i never thought i would be able to say this, but i LOVE my job!!! i just finished my first week. i have projects...MEANINGFUL projects...that interest and challenge and satisfy me. i have great coworkers. my hours are not overly demanding. in fact, i am salary up to 40 hours/week, and then i get 1.5x for anything over 40 hours. wow!!! flex time. benefits. fieldwork. a view of san francisco from my desk?!!! my desk/computer was ready for me on the first day. i got a paycheck 4 days into the job. i drive 4 miles to work. speaking of...i also LOVE my new pad!
i now live in an utterly charming one bedroom "cottage" (ALONE) near Lake Merritt in north Oakland. i have dark hardwood floors, a working fireplace (red with cute as hell details), old fashioned BIG windows, a cute patio out front, a gas stove...there's even an old icebox in the kitchen that's been converted to cupboard space. uber cute place, and i have big girl furniture now, including a red suede papasan chair (which i've wanted forever!!!), so it's comfortable and cozy and homey and all mine!!! i leave music playing in the background most of the time, and my crystals in the window provide me with a fantastic display of rainbows (i.e. good chi!) at least once a day. i also have friendly neighbors who like to mingle (just got back from a sunday afternoon champagne feast with them all - made friends with the local alterations lady, painter, judge, and bartender. :) my closest neighbor is the marketer for title 9 who wants to hook me up. no joke. and she has a three-legged 14 year old dog named deliliah who likes to chill on my front porch. when i look out the window i see trees, flowers, and bushes (or delilah)...feels like santa barbara without the freaky people. hurray! i am walking distance to the lake (one block away), a bazillion restaurants (including ethiopian, thai, dim sum, sushi...anything you can think of), a new wine bar (which i checked out with the Fostinos last night), tango/salsa/ballroom lessons, my laundromat, the gym, two florists, at least four coffee shops (one of which is GOTH...omg!), the grand lake theater and parkway theater (where you eat pizza and drink beer while watching cheap movies), mini marts (and yes, they all have ben & jerry's - put in a request last night for b&j's peanut butter cup flavor), and whole foods and trader joes are coming in within the next couple of months. i live in the best neighborhood in the world!!! i even live near some of my grad school peeps, and have incredible access to all freeways that lead directly to san francisco, san jose AND tahoe...kirkwood is only a 3 hour drive, which is icing. the ONLY bad thing - no morning dove lives near me. :(
but overall, my life rules. never thought it would happen. no chaos - i actually feel settled for the first time in my life. my car runs. i am stocked with coffee beans and a new espresso/coffee machine (but then we have peet's coffee at work in the unlikely event i run out of beans at home). i have loads of clean dish sponges under the sink and don't have to worry about roommates leaving behind an empty roll of tp (or shit on the toilet seat). i cleaned my place yesterday and it's still clean! i am back near the bay area bike trails (rode skeggs yesterday with the old crew), gearing up to explore the easy bay and marin trails with some new peeps this week - i posted an ad on craigslist for mtb buddies. i can go on an on...but i'll stop. am i making you sick?!
ok, now a quick recap of how i got to this point, since i am soooooo good at updating my blog. i left santa barbarba june 2 - graduation was june 15, but i left early for too many reasons. my interview was june 10 in berkeley, which is the day my company offered me a job. then i immediately drove north and spent the next two months visiting family and friends in WA and TX. i spent a weekend in austin with the girls, lots of time in seattle, 5 days in colorado (3 spent camping/biking in crested butte...which ROCKED), and then there were various trips to random locations which i don't care to recall. i saw some wicked thunderstorms and became accustomed to running in disgustingly humid weather at 6am...that and biking at 10,700 feet. i experienced wildflowers in boulder and discovered a lush texas. i also got the chance to truly close a painful chapter in my life and move on.
