Ch-ch-ch-changes.

I obviously haven't been very good at keeping up with this blog for the past six months or so. Ever since we moved in with my parents, I've just lost all of my inspiration (not that there was a TON of inspiration there in the first place!).

The first twelve hours of my day are spent at work, or driving to and from work. When I get home, I like to spend time with my parents that isn't being spent with a phone or computer shoved in my face. They're doing us a great service by letting us live with them while we save and search for a house. They've also taken us on vacation with them, and treated us to many amazing meals and experiences. I'm grateful for the time we get to spend with them.

Jason works both day and night. He does a construction job on the side in the mornings, then works his restaurant job from late afternoon until the wee early morning hours. He gets 1 night off a week, 2 if they're feeling generous, and often only one morning. Every chance I have to spend time with him, I do.

All of this adds up to not leave very much time for things outside of work and my family. Add in the fact that most of the free time Jason and I have together is spent searching for a house, you can see where there's not a lot happening worth posting about.

From here on out, I'm going to stop talking about how long it's been between each blog post. I'm just going to post when I feel like it, because it's my blog and no one is expecting me to be an avid blogger.

However, when we get our own place, I want to impart some changes to this space of the internet. I want to focus this blog more on the things happening in Sarasota, along with what's happening in my life.

I'd like to create a space where people can get a taste of Sarasota, the town I was born and raised in and have grown to love so much. The place that I'm beyond happy to be back in, no matter how much I miss Naples.

When I was a teenager, I was just like all of the other kids who were growing up here. I thought that all I wanted was to get out of this place. For the most part, don't we all feel that way about where we grow up? When I moved to Ft. Myers for college, I was still travelling up to Sarasota every other weekend. My boyfriend lived here, and obviously my family too, so I wasn't really given a chance to miss it.

After that boyfriend and I broke up, I didn't come home quite as often. I loved the rest of college beyond anything I could have imagined, and I met what would be my husband, Jason, during it all. A few years out of college, I moved to Naples with him.

At first, it was lonely. All of my friends would have an hour or more drive to come see me, and neither myself or them really wanted to make that drive. I spent a lot of time by myself, because Jason was working 60+ hours a week as a district manager for Subway. Eventually, I grew to love my alone time. That quiet time was where this blog was born. Where my love of baking and cooking flourished. Where my need to read any and every free book on Kindle was born.

But when we got engaged, we started talking about the future. The only thing I've ever really, truly known about the future was that I wanted my kids to be as close to their extended family as I was to them. I wanted them to grow up hanging out with their cousins, knowing their grandparents house as a second home, and that if they ever decide they need to run away when they're angsty teenagers, they have plenty of safe places to go.

So we moved to Sarasota.

It's been rough, but I've fallen back in love with my city. There are so many things happening all of the time here. I don't currently participate in many of them because every free dollar we have is going towards saving a house, but I'm prepared and ready to become a part of this amazing city again, and to share it with you.

Thanks for listening to me rant a bit. I hope that when I do get back on track, you'll enjoy what I have to share with you.