Settling in.

I think before coming here I subconsciously assumed that one day I would just be settled. That that would be that. I'd make a cup of coffee, curl up on our couch with it, and I'd just know, "Okay, here I am. Settled." But I've come to realize that settling in happens in bits and pieces. It takes time and patience. And yoga. And a lot of wine.
Things that still have me on the fence...

For starters, driving continues to terrify me. I'm not even slightly exaggerating when I say that the people here drive like they are on a mission to kill anyone and everyone in the cars around them. Between that and dodging potholes, I feel like I'm in some kind of video game whenever I drive. And I've never much cared for those.
The people are still taking some getting used to as well. Maybe it's not that they don't like me or that they don't like, you know, LIFE. Maybe they're just tired of trying to fight for their lives on the way to the grocery store, too. I don't blame them.
Also, it's getting warmer so the snow is melting. Now instead of being freezing with pretty white stuff everywhere, it's slightly warmer with ugly black stuff everywhere and, okay, I'm being really negative. I think it's because I'm hungry. Or maybe starting to understand these people's "sunny" disposition... Hm...
But all in all, I truly am settling in. I'm finding my way here with each passing day, even though that small dull ache of missing home probably won't go away until I go back home. Until I feel that California sun and squeeze my family, friends, and puppies tight. Still, I savor the moments when I actually run into someone nice who smiles at me. I find it pretty awesome that I don't have to get out of the car when I get gas. (Gas attendants. New Jersey thing.) I appreciate the sun (when it decides to come out), warming my skin, and sending dancing streams of light on my living room floor. I love being able to say "my living room floor". Because I have one of those. Because I'm living on my own now. I'm even memorizing the potholes on my street and don't have to look as much when dodging them. It's great. I'm getting better at the whole train thing. And I'm seriously looking forward to spring, which is just around the corner because, finally, I'll get to see a season change.

There's a lot of comfort in knowing that I'll continue to find my place here in the little things that were all so foreign to me when I first arrived. That being said, this very morning when I got up I made a cup of coffee and it felt like my coffee. I curled up on the couch and it felt like my couch. Not 100% settled, but a little more "warmed up". It felt like maybe one day soon I could even call this place home.

Snow.

So I have to write about the snow. Mostly because I've already talked and taken pictures of it incessantly; now it's time to write about it. It is falling feverishly outside my window as I speak; we are expecting about 6 inches today. (I get to say stuff like that now, preferably in a snarky English accent. "Oh, yes, hmm.. We'll be expecting about, hmm, 6 inches today.")
The people who have lived here, or anywhere else where a lot of snow in the winter-time is a common thing, go about their daily lives as usual while this gorgeous stuff falls from the sky. Seriously, they don't even care. They don't bat an eye or take a second glance at it. Meanwhile, I have to try and be cool as I can (pun intended), so as to blend in.
And then it's everywhere, all the time, even when the sun is shining. It coats the world around me and serves as a constant reminder that I'm not in Kansas anymore. (By Kansas, I mean California of course.) Sure, I have seen snow before in my life, but never like this. This is something else entirely.
If ever I find myself getting used to it, for example, when I step outside and it doesn't surprise me... that's when I mentally kick myself. To say that it is "beautiful" is an incredulous understatement, and it will only be here for the rest of the winter season, so appreciate it- I will.
Friends and family from back home keep bringing up the weather. It's not all that surprising...  From the moment that I told everyone I would be moving across the country to the Land of the Snow and the Blunt, I pretty much always got the same response. "Oh, you're going to be cold!" they would say. And then they would laugh and laugh as I politely nodded wishing I thought it was as funny as they did. "You're going to be so cold!" To be honest, the cold is not nearly as horrible as everyone had made it out to be. It's not as if people on the East Coast just stand outside in it for hours on end waiting to get frostbite before exclaiming, "Okay, that's enough!" and going back inside where there are these wonderful inventions called heaters. The cold is only endured when getting from your house to your car and your car to wherever it is you're going and back again. Besides, the sharpness of the chilled air against my person makes me feel alive. It reminds me of the brave step I've taken to get myself here. It also reminds me I should really invest in some thermals.
Speaking of the people inhabiting the East Coast- they aren't the friendliest when you first meet them. In fact, they're not all that friendly the second time you meet them, either. Okay, so I've met, maybe, like three nice people since moving here and two of them were waitresses at a restaurant anticipating a tip. I choose to believe people on the East Coast will warm up to me eventually. (Pun, again, entirely intended.) "They're frozen, Taylor," as my aunt previously explained to me, "They need time to thaw out."