And then it was 2013
It goes by so fast.
That’s what I’ve always felt about the holiday season. Combine that with a return trip to your home state, which-you-now-live-thousands-of-miles-away-from, and “it goes by fast” becomes an understatement.
Dave and I were peppered with “How’s life in San Fran?” from our friends, family and acquaintances during our time in Florida. First of all, as new residents of this fine city, we know that “San Fran” is not exactly an appropriate nickname and certainly not one used by locals, but we let that slide and offered some commentary on our adventures as well as our overall thoughts on life out west to all who inquired.
My first reaction was to respond with: It’s harder than we expected to feel situated, but the city itself is more rewarding and offers even more to do than we expected. We love the city. We love our apartment. We love spending so much time just the two of us trying new things. We try to enjoy every single day and experience, and we’re hopeful that we’ll reach a feeling of completely “at home” in early 2013.
In addition to monopolizing conversations with commentary on our move, we traversed the central part of the state during the 7-day visit, attempting to see as many people as possible.
During our 18-hour visit to Orlando, we had lunch with our friends Chris and Allison and met their adorable three-month old daughter. We also went to the Orlando Magic basketball game and saw tons of Dave’s old coworkers, and enjoyed the luxuries of a state-of-the-art arena, which San Francisco hopes to have something similar of in a few years as well. Then, to truly celebrate the New Year, we had a nice dinner with our core Orlando group at Brio Tuscan Grille and followed it up with a casual house party, featuring the incredible décor done only by the tastes of Natalie, some fireworks, noisemakers and a few rounds of friendly, yet competitive, beer pong.
We only got in a short nap before getting in a cab to the airport in the wee, dark hours of the morning. During our return flight, we flew over some snow-covered mountains (view shown below) and there was ice on the window of the plane. Seeing this made us even more excited for our plans to ski in Tahoe very soon — a major “to-do” in early 2013 for us.
We arrived back in our little apartment after a full day of travel, and I immediately unpacked everything. Following a trip to the grocery store and a sushi dinner, I slept for 12 hours. True story.
Unfortunately, both Dave and I are starting off 2013 a bit sick, a bit tired, and with a mild case of post-holiday blues.
While we’ll continue to miss being able to spend more time with our favorites, it’s good to know that over three months of living in California nothing has changed back home. We encountered the same great people, doing the same great things, which make them the same great friends we’ve always loved to be around.
We’re the same people too, just living in a different time zone.
I certainly didn’t know I’d be starting 2013 in the state of California. But I do know the unexpected can at times bring the biggest returns.
Tomorrow I begin a new, full-time contractor role at Les Mills West Coast that has the potential to turn into something completely perfect for me — a job at a company that I’ve always admired from afar before moving to San Francisco.
Here’s to a brand new year in a brand new city, where we have the chance to grow, learn, explore and do anything we want.
I’ve been known to stick to my New Year’s resolutions … but this year they may present some challenges. Here they are:
- Find an amazing job that I’m good at and love to do. (Getting closer on this one!)
- Sit back and enjoy the ride. (That means stress-less … oh man!)
