So come Sunday we should be completely moved out of our very first apartment together. It just hit me that this was our first home together and now it is time to move onto the next thing. Somehow, though, I don't feel too broken up over this, it's just a realization. Maybe because I never expected this apartment to be a permanent thing to begin with. Actually, I've never really accepted Los Angeles in general as a permanent thing for me...It's always been my home until I eventually move back to my real home (the Bay Area).

But still, there will be things I will miss. I will miss the farmer's market across the way every Tuesday. I will miss seeing the old couples holding hands as they shop for organic apples and the dad's with their toddler's (which always make me think of Paul with our kids someday..hopefully). I will miss Zankou Chicken and En Sushi and Johnnie's Pastrami and Ramen-Ya and the dynamite mac roll at Sushi Mac. I will miss the abundance and variety of food that are actually within walking distance. And the movie theatre across the street which we only went to once. I will miss World Cafe and the other cool cafe/restaurant/bars that are available to me down here when I'm in the mood. I will miss that feeling I get sometimes when I'm driving around the Westside and it hits me that this is a place people dream of coming to and I live here. Oh and I will definitely miss the year-round perfect weather.

Yes, there are certainly things about Los Angeles that I will sorely miss a couple months from now when I'm in the central valley and longing for a really delicious Cubano sandwich from Versailles or desperately looking for a chic place to unwind after a tough test. And when I'm in France freezing my butt off next February I will probably be longing for the 70 degree weather they'll be experiencing here in Los Angeles. But I will remind myself that I will be back in a year and it won't be so unbearable.

As much as I hate Los Angeles sometimes, as much as I've never let myself accept this as my permanent home, I must admit that over the past six years it has become a home to me. Still not a place where I can see myself raising my family, but it's been a home to me nonetheless.

And just in case I'm ever really missing LA at some point here is a list of things I will NOT miss about LA: perpetual traffic, searching for parking spots, the fact that the sky is never really blue (not the way it is up north), having my car dinged all the time because there is not enough parking, the snotty drivers, the snotty waiters (hm...although France may have more, who knows), the rampant Hollywood mentality...did I mention the perpetual traffic?