Where I've been...

Despite blog silence over the past couple of weeks, I've been a busy bee!

I went to Washington, D.C. and bought a house.
(The home purchasing process is sufficient reason to take a break from blogging. Mortgage paperwork should be considered cruel and unusual punishment. Also, it's insanity-inducing to know that any one of a million little things could derail this process between now and our May closing date.)

(No, this is not the house I bought...)

Thankfully the trip to D.C. wasn't all work and no play.

Hubby and I met some friends for dinner and got in one run along the National Mall. I also put the hotel gym to good use. (Exercise, after all, is my favorite form of stress relief. And when you're having home-buying nightmares at 2am, why NOT go pump some iron?)

Then we took the train north and spent an all-too-brief-but-very-relaxing weekend with my family in southern New England.

On our return from the trip, I realized I have ONLY FOUR WEEKS LEFT in Pensacola. And I have a professional conference coming up. And I'm under deadline for two other academic papers. And the end-of-semester crush of grading is coming up. So, as you might guess, the past few weeks have been a flurry of non-blogging activity...

... Sorting household goods for a massive moving sale, because D.C. = downsizing.

... Revising a paper and responding to reviewer comments.

... Finalizing and printing my poster for an upcoming conference.

... Plus the day-to-day, week-to-week stuff like getting an oil change, finishing the year's tax forms, grading papers, exercising, and trying to cook every bit of food in the pantry so there's nothing left when the movers arrive.

So things are good. But hectic. "Spring break" is over, but don't worry if blog posts are intermittent in coming weeks. I'll just be buried under a mountain of moving boxes. I'll eventually dig myself out and start writing about running and travel again! (Eventually.)