California Dreamin'

Wow. What a whirlwind the last two months have been! There has been so much going on that I haven't been able to blog about my travels like I enjoy doing. So the month of July was spent in Seattle with friends and family and then in Alaska with family. Those two and a half weeks were amazing. But I will have to catch up on those stories later...

So I'm in Cali!!! I'm officially a California girl. I have been here for a week but I just moved into my apartment on Friday. I did a little shopping for said apartment on Saturday and just purchased my first groceries to stock my kitchen tonight. I officially live here and am no longer "on a business trip" like it felt last week while I was staying in the hotel and eating out every night. This is my home... at least for the next six months.

So as some of you may or may not know, I was trying very, very hard to live in San Francisco... even though my office is in Palo Alto. I wanted to live in a place that had many qualities like the ones I love about Montreal so much - such as being able to walk everywhere, a sense of community, etc. However, due to some very strict rules as part of my relocation, I was unable to procure an apartment in the city and was forced to get an apartment in Palo Alto. Then when my hand was forced to stay in Palo Alto, I had to fight for the current apartment that I have (which is why I had to stay in the hotel for the first week). Anyways, there are longer, more boring details which are unnecessary. Long story short - I wanted to live in San Francisco but was forced to live in Palo Alto.

I hate to admit when I'm wrong because, quite frankly, I'm very rarely wrong and so I really have to swallow my pride. However, being forced to live in Palo Alto was probably for the best. By the end of last week, I was already working 12 hour days and was extremely exhausted by the time I was ready to go home each day. Moreover, if I had to commute 1 hour each way everyday, I think it would be really difficult to fit in my exercise routines. I still wish that I lived in a place where I could walk to the grocery store and to the pub. But there's a different trend in PA that I intend to take advantage of... cycling. Everyone cycles. There are bike paths on every street you drive... and tons of cyclists at all hours of the day. Plus, my apartment is right across the street from Stanford University, where there are tons of hiking and running trails so starting this week, I plan to take advantage. And next to Stanford campus is some prime shopping areas, including but not limited to Nordstrom's, Bloomingdale's, Lord and Taylor, and Macy's. I will also be taking advantage of the shopping very soon. I do not have enough business casual clothes to get me through two weeks of work. So I need to add to my wardrobe. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it! ;-)

The Valley is great. Every morning begins with some fog in the sky and by mid-morning it burns off and the beautiful sunshine is in the sky. It stays right around 75 degrees F (24 C) and then gets down to the mid-50s at night (13-15 C). The weather is just amazing. Oh! and my office... since I work for the Chief Marketing Officer, I have a decent office since he has a decent office. Our SAP office sits on the top of the hill and has a view of the mountains surrounding the Valley. And from my window if you look really hard, you can just see the water as well. It's incredible. I'm a really lucky girl.

When I arrived in Cali last Saturday, my dad graciously took me all around the Valley and helped me explore PA. The main road that goes through the Valley is called El Camino Real. Everything about that road is stereotypical of what I see in any movie depicting California. You can see all of the low, ranch-style houses and buildings. There are palm trees and tropical plants all around. When I moved to Canada, I was surprised when the anglophones said "eh" at the end of most sentences. I thoughts Americans just exaggerated and then it became a stereotype. I was incorrect in my assumption. The same is true for California. There's a reason why the movies look the way they do. My dad also introduced me to the best coffee I've ever had in my entire life, Philz Coffee. It's amazing. Each cup of coffee is brewed especially for you just the way you want it. Eat dirt Starbucks, I have a new lover named Philz!

In addition to my coffee love, I rediscovered another love... my roommate from Baylor University, Mikey. It's so great being back in the same area as Mikey. We had so much fun in college. While we've seen each other a couple of times since we graduated, we unfortunately didn't see each other that often. However, I've now gone to SF to see him and his boyfriend, Brett, both last weekend and this weekend. It's like no time has passed and things are just like they were back in the day. I always say the best friendships are the ones where time can pass but you can just pick up where you left off. And that's us! Plus, I was informed that the fag hag to gay man ratio in SF is completely out of balance and all of the fag hags are taken. Therefore it's a great thing we're reunited so I can help rectify the imbalance. :-) I'm always happy to help. Furthermore this weekend was Brett's birthday, and I met a whole group of fun and amazing men so I'm looking forward to spending a lot of time with Mikey, Brett, and their incredible group of friends.

In order to get all around down here, I have a car. It's so nice having a car again. I often forget how much I enjoy driving until I get behind the wheel. In the seven days that I've been here, I've managed to log over 500 miles (800 km) on my car. And that's without the commute that I wanted to have originally!

So there are my first impressions of California. I'm livin' the life, but there's always more adventures to come...