I've been a bad girl.

About two months and not a peep from me. For good reason though.

I've moved to the East Coast (ack!).

Due to a job promotion (or something like that) awarded to my fiance Joe, I was forced to give up my kick-ass, awesome California lifestyle and migrate east to (pause for effect)... Arlington, Massachusetts! (FYI, Arlington is like a suburb of Boston, and is practically next door to Cambridge, a very trendy college town--and sister city of Berkeley, CA.)

The past three weeks have been kinda stressful. There's the packing (which wouldn't have been possible if my former Starbucks store hadn't saved boxes from the paper order)--you don't know how much crap you've accumulated until you start packing to move. Then there were the tearful goodbyes (well, not exactly tearful, but everyone at work was sad to see me go. Just when I had been named the most recent Partner of the Month.) Then there was the actual week-long cross-country road trip... which occured on the same week as the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota. Never have I seen so many bikers at Mount Rushmore.

And last but not least, the week of settling in. Unpacking, getting back cable and phone service, and worse (for me)-- California withdrawl.

Ugggggghhhh....

You won't believe how much I miss my family and friends (and haunts) in the Bay Area.

I do gotta admit though, Arlington and Cambridge are pretty nifty towns. Today, Joe and I had lunch at this barbecue joint two or so blocks from our new place, then took the bus to Harvard Square-- Cambridge's answer to downtown Berkeley. I was fascinated by the shops and eats, especially Tokyo Kid, a majorly cool anime/manga shop. I am now the proud owner of a Serial Experiments Lain action figure, complete with guitar. She's sitting on top of my TV, playing her heart out :).

I've already talked with two Starbucks stores in the Harvard Square area about transferring. I'm just waiting to hear from them. Who wants to add this experienced barista to their staff? Anybody?

Tomorrow Joe and I are headed to New Hampshire in search of some new furniture. We chucked our old computer desk and couch as they were getting a bit crappy. Ugh, it would be soooo nice to lounge on a couch again. I've had to make do with sitting in a rolling office chair to watching TV. I strongly recommend against sitting or lying down on bare, hardwood floors. Not only is it very uncomfortable, but once you sit down, it's kinda hard to get back up without cracking some joints or something.

A final thought before I go for tonight: I'm going to miss Julia Child. If you don't already know, she died last Friday (the freaky thing was that it was Friday the 13th...yikes) I remember watching reruns of "The French Chef" as a kid, one of the many cooking shows I watched in addition to "The Frugal Gourmet" and "Yan Can Cook" among others. (PBS was cool that way.) I even own the cookbook she cowrote with Jacques Pepin, given to me as a Christmas gift.

I knew someday that that time would come... I just can't believe it's already come and gone.

Bon appetit and au revoir, Julia. The culinary world will miss you tons.