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.