Hello from the Unemployed's

Life since Europe has been great. Since we are both currently jobless, we've had a lot of spare time for hobbies, enjoying our families and planning for the future. I expected to miss our weekend train trips, or have a longing to return to Paris, Italy or Greece...but surprisingly, I don't. Maybe it's because we spent so much time there - or maybe because it's only been a few weeks since we got back...but I'm completely content with America.  I don't even have an itch to travel anywhere, which is definitely abnormal. My current dreams include finding an apartment, moving all our stuff, decorating, cooking meals, and having a closet. The truth is...my gypsy-soul needs a place to call home. 

Anyway... Halloween was fun this year - mostly because of our cool costumes we spent all day making. But even though they took awhile to make, we spent less than $10 on all the materials! If you can't tell - we are Mark Antony and Cleopatra. I got this inspiration while we were on a bus in Rome, learning about all the crazy stories of the Roman Empire.  We were planning on entering a costume contest, but there was a CRAZY snow storm in Connecticut which led to the city "canceling Halloween." haha I didn't know it was possible to cancel a holiday, but apparently the declaration was made. We had no power for awhile, which was fun for like 2 hours and then I realized all the things we couldn't do - wash or dry our clothes, microwave soup, turn on the light in the bathroom, WiFi, cable, heat... yes, it was not the greatest experience although it did remind us how much we rely on electricity for the basic necessities of life and how much we take it for granted.

During this "power-less" time, I made friends with a cute little pup... Crufi the chocolate lab. I hate big dogs. I always have. But I'll admit, he's starting to grow on me, especially when he lays on my feet and keeps them warm. Plus, he makes Chris so happy - especially when they work together to learn new tricks. So as long as Crufi doesn't slobber on my nice clothes... I guess we can be friends.

One big task I've been focusing most of my time on is starting my career. I don't just want any job. I want to be excited to go to work everyday. I truly want to enjoy it. I've submitted applications and had several interviews - some of which seem promising. But we will see. I don't want to rush into anything, but I'm also really excited to settle down and get back into the field I love.

During our down time, we had a chance to visit Christopher's brothers in New York and spend a day at the Bronx Zoo. It was perfect weather and the park was basically empty. We got to see tigers, grizzlies, polar bears, monkeys, frogs, giraffes, alligators, pythons, gazelles, hyenas, flamingos and my favorite of the day: sea lions! We watched the 3:00 show and got to see lots of cool tricks like handstands and even backflips. It was awesome.
Usually during this time of year, I'm super busy with mid-terms, projects and papers. It's been nice to just have time to relax and enjoy the beautiful scenery. Even with the crazy-cold weather, there are still plenty of orange, yellow and red leaves left to admire.

And now we come to my favorite part of being unemployed...more time to spend with my family. See this cute little baby girl? It's Hallie, my adorable niece. She can show me her nose, her belly-button, say "ut-oh" and I'm pretty sure she called me "na-na." Of course I also loved spending time with my beautiful big sister, Monica. It's been way too long since we've seen each other. We had fun attempting to do the whole royal icing thing...although it didn't turn out quite like we expected, we still had a blast. Sisters are the best.

And the last update from our exciting unemployed life is...my husband turned 26 years old! I can't believe it. This year, Christopher got a "Choose Your Own Adventure" Birthday - which was full of fun surprises.

There were 7 levels, with 3 choices (images to circle) on each level. He was only allowed to pick one, although he didn't really know exactly what he was choosing. We started off with (1) cereal for breakfast, (2) picking up his gift - an XBOX360 Slim, (3) lunch at Raising Cane's [aka the best fried chicken on the planet and Christopher's new favorite place], (4) failed attempt at bumper cars; rain-checked for another day, (5) oreo ice cream cake (6-7) not enough time/room in our bellies; rain-checked for another day. So overall... it was a really fun day filled with mysterious choices AND we still get to finish celebrating in the next few days to come.

So that's the update of our lives. With all this down time, you'd think I would have more time to catch up on blogging, maybe even share a few stories about the European Adventure...but not yet. I'm still spending all my free-time job searching (and yes, I admit I take breaks for Pinteresting too). Don't let it fool you though... the unemployed lifestyle is not glamorous. It's hard not knowing where we are going to live or what's going to happen + having to live out of suitcases and boxes / at our parents' and siblings' houses. I'm trying my best to enjoy though - I'm sure once the full-time job kicks in, I'll be wishing I could have this freedom back.