Reasons why I like California.

Californians are total eco freaks.

I have always been interested in being green/saving the environment/all that jazz, but it hasn’t always been made easy for me. The only instances I can think of are at TIC and Kresge, where they had bins for recycling printer paper. At MIIS, there are more recycling bins than trash cans (inside and outside). Corner and I get curbside recycling pickup included in our trash pickup. We have a rubbish cart for trash and an identical sized cart for recycling! In a normal week, we have 2 medium-sized bags of trash (which takes up barely any room in the rubbish cart), but our recycling cart is almost full.

In ‘N Out Burger.

This place trumps every other fast food joint on the planet. Especially their burgers served Animal Style. Absolutely delicious. Their fries are made inside the restaurant, so those babies are never frozen. I think it’s safe to say I’m a fan.

Yelp is super active.

In case you haven’t been paying attention, Yelp is one of my favorite websites. It’s based in San Francisco, so the SFBay area has a lot of Yelp activity. A lot of that activity has spread down to where I am near the Monterey Bay. Rumor has it we might be getting an Elite Squad here soon! I’m trying not to get too excited. It’s not working.

It’s warm.

This one might seem a bit obvious. I love taking Nigel to the beach on weekends….even in December and January. I also like being able to ride my bike year-round.

Lots of companies are located in Cali.

Therefore, when I order stuff online, I often receive it faster than I would have if I was still living in the Midwest.

My dog can accompany me places.

Nigel likes to be involved in whatever it is that I’m doing. Luckily, Carmel is only a few miles away, and it’s an extremely dog-friendly town. Nigel can play on the off-leash beach or go into all of the stores/restaurants with me. More places should allow animals; they make people smile and serve as great conversation starters.

So many thrift stores.

I can’t even begin to describe how much I have built up my professional wardrobe while shopping at Goodwill, Salvation Army, and the like. I’ve picked up a ton of items from EXPRESS, J. Crew, Free People, and the Limited. Business casual isn’t really my day-to-day style (outside of work), so I don’t want to spend a lot of money on work clothes. Thrifting has definitely been the way to go.

Madonna is still the queen of pop.

At any given moment during the day, I can turn on the radio and find a Madonna song. Now, Michigan is Madonna’s home state, but even Michigan doesn’t play Madonna this much. I love Madonna, especially her earlier stuff….which is what’s always playing on the radio.

Tagged as California, lists