nv 2 wa

You know what I'm really looking forward to when we move? (Oh, in case you didn't know, I've probably mentioned it once or twice...my hubs & I are moving to Seattle...possibly end of Spring 10') We are going to be crammed in a tiny apartment (considering we live in a 1200 sq.ft. about home right now and is really nice! its going to be way much smaller), but that's a good thing. Living small makes you appreciate every corner more than you can think. I can't wait to get up in the morning and look out my window with busy heads running around the city, green, trees, kids, outside! Purely, just OUTSIDE. I'm really really looking forward to it. We don't get that in the desert. We see rocks. Dryness. Pavement. No people outside. the term, OUTSIDE doesn't exist really. Oh yeah, we see our Mexican gardener buddies and sometimes we see hootchie mama's on certain corners of Las Vegas, but that's just about it. Las Vegas is dull when it comes to movement in the city as far as action within the communities, there's nothing to it. I don't mean on the Las Vegas strip...ooo do they get movement and lots of it, but its a much different kind of movement. There is a lot of money involved within this fast-paced movement in LV....but its completely on it's surface. There's nothing to it, its like cracking a coconut open with no juice inside! The kind of movement I'm talking about is the movement within each other creating that sense of willingness to be yourself outside on the street, walking to work, getting a cup of coffee, taking a stroll in the park, riding the bus, playing frisbee...this is all done outside. I think we may have one place in town that lets that happen...Green Valley Hotel & Casino's The District. ...now I'm sorry, but that's just sad. And for all of you who don't know about The District, its built outside of one of the many station casinos here in Vegas, Green Valley and it resembles an "urban environment" (yea, in the middle of a desert). It's full of top end, expensive retail that nobody realistically could really afford. You'll see a lot Tommy Bahama shoppers...and its probably one of the only pedestrian-friendly places in town. Las Vegas is known to create things to seem as if we could have it all (Venice, Paris, Pyramids, old apartment buildings...) It's not only creepy to see what Las Vegas does as far entertainment can reach, but its sad to be living in a city where there is nothing to that STUFF than its surface. I want to be able to play in grass (not artificial turf), mow the lawn, go to parks(that are clean and that I can sit on benches without getting a 3 degree burn on my butt), ride my bike (without low rider trucks with spinners slowing down to hit on me) & without any annoying whistling, please. Who knows, it may not be Vegas' fault. We might have to put the blame on the weather at times & its inability to be green and grow prettiness...and make people happier & friendlier & ACTIVE. I mean come on, how many fat people are there on segways and on motorized scooters on the strip and downtown Las Vegas? I mean LV is a 24 hr. city, you are always on a go (not by foot, but by your 2010 Mustang that you'll be paying off til your 50)...hotel, casino & service industry...nightclubs...drinking...but really thats not life to me. There is much more to it. Just recently I went to Laguna Beach with my family and it was so nice to be able to lay down in the sand and appreciate it. And this isn't Gypsy Den's sand in the back (although, i love you den), or Mandalay Bay's sand at their pool, this is the REAL DEAL. This is a beach and its real sand, transported by wind & water and not by a truck driven in from the coast to deliver to a desert. So, whats so great about Seattle again? Well besides their mild winters and temperate summers that enable year-round outdoor activities. .. Level of education is substantially high. Seattle even has many community gardens. My sister-in law Cyn lives here in Vegas and is in the process of creating the Desert Garden Project, so that is a great start for this Las Vegas city, but I do think Vegas will always be Vegas. Back to Seattle...Bars close at 1am. Okay, that might not be so great for some people moving in from a city that is 24hrs., but I can respect this because its for a reason, and I really do think that's where that bondage with the family and friends evolves, more relationships and friendships evolve as well because what is there to do after the buzz kill with the light switch being turned on in the middle of your deepest conversation with your bestest friend? You roll to your homie's, may be drink some more and play Taboo. That's super awesome to me. There is one vivid memory that I always remember when I was living in Spain. I was over a friends apartment he had just gotten and his apartment was old (every building in Spain is old and has so much history to it), located on like the 4th floor I believe. I was standing outside on the balcony, it was raining, more mist than hard rain..it was about 10pm and straight across there were some other people out on their balcony mingling, having sangria...whatever and there was another apartment across the way with their window lit up and it seemed as if they were having a nice dinner party, another apartment on the top floor across the way seemed as if they were watching a movie.....its just incredible to me to be able to stand outside on your own balcony and be so open and not worry about shutting your blinds, or being so concrete and enclosed. Those building structures allows these things to happen. Those people that I saw across the way from the balcony I was at said hi and waved so easily and very loosely. Its common to them, but it was fascinating for me to experience.
Thats the part of life that excites me. To be able to appreciate and see those things and I really think Las Vegas did a good job of letting me see the other side of living. I'm kind of glad that I didn't stay in southern California growing up. I probably would of been some kind of snob pretending I was white, grungy surf girl and been boy crazy with all the hot Zach Morris' in So. Cal. I'm actually really happy to say that I was partially raised in Las Vegas. And its where I met the man of my dreams, he came from a very similar understanding. When Ben (my hubs) was in his teens, he was going to stay in San Francisco cause he loved skating so much, but he didn't make that decision at the time. Its really appealing that both of us share a lot of those same qualities to be able to get up and move to something we never really had and never really would of understood being so young. But I think this is a great time to be able to get up and go.
I imagine myself sitting down in a nook kind of like the one above, just waking up and drinking coffee...and may be walking down the street to a friend's house (hopefully hil&rob!! or any of our other good friends!) to borrow some produce that I forgot to buy for our meal later on....
or whatever.


xo's.
j.



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