ready, set,...

... move!

if you're been wondering where we've been (or not wondering since you know my history of blog posting frequency... ha!)... well...

- paul successfully defended his thesis on 5.24!

- on the same day, he was offered a position at his dream job (RTI) in raleigh! he accepted the offer, and we are north carolina bound!

- i have since resigned from my position at lucile packard (please insert sobbing here... what an amazing job that was... and seriously amazing people that i worked with!), and have been busy applying for my physical therapy license in nc.

- we had our very first yard sale... and did fairly well (despite an emergency vet visit for the larger 4-legged one in the middle of the sale... i shall spare you the details... ask with caution)!

- paul graduated with his PhD in mechanical engineering from stanford (sorry, i have to brag... i'm so very proud!) on 6.17!

- paul's entire family was so wonderful to travel out to palo alto for paul's graduation and subsequent celebrations... after graduation, we traveled to lake tahoe for a week-long family vacay... it was fabulous! we returned home yesterday, and had a surprise/much-welcomed visit from our college friend, brian.

- and now... we continue to pack, post available sales on craigslist, and try to soak up our last few days in california!

it is certainly bittersweet to be leaving this west coast life... much harder than i would have imagined (especially if you had asked me 5 years ago). with the move happening relatively quickly, it just seems that we don't have enough time to do everything that we want to do before heading east. i'm trying to take it all in!

we move out of our apartment 1 week from today (!!!). we will be driving across the country (mostly along the northern route) over 3 weeks time to end up in north carolina at the end of july. if you are along the way, please let us know! we would love to visit!

along our journey, i will be posting about our exciting ventures... with the dog in tow!... stay tuned... it could get crazy...

until then, i leave you with one of the few photos that is on our camera from paul's graduation day. congratulations, love! i am so proud of you and all that you have accomplished!