We were lost, but now we're found!

Hello dear friends! We didn't die, there wasn't a national ban on internet usage in Turkey, nor did we forget how to read and write in English.  I wouldn't blame you for thinking such things, but as it turns out we are alive and literate in a country with relatively good freedom of internet. But I have some groveling to do...

Have you ever gotten a really lovely Reindeer sweater from your grandmother, and happily worn it every day for two months before realizing you NEVER WROTE THE THANK YOU LETTER!!? And then you know you should, and "better late than never," and all that, but you just can't write it now, because if you did she would notice that you were late, and maybe she forgot, maybe she thinks you already sent it, if you send it now she'll realize that you didn't and she'll be ashamed of you? Sigh. Really, she wouldn't, and really who doesn't love Thank Yous in February, or July, early next December? But for some reason you just keep putting it off, and with each passing day it becomes more and more impossible for you to express your simple gratitude for the kick-ass Christmas sweater...

Well this blog post is our 3 month late Thank You. We love the sweater.  It's so fluffy. And beautiful.  It's not at all itchy.  And twinkly lights and the Rudloph song?!?! It's amazing that the battery pack fits in this relatively-small-attached-fanny-pack.  Thanks so much.

But in all seriousness.  I know for some of you this blog was a reason to get out of bed in the morning.  A shining beacon of hope in a dark sea of hum-drum.  A way to feel connected to your most awesome friends.  (Ok, at least give us the last one.)  But somewhere around May, we kind of lost our blogging spirit.  Maybe we didn't have that much to write about, or maybe we were tired, definitely we were lazy.  And after a while it was easy to tell my self that you had forgotten all about our blog, and we shouldn't remind you of our neglect by writing something new. Truthfully, a lot of super wonderful, and blog-worthy things have happened since our disappearance. I plan on filling you in on all of them soon.  Maybe one event per day... or week.  We'll see how it goes.  I shouldn't make any promises.  But know that some of them are pretty fab.



Instead today I'll share a little bit of the happiness we're finding now that we're back in our home.  We have been SUPER good about not buying anything for this apartment that we don't NEED, or can't put in our suit case to bring home with us.  This has meant very few personal touches in our pre-furnished apartment. But our most recent trip home afforded a small amount of room in our luggage for some free but lovely personal touches.

A very pushy dear friend of mine literally forced miniature snap top jars on us as we were leaving my 10 year high school reunion.  Even when I told him we didn't have room for them, and that they would likely end up in the trash.  Even when I gave in and took two.  He still made me take armloads to the car with me. Pusher. As it turned out, we did have room, and they truly make the most lovely spice jars.  So thank you Emanuel.  I think of you every time I go in my kitchen and see that spicy little spectrum.

Also, thank you Danielle, for the "Gallery Wall" inspiration.  And for the LOVELY wedding gift.  Once we had this piece, and still MORE room in our luggage, we decided to take all of the frames from our wedding (found and rehabilitated by my lovely sister) back to Turkey with us (sans the super heavy and fragile glass).  One of the frames holds my "something old" a hankie from Grandma Stehli, and one holds Alan's too-cute-for-one-day-airplane-pin. The others hold some extra lovely (and perfectly coordinated to our wedding colors) wedding cards.  Some day we hope to replace some of those cards with some of the SUPERGORGEOUS photos from our favorite day ever, but today isn't the day.

So here it is.  Scouts honor.  I'll get back to this blogging thing on the regular.  At least one post a week. Promise. 

Although you should know, I was never a scout. And my fingers were crossed.