Hello!

Since most of my family and friends live all over the country, I can pretend that my life is interesting enough to blog about and that you'll enjoy staying up to date.

...or not. That's ok. It still sounds like fun, and I think things around here are exciting lately. Take recent events, for example...

Meet Joel. He's an officer in the Marine Corps, a running fanatic, a great cook and an all-around awesome, funny guy. He's also the guy I somehow tricked into marrying me.

No idea what I did to deserve him, but I'm also not going to report the error, either. 

It's actually kind of a miracle that we ever met. He's from Texas, I'm from southern California. A "quick run" to him is no less than five miles; I prefer to exercise by walking leisurely behind him and enjoying the view. I love to dance; he "doesn't dance" (except really he does, and very well, too. shh). We both went to Southern Methodist University in Dallas, but we met on Facebook (yep!) through mutual good friends after we had both graduated. 

Until very recently, we didn't even live in the same state at any point in our relationship. This includes dating, engagement, and the first several months of marriage. Since all of the above usually induces blank stares or utter confusion, I'll explain it more as time goes on. It has been a wild ride so far, and we're just getting started.

We don't have any kids yet. Our wedding was in May, and there were no shotguns involved, thankyouverymuch. We both love kids, though, and look forward to whenever that chapter of our life together happens.

To further incriminate myself, I'm an auditor at a Big 4 firm. Math and the tax code are not particular passions of mine, but I actually do like my job. I don't get it, either.

In other news, last year I traded my posh penthouse on the Upper East Side in NYC (much creative license taken there) for Raleigh, North Carolina. It's a huge improvement in our longtime long-distance situation. After living in separate states and sometimes different hemispheres (hooray for deployments) for the last three years, simply living in the same state is a huge accomplishment. 

We aren't quite to the living together stage yet, unfortunately. My firm doesn't have an office near Camp Lejeune, and we don't want to rush things anyway. We operate together in spirit during the week, and spend every weekend together in person. We have the rest of our lives to live together, anyway, so we're taking things slow. Yes, I am totally kidding. We'll be under one roof within the next year or so, fingers crossed. That will be amazing.

And then there's my pleasantly plump cat, Chloe. (Yes, I am an unapologetic cat lady. I also love Jeopardy and wish I could knit. Does that make me an old soul?) Chloe came into the picture during my junior year at SMU, and she has been my loyal shadow ever since. In the last few years, Chloe has grown from a sweet little fluffball to a 16-pound brick house. She's still very sweet, once you understand how to play by her ever-changing rules.

As you can see, there isn't a specific point or theme to this new blogging adventure, hence the {etc} initials. There's a lot of moving, traveling, marrying, nesting, adventuring, dancing, military wifery, et cetera going on these days. Life is crazy, but I truly am grateful for all of it and can't picture it any other way. It's a lot like my tea- well steeped. Sometimes there is a little bit of lemon, but mostly there's a lot of honey.

Finally, I'd love to hear from you! If you have a minute, please leave a comment or shoot a note to erikasteacup@gmail.com.

Welcome, and thanks so much for stopping by!