The Land of Free Avocados

So, I thought I should blatantly steal take inspiration from my friend Stefanie and her amazing blog (http://onelifepercustomer.blogspot.com/) and start a blog of my own to keep everyone caught up on the goings on here in Sunny Northern California without having to make 17 phone calls a week. Difficult to do unless I make Very Good Use of my evening commute. I mean, it's long, but not that that long. And, frankly, I don't want it to be any longer.

Really, I don't.

The Babies and My Amazing GF need me to be home at a reasonable hour. Well, that's what I tell myself. In actuality, it's completely the other way around. Selfishly, selfishly so.

So what shall I update you on?

The Big Move took three nights/four days largely due to My Amazing GF's superhero-grade driving skills. No, you don't understand. We did 1000 miles in one day and she drove 700 of that all alone. Well, I was there, obviously. But I was just sitting. Like a lump.

That segment of the trip included the entirety of Utah, which apparently was having an off day or something because it--well--it smelled. The whole way across. Four hours of construction cones and a really weird smell do not make for easy driving.

Yes, of course I'm knitting her a cape for Chanukkah. What do you take me for?

We got home on the evening of 8/17 to much fanfare and applause, but very little unpacking. We held off on that until the next day because we had a few days before My Amazing GF's new semester started and before I had to begin the New Hire Gauntlet at the office. I'm so glad we had that time to transition, as brief as it was. I needed it to become accustomed to our new routine and to get to know the area better via my new TomTom, named River Song.

I named her River Song because My Amazing GF's GPS is named Hermione already (because she knows everything) and because my GPS keeps leaping off the dashboard of her own accord, suddenly and without warning. As The Doctor would say, "Yeah, she does that."

What else shall I update you on?

Oh, the weather. Yes.

While you on the East Coast battle record highs, outrageous humidity, earthquakes, hurricanes, and tornadoes, I have had the exact same weather every day since 8/18: sunny and 95, low humidity, cloudless skies. Hence, the name of this blog.

Do I go to the pool as much as humanly possible? Yes. Do I feel guilty about that? Hell. No.

However, according to my mother, my recent relocation from the East Coast caused its complete destabilization, leading to the earthquake specifically, and I am now under orders to send someone back to NC who is my approximate weight and height. I'm not certain I can fulfill that order, really. Why would anyone who has experienced summers here in Northern California suddenly want to trade that in for wading through warm orange Jello on a daily basis until the end of October?

Everyone here is positively wonderful!

Of course, it goes without saying--but I will anyway--that My Amazing GF and the Babies (of the furry feline variety) are the most wonderful, most amazing, most loving family a girl could ever have and I am--quite simply--head over heels in love. No apologies, no confusion, no doubt.

My new extended family--Super SIL, Everyman BIL, Farrier Nephew, Farrier Nephew's GF, Awesome Niece, and MIL--are as amazing as they always were even now that I've moved into their lives more permanently. Awesome Niece even brought me a banana milkshake yesterday, which shows you exactly the kind of person she is: a KEEPER. ;)

The office is wonderful, too, with wonderful people and free avocados in the breakroom, the same way I'm used to seeing free zucchini and tomatoes in NC. FREE AVOCADOS, PEOPLE. Seriously. What's not to love?

Okay, that's enough for a first post. I'll try to update somewhat regularly so all those people who I love in NC don't have to call each other up on the phone and say, "Do you EVER hear from Erin? What is she DOING out there?"

Love to you all!