“When your rooster crows at the breaks of dawn, look out your window and I’ll be gone…”

A few short weeks ago I decided to uproot my entire life on go on a big life adventure, leaving everything familiar behind me. On Saturday, December 8th I left San Francisco and the great Pacific Ocean permanently (for now) to move to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to chase after some of my dreams. Because, you know, isn’t that what life really is about? Dream job, dream of living on the East Coast for a while, dream of taking a big risk and switching it all up and seeing what happens and where life can take you. Because if not now, when? In case you have been wondering where I went on the longest break I have ever taken from this blog since I started it, it was doing (mostly executing) this. It started with giving my 2 weeks notice at my SF job and finishing up all my projects there, it went into selling my old car, and buying a new one (!), to packing up my entire apartment, sorting out everything I didn’t want anymore, including half of my wardrobe which went to either Crossroads or Goodwill, to spending time with and saying goodbye to all of my people in San Francisco, which was undoubtably the hardest part. Weirdly, I was unemotional about leaving anything in the city of SF itself – I didn’t do a leaving SF bucket list, because a) there was no time and b) I figured if I hadn’t done it in the 5 years I had lived in SF, it wasn’t that important, and c) SF would always be there, for me to come back to. Really, at the end of the day, it was all of my people/friends I love dearly in SF (and there are a lot of them, I am lucky in that way) whom I was saddest to leave. Luckily, they were all insanely supportive of me and understanding of why I wanted to do this. I guess the best you can hope for is friends who want you to grow to be the best person you can possibly be, and support you in all of your endeavors, no matter where they take you. It was surely surprising to me how many people in my life, both in and outside of work, when I told them the news, said with a big grin on their face that they were happy and excited for me, that it was perfect. That was such a sign to me that I was making the right decision, and I haven’t really looked back.

My empty Larkin Street room that I left behind – it has been good to me

My last hours in SF were spent with some of my best girlfriends at the Cavallo Point Lodge in Sausalito, CA, looking back at the city I grew up in over the past 5 years

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So here I am, one week into my adventure, hanging out in a little studio hotel room in temp housing, drinking copious amounts of California wine totally by myself and adjusting to my new, albeit in transition, life. I made it through week 1 at my new ‘dream job’ (with only one major freak out of ‘what the hell have I done?’ which I am proud to say I got over pretty quick. Just FYI to everyone out there, a dream job is still a job. Like, something they pay you to do. Friendly reminder. But on the other side is, well, we all have to work, so it might as well be everything you always imagined, right?) and have pretty much adjusted to the time change and recovered from my massive sleep deficit that occurred over the past weeks. I even made a new friend (this little lady!) whom I think I have convinced to become my new BFF. Victory? Victory. So wish me luck in this stage 2 (stage 1 = getting me here) of life uproot which includes, but is not limited to: finding an adorable little 1 bedroom apartment (no small feat), convincing many people I’m cool and friend-worthy, figuring out how to write a PO so I don’t continually embarrass myself at work, finding the perfect warm winter coat (what should that look like? I’ve got no clue.) and mastering the bus system between here and NYC. I hope you will enjoy following it all here on the blog, which I fully intend to keep up, probably with less outfit pics for the time being.

Thank you to everyone who supported me in this adventure and was there for me to make it happen! I owe ya one. xx

p.s. know anyone who lives here in Philly who might want to be real life friends with me? send um on over! tara.wondergirl@gmail.com

“…don’t think twice, it’s all right.”

-Bob Dylan