My Happy Place

Hello blogging world,

I am currently at a Starbucks in Emeryville (a 5 minute drive from my house in Berkeley) and I am in my happy place.  Moving somewhere brand new, with no job and not too many friends can be hard.  A lot of times I can't shake the feeling that I'm out on my own...alone.  And when I get those feelings...like I did today, I have to admit that Starbucks is my happy place.  It is my home away from home.  When I was backpacking Europe this past summer, and I started to feel a little frustrated with being in the New and Unfamiliar all the time...Starbucks was there to make me feel for a brief moment, I was home.  Every Starbucks, whether it be in Spain or Mexico or Emeryville is all set up the same with the same menu, the same comfy seating, the same free Wifi! (pronounced WeeFee in Spain).  And I think that THAT, more than the coffee, is what is behind the Starbucks craze.  That it can be a home away from home.

Anyway else have an odd appreciation for the 'bucks?

Berkeley

On my walk to a coffee shop the other day I tried to capture what makes Berkeley...Berkeley.

 The local junior high

Often times, and besides the many "crazies" that inhabit Berkeley, I feel like I am walking around in a fairy tale.  Actually, I suppose there usually is a crazy or two in a fairy tale.  Anyway, Berkeley has a cottage like charm to it.  And I'm pretty sure it also has one of the highest Cafe to person ratios in the country.  But that just makes me love it even more.

Adventures in The City

My sister and her Nick came to visit me this weekend, and it was an amazing weekend, as all weekends in San Francisco seem to be.  There was lots of craft beers, good food, and sights being seen.  I was feeling so very refreshed for this week ahead of me until I spent the day interviewing, applying, and getting a rejection from an interview last week.  The job application process is on the list of worst activities possible right under Chinese torture and above cramming for finals.  But...

"Nothing good, ever came easy."

"Success is sweet and sweeter if long delayed and gotten through many struggles and defeats." -Amos Bronson Alcott

"The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will. " -Vince Lombardi

My two little lovebirds at Dolores Park.

Newest Nor Cal Resident

I am now officially a resident of Berkeley California!  Last night I made the 7 hour drive up by myself in my Prius.  There is nothing like making the drive to your new home.  I was excited, scared, anxious, and a little sad.  Definitely a whirlwind of emotions throughout the long drive.  Today I walked to a local coffee shop around the block from my new house.  I love that I can simply walk from place to place.   Berkeley has so much character, from bookstores to cafes to record stores and cottage style homes.  I can't wait to start getting to know this city, as well as San Francisco, and blogging about along the way.

Does anyone read anymore?!

At Starbucks in line for a coffee, I got asked for the second time about the book I was reading.  Of the 2 times I've gone to Starbucks to read, I got asked about the book both times.  This probably wouldn't be anything to comment on except for the way I get asked about it.  It's like its an unusal thing for me to be doing...reading a book.  Which makes me think that maybe it is an unusual thing to be doing nowadays.  To be reading a real library book at a coffee shop.  Which just makes me very sad.  I feel like one of those old Grandparents commenting on the misdeeds of the current generation but I feel like reading a real book..not a blog, not a magazine, not your nook, has lost its place in the world of entertainment.  There isn't any feeling like getting lost in a book, by being so excited by the story you feel like you can't read it fast enough, or laughing out loud to the words on the page, or maybe even crying to them, or remembering lines in your head for days or even years to come.  No movie creates the kind of lasting impression that can a book can make.
  

How do you all feel?  Anyone still make time for a good novel?

Feel Good Fridays

It'll be years later when I look back on this simple moment, when the boy at the register tells me I have pretty eyes and I proceed to enjoy my free time reading and sipping hot coffee---that I'll ask myself, why didn't I realize how lucky I was in that moment.  And then my much older self will ask my then self the same question and the cycle will continue.


I dedicate today's post to being mindful.  Mindfulness is such a good way to decrease stress and add to your happiness.  Being mindful to me means being aware of what you're doing, where you are, who you're with when it is actually happening.  Its appreciating the great moments when you're actually living them instead of merely looking back at them.

For a brief history of Feel Good Fridays, click here.

A Good Moment

This was my lazy Saturday afternoon.  Good moments in life are important...but what's most important?  ...knowing to appreciate them. 

The Portola Coffee Lab

The boyfriend finally came home from his Europe trip on Wednesday and its really good to have him back.  Yesterday we decided to try this crazy coffee place we heard about called the Portola Coffee Lab in Costa Mesa.  I'm not sure what they're doing here with coffee but it seems to involve lab coats, beakers and burners.  I ordered the Mocha and it was definitely very good, though really strong.

I love having my partner in crime back.