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By Julia
Stowe, Vermont

Victory at JFK

  I can't decide what the most exciting part of my week has been: getting our dog back, trying on an awesome wedding dress or the fact that I am now able to compost in my own home.  Yes indeed, this week has been truly magical.

   First of all, I am obligated to give a shout-out to Quantas, our carrier for the 24 hours of travel from Auckland to New York.  On our overnight flight to LA, they fed us two full meals, gave us a snack AND served hot cocoa to us in the middle of the night.  I was so excited about the midnight hot chocolate and amazing in-flight entertainment that I couldn't fall asleep on the flight, which sent me reeling into a spiral of sleep deprivation and jet lag that I am just now recovering from.

  My parents dutifully promised to collect us from JFK and as we touched down in New York, Tom and I mused about the inevitable shenanigans they had in store for our welcome.  A huge banner?  A song and dance routine?  History has told me that none of these options are out of the realm of possibility.  Cathy and Rich opted to keep it classy and low-key this time around:

Our fans

  I was shocked when my mom told me she only printed enough for the four of us.  I can think of at least three dedicated blog readers who would love to purchase a souvenir t-shirt.  If the market demands it, I suppose we can always reissue the t-shirts for purchase (in which case we can adjust the two errors in the t-shirt:  "Greece" was not one of the countries we visited and the boobs on the stick figure are insanely larger than mine).

False advertising 

  Sylvester appeared to recognize us, with our reunion mainly consisting of needlessly high voices and lots of licking (mainly on Sylvester's part).  Tom and I relished in the familiarity of my parents' house and spent the next two days recovering from our journey and catching up on 30 Rock.  I experienced the strange sensation common to returning back to one's comfort zone that our trip was all a dream.  

Reunion with Sly

  On Thursday, Tom and I packed up our belongings from the trip plus several  bags from Crate and Barrel we accumulated on an unspent-engagement-gift-card shopping spree the day before.   Before long we arrived in Stowe and moved our bags into our new house!

Gift-card fueled smorgasbord

  Vermont won't see spring until June or so, but we're happy to see some snow on the ground anyway.  Right now, Tom is out with Sylvester cross-country skiing.  With any luck we'll get a day of downhill in before the snow melts.   After just a few days, we already feel home.  Since we're used to just the two of us traveling together, I think it will take us longer than most people to realize we have no friends here, and we've been unemployed so long that not working feels pretty natural.  I wonder how long this "new home" euphoria will last...