2007-02-14 - 1:12 p.m.

So, moving to Silver1ake is the best thing we could've done. Our new place is so awesome. It feels like a big treehouse. You have to ascend a somewhat treacherous flight of stairs to enter. If you kept walking on that treacherous path, you would plummet into a vast gulch below. The building is an ancient house (built in 1920s = ancient), and it was split into two units many moons ago (like in the 1940s, maybe). We occupy the second story, and our place has THREE balconies on three different sides. The biggest balcony has really pretty views of downtown. And the building is totally surrounded by massive amounts of overgrown trees, some of which are pine trees. I almost feel like we're living in the mountains. It's so quiet here, except for the sound of birds chirping. We could walk to the reservoir. It would be a long-ish walk, but a pretty one, so who cares? Also, our new landlord/downstairs neighbor? A hippie! Do we know how to pick them or what? But the new hippie is an LA-variety hippie. She teaches classes on holistic living and invited us to partake in a peace walk last Saturday. What is a peace walk? Why, it's a group of people walking together silently, being mindful and whatnot. I actually considered going. I think it's probably good to be mindful. I do try at the mindfulness, but never in a collective group-effort-ish way. I recoil at anything that smells culty. But I imagine the mindful crowd is an upstanding set.

We've been going out almost every night with Erik's work friends, a very fun bunch. We live in close proximity to everything good! I guess it's pretty easy to switch cities when you have a built-in group of friends. And the good news is that we're not so far from the old city that Long Beach friends won't come see us. Branderslice, husband, and baby + Poor Elvii and baby came up for breakfast on Sunday. We went to The Coffee Table, which was swell. The babies are huge. Almost big enough for us to race them.

I'm so incredibly happy in the new apartment and the new neighborhood. It's weird to think how resistant I was to the idea of moving up here. Very weird, and completely motivated by fear. I don't think of myself as a fearful person, generally. But I can see now, in retrospect, how paralyzed I was. It's embarrassing to even type these words. I mean, it's seriously not a big deal to move 25 miles. I couldn't be happier, sitting here now on the balcony, typing away on my laptop, drinking coffee, enjoying this super-amazing view. There's a really nice breeze. The sound of the wind in the trees is just blissful. It's clear we made the right choice. I'm so excited about starting a new chapter in our lives.

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