Oh, hello there. Remember me? I don’t blame you if you don’t. It’s been awhile.

Fall and winter were a blur of commuting, working, more commuting, traveling, apartment hunting, and finally, moving. During the months that I was commuting from Oakland to Sonoma State everyday, I didn’t have much time left for anything else. It felt like everything dropped by the wayside: friends, cooking, crafting, reading, exercise…my life was nothing but my car, and work, an hour on the couch with my husband in the evening, and sleep.

The good thing about all of that is that I love my job. I work with great people, who are open minded, resourceful, thoughtful, and who want to do great and awesome things. And the work environment really suits me: I’ve learned about myself that I don’t thrive in hierarchical, top-heavy organizations (but I don’t really know anyone who does). At Sonoma State, I work on a team of true collaborators. We make the decisions about what we do, not some Director or manager. And I’m trusted to make the best decisions about my area of responsibility. My enthusiasm for my work is about 1000 times greater when I feel like I have control over it. So even though I’m working harder than I have in years, I feel engaged and excited and I really enjoy the time that I’m at work. It made the two-plus hours in the car every day bearable.

But just barely. And so finely, when the hubbub of the holidays and our various work travels settled down, we started planning a move up to Sonoma County. It was hard, really, really hard to leave Oakland. I don’t know if I’ve ever loved a city the way I love Oakland. But I hardly got to spend any time in it!

After more than a month of searching, we finally found a house to rent only a mile from the campus, in Rohnert Park. Rohnert Park isn’t the most exciting place to live. It’s pretty much the definition of suburbia, and when we buy a house, I hope we don’t buy here. But it’s livable, and I love that I can walk to work again. And our house is pretty awesome.

We’re still finishing up the two upstairs bedrooms, one of which will be an office/guest room and the other my craft room. The craft room is close to being done; I’ll share some updated photos soon. And the books are finally unpacked. I’m in the process of taking an inventory right now, because yes, I have too many books. And I’m a librarian, so I feel like I have to have an up-to-date catalog of my collection.

Living in the suburbs has been a big change for me, but I think Sean is loving it so far. We have a great backyard, which now has a fire pit and some patio furniture, thanks to my awesome husband. And I’m getting used to having my free time back, so I hope to be posting here more in the future. And making more things, and cooking more things, and reading more things, and generally having my life back. Yay!

Thanks for your patience during my prolonged absence!