West Coast Girl

But not on this site for me right now -- I will be continuing at http://ringworld.blogspot.com.

After six months of living in San Diego, this is how Kevin thinks it stacks up to NYC (surreptitiously taken from an e-mail):

As for living in San Diego, I love it. The trade offs between NYC and here are primarily in availability of things to do (NYC winner); weather (SD hands down winner); transportation (NYC winner); cost of living (SD very slight winner); job opportunities (NYC winner, for the industries I'm presuming you're interested in); hot chicks (SD winner, simply b/c the chicks don't wear as much); food (tie, NY - pizza, bagels, diversity; San Diego - fish tacos, other mexican).

My tally is NYC: 4, SD: 4 (giving each one point for food). But we like it here. And this made me laugh out loud. So everyone should move here, as long as you don't hike up the cost of living and take up lots of space on the beach.

So it's almost my birthday again, which seems bizarre. So much has changed since my birthday last year. I'm in a different apartment in a different city with a different job. And a husband. Last year for my birthday I saw Rufus Wainwright and Ben Folds with Kevin, Elizabeth, Andy, Karl and Drew. I don't think there is going to be a concert this year, although Kelly Clarkson is playing at the Del Mar fair -- and nothing says happy birthday like Kelly Clarkson.

The past six months have been a whirlwind of activity and change, with finding a new job and starting it, getting settled into the new apartment and planning a wedding. It finally feels like it's calming down a little bit, since the wedding's over (pictures coming soon) and we both have jobs now. I managed to stay in an industry that is ridiculously cyclical, so this month I've had 10 events to work on, and next month I have one. The summer is going to be slow! I'm okay with that at the moment. Talk to me in a couple of weeks (and more pointedly, notice how much I've blogged by then) and we'll see how I'm handling the slowdown.

I feel a bit like we're in the calm before the storm though, since there are five trips we want to take before the end of this year (Michigan to visit Kevin's family, Minneapolis for Dan & Michelle's wedding, College Station to meet the little Weir and go to a football game, San Antonio (?) for Thanksgiving, New York for Ben & Anna's holiday party and Dallas for Christmas). That's actually six, plus I'm going to Budapest for work for about three weeks. And we're starting to plan our reception/celebration for next spring. Oh, and I'm going to Vegas for Danielle's bachelorette weekend. It's going to be a busy year!

Once again, it's been quite a while since I've posted. Only the reminder of that from two completly independent sources is inspiring me to write again -- because it's nice to be reminded that someone wants to know what's going on. So here's a summary of the last 9 weeks:

I finished working at Leading Authorities, going out with a bang (actually, a very nice good-bye gathering) at Old Ebbitt.

I packed all of my worldly belongings into boxes, then took my last bus trip up to New York City.

Kevin had finished finals earlier than he expected, but in the course of doing that came down with a cold. So he went to the Dr., who also decided to run some routine tests. And discovered that he has Type II diabetes, which is controllable but means a significant lifestyle and dietary change.

We went to Texas for Christmas, which was really fun. My brothers Stephen and David, and David's new wife Faith were all at my parents house for the holiday. We had a good time playing games and getting to know each other better. On Christmas Day we went to San Antonio to spend some time with Kevin's dad and his family, including two of the cutest little kids ever. And then flew back to New York.

We spent a couple of days packing up Kevin's stuff, and then rented a Penske truck and on December 30. We got the truck that morning, loaded Kevin's belongings, including his motorcycle, drove to DC, loaded all of my stuff (with the much-appreciated help of Elizabeth and Andy). Then Kevin proposed. That's right, proposed! He took me to the gates of the Carter Barron amphitheater, where we saw Much Ado About nothing on that day back in June, and got down on one knee and told me how much I've changed his life and how excited he is about our future together (I was crying a lot at this point). And then he asked me to marry him. I said yes as soon as I remembered.

And then we went to Elizabeth's house for dinner, and then drove south until about two in the morning (because who wants to be stuck on the Beltway in a 20 foot Penske truck? Not me.)

We made it to Atlanta on the evening of the 31st, and stayed there for a couple of days to spend some time with Mark and Stephanie and Kevin's siblings. And then we covered the rest of the country, driving to Shreveport, LA (which was the first day of the trip we didn't fight at all), and then Dallas (which was the worst day because it was only supposed to be three hours of driving, but there was a big traffic jam that turned into a big fight for us), then El Paso, Yuma and San Diego. It started raining on us in the middle of California, and didn't stop for about four days.

We got moved into our respective apartments, and the next few weeks were taken up with working on the apartments and searching for jobs. I've found a job in the Corporate Marketing department of a big financial analytics and services company: I start tomorrow. Kevin is still looking at this point, and had also been spending time helping his sister get ready to move here to San Diego.

We've also been doing some wedding planning: we decided to split it up into two separate events. We're having the wedding itself on May 21, with our immediate families and a few very close friends -- about 20 people total. Later in the year, probably October or November, we'll have a big reception/celebration, with all of the people who are important to us. It's pretty unbelievable that it's happening so soon. But I have my dress, and we've found an awesome place, so all of the details are coming together. Yay wedding!

I'm feeling much better about everything now. I've made a lot of progress since yesterday morning. Like this:
San Diego companies targeted: Check.
Resumes printed: Check.
Cover Letter finished: Check.
First batch of resumes sent out: Check.
Second session of training for my replacement: Check.
Packing started: Check.
Figured out what to get my brothers for Christmas: Check.

Of course, to accomplish all of this, I've been supplementing my daily diet with Coke(a Cola) and Skittles. I'll probably crash sometime tomorrow -- hopefully not while I'm watching The OC.

Two weeks from today I'm going to be in New York for the last time before leaving for Christmas. Kevin will be working on his last final. On that Wednesday we're leaving for Dallas to spend Christmas with my family, and during that time will fly to San Antonio to see his family too. And then we come back to New York, rent a truck, pack up Kevin's stuff, drive to DC, pack up my stuff, drive to Atlanta for New Year's Eve, drive to Dallas and then on to San Diego. And there sunshine and Kristin and Jessica will greet us with open arms.

There are a few things to take care of before then: packing up all of my posessions, finishing my Christmas shopping, train my replacement at work, finalize the details for my company holiday party (which I'm not going to since I'm going to be in New York this weekend), continue looking for a job in San Diego, find a place to live in San Diego, say goodbye to all my friends in DC. Today my anxiety level is: high.

There is some element of disbelief that this is actually happening. I've been talking about and thinking about moving for so long that it's a little surreal that it's actually happening. There's more stress involved than I anticipated too -- I think the normal stress of moving, but stress nonetheless. Is San Diego the best place to move? Should we pick somewhere cost of living isn't so high? (Although compared to NYC and DC, I don't think we have much to worry about.) What will a cross country trip with a moving van be like? Will it be safe? Will Kevin and I be sick of each other by the time we get to California? How will our relationship change when we see each other every day? What if he doesn't like San Diego? What if we can't find jobs we like?

I guess we'll find out. And really, what's the worst thing that could happen? Crashing and burning in a fire-y death in the sands of West Texas? That would suck. But everything other than that we can probably figure out how to deal with. December 18 is my last day in DC. Take that, East Coast.

This is so surreal. I still don't know what to do with myself. I don't even know how to celebrate a Red Sox victory. I've cried more about the victory than anything else. I want to jump up and down and give people hugs, but somehow I don't think that would go over well at work -- for the most part. My Red Sox buddy will be in the office later today, and there will be jumping and hugs then.

Congratulations to the Red Sox and to Boston, and to everyone in Red Sox Nation. This is the year.