I live in Kirkland now

My last few weeks in Pittsburgh were a whirlwind of excitement and activity, leading up to a big event at the science center and a big send off from my good friends there.  It was a lot of fun, but if you can picture how tired I was at the begining of the going away party, and then picture that I stayed awake until the shuttle arrived at 3am to take me to the airport... well, I am still tired is where that is going.  We'll call it jetlag.  And delicious food overdose.  I haven't really been hungry since I got here either.

But I am here!  Matt came to get me at the airport, and Man, I still really like seeing him.  It was ok while we were apart, we both had things going on, it was a short period of time (I was staying with a friend who had to wait out her then-boyfriend's deployment to Iraq, so...perspective).  But finally seeing him, and getting to catch up on all the new things in our lives and see the direction our new life is taking... it's been really exciting.  Our friend Shaoshu came over last night to hang out a bit, and Jeffrey and his adorable son (who isn't a baby anymore) came by after work today. Even though I didn't leave the house, I sure don't feel lonely. I do need to get focused on job hunting again, however in the meantime I am just so pleased with all the other aspects of my life that being unemployed doesn't seem as awful as it once did.  Some of you have seen the new place already, it is a two story duplex, and in the stairway there is a skylight, which streams in that cozy gray Seattle light that seems like it is always filtered through evergreens and rain.  While I was unpacking, I found a Rie Munoz picture (girl throwing her blueberries in surprise when she finds a bear in her blueberry patch), and I hung it in the hallway in that calm grey light and I just felt like this is exactly as it was meant to be.

There is still plenty of unpacking to keep me busy for a couple days.  Matt has the house fully functional, but that's just a start reminder of how much stuff we own that we don't really "need" persay. The upstairs rooms (all three of them+ 2 bathrooms) need the most  help, mostly because there is lots of space to divide our things into. The cat seems to like the constant change in scenery as boxes get unpacked and moved around, creating new landscapes to be conquered.  Frankly, the toddler liked it too.

Matt is trying to help me get oriented to the neighborhood, and we are exploring it a bit more together.  I'll keep you abreast of any big finds.  Tonight we found that we are only a couple minutes from both Woodinville and Bothell, which means I need to spend more time looking at the map.