avocado

or, "things i love about california"
~~photos, in blogger-random order:
troyboy modeling with a tahoe tree, beautiful lovely non-plastic angels, view from the heavens: the sierra nevadas at sunrise (!), the sake brewery in berkeley, "beverly hills hotel" sign amidst urban palmtrees, mackin-daddy --map-breaking on the american river bike trail, a ceviche restaurante mural in long beach, three-foot-high rosemary on our street in sac

call me star-struck. but i'm still just so happy to be here (i still have moments when i look at troyboy, victorious, and say--we're in california! and he knows how much it means to me). it probably started when my mom unknowingly let my impressionable sponge of a child mind spend all those hours in front of the television. i can admit that. hollywood worked on me (hey--so did sesame street and mister rogers). "california is larger-than-life! it's where things happen! it's where you wanna be!" by the time i was sixteen, and seriously curtailing my tv consumption, the damage was already done. "california" was poetry to my imagination. i was starting to sense that elizabethtown, ky, didn't have very many of "my kind"--in 1992, most e-townians didn't know what a vegetarian was, let alone why i was one. they would have rather watched basketball than make art, anyday. and they certainly didn't get why i dressed so weird. and california did. and sunshine--it had lots of that, too. during college ho-swah and i spent a summer out here raftguiding on the kern river and my love-affair solidified. something about the geography, diversity, the wide-open space, and wide-open possibilities (above and beyond what hollywood impressed upon me as a kid) clicked in my heart.

life being the somewhat random, never-as-planned-as-you'd-like-to-think, gig that it is, it took me nine more years to get out here. but i'm here now. and i feel like california (and the universe in general) forgave me those years of struggling and figuring my shit out. i'm not saying that i don't painfully miss those many someones that are in lex-town, ky. i certainly respect and applaud their efforts that make that town really hard to leave ("hip" californians could never imagine the rockin', loving, creative, talented, smart, revolutionary, fun folks who people downtown lex*)**. i'm also not saying i want to call california my home-sweet-home forever amen. i love it right now. everyday so far, i feel closer in spirit and intention to the little girl i left back in e-town, ky, over twenty years ago. (wow--didn't expect to get so mushy!)

so here's a list of a few of the many reasons i love california:
~lavender, rosemary, and jade that grow hedge-sized without trying
~the ocean
~surfers
~sunshine (which is why--as awesome as san fran is--i wouldn't live there)
~the crisp clear blue sky of the arid regions
~sage
~desert
~sand
~the palmtrees that line our street in sac
~sourdough bread
~mountains
~baja
~plenty of natural/organic/whole foods stores, and people who don't fearfully wrinkle their noses when you refer to one
~diversity--in so many facets.
~plenty of folks who like to do stuff outside
~plenty of folks who don't dress like abercrombie (or UK Blue!!!) is the end-all-be-all in apparel
~vineyards
~so many different things you can do, and places you can be, outside
~breweries and tasting rooms
~yummy, diverse restaurants, and many of 'em!
~learning that not all of the inhabitants of LA are plastic
~reaffirming that "good people" are "good people" no matter where they are found--or what they wear
~being places i've always heard of (i.e. "tahoe," or "santa monica boulevard")
~NOT having to survive another drizzly, gray, help-me-keep-this-gun-from-my-temple february in good ol' k-y (!!)
~fresh, ripe, avocados--need i say more?

*one of the "california phenomena"--native californians don't seem to know ANY u.s. geography beyond.. MAYBE colorado.
(we could have another entry solely on "california phenomena"--"right?", troyboy?)
**no california beach or mountain range will ever take the place of those rolling green hills in my heart. my blood is, afterall, kentucky blood. and i'm sure more than a few of my k-y loved ones, for instance ms. channy chan, could list just as many reasons why they proudly love lex. i can imagine mel-lovely's mister writing a wendell berry-esque essay entitled, "why californians are crazy and i will always live in kentucky." and i'd probably agree with them on a lot of things. this is my "i know there are lots of things wrong with california, and lots of things right about kentucky" disclaimer. please forgive. i think the choice is yours to be happy and bloom wherever you find yourself, every moment. i, however, am happier here.