Our Trip to Catalina Island

Okay, so I still can't figure out the picture posting thing. Particularly how to get them in a certain order, and how to get rid of the extra bird picture that I posted. But whatever.
My sister is in town visiting this week and we have been great tourists. On Saturday we took the ferry out to Catalina Island and climbed a mountain there. Above is a picture of my sister and Derek at the top of the mountain.

This is the view of the only town on the island, Avalon, from the beginning of our hike. As we came in on the ferry, Derek and I were both struck by how much the geography reminded us of Greece.

We were happy to see a few animals on the island, including these cormorants. We also saw a doe who was pretty much rock climbing with her two fawns, and we saw several frolicking dolphins and seals. I was very excited since I had never before seen dolphins in the wild.

Um, yes, the exact same picture of the cormorants.

Here is is the view of Long Beach as we took the ferry back at night. Altogether, it was a lovely day.

On Sunday my sister insisted on taking it easy since we basically kicked her ass up the mountain. It was a beautiful day so we spent it driving around the coast, particularly the Palos Verdes peninsula. Then we went for a walk on the beach, and saw more dolphins.

Today it is raining relentlessly and I'm feeling out of sorts again. I am really counting the days until I can leave this job. Since we know that we are definitely moving this summer, I can say that I will only have to work there for four more months. (Yes, we are definitely moving, we just don't know where yet. There are three possibilites ranging from a remote possibility to a definite back up plan.) None of them involve NYC, so don't get all excited.

Good Things About Los Angeles

This weekend we had brunch with a friend of Derek's from P-m-na and his fiancee, who was also a relocated New Yorker. After commiserating with her about the things we miss about New York, I was surprised to find that she actually likes LA despite the fact that it is not New York.

What she said (this sounds really simple, but trust me, it was a revelation for me) is that you just can't compare the two. You can't will LA into being NY. The two cities are so different that they should not be held to the same standards. I was finally able to hear this, and I think I have a healthier perspective on being here now, and more of appreciation for what LA does have to offer. (My beautiful, overgrown neighborhood. Every ethnicity on the planet. Hours and days of exploration. Desert, mountains, canyons, ocean, palm trees. Etc.)

Mostly, I think I needed to hear this from someone else whose heart was admittedly in New York. Not to be too psycho-babbly, but I am now officially giving myself permission to enjoy my life here, without feeling that it is a betrayal of my love for New York and my friends who remain there.

Why didn't this occur to me six months ago? Life would have been so much easier - and more enjoyable. I wonder if there wasn't any other way to do it.

Life is Full of Possibilites (but let's not get too excited)

It looks like Derek and I will both be on a little "two week wait".
Derek has a phone interview with a job that he is interested in, and that we both like in terms of the location.
I appear to be ovulating - finally.
However, we know very well what it is to be at the whim of the academic job market.
And, according to my preliminary research, a delayed ovulation reduces the chances of conception.
So, we'll wait, but we'll try not to get too excited about anything.

Two Pictures

Lovely Echo Park

Proof That Asia Was In My Apartment

Lonely Wifey

Derek is at a conference in Alberquerque and here I am. The only thing good about Derek being away is that I have felt free to listen to TECHNO music all night long on the radio. Yeah. I can soooo relate to my upstairs neighbor in Brooklyn now. The whole techno as background music used to really confuse me. It seemed more like sex music, really like driving music, and possibly like clean-your-house-in-the-nude music, but not background music. Ah, but it can be so many things.

I digress. But really people, I digress because the reason I haven't been blogging lately is that there isn't all that much to say! Here are the top interesting things that have happened to me lately.

1. Yesterday it took two whole entire hours for me to drive home from work in the LA traffic. Yes, it did! No, I am not exaggerating! Just ask Ms. Bri, who mercifully chatted me up on the cell phone for a good 40 minutes of that time.

2. I did not sleep hardly a wink last night, between my loudly snuffling, snorting, and snoring orange cat (poor little muffin) and my sad inability to sleep without my sweet security blanket - Derek.

3. Being away from Derek for even two days reminds me of why I've chosen to follow him to the ends of the earth, I mean LA, or even the middle of nowhere in Illinois. (but really, let's hope)

4. Lots and lots and lots of people are coming to visit me! My sister, maybe Jenny, Jin and her lovely daughter, and then I am going to visit Colorado. And hopefully NY if D gets around to having a baby. Also, I want to take a trip to Oaxaca, Mexico. I wish I didn't have to work and could just sit around visiting with people.

5. Which reminds me, of my lovely visit with Asia! I cannot believe we didn't take any pictures for me to post. Yes, we did eat and drink a lot. In fact, that's pretty much what we did, eat and drink. Lots of coffee too. I went off absolutely all restrictions, except that no one was smoking cigarrettes, damn. Oh, and also, we bought expensive handbags and sexy jeans, and Z. almost got in a bar fight! Actually there was a moment when I thought it was going to be an exciting and terrifying four against four brawl. There were these horrible hipsters with their stylistically messy hair. bleah. The other main activity was running up hills. Lots of hills.

Stay tuned for tomorrow, when I will be cleaning the house and making a deposit at the bank! oooooh!
PS - I've had enough techno this evening.

First Negative HPT

Despite my valiant pessimism, I am disappointed. And what's up with the sore boobs? They really led me on. Oh well, in three hours Asia will descend upon the west coast, to help me drown my sorrows in cocktails, wine, and extra coffee.

Haven't been blogging...

... because I didn't have much to say. But feeling guilty about it.
Things are fine - I've been feeling better than I was two weeks ago. My job remains high stress but has felt manageable lately. I'm feeling better about being here, sort of. We had a very nice weekend - went out with my co-workers on Friday night, spent Saturday at a museum and then went to visit my friend C. and his wife and baby. The baby made Derek actually want a baby for the first time, which was a great relief to me. He's wanted a baby before in a detached, theoretical way before, but not really in that gut-level way. So that was good.
I went through a phase this weekend where I felt very defensive about my choice to come out here with Derek and very protective of my relationship with him. I chose to put myself in a difficult position, and while I might whine and cry about it, I still think it was the right thing to do.