Long Time No See

Dear readers,

Long time no see. I'm not sure if anyone is still following this blog, but I apologize for vanishing off the face of the earth without even saying goodbye. Life got really stressful around Fall 2016, and I just couldn't find the energy to keep writing blog posts about shopping when more important things were going on in my personal life.

A few updates: I am still in grad school (currently working on my dissertation and looking for jobs on the West Coast), but I am no longer with my former fiancé Engineer W. We decided to go our separate ways after many months of agonizing over what was ultimately a deal-breaker for us: I wanted to have children someday, and he didn't. It was an extremely painful situation since we loved each other, but there was also no compromising on the matter. The issue hadn't been so important when we were younger and had first started dating, but the older we got, the more resolute we each became on what was important to us. We ended things amicably since it wasn't anyone's fault, and we are still friends today. I decided to give him custody of our (now his) beloved tuxedo cat, which was the right thing to do but also broke my heart.

I have a new boyfriend J, who I have been dating seriously for close to a year, and now we live together in a tiny studio apartment. Because we have to share a closet, I had to purge the vast majority of my clothes, bags, shoes, and accessories before I moved in with him. I also can't buy too many things these days, because there'd be nowhere to put them. I kind of like the new forced minimalism since I can't accumulate too much stuff, and it's much easier to keep everything organized. I still feel the itch to shop though, especially when I am bored or under a lot of stress, but I usually end up returning most of it.

I am also in the best physical shape of my life. I started working out regularly (finally achieved my 2015 new year's resolutions, ha!) and picked up some new hobbies that I love: rock climbing, cycling, hiking, skiing, etc. These days you'll frequently find me doing something active outdoors if the weather is nice enough. Since I still like to shop, I've picked up a good deal of hobby-related gear, so probably my overall spending level isn't really any lower.

Anyway, I just wanted to drop in and say hi. I hope to start posting regularly again, but it may not be as shopping-oriented as it was before. I don't really have a roadmap at the moment. Let's just see where it goes.

Love,

Engineer L