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is making an important announcement.

This important announcement is brought to you by the letters 'W,' 'T,' and 'F.' =) Yes. I have some very good news to share, news that is undoubtedly about to cause me a great deal of stress in an accelerated fashion. I'm betting you can guess...

In an earlier post from a few months ago, I announced my little family is planning to move from our home in Denver, Colorado to the part of the world I grew up and lived in for most of my life, Northern California. At the time we were planning to settle near my family in Sacramento, but this has changed -- we are now instead planning on moving to a fashionable area just minutes from Sacramento (largely owing to far better school systems in these parts), AND we are now planning to relocate at the end of February 2010. Yes, a full three months earlier than originally planned. =)

This all came about quite suddenly when the perfect opportunity for a house presented itself, a house in a trendy neighborhood I am already very familiar with as it is the same neighborhood I moved from when I relocated to Denver just over seven years ago. The house is just steps from an excellent middle-school that will be perfect for Jerrod to start at in the fall, and a few steps more from an equally excellent elementary school that will be a good landing place for him to finish out his final year in the lower grades. Although none of us wanted to move in the middle of the school-year, opportunity is definitely knocking loudly and Nathan and I feel we must answer.

Although Nathan and I are definitely far more urban than suburban, and are sorely going to miss our big-city lives, the city we are moving to has far more than the run-of-the-mill amenities of chain-restaurants and big-box stores to offer and if we just can't stand it another minute our home-away-from-home, San Francisco, will be a short car-ride away. In our recent trips back to Northern California over the last couple of years, we have both been very impressed with the steps this part of the world has taken to become more sophisticated and cultured as more and more ex-Bay-Area-ites move further inland to take advantage of a lower cost of living than they're used to, and our hopes are high we won't feel too much culture-shock. We'll see... =)

Jerrod is actually thrilled at the excitement of such a significant change to his environment taking place much earlier than he'd thought, and as he was already very pleased with the idea of moving we're taking this enthusiasm as a rare gift when he just as easily could've had a very different opinion. Those of you who know me in person know how the task of managing an inter-state move of this magnitude was already starting to leave a slightly crazed look in my eye, and that chaos is now in full swing as our home is already starting to look far less holiday-cozy and far more like a shipping / receiving center inside a very small warehouse. I have already started a bit of the initial packing of items we usually have stored deep in the recesses of our loft, and plan to start the real packing immediately after the holidays.

We're all going to be extremely busy in the coming months, most of all me, running around like mad trying to tie up all the loose ends and last-minute plans of our lives here in Denver, so more than likely this will be the last time you hear from me, dear reader, for awhile until after things stabilize. Send me your good wishes, your happy thoughts, and your positive feelings as the insanity of moving a household overtakes me and I slowly go a bit nuts ... well, nuttier than usual. At this point, my one big fear is that somehow I'll forget to pack one of the cats.

Happy Holidays from my family to yours ... see you in 2010! =)