When did I get so old??) So I'm planning to visit, and cook for the girls, and all of that fun stuff. 

I'm excited about the potential for fall, but I feel like we won't be having any fall weather anytime soon. Hopefully it'll cool off enough so that Mark and I can go camping, at least. We've never even used our tent! 

I need to get up and get moving, but I hope everybody has a lovely day. It's sunny where I am :)  

I forgot!!

In my long, detailed, picture-ful post yesterday, I forgot one important thing ...

Yesterday was my blog's first birthday! I can't believe I've been on blogspot for a year ... I had a livejournal for a really long time before that, but I made the change during the other major change in our lives. It's crazy how, a year ago, I was freaking out about not being able to find a job, I was still working nights, and Mark was still fairly miserable. But it wasn't all bad. We lived close to my parents, which was nice, and we had some really good friends in Chattanooga (who I still miss a lot), and I really really loved my job.

But it was the right decision for us to move to Birmingham. For a lot of reasons. During the last several months, I've felt hopeful about our future for the first time in a while. Not the future of our relationship or anything ... just, Mark's job prospects. And our home owning prospects. And our future child prospects. This master's degree (along with Mark's two internships) should (And I do say SHOULD, because it's still going to be a rough search, I'm afraid) provide him with a good job. Should. I don't know where we'll go, or what we'll be doing exactly, and that thought still scares me a little bit. But in a way, I'm glad it's all happened the way it has. Those 2 years in Chattanooga gave me some time to "get used" to being married, and made cutting the umbilical cord completely a little bit easier. It took me a while to get used to being part of somebody else's family, if that makes sense. Now, I'm ready. Ready to move wherever we need to. Ready to start our own family (in a few years). Ready to plant our own roots. SO ready for that. I want to settle. And hopefully I'll only have to wait another year to be able to do that.

I am so proud of Mark. He currently has a 4.0, he's holding 2 solid internships right now (which hopefully he'll be able to continue for the duration of grad school), he's a published writer (in fact, he showed me one of his college papers that is now in Samford's special collection! Crazy!), he was recently chosen to be on the board of editors for UAB's historical journal ... his resume is good. His credentials will be good, when he finishes everything. He has totally taken the initiative with this grad school program - and he wants to be an archivist really, really, really badly. I hope so much that he can find a job doing that.

(Or we may both have to be committed to some sort of institution, and heavily medicated...)

We've still got another year before we see all of this come to fruition, and that's fine. I have my days, but most of the time I'm content with what we're doing here. I like my job - in fact, I'd love to be able to stay in Birmingham. We have a great place to live, Mark likes school and his internships and all that academic stuff (which I still miss so, so much sometimes). I'm being patient. Hopefully in another year, when my blog has its 2-year anniversary, we'll either be in the process of moving for Mark's job, or he'll just be starting one here in Birmingham. I'm excited to see what happens.

But until then ... I've got him. And that's perfect for now.

one more week

Tomorrow, early in the morning, I have to return to Chattanooga. I mean no offense to any family members or co-workers who may be reading this ... but I am not excited about it. Leaving my blissful, daytime, bright, happy world here, and going back to work the vampire shift for 6 days is just not looking so peachy to me. Positives: Mark is coming to visit, and we're getting our hair cut on Saturday. Our family is exchanging names for Christmas, and talking/thinking about the holidays always makes me happy. Monday is my day with Mommy, which will be fun. Wednesday night, my last night at work, they're having a party for me. But even with all that, I'm just ready to move on.

And on the other hand, I'm not. It's so. weird. to think about leaving. It's the only unit I've ever known. It feels like home to me, and my co-workers feel an awful lot like family. I will miss them like you wouldn't believe. I'm nervous about starting the new job. Will they like me? Will I be good enough? I feel like I'm teetering at the edge of a cliff, and will jump next week, and I'm either going to fly, or fall. It's a scary place to be, a little bit.

I also hate to leave Andy and Suzie - it's been so, so good, being with them again - it makes Birmingham feel even more like home. But, soon enough. I just need to be patient.