Noelle’s Monthly Recap: August 2026

August was an unusual and emotional month. Early on, I was thrilled to have Markell and his friend Nick visit for eleven days. At the same time, I was preparing for the third stage of a job interview, so I had to stay focused while making the most of our time together. We took a wonderful trip to Madrid—you can read more about it in the “Posts” section below. When Markell left, I felt genuinely sad. Even though he is almost twenty, living in a different country from him can still be difficult. I had little time to dwell on it, though, because I advanced to the final interview round and received an offer. I spent the second half of the month giving notice at my current job, saying many emotional goodbyes, and cautiously preparing for a new role. Overall, it was a good month—just one filled with big changes and a lot of emotion.

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Noelle’s Monthly Recap: June 2026

June was a fun, whirlwind month. During a busy trip back to the U.S., we caught up with friends and family and attended three World Cup games. Outside of that trip, I also had the chance to explore a few new places near Cheltenham, where we live.

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Noelle’s Monthly Recap: November 2025

After a many year hiatus from writing monthly recaps, I’ve decided to bring them back! There is a lot happening in my life these days, so I’d love to be able to share more with readers.

November was a month of big changes for me. Mark and I moved to England, where he is from, and on the way did a “wrong way around the world” trip to Fiji, New Zealand, and Singapore. While I did hunker down quite a bit to manage all the tasks that come with moving, I also was able to sneak in a quick trip to Manchester and a long weekend in London. Here’s what I got into in November 2025.

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My February 2025 Social Media Detox Experience

On the afternoon of January 31, 2025 I made an announcement on Instagram and Facebook that I would be taking February 2025 off of social media and not returning until March.

I took the month of January off social media last year and wrote about how it went here.

This year I took February instead of January off of social media and wanted to share how the experience went my second time around. My motivations for taking the break were different this time so that impacted how I felt.

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