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7.13.2015

STORIES FROM THE PROFESSOR'S WIFE


Boy do I have something funny to tell you. 

Get cozy, ok?

Once upon a time . . . there was my husband. Who was a nerd. Who went and got three post-graduate degrees mostly just for the hell of it. 

When this husband graduated for the last time I told him rather sternly that this was it. No More School For You, Kid. Not even a cooking class; any type of learning opportunity taking place in a classroom-type setting, it's off the table. No. Ya done. Nobody needs that much information in their brains, and anyway I couldn't have him getting smarter than me, how would that even work in a day-to-day type marriage situation?

So. Brandon, being the turkey that a Brandon is wont to be, decided to weave his way through the loophole-iest of spousal loopholes . . . and find himself a job teaching at a university.  

That's right. Professor The Holbs. Professor of Holbsonomics 101.

Sneaky.


Let's be serious here for a minute. I am so proud of my husband. I am so so so proud of him. And excited for him, and eager to support him in this endeavor like salt water in a pool. Professor's Wife! Sounds much more romantic than Tax Attorney's Wife, doesn't it though? And anyway, this is going to be fantastic for our family. It's going to be the best thing in the world for us, and I am so excited for Huck to see the place he was named for, and for him to have the kind of space to play in in the place he was named for to discover in himself the kind of rascally mischievous boy he was named for, too.

But also, Brooklyn I am not done with you! You and me, we had this whole thing going! I was just getting into my massive vintage summer sundress collection! I had just finally made peace with the whole Mason jar situation! Your beverage collects in the lid grooves in a Mason jar and then gets all over your lips when you go to drink from it! It's weird! It's why glasses with not-lid grooves were invented! And now . . . what, am I just supposed to move on and forget these last twelve months even existed? Tub? Are you going to sit there and let this happen? Are you?? Do something, claw foot tub!!

Weeeeeell, so the Holbrooks are moving. Real fast like. Because that is my Brandon's way. Advance notice is not something redheads seem to excel at much. But then neither is existing on this planet while the sun is out, so I suppose you start to expect these things.

And anyway you're not even going to be able to handle it when I tell you where we're moving to. Get out your slightly crazy-sounding bubbling laughter. I did, it helped. And then I cried by myself in the bathtub for a while. And then I got actually a little bit excited about it, because, come on. 


Moscow.

The Holbrooks are moving back to Moscow. 

MOSCOW, IDAHO.

BECAUSE THAT IS JUST HOW THE UNIVERSE LIKES TO PLAY ME

It's funny, no? Ha! Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaaaa!

I'm over here simultaneously facepalming so hard that my brains are still rattling from impact and getting all giddy with excitement because actually this is really really going to rock my socks off AND my sneakers AND my shoelaces, too.

Anyway.

Congratulations to my Beeblies!

I am soooo getting chickens this time.

And a goat!!!!!!!

Her name is Gertrude.

#dontcryformeclawfootbathtub
#thetruthisireallydomisshavingashower

64 comments:

  1. Spokane is totally growing up now and will be the place to sneak off to when you need a teeny tiny dash of city life! Congrats!!

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  2. Sounds wonderful! Congrats.

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  3. oh my gosh oh my gosh I'm so excited for you!!!!

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  4. AnonymousJuly 13, 2015

    Congratulations on your husbands new job! That also meets you have to fly into New York to show me around. That was our deal, remember? :)

    All the best! Excited to see what will happen next.
    Idaho? You guys are funny people.

    Yvonne

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  5. Watch out for the damn goats. Their life's goal is to escape, and they are social, so you have to have two or they cry. A lot. My goats lasted six months before I was tired of having then Gerry into the ups truck and scaring the driver. They went and to a farm in Vermont.

    And congrats. I've "known" you since Moscow the Original. I'm looking forward to Moscow: the adventure continues.

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  6. Congrats Holbrook family! Maybe we'll come visit, our fam jam has never been to Idaho! ;)

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  7. I used to live in moscow!! It's got its' own thing going for sure. My dad was a prof of uni of Idaho. Congrats Brandon! You guys will have a blast. Also if huck goes to McDonald elementary I might just pee myself.

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  8. If you need a place to stay or anything else you are welcome at our house!

