Initiation

Well. Seeing as how this is the eve of my first return to New York since The Big Move and you've heard nary a word from me about our new life in San Fran, I decided I better let you know that we have not fallen into the bay and are, in fact, having some (ok, a lot of) fun. In case you were worried.

Anyone well acquainted with our typical NYC weekend knows that it generally consisted of a muffin, a margarita, a brunch, some time in the park, and either a fancy party or rather rambunctious viewing of fine television with Paul (the likes of Man vs. Food, The Amazing Race, or, our personal favorite, The Worst Drivers in America bring out the party on any boring Sunday night). All of this generally took place in around a 5 block radius. (When you have everything you need within an arm's reach, why look elsewhere? This is just common sense.)

Our weekends in SF, so far, have been ever so slightly more adventurous (if you call a weekly excursion to Oakland adventurous- and who doesn't?) and, even though I find serious pleasure in sitting around and staring lovingly at all my fancy wedding presents that we finally have room for, our busy days have been great! We've stuffed our faces with several authentic Mission burritos and they live up to expectations, I'll tell you what. We also stayed out past 11 with some hipsters at an indie music festival in a warehouse, where the bands were less than great and seriously emo (those crocodile tears are the product of a very tough upper middle-class childhood, we understand...)

While Mom was here we hit the happy hour buffet at the San Francisco landmark, The Tonga Room, and we managed to eat our monthly quota of delicious grease in a mere two hours. Last week we went to Dollar Day (every Sunday!) at the horse track and, though we didn't bet, watching horses race is much more fun when you get a beer for a single dollar. Then tonight, I made my cow bell debut with the pep band at a Saint Mary's basketball game. The game was awesome despite the team's major choke in the second half, and, more importantly, the cow bell playing was outstanding.

Being back in the college atmosphere made me feel simultaneously alarmed and nostalgic. Alarmed, #1, because I don't remember wearing such little clothing in college, but I probably did. I mean, if I let Paul dress me, I definitely did. But, mostly being around all those college kids listening to pop music I've never heard, I had one of those moments where it hits you that you are most certainly not in college anymore and, thus, you are old. Alarm bells everywhere.

At the same time, it was nice being in that atmosphere for a few hours- there's an excitement and innocence at college that is truly infectious, not unlike the mono that is probably spreading through those dorm rooms as we speak.

Besides all that, I've been training for this relay race in April, which mean I'm pretending with moderate success to actually be a runner, and have been going to the pool. Please don't hate me. I promise I'm not turning into one of those people and I really am sad I've missed so much snow this year, but I'm not going to lie to you it is NICE to go to the pool in the winter.

Allegedly, it's "real" winter now, which means rain and dampness, so my early days of gloating might be coming to an end. But, just in case, I head back to the concrete jungle tomorrow, so that's sure to snap back to reality quicker than you can say "frostbite."