Some Neighborhoods of My Life

Many years ago, in vintage blog days, I used to start my posts by saying what music I was listening to while I wrote. So let's throw it back: I'm currently tuned in to "Moving Mountains" by Skylar Grey.

I spent a couple days this week showing my sister around San Francisco.

It was her first time in the Bay Area, so I showed her all my favs, including but not limited to Alcatraz and a long ride on the outside of a cable car up and down some iconic SF hills. (It's charming and precarious all at once and I love it.)

One of my favorite things about SF is how distinct every neighborhood is, and how closely they're all smushed together. One minute you're experiencing that bustling city-feel of Market St by Union Square, then you're immersed in another world in China Town, the next moment you're enveloped in the wafting scent of pizza-on-pizza-on-pizza in North Beach, and somewhere in there you're being misted by saltwater on the pier by a colony of sea lions.

I'm in a phase of my life lately that feels a lot like San Francisco: many neighborhoods and coves, all tucked together in one beautiful, vibrant smush.

Here's some words about a few of my own neighborhoods these days....

my body

Currently in the fitness regime: Crossfit. I never thought this would be the place for me, despite knowing people who told me otherwise for years. It deserves its own post, so I'll leave it at this: I'm happy and I feel good, and my body is strong and fierce and my own.

my space

I value organization. I've always valued it in my calendar and work life, but I've never quite made that leap to minimizing my possessions (clutterbugs anonymous, please unite) and putting things in their place. Recently, I stayed up late one night and made piles of things to purge. My space is now simple and warm and full of only the things I love the very most. I feel a weight lift off me when I curl up by a favorite candle (this one, in aloha orchid), turn on some white twinkle lights and bask in that joyous feeling of being alone and cozy and simple and safe. Do you have a space like this? You need one.

my brain

School is wrapped up for the Fall Quarter (*moment of silence for going to school full-time while also working full-time*), and it feels both damn good and challenging to work so hard and steadily chip away at my MBA. In January I'm starting my first programming class as an elective. I'm excited and nervous, but so far school has made me feel both of those things several times plus some confidence and grit on top of that every time I get through the anxious parts. Here's to more!

my heart

A lesson I've learned a lot of is that matters of the heart require a delicate balance of logic and emotion. Truly, you need both. And it's a balance in a way that's not always 50-50 at any given time -- it's more a balance of learning when to let one side tell the other one to shush and let go of the reins, either to protect yourself or run an illogical risk that somehow feels worth it. It's some kind of chaotically lovely and unnerving mixture -- a lot like a ride up and down SF streets while clinging to the outside of a cable car, actually.

my soul

I'm in a good space right now where my job and school life genuinely do feed my soul, although challenging at times, but it feels good to add other joys into the mix while those two areas ease up for a hot holiday second: lazy mornings in bed, Sunday morning movie matinees, rainy drives, good books/music/shows/people....all the best cherries on top of an already lovely life.

And with that said: It's raining outside, my favorite candle is lit, my Christmas tree is twinkling, my music is still lilting through my living room and I feel a little more like letting some mountains move me:

For once, once in your life

For once push your ambitions aside

And instead of moving mountains

Let the mountains move you

For once, once in your life

For once just stop to open your eyes

And instead of moving mountains

Let the mountains move you

~skylar grey