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  9. I was like RUSSIA!? And then I was like IDAHO!? Wow! Congratulations to the hubs on this new job and huge opportunity for all of you! What an exciting transition!

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  10. My husband is applying to the University of Idaho College of Law! eeek!

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  11. congrats!

    http://amoderngypsy.blogspot.com/2015/07/presley-james.html

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  12. So great!! Please tell me you'll be buying that one awesome tree covered house with the front steps you wrote about once. Also my husband went to med school in Des Moines, Iowa. Iowa!!! Nobody even knows where Iowa is. So we went to school for 3 years and then decided to do 4th year in Austin where I'm from, thinking we'd end up there or closeby after graduation. Nope. He got residency back in Des Moines. So we moved right back to the same neighborhood- it actually was so great moving back. So excited to see your next place! NYC Natalie was fun but I love Moscow Natalie!

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    1. I have followed her blog since a few months after she started blogging really, and I was wondering the same thing! That would be so awesome and exciting if she got her dreamboat of a house!

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  13. Well. There is a lot to unpack here, huh? It's very great that your husband got what seems like a super good job, and you maybe already know people there. On the other hand, leaving Brooklyn and moving and rebuilding life anywhere is hard. (I'm about to move from Montreal back to Vancouver, and lady, I feeeeeel you.) No matter how much you like where you're going, leaving and adjusting is tough.
    Plus sides: proximity of Moscow to the Pacific Northwest, which I'm obviously a big fan of. You can stay at the Jennings Hotel in Joseph OR, which is like the cutest little thing on earth. You can go to Canada, it's pretty nice up here, and the west side of Canada is better than the East. You can go to Seattle and eat all the foods and meet all the people.

    You can thrive pretty much anywhere, I think. So...I'm sorry that moves are hard and leaving places you love is the pits, but you'll do great.

    (also hi. i don't think i've commented before, but i read sometimes)

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  14. Whaaaaat! When I thumbed through your book at the London meetup, it stopped at the chapter about Moscow, AND now you're returning. It's like fate just knew all along and was hinting at it! So excited for you Holbrooks. x

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  15. well done! sounds like a good change! xx

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  16. Oh man! So excited for you, and excited for us because now we get to know Moscow Natalie again. ;) Embrace this. It's going to be great.

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  17. Omigosh! I'm so envious! I miss Moscow so much! Say hi to our pretty house on 6th street and the one on Veatch too :) that's where we brought our first baby home. Memories! What will he be teaching at U of I? So exciting!

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  18. Oh my! Yes! For some reason I was hoping you'd move.... only because i can't and I live vicariously through natalie jean.....
    then I saw Moscow and I was like Nooooooo
    Then I saw Idaho and I said yessss
    This is exciting. This is exciting.
    you will get a claw foot tub in idaho! U deserve it
    can't wait to see your new home and what you will do to it..... so exciting

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  19. So can I have your Brooklyn Apartment??????
    The Pepper Express

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  20. Congratulations! I'm so excited for you guys!! Hooray for chickens!! :) And your barn, and maybe your old horse neighbors. Any chance you can get Peter Pan and Barney back?? :) :) :)

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  21. Can my husband & I move into your BK apartment?!

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  22. Moves are hard--especially one this drastic! I hope you can simultaneously love a new(ish) place while allowing yourself to mourn the old. From a purely selfish perspective, I'm excited for you to have a larger space to decorate and showcase. Good luck!

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  23. Oh boy! Having read since you were last in Moscow, I am so excited to read Moscow part two. Hope moving and changing and grooving and packing and everything all goes well. What a huge change!

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  24. I know we don't know each other in real life, but I've been reading for awhile, and this really shook up my Monday. WOW! The professor's wife does sound pretty dreamy. I also love the idea of Gertrude the goat. My boyfriend and I had a half hour long conversation about the four future chickens I plan to have yesterday and one will definitely be named Dorothy.Glad to know I'm not the only one who dreams of naming future farm pets!

    Can't wait to see what adventures are to come!

    -E

    amie-eo.blogspot.com

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  25. I giggled! Congrats, the universe works in crazy ways. Full circle :)

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  26. Shut the front door! Life, man.

