Hey Everyone! Just some thoughts of the day on what makes home, home - just like it says on the tin!
 So, I had a good day today. A walk in the park, one might say, because it was an easy day, and because I went for a walk in a park!
 But seriously, just about everyone shudders at the mention of moving, especially a big move, and even more especially if the old place had been home base for a long while. What funny about that though, is that pretty much no one is still in the same place they started. Meaning, those places we all hold so dear were once foreign and new to us.

 For example, I always get *super* excited by license plates from states I don't see very often. In part that's because I grew up in California, which is BIG, and there isn't a lot of variety. Here in Arkansas, dead center of Arkansas, we get plates from Texas, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Kentucky, all over the place. They're all common here, but to me they've always been new and exotic!

 I bring that example up, because today was the first day I've driven and not even noticed the plates. So much so that after an hour drive, my friend Jay had to point it out to me!
 It's moments like that. When what was new and foreign, what you couldn't help staring at when you first laid eyes on it, starts to completely escape your notice. That's when your new place has become, or is quickly becoming, home.

 So, what do we have that makes this seem like home already?


 Here, we now have the lovely washer/dryer, critical to us in a home base :)


 Zelda is right at home, and we have the go-to dog walking and dog park spaces!


 We have some of the local flavor, always saying nice things when we walk by the fridge


 We have these two laser-eyed monsters themselves, and the furniture that's been with us for years!


 And we have those sunsets that I can't stop talking about - they're absolutely stunning, but also the same horizon (more or less) that's been to our West for my entire life. Same sun, same sky, same light. No matter how different it looks from here!


 We've even started getting visits from the locals, for better or for worse, see below:


 What is THAT? An alien? A lump of dirt?


 Oh…
 This character has not been seen since the night of The Incident. I'm not sure who ate him, but one of the fuzzy monsters is the culprit!


 We've even had our first midnight raid by that terror of a cat.


 These pictures don't do it justice, that was a LOT of food all over the pantry...


 And now we even have our own coffee table, made with our own bare hands. Which, as far as personal touches goes, adds a lot!
 This one is graced by glowing coasters as a topper, a gift from Mas as a consolation for leaving the JC. Thanks Mas!


 We're still in the process of unpacking and decorating, it's gotten pretty crazy:

 Pictures of loving friends, family, a few couple selfies, the Nautilus shell that was a wedding gift to my parents, and then passed on to me. To top it off, we have the spiky shell I picked up on our Honeymoon.


 And there's this treasure - the box and the black, Hawaiian volcanic sand were my Grandmother's, as were some of the shells. It's made more personal by the shells I've found myself all over the Americas


 Of course, our statuesque super-cat, Link! He traded the green suit for a green stool. At least until we can find him a proper Triforce-hunting outfit...


 There's our bookshelf, complete with board games! Reset almost the way it was back home, but with much, much better light


 And, of course, a recent Christmas present, to top off the apartment and put our own stamp on it!


 A few trinkets and familiarity…  I would say it's not enough to make a place home, but it is, isn't it? We bring pieces of ourselves with us wherever we go, some are physical, many aren't, but everything we bring with us settles in to our surroundings. It all settles along with the dust kicked up in the move, and as it slowly sorts itself out, in no time at all, it becomes impossible to tell the difference between what's brand new and what's always been there.

 In part, I'm thrilled about that! I want this to be my new home, and I don't want to feel like a stranger forever.
 But in part, I'm also sad. Because everything that becomes "home" about this place, takes something away from what was "home." For a while, I have two homes - current home and old home.

 It all works out in the end, of course! I'll just have to treat every sunset as a little farewell, until at long last I only have one home :)