Oh hi there.

In the past, I simply would have abandoned this blog given the amount of time that has passed since my last post.  But instead, I figured I would revamp the look, post a quick update (which barely encompasses the things that have transpired since my last post but hey, it'll get us up to speed and I will surely revisit some of these milestones in future posts), and call it a day.

And so dear interweb, here is a sampling of the many things that have distracted my attention the past year and a half (but which I promise to be more diligent in blogging about going forward).  When we last left off, my husband Dave and I were still basking in newlywed bliss as well as having just been pre-approved for a mortgage.  The next fifteen months consisted of: 

• Shopping for houses
• Finding houses that were perfect...but out of our price range
• Finally finding a house we loved and could afford! 
• Getting within a week of closing on said house to find out our mortgage pre-approval was a joke (and yes, while I will probably procrastinate and never blog about most of the things that have happened in the past fifteen months, this will undoubtedly be the subject of one or twenty posts in the near future)
• Fighting to right a wrong at the bank and winning an appeal on our mortgage decision
• Shedding tears of joy after finding out we would, indeed, be homeowners
• Closing on Halloween Day and rushing home to our empty house to pass out candy
• Turning 30  
• Many, many trips to Ikea to choose and purchase new furniture (we had sold all of our furniture sans one Ikea chair when moving back from California)
• Many, many hours putting together said Ikea furniture
• Hosting our first holidays in our new home
• Finding out we would become an Aunt and Uncle twicefold in 2013 (we welcomed our first niece this past July and another nephew this past September) 
• Celebrating one year as Mr. and Mrs. Collins! 
• Dave continuing to work his bum off completing his nursing pre-reqs
• Dave submitting applications to nursing school
• Waiting...
• More waiting....
• Waiting some more...
• Finding out Dave got accepted to nursing school and will start classes this coming January!!!! 
• Celebrating
• More celebrating
• Logging many miles visiting family, friends, and the coast
• Dancing in the ocean 
• Logging many miles in traffic (hmmm...maybe I can start dictating these posts to Siri while in the car, then I would be SURE to post every day)
• Loving life, snuggling with our kitties, and taking each day as it comes

That pretty much sums it up.  More to come.  Hey, at least today I posted!