confessions...california style

i thought i'd make a little deviation from my normal confessions segment......and introduce:

confessions: from my california eyes

1. i'm not very green. at all. and let me tell you, going green is a really big deal here in nor-cal. example: i'm pretty sure that 95% of californians in my area use their own reusable grocery bags. that information would've been useful BEFORE we went grocery shopping this week. i felt several greenly-conscious individuals peering down at me with eyes that said "wow, you're using enough plastic for the rest of us here, lady." and i wanted to say, "haven't you heard of the suffering economy? do you think i can afford to buy that many reusable bags? and then try to remember to bring them every time i shop anywhere? sounds exhausting."

2. i'm a terrible driver. i've known this for quite some time...but i'm becoming even more aware of this in this busy-racing-zoo-like-urban-jungle that i am adjusting to. i'm also discovering that using a blinker is basically a signal for any and every person to cut me off. what's up with that? anyway, one of my favorite bad-marci-driving experiences is the following:

three summers ago, M and i lived in southern california where he was doing the exotic job of summer sales (cough). well, my lil sis decided that coming to visit me for a couple weeks that summer sounded pretty fun. so along she came. well, there was this one road- Murrieta Hot Springs Road, to be exact...that had street lights like every 10 feet. really. it was ri-dic-u-lous. and it wasn't uncommon to find yourself accelerating excitedly only to become disappointed 2 seconds later at the sight of yet another yellow light. blasted street. well, one of those lights had one of those stupid cameras on them...the ones that snap a photo of you if you run a red light on it. well, Mimi and i were jabbering on and on (probably about some boy...or zac efron...or maybe we were quoting she's the man....or talking about something else equally embarrassing). but before we could say "i have a life-time of knowledge" i saw a flash of light. crap. double crap. i think i just got busted.
but months passed. we never heard anything about a ticket. maybe i got let off the hook?
ppphhhh.
wishful thinking.
we get a phone-call. mike's parents, who, unbeknownst to me, received all our information on our lil swan (our '01 corolla)....since it was registered in california. "uhm.........just curious...did marci run a red light recently?," they say. M's eyes pour into my soul.
gulp.
double, triple, quadruple gulp.
choke on spit.
"i think....uh...i....uh-hem....might have run a....red light.....a while ago...."

the phone conversation continues: "we have a hilarious picture of marci here.....she looks so peaceful.....in FOUR DIFFERENT ANGLES......clearly in the middle of the intersection."

caught.
crappers.

well, $400 bucks later, and many "sorry's" and "i promise i'll be better's" later....i am ticket-free.
like i said, i'm a terrible driver.
i'm getting better though.... ?
maybe you should ask M if that's really true.

3. i think i'd choose reading over any other activity of leisure out there. i'm happy to read all day long. even if hunger is yelling at me to stop. even when a baby crawls on top of me.


i love escaping to my reading world. i've escaped here lots since we've been in california. maybe i feel more at home in my reading world? or maybe it's because my reading world is so peaceful. it has fairies, dragons, girls who talk to geese, princes, vampires, authors, and happily ever afters. my reading world never disappoints. it never leaves me. it never moves. sure, it is fantasy. but it also never runs out. and a life-time of fantasy-world....is enchanting.
i'm not so sure my M would agree........ :)

4. i really like it here. (shhhhhh!!! don't tell!...because i'm supposed to hate it, remember!?) sure it's crowded with people. sure, i like to complain because i miss my family and my friends and my awesome next-door neighbors and my frozen yogurt place down the street and the library that ellie loves and seven peaks....and the list could go on and on. but we're really trying to find new places to love.
and while it's different (reallllllly different)....
it's already growing on me.
i love the how it smells (when someone isn't spitting out second hand smoke). it's clean. and when you sit on the beautiful front lawn at my inlaws' house, it smells like freshly cut grass and roses and vanilla and clean linen. it's lovely.
i love having this big house to stay in. ellie has more than 10 square feet to explore! she loves to climb up the stairs. she loves standing in the HUGE pantry and pull off her snacks, and them to me and clearly say, "MO-WA" (more). she loves to play in the pool. she loves the HUGE tv that plays a larger-than-life elmo.
i love having grandma and grandpa chapman here to love on E all the time. they love her. and she loves them. and she's so lucky to have them.

and so, while it's easy to hate it here...because i miss home so much, it's easier to love it here...because i'm happier when find things i love about being here.

and that's a big thing to confess for me.

so i think i'll leave it at that :)

xoxo