1. Trader Joe's is just another grocery store and not a place where "all the weird hippie people work."
2. My family is now a 1-3 hour drive away rather than a 1 week drive away.
3. Jack is the best puppy ever and has brought Joe and I tremendous amounts of joy. If we hadn't moved back I'd still be puppy-less.
4. People don't look at you funny if you pass a stranger on the sidewalk and say hi.
5. It's normal for people to talk to not only the cashier but also the people in line at the grocery store. (I was telling this to one of my Boston friends and her was response was, "People actually do that?!?" Why yes. Yes they do.)
6. Alpacas. There are a lot of them here. I don't think I've seen a single alpaca living in Boston.
7. It's kind of refreshing to be normal again (as opposed to "punk rock Carissa from Seattle"). Yesterday I wore a long sleeve shirt under a t-shirt, a fat ball-chain necklace, a chunky leather watch with buckles, a studded belt, my hair up in a ponytail to show off my tattoo and flipflops where my dark purple nail polish with chunky sparkles could be seen nobody looked at me funny. (Or made fun of the way I talk....but that's a different story)
8. Fall lasts longer here. The enjoyable weather lingers a bit longer before becoming quite cold and I think the colors last longer, too (or at least longer before they are covered in snow). Lest I be accused of making things up...yes, we really have fall here. In fact, this picture was taken yesterday while I was driving home.
9. Hooray for no sales tax! I think I save a significant amount each year by not having to pay sales tax.
10. Even though there are the same number of hours in a day, being in the Pacfic time zone makes me feel like I have more time. For example, it's 7:00 now, but it's 10:00 in Boston. Which means I've got 5 more hours until midnight, they've only got three.***Only photos used for number 3, 7, and 8 are mine. All others found on Flickr. Click image to go to fullsize photo on flickr *****
