ACHTUNG AUGUST

Wow. It's been nearly a month since I last wrote anything here. Time just whizzes by so quickly I sometimes forget just how long it's been since I sat down properly to collect my thoughts, to be still, and to write. 

We've been in London more than three months now. 

PERSPECTIVE

Sometimes I wonder why certain things have to unfold, why bad things happen to good people and why we can't just all immediately get what our hearts desire. Getting to where I want to be often appears so fraught with challenges and obstacles that dwarf me with how insurmountable they seem; makes a girl want to just throw in the towel without even half-trying. 

AM I REALLY LIVING?

It's when you're chest-deep in emails, chasing after deadlines that keep popping up like unrelenting crocodile heads you have to smack down in that famous arcade game, and deskbound in a 9-to-6 (or 7-to-4 in my case), that you really start thinking about the meaning of life.  

Or rather, you start asking yourself: Am I really living?

THE SMILE LIST

This is going to be a pretty dorky, self-help sort of post. It's been a crazy two weeks. The usual work sheninigans (and more), two cities in 24 hours for a biz trip - complete with the mad rush of running after trains and cabs, and mounting uncertainty over new developments I wouldn't exactly call predictable or pleasant. 

In spite of all this though, I still did have quite a bit to smile about. 

ASTON X CELEST

If there's one thing I hate doing, it's unpacking (and packing). I love getting things organized, but the process of getting things in and out of boxes and thinking of how to house them always seems way too daunting for my faint heart. 

RUN BABY RUN

Running was the very first sport I actually took to on my own accord. I did competitive swimming, played a bit of squash and dabbled in dance at different points, but nothing stuck until I found running. 

SUNNY DAYS SWEEPIN' THE CLOUDS AWAY

Sunny days are so precious in London. I remember years ago when I was studying here and so depressed from the constant grey skies and rain one winter, I escaped for two months to even colder Montreal. It wasn't the cold in London I had a problem with; it was the lack of sun that was cramping my moods! Everywhere you go it's grey grey grey, and rain just pelts onto your brolly and dramatically splashes onto your face, your shoes, your coat, getting your hair all matted in one damp mess.

'ELLO THERE

Hello Hello.

So, it's been a full 13 years since I hit Publish on that very first blog post in high school. It probably had something to do with puppy love, doing an Avril-esque analysis on why'd-you-have-to-go-and-make-things-so-complicated, or how I truly felt my life was being played out through one of Sylvia Plath's poetic stanzas. Oh, the melodramatic inclinations of an angsty teen.

In between, I've had a slew of blogs, some with domain names that shouldn't have seen the light of day, writing about everything from my college days to backpacking all over Europe on a shoestring. From starting work to partying till sundown with my best girls, along with a ton of Champagne Shower digicam snaps with the harshest of flash effects and a side of crazy eyes. From my days in grad school in London to returning home and finding love, from food and travel logs to health and fitness pieces, I wrote and stopped, wrote and stopped, and then wrote and stopped some more. 

So I'm not quite sure why I'm trying to do this again? It might be because we've just made our first international move and are living out our dreams of getting out there in this big, big world. It might be because we're so far from family and friends back home and all over the globe, and this is a way of connecting with everyone we love but can't physically see all the time. It might be because we're in the midst of setting up our first real home together since getting married almost two years ago and it would be so nice to have something to remember it by. It might be because I'm easing into a whole new lifestyle that we get to call the shots on. It might be because I'm itching to write again and the caption section on Instagram just ain't cutting it. It might be because the husband's gone to bed early on a Saturday night as he's feeling fluish and his wife's sitting on the couch bored from watching FBI Files. 

So hello there, here I am, picking up the virtual pen and once again, hitting Publish.