So long, Farewell...

"So long, farewell, auf weidersehen goodnight…I leave and heave a sigh and say goodbye…goodbbbyyyyeee…"

     No, I am not leaving Berkeley, nor am I quitting the blog.  Nope.  Today I am saying goodbye to my vacation, aka "unemployment".
     Since August 8th I have had the opportunity to relax.  Ha--thats a joke!  The month of August into September was everything besides relaxing.  If you'll remember, Mike and I were working day & night on completing all the renovations to our home & then of course Mike started grad school.  So realistically we'll say that since September 11th (the day our tenants moved in) I've been on vacation.  And now I must say goodbye.  Sniff, sniff.
     Thats right, folks, the new job starts tomorrow.  And I'm not about to toot my own horn here, but I did get a pretty decent job.  Of course I have others to thank for putting me in touch with the company, but let's just say that I will be doing what I know best--being meticulously organized.  I'll let you know more details as the job gets underway, because this is not a blog post to welcome new stress into my life; no, this post is to dwell on the fact I have to give a tearful goodbye to my days of leisure.
     When I first began this blog, my first post explained how & why Mike, Bailey & I came to find ourselves living in Berkeley, "Ah, the Beginning".  I received an overwhelming amount of responses and emails asking what in the world I was doing in Berkeley while Mike was on campus, studying hard.  I never responded to these questions simply because I was just too tired…I was still recuperating from the stress of moving!  Because I am in "reminiscing" mode, I'll let you into my day to day life for the last couple of months, although I'm making it brief.
     In the beginning there was a lot to unpack and lots of errands to run.  As I am not the type of person to put something away just to get it out of sight, every item needed to have its "home".  So, living in a small space, I did a lot of putting away, then reorganizing what I put away.  And of course, with any move, there will always be trips to Target & Ikea.  Basically you can trust me when I say that unpacking took a lot of time.
     Then of course there was "getting to know my surroundings".  I was terrified I wouldn't find convenient grocery stores, my bank, a library, etc, so multiple times a week Bailey & I would drop Mikey off at school then we'd get lost.  Seriously.  I figured it was the easiest way to learn the lay of the land & to figure out my most-traveled routes.  The bonus to this was that I found some beautiful neighborhoods…
     Side note: does every Berkeley home have gorgeous architecture?  Oh, to own a home here is my newest daydream!
     Back to my life...I worked for Nantucket.  Because technology is that advanced, I was able to log into my work computer & help out with pricing, entering, etc.  All those tasks that take so much time & concentration…well, with my only distraction being Bailey, I was able to accomplish a lot.  Glad I could to, because we hired a few new employees and training always seems to take more time than anticipated.  So, I'm happy to say I took much work off Sara's desk.  
     For those days that I couldn't sit at a computer any longer, I did A LOT of reading, and shamefully a lot of "Netflixing", too--the worse part was that I watched some really bad movies, time I should've spent reading.
     And last, & definitely most important & time consuming, Bailey & I spent many of our daily hours walking the surrounding neighborhoods and discovering new off-leash parks.  She is my absolute joy.  The best companion ever & she is the main reason we are friendly with so many of our neighbors.  In fact, Mike was recently walking her alone & he had some man yell out his car window, "Hey, Bailey".  When Mike looked at him funny, because obviously he didn't recognize the man, the greeter stated, "I know your dog".  Hmmm, Bailey knows more people here than we do.  Well, she is the cutest.
     Funny thing is that my job kind of surprised me, that is my start date surprised me, so I don't feel like I lived today up as I should have…Instead, I spent most of the day wrapping up some Nantucket work.  But once Bailey got up (today it was 1:30, no joke!), we hit up our favorite place: Point Isabel in Richmond.  Part dog park, part walking trail, this park has it all, including a cafe & dog-washing business, all in one.  We typically hit P.I. up 3 or 4 times a week, & as you can see from the photo below, its a pretty special place for both of us.

View from Point Isabel...

     So for the rest of my night, I'm "living it up" by staying at home.  Yep, I turned down my husband's offer to take me to dinner for cooking in.  With an uncertain work schedule ahead with I assume some very long hours, not to mention the commute into/out of SF, this may be my last night cooking for a while.  But don't feel sorry for me, I have a glass a wine within arm's reach, a puppy by my side & a husband who is putting off his homework for the night…I am one lucky girl.


     I will post again when I have the energy…
     So sad to leave my puppy, Bird