The first week

I finished my first full week as a Philly resident, in our new apartment, at work at NutriSystem. What a week. On Friday we got the keys to our new apartment, with some internal Hasan/Anita bickering along the way to boot! :) Saturday it rained like crazy because of remnants of Gustav or whatever. I mean it was raining SO hard you couldn't see but a car or two ahead of you at times. And the thing is people in Philly are not used to driving in that weather. Me, I've driven in Miami - one thing I can say about Miamians, they do know how to drive in crazy tropical rain. But Hasan and Iwere determined to get moved into the new place so we made a couple of trips to bring stuff from his place to our new place in the rain. I wish someone would have taken pictures of us tag-teaming bringing stuff from the car to the apartment in that weather! It was worth it though - that night, we had such a good night's rest in our new place - it was so quiet. Too quiet actually.

Work has been great. The first couple of days were weird. Everything about the company felt so foreign that I actually got bored in some meetings - bored like you do when everyone around you is talking in a foreign language. But midweek, I took the day off as the movers arrived with my things and when I went back, it was completely different. I felt like I was finally getting my tentacles into things and having ideas about real stuff. So cool! The only drawback is the commute. It's only about 20 miles, but it's 20 miles of street traffic (red lights). And with these crazy ass Philly drivers, I have to be so alert the whole way through. (Facts about Philly drivers: they freely run red lights, they tailgate like no place I've ever seen, they slow down to about 15-20 mph at a Stop sign...meaning they don't ever actually stop, pedestrians do not have the right-of-way, and signaling is an unneeded activitiy to them. I actually had a van enter an intersection, when everyone in his direction was stopped at the red light, and then honk his horn at me repeatedly to get out of the way as I was crossing the street - can you believe???)

And this weekend, I worked like a madwoman to unpack and arrange everything. I think it's funny how I get this quality from my mother where I can't rest until things are done. I also was just so anxious from being transient, and also seeing so much stuff and realizing we have very little closet space. My friend Hillary said admonishingly that it had only been a couple of weeks of transience, but she just doesn't understand that to an obsessive organizer, a couple of weeks of lack of organization is like an eternity.

But now everything is arranged, and I went to my first yoga class at my new gym on Sunday...and my ship is sailing smooth.

I'll be picking up photos tonight from our road trip...stay tuned!