Well, it's been over three months since I've blogged.  I'm sorry!  As I'm sure you can imagine, it's been a crazy few months, but I'm back and I promise to be more faithful on my blog posts.  Pinky promise!

Since my last post was in August (again, sorry!), I'll get started there.  In August, I flew back up to Ohio to begin work on my first post-grad school stage management gig.  After a week of rehearsals, I came back to Mississippi and began to teach after-school theatre classes for K-6.  I also started teaching an Events Management class for a private college here.  Even combined with the event coordination I'm doing for a conference next spring, the hours still aren't full-time, but I've been thinking lately that it's the universe's way of making me take a break.  Between working on my Bachelor's, Master's, and MFA degrees, I've been in school for the last 9 straight years.  Plus, this past year I was also planning a wedding and getting ready to move down here.  Not exactly relaxing.  I'm still keeping my eyes open for other work to try to get my hours more full-time, but for now, I'm taking life a little slower.

Which brings me to my next triumph - I made Christmas stockings for myself and my husband!  I just finished them and, if I do say so myself, they're pretty awesome!  Now my brain is whirling with ideas for Christmas presents :)  I've also been baking a lot and am going to make two pies for Thanksgiving with my husband's family.  Pumpkin and apple - yum!  I've never made either, so I'm doing a test run of the pumpkin pie this weekend.  I also have a hankering to make cinnamon popcorn like my grandma used to make every Christmas.  It's like caramel popcorn, but made using Red Hots and oh my, it's amazing!  Add in all the reading I've been doing (I re-read the entire Harry Potter series between now and my last post, plus my book club reading) and I think I'm liking this slower-paced life thing :)

Back to chronicling life since my last post.  As September rolled around, my husband and I fell into a routine until I flew back to Columbus to premiere the show I worked on in August.  It was my first world premiere and it was such a fantastic experience!  It goes on tour starting at the end of January and I can't wait for that!  I came back to Mississippi on October 1 and registration opened for the conference on the same day.  Then my sister came to visit (I haven't seen her since the wedding) and we had a great visit!  Then a good friend of mine was in New Orleans for a medical conference and I went down and brought her back to Mississippi for a visit (which was also great).  Then October was over.  Seriously, it felt like I got back from my show, blinked, and the month was over.  Although somewhere in there we carved pumpkins!  November has calmed down, which is good because my poor husband has worked for over 4 weeks straight with no day off and won't get one until Thanksgiving.

Well, that's my summary of life for the past three months.  I promise to write again soon and next time, I'll treat y'all to some things I've learned as a newlywed!

It's Green Here in the South

Hello again, loyal readers (I just saw the blog viewers number and now know more than one person reads this - thank you!).  Life is picking up here and getting busier and busier.  And naturally, as I am becoming busier, there are more things that I want to do!  My thoughts have been slightly scrambled the past few days, so please pardon me as my list of things I would like to do is a bit random!

1.  I want to reduce my carbon footprint.  Namely, I'm thinking about the cleaners we use around the house.  My husband recently killed yet another gigantic cockroach for me (seriously, Mississippi, what is up with your bugs?!?!) and we decided that we should get some bug killing spray for when he isn't here and I have to squish the buggers all by myself.  Have you felt those things pop when you squish them?  I haven't and I have no intention of doing so!  Anywho, he picked out an eco-friendly bug killing spray because it is better than regular sprays when you have small children or pets.  Being as in love with my cats (um, our cats now - still getting used to that!) as I am, he wanted to make sure that whatever we were spraying to kill bugs wouldn't, ya know, do the same to our cats.  It got me thinking - what about the other chemical products we use around the house?  So, item number 1, research affordable eco-friendly cleaning products!

2.  This is purely a luxury want, but darn it, I want some new clothes!  For the most part, I haven't purchased a lot of new things while I was working on my MFA degree and the clothes I purchased needed to be pretty casual because of rehearsals.  Now that I'm graduated and working in a more professional capacity, my wardrobe is pretty limited.  Now I realize that I'm very fortunate that I have clothes that fit me and aren't full of holes, but it's still on my wish list!

3.  Hopefully to financially ease the burden of point #2, I want to start to use coupons in a serious way. Maybe I've been watching too much "Jon & Kate Plus 8" episodes on Netflix (my husband would say  yes, in fact, I have!), but I haven't used coupons seriously in the past and since we're living on a pretty tight budget, now seems like a good time as any to start.  I'm already collecting coupons from ads in the newspaper, but I need a system to keep them organized, I need to remember to pull them out when I go grocery shopping, and I need to find more of them!  So, item number 3, research coupons!

4.  I want to eat food that is better for me.  Namely, foods that have ingredients that aren't super processed.  I'm hypoglycemic, so my food is literally my medicine.  I eat relatively healthily now, but I want to do more.  I was a bit overwhelmed on how I was going to make this radical change, but then I realized that it doesn't need to be radical and I can start a little bit at a time.  I think I'll concentrate on my snacks and breakfast food items (I eat at least 6 times a day - small portions, people) and then go from there.  Any suggestions are welcome!

5.  Last, but not least, I want to start quilting again.  My grandma taught me to hand quilt, but I haven't done it since high school.  I always swore I would start again when I was done with college and, well, now I'm done with college, so I have no excuse.  I want to start with Christmas stockings for the husband and myself.  We both have awesome, hand-made stockings for both sides of our families, but I'd like for us to have some that live in our home.  I'm itching to get my hands on some fabric!

So those are the thoughts that have been swirling around in my head.  Whew, it's been a busy time!  Any and all suggestions are welcome!

A little bit of this, A little bit of that

Hello loyal reader (readers?) - it's been too long!  The last month has been a series of ups and downs and packed full of events.  I'll start off on a positive note!