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  27. Wow! This is what we went through last fall. My hubby and I met in Boston 17 years ago and after 9 years there and most recently 7 years on NYC-metro with 2 little ones we got a can't-refuse opportunity to move back up to New England and have now been in Portsmouth, NH for 10 months still looking at each other in disbelief that we came full circle. Never would we have thought we'd be raising a family in New England, but it is amazing (HUGE quality of life upgrade!) and we love getting back to the city from time to time. Good luck with your move!

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  28. what the heck-o-la??!! so surprised! hipster city girl goes idaho country?!!! excited for you and me:) . . and this next phase of Nat blog posting.

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  29. You know what you have to do. You have to go buy that one house. THE house!

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  30. Amazing! I went to Washington State in Pullman so I know Moscow well. I assume he's teaching at U of I, which is so great! Anyway, I can't wait to get a little dose of the Palouse via your blog (though I also loved getting a peek into Brooklyn life). Good luck!!

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  31. Isn't it funny how the universe works?! My hubs and I just moved back to our hometown (swore we never ever would step foot back in the place) after landing great jobs here. Couldn't find anything great in the big ol' Houston, guess we are just a couple of hicks again.

    May the moving goddesses be with you

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  32. Having just moved from Pullman a bit ago, let me tell you the two new most important words in Moscow (the original being, of course, 'Food Co-op'): Maialina Pizza. Soooooo good. Have a wonderful time on the Palouse! I love it there!

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  33. That's hilarious and awesome!! Welcome to the club of people that lived in NYC for many years and then moved to the middle of nowhere :). I moved to a small town outside of Aspen, CO about 6 months ago after many years in Brooklyn. I wouldn't trade it for anything!

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  34. Congrats!!!!! Also just have to say, YES, YES, YES on the chickens. We have several in our backyard with names like Cannonball, Matilda and Ruby and they lay eggs every day and are the funniest little creatures to watch.

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  35. I love it!!! I don't know why this made me so giddy! Are you going to find Betsy the Flying Potato again? I sure hope so!

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  36. Gotta love our hubs for always wanting to achieve bigger and better in the MID-WEST!! I also just recently moved from Los Angeles (home) to Nebraska.... NEBRASKA!!! Where there are no beaches or mountains :( I must admit though... people on this side of the country are SOOOO nice and very warm and welcoming.

    Good luck on the move and embrace this new adventure...sounds like your hubs is!

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  37. Good luck on your move and this next chapter of your life!

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  38. OMFG! .. I did the dutiful wife situation for 3 years of legal studies and NOW you're moving back there .. lol at least from now on your blog will be like a trip down memory lane. kinda. gotta love 'scow town. xo

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  39. Yay congrats! Good luck! My old law school professor is now the dean there!

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  40. We're semi nomads too. It's hard, but also magical. There's nothing in the world like shaking your life up and pouring out something new. It makes you appreciate people and places far more deeply, because you don't live like most people. You live in the past, present and future simultaneously. It's something special and strange, I don't know how I'll feel when we eventually settle for good (hopefully). I'll likely feel awesome and amazing and relieved and restless and sad :)

    You'll do great. Carve out a life for yourself as an individual too of course! Hug your old doctors, lol. It's all good, you'll adapt beautifully with your boys by your side.

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  41. New adventures! Can't wait to read all about them:)

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  42. Yep, that's pretty crazy! But since I'm loving your posts mostly for YOU, I think I'll continue to enjoy your blog from wherever life takes you. Way to roll with the punches, girl!

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  43. HOLY. SHIT. Your life is a crazy story and you just laid down the TWIST!

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  44. btw, that last pic… brandon... that is a huck pose right there.

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  45. sounds so great, I am so up for change myself:) well done Brandonxxxx

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  46. Heya, I am reading your blog for so long now and this is the time, I am all smiles and truly jealous. I know it might sound weird and I alsol understand the crying in the tub, buuuuut how exciting is this. And how much will Huck love it. I envy you for that quick change, as we are trying here for so long to leave Berlin and things are just not moving forwad. So, celebrate that chapter and hey, bring Moscow your magic!

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  47. Will you make another guest room of dreams? Because good crap I still think about how beautiful your original Moscow one was. Cheers and safe travels!

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  48. Just have to say ... I live in idaho and there is a street here named Holbrook lane and every time I see it I think that idaho is calling your name and maybe it is. I have chickens and a horse and a rope swing and a hammock and raspberry bushes and it is good.

