I was never someone who thought about "blogging breaks." I just blogged, and over time it went from being a new hobby to a little money-making side project, until last year when it became my "full-time" job (I say "full-time" with quotations because while I feel like I've had some success, there are still days where I have a hell of a lot of time on my hands and think, "okay, what am I doing?"). Even when I would take a vacation, I missed it. My laptop was always with me, ready to be opened and my camera was on my shoulder, ready to shoot; ready to document and share and generally be on top of things.

So it's been a few weeks of less posting around here and I feel a lot of pressure. From whom, I don't know. But I have anxiety and routines are important for me, so it has been extremely difficult to keep it together and still feel self-employed during this transition.

I'm writing this because I guess I didn't realize until a few days ago how rough August has been for me. I didn't know I wasn't supposed to believe the moving company's estimator who came to our apartment in Minneapolis and said he didn't think our stuff would take longer than five days to catch up with us in Charlotte--a declaration that made the three weeks it has actually taken feel to me like several months. (I say this like our stuff is finally moved in, and not sitting on a broken-down truck somewhere in North Carolina as I write this.)

And then things in your personal life crumble a little and suddenly you wonder what's happening to you. It's my story, but it's not, so the details really aren't even mine to tell; and life isn't always sunshine and rainbows even though you never wanted to be the blogger who wrote the ambiguous post declaring that life is more than sunshine and rainbows, but here you are telling people about the clouds overhead.

All of this is to say that I'm still here, even if you aren't hearing from me that much right now. I'm just taking my time, even though it feels ridiculous to be so busy and overwhelmed when your job is barely demanding. Rob and I will actually get our stuff and I'll sit at my desk and regain a little bit of control over my day. Our friends will visit and some weekends we'll drive to Roanoke and Richmond and DC or Charlottesville and hug the people we love and one day we'll look back on that terrible move and the really hard August, hopefully with a smile.

But until then, I would just really love to have a chair.

The other day Rob and I went to dinner at Cowbell with a couple friends, and we loved the food so much that we came back the next week for lunch on the patio! I love anywhere that takes pride in their burgers, so this "burger and whiskey bar" has pretty much met (and exceeded) all my expectations.
 

I got the NYC burger without a bun, which has pastrami, sauerkraut, and the most delicious sauce. It also comes with swiss cheese, which I skipped. Rob got The Melt, which looked awesome. Also, sweet potato tots.

I'm so excited to explore (and share) more restaurants around the area! If you have any favorites, please let me know.

We spent a lot of time at our new apartment this weekend, unpacking the things we brought along with us in the car. It's mostly wedding gifts, so finally opening them for real was pretty fun, even if there's nothing to sit on while we did it.

On Saturday we went hiking with Rob's parents, and we got to visit them for dinner on Sunday. It's really nice having them (and Daisy the golden retriever) in the same city!

Our place is a quick walk away from one of the light rail stations, so we took the train into Uptown for the Charlotte Pride parade yesterday, which made me smile and cry (so many huge corporations sponsored the event and it just made me feel really good about the world--I'm a sap).

Tomorrow I'm off to Richmond before heading to Delaware for a super long weekend celebrating my best friend Tina's bachelorette festivities! I've been looking forward to it for so long; and despite spending so much time enjoying our new neighborhood with my sweet husband, it's been a rough past few days for me personally, so I think some time at the beach with girlfriends will be really good.