My husband and I returned from our relaxing honeymoon (at a resort and spa in Florida!) and have fully settled into our townhouse - we are unpacked and the cats are tearing around the place like they own it!  We finally hung the pictures on our wall and it's beginning to feel like home.  I also started a part-time job and am loving it!  I have nothing but respect for the men and women who stay at home and take care of the house (and kids if they have them), but I'm the kind of person who needs a career to be fulfilled and it feels so good to be working again!  My in-laws have been wonderful and I feel like my husband and I are settling into our new home beautifully :)

That's been the upside of things - now for the downside.  When we returned from our honeymoon, we discovered that our townhouse had flooded.  We were very lucky and not much was damaged, but it was a very trying way to return from such a relaxing trip.  It took several days to get the place back in order (and without my cats - they were at my in-laws on the honeymoon and we didn't want to bring them back until everything had settled down.  It was awful not having them there - and yes, I know I sound like a crazy cat lady, but it's true!).  Once the dust settled from that, we began the process of combining our separate lives from before our marriage into a combined life.  Enter AT&T.  My husband and I needed to keep our separate cell phone numbers for business purposes, but wanted to combine them in one account.  We literally spoke with 8 different people who told us different things.  We finally got things settled the way we needed them, but for heaven's sakes, it like pulling teeth to make it happen.  Not the high note we expected as we began to combine our lives!

But all's well that end's well and the dust is settling (how do you like two cliches in one sentence).  My husband (I'm still getting used to saying that!) and I are loving married life and I can't wait to see what's in store for us!

P.S.  The bugs here are seriously unnatural.  I've become a killing machine!

An Unexpected Twist

Six days after I married my husband, my grandma died. It was unexpected and awful and not at all the way that I expected to begin my marriage. Or my first blog post as a newlywed. I had thought that my first blog post would be filled with the differences between the North and the South as I began to navigate my new life. Like the difference between a buggy and a shopping cart (where I come from, a buggy is pulled by a horse and most likely has an Amish driver. It is not something that holds items you intend to buy while in a store. But in the South it is). Rather than continue with this train of thought, I decided to reflect on the woman who shaped me and my family. My grandma was faith-filled, no-nonsense, family-oriented woman. From her, I learned to love quilting, mint jelly, knitted dishcloths, Northern cornbread (there is a difference between cornbread in the North and the South, but that belongs to a future blog post), simple and tenderly-given Christmas gifts, homey kitchens, farmhouses, homemade grape Popsicles, evenings spent on a porch, the Little House on the Prairie books, and that any time spent with the ones you love is precious.  Some of my best memories as a child were spending a week with her in the summer on my grandparents' farm, learning how to quilt. Chilly fall afternoons running around the barn, playing with my cousins, are another great memory. More recently, I have memories of her from my bridal shower, thanking her for the knitted Christmas tree skirt she made for our new home. Of watching the local Memorial Day parade and hearing her telling me about the bit of purple lace she intended to fit into the neckline of the dress she wanted to wear to my wedding so it would be more appropriate. Of her welcoming my husband to the family with open arms, telling him that he is now her youngest grandson since he is the newest member of the family. Of her being surrounded by all of her children and most of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren on our wedding day. These memories are recent and precious and remind me of the wonderful woman she was.  Grief hits us all in different ways. For me, it's little thoughts or memories that hit me when I least expect it and cause my throat to close up. When one of those thoughts recently hit me, I suddenly thought that even though I am embarking on a new chapter of my life, the foundation of who I am comes from my family and how they raised me. I will carry a piece of my grandma with me wherever I go and I fully intend to keep her close, both now and in the future. She was a part of me and I was a part of her. And with that comforting thought in mind, I am going to go make cornbread and eat a piece for her.  I love you, Grandma.

A Band-Aid Approach to Life Changes

Welcome to my first ever blog.  I've never really been a blog reader and never really considered writing one until recently.  Don't get me wrong, I fell in love with the movie "Julie and Julia" and there are definitely a couple of blogs that I check out on a fairly regular basis.  It just never crossed my mind that I should write one myself.  I guess that is my plea to you, my readers, to be gentle and forgive me for any mistakes I make!

So I'm guessing this is where I tell you a little bit of backstory and how I came to decide that I should enter the blogging world.  My story is fairly familiar.  Midwestern Girl begins MFA theatre program.  Midwestern Girl meets Southern Boy.  Girl and Boy fall in love.  Approximately two years later, Boy proposes to Girl and Girl says yes.  Boy graduates from MFA program while Girl still has one more year. Girl and Boy decide to get married a couple of weeks after Girl's graduation so they can begin their life together.  Their life together in Mississippi.

Fast forward and we find ourselves at the present.  In the span of a month, I graduate from my MFA program, marry my wonderful fiancé, and move to Mississippi with my husband and two cats.  Life Changes - like ripping off a band-aid.  Quick.  The road trip down to Mississippi alone has the makings of an awesome pilot for a TV comedy (especially since one of my cats needs drugs to go anywhere near a carrier.  Sometimes the drugs don't work...).

Now, I grew up in the Midwest near a large city.  My dad's family has its roots in the farming community and my mom's family was your typical suburban household.  Cornfields, mouth-watering fresh produce, heinous rush-hour traffic, the presence of football (not that it entered my life, but I was aware of its influence growing up), a Target store at every corner - these are all things that are the norm for me.  My family is tight-knit - loud, lovable, and full of opinions on my dad's side and quiet, gentle, and stubborn on my mom's side.  Needless to say, I am very much a product of how, and where, I was raised.

Therefore, I've decided that the point of this blog is to chronicle my new life in the South - the good, the bad, and the funny.  Enjoy!