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  49. I am in shock. I am. I can't even imagine to think what you must have felt when you heard the news. It’s crazy. I mean you love New York, you love Brooklyn! I remember telling you that I had to Google Moscow when I read about it in your book :) It does look lovely though. And I feel you have the power to rock the place wherever you live, so congrats to you, the Holbs and Huck. I can’t wait to follow this adventure. But please don’t forget to tell us what will happen to this amazing loft of yours… XO

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  50. Glad to hear about your changes! I hope Brooklyn says goodbye to you properly! Thank you for being so candid. Would it be selfish to ask, as I am trying to make some big life changes, could you spill a little about how yall weighed your options-staying vs going? I am thinking of moving form Boston to San Diego so I can be near the beach. I just don't have a great reason like a professorship, things are so-so, fine, whatever here in Boston-pleasant enough. I guess life isn't supposed to be awesome and challenging and wonderful the majority of the time-you're just supposed to realize safety, shelter, family are everything...Wanting more is just more...? Anyway, blah blah blah, Im a big fan and look to your blog for advice fairly often! I'd just love to hear about what pushed the decision for yall to head out of town. Thank you for sharing! xo, H

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  51. Congratulations Natalie. Change is soooooo hard, but we all believe in you.

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  52. At least you'll be able to afford buying a home. I live in Spokane, WA so I look forward to reading about your Inland Northwest adventures. I've never commented before as I'm a fellow introvert, but well done on this here blog!

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  53. There is something so beautifully full circle about this that I just felt that insane bubble of excitement (okay I've had a glass of rioja ;)) Much luck, Big love, Great Lovin x

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  54. While I'm very happy for you and your lovely family, I can't help but feel a little sad because if I'm being honest, I was sure we would one day be best friends when I finally made my way back to Brooklyn. Actually, we might have lived there at the same time but at that point in my life, I knew nothing of blogs you see. And it took moving away to realize how much that city (and the boroughs) really meant to me. That's also when I discovered blogs and you and well the rest is history really. The past four years I've been living (and re-living) vicariously through you and your love affair with that grad ol' city! Well you, Friends, and Felicity re-runs. It's funny how life works out hu? So I wouldn't be surprised if life pulls you back to the city in the future and maybe (hopefully) our paths will cross then. Or we can become pen-pals and you can come visit me when I finally make my way back east because like you (kind of) I have someone (a cat) that needs to see the place he was named after (Brooklyn). It's not going to be easy to get my city fill once you're gone cause no-one really does it like you. But I'm excited to see how you make this new place your own and also to see if Huck continues to get cuter (I'm sure he will). Have a great adventure! -JB.

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  55. Congrats on the new job! Brooklyn is going to miss you I'm sure, and I'll miss missing the opportunity to be living closer so I could officially meet you. Luckily Utah and Idaho are neighbors, and that I have family there, and since I've never been to Moscow who knows! Take care, and god bless you three in your future endeavors!

    xo

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  56. Wow one extreme to the other. Just a side not Spokane is getting Anthropolgie and Urban outfitters this fall. Spokane has grown a lot since you lived out west. Lots of great eating and local shopping. Never New York but not the end of the world either. Of course you will need a car to make the hour drive north. By the way he is one very lucky husband.

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  57. Congrats mr holbs! I'll be praying for you as you leave this beautiful brooklyn town and start again-I've been reading since the first Moscow adventure so I was all the universe did whaaattttt over here too! Hoping its a blessing and that those chickens will be perfectly wonderful
    Xo

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  58. How cool! My aunt and uncle lived in Moscow for YEARS, until just recently when they moved back to Washington State. Such a cool little town, I have to say. :)

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  59. AnonymousJuly 19, 2015

    I don't even know what to say about this. I mean, s-word girl! I started reading your blog when you were living in Moscow! I remember the daaaaayyyyssss. 2015 is just the year of the throwback and that's all there is about it.

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  60. Aww, your Moscow. You're moving there. You're going to be a country gal! But really, Moscow is beautiful. And think of all the trips to Washington, Oregon, even CANADA you can make! I hope Moscow is simply blissful! Best of luck. Come to Utah and say hi to me! Kay. Bye.

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