PRIDE

My last full weekend in Utah also happened to be Salt Lake City PRIDE weekend!  My BFF Greg and I went to a bunch of parties, the parade, and the festival.  It was nice to get to spend my last weekend with people I love, and I'm so so proud of everyone who celebrates diversity and stands up against discrimination and violence toward LGBT people.

At the parade with our friend Kate's sweet puppy, Karma.

Greg, me, and Tyler at the parade.  (c) Nick Ushio

Introductions

After 5 years in Salt Lake City, I've decided it's time to head back east to be closer to my family. I've loved my time in the west, but I don't really belong. I figured I'd start this blog to chronicle this new chapter in my life.

A little background (because why not?):

Me (Natalya). I'm a 26 year old speech-language pathologist. I grew up in State College, Pennsylvania and went to Penn State University for my undergraduate work in psychology (with a focus on psycholinguistics) and Spanish. I moved to Salt Lake City in 2007 for graduate school, and when I was offered a job here, I decided to stay. I have spent the past 2 years working at a Title I school in Murray, Utah, and I've loved every minute of it. I'm extremely passionate about communication and language, and have spent much of my time using augmentative/assistive technology to aid in communication. I love DIY crafts, baking, visiting national parks, and photography. As a non-white woman, I also have very strong views on minority rights, and am very vocal about them.

My littlest love, Malcolm. He is a 2 year old Meyer's parrot, and he is the greatest bird ever born. He already left for the northeast about a month ago (on a plane with my mom), and I can't wait to be reunited with him in less than 2 weeks!

My boyfriend, Andrew. We've known each other our whole lives, but started dating about 8 months ago. He already lives in the northeast, and we're both really excited for this long distance thing to be over. Andrew is an application engineer for a company outside of Boston. He is so smart and kind, and just as vocal as I am about injustice.

My parents, Akhlesh and Mercedes. They both work at Penn State University - dad is a professor of engineering and mom is a Spanish instructor. I love them so much and I'm so so glad that soon I'll be a car ride away instead of a plane ride away.