Good news!  We have a home again!  After nearly a month of bouncing around between family & friends, we moved into a little house.  We had sold most of our furniture when we moved to Spain, so moving in was a cinch!  We kept our beds, most kitchen supplies, some decorative and sentimental items, etc., but we’re pretty much starting from scratch furniture wise.

So far we’ve added a new couch, dining table and a couple of pieces for the bedroom, but we’re still looking a little bare.  As soon as we get a little more settled and get rid of some of these boxes I’ll post some pictures.  Until then, I’ll just have to describe the coolest things about our new pad:

• The neighborhood.  About a block away is an adorable little street lined with cafes, restaurants and shopping.  After being vehicle-free in Barcelona for the last year, it was important to us to live in an area where we can walk/bike to most things we need. (except we don’t have bikes yet!)
• A yard for Penny Lane. She’s been spoiled living with my parents for the last year, along with their other pets and a swimming pool, so we’re glad we don’t have to cram her into a little patio after all of that. There’s room to bask in the sunshine and fetch a ball, which happens to be two of her favorite activities. What more could a lovable 4-legged girl ask for?
• All the houses around here were built in the 1920’s.  While it’s a few hundred years newer than our flat in Barcelona, it’s still pretty old by American standards, and we like that.  History is relative!

Now for Some Sad News
It’s about my laptop.  It died.

For quite some time now there’s been a light pink stripe running through the screen.  Sometimes when you turn it on the screen displays various colors of stripes.  It was lovely, really.  I could enjoy the pretty design as long as I wanted, then if I twisted it slightly from the top of the monitor, it would return to normal.

Last night, while watching an episode of Boston Legal from 3 seasons ago, it suddenly went black.  No warning, no wrong movements, it was just gone. Quickly and peacefully, but not without great pain on my part.

“In with the new?”

Not this time.  Scott was able to put my hard drive into his old laptop, which is about as worn out as mine.  His doesn’t display any pretty stripes on the screen, but it does have another unique feature: the screen doesn’t stand up.  It just flops all the way open or all the way closed.  I currently have my purse propped up behind my computer to hold the screen up so I can see it.

I guess we’ll add ‘laptop’ to our shopping list.  Along with bikes, desk, bookshelves, coffee table, TV, jeans that don’t have holes worn in them, etc.  If I hadn’t just come from a fabulous year abroad that daunting list might bother me, but I’m pretty ok with it.  Not only was our time there worth the sacrifice, but it also taught me that I can live without that stuff for as long as necessary.  If I survived some of the hostels and fiestas we experienced over the last year, then a few more months of living like a college student won’t kill me!