We are so not talking about Jersey Shore

As you may or may not have figured out by now, we are back in the ol' Jerz: Hello, my name is Melissa, I'm thirty-two years old, and I live with my parents.

Awww yeah.

But we're pretty sure that our current state of housing will not last for too long, as things are very promising for J-P on the employment front here. I don't want to say much more yet, observing all warnings about counting chickens and jinxes and whatnot, except a very quiet and very preliminary yay! More details once the Is are dotted and the Ts crossed, but it's safe to say that if everything works out, this opportunity will keep us in the New York metro area for at least the next year, and probably the next few.

For all those we've seen over the past months of traveling, who tried so valiantly to convince us to settle in Seattle! no, Vancouver! no, Portland! no, Bend! no, Chicago! no, Minneapolis! no, Nashville! no, New Orleans! no, D.C.! all we can say is that we can't tell you how wonderful it is to be wanted by so many of you. We loved so many of the places that we visited and so enjoyed the chance to see those places through the eyes of our friends who live there, that we spent many nights lying in bed and fantasizing about what our lives would be like in this city, or that. We've seriously entertained the idea of living in most of those cities (ok, Minneapolis was never seriously in the running, hello freezing-ass winters), and the realization that all of those alternate realities will not come to pass is, of course, a little bittersweet. On the other hand, having a little more certainty in our lives is definitely a welcome change at this point. And this is hardly the end of the road for us in terms of geography. If we've learned anything over the past few years, it's that we never know where we'll end up or how we'll get there.

And, yes, I know I owe you some more travel pictures and stories, and we'll see about getting around to that. All in due time.

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