Wow. There have been a loooooot of life happenings since I’ve last updated this little corner of the internet. And usually I ruminate and stress over the most *perfect* way to start anew when I’ve missed several months of blogging, but just to make it easy, I’m going to be nice and straightforward.

Hi. My name is Hope…I think my blog profile mentions that somewhere….yep, okay–check.

Next: I have a wonderful husband, 2 darling (but not always angelic) little girls, ages 4 and almost-2. We lived in Portland, OR for 3 years while my husband completed his residency after medical school and NOW…the greatest news as of late…we are living in AMERICAN SAMOA!!!!

We moved here just a month ago…almost exactly a month ago…and it’s been the adventure we have hoped for so far, except still trying to get settled into a new (read: different, not “new”) house starting next week. Most of our adventures will probably be shared via social media (Instagram, Facebook…), but I will try to post on here as well. You’d think with a blog on finding “balance” in life, that I would have a better balance on my journaling outlets! Right now I have a private family blog, this hobby “balance” blog, my Fitness Friday website (still in the works), and then there’s the social media…aggghh. Too much sometimes, but I’m trying to find a balance 😉

My goal is to back-date this blog, just a tad, to include notable events from our last year in Portland, in addition to any recipes or fitness tips that I feel super compelled to share. Then, I will include posts from our our first few days/weeks here in A.S. and thereafter continue to, hopefully, be a regular blogger once again. Was I ever regular? I must have been…maybe before kids, or at least before the second one…

Here is a sneak peak view of our first month! I forgot to post the picture with all the moving boxes….oops. Definitely not as scenic 🙂