a list...

for the past couple weeks, ive been making little notes and storing them away for later (all of this in my head, of course!), of all the things that constantly remind me that i am no longer in ireland. but im not just anywhere right? im in america! the land of the free! the home of the brave! and southern california, at that.

anyway, this list is by no means exhaustive, although im pretty exhausted thinking about it. but here goes.

you know you are in southern california when...

the sun is out everyday!

you get this weird red burn-like rash when you spend too much time in that sun!

you breathe a sigh of relief when you exit the freeway, because you know that you just eluded death!

you don't "go" at a green light. you wait for the five or so cars that are running their red and then proceed with caution.

you drive to target!

you are driving to said target, pass by home depot on the way and see a makeshift tent made out of blue tarp in the parking lot, with 30+ immigrants waiting under it for work.

your legs stay shaven for longer than a day!

bushes rustle and varying reptiles run/slither across your footpath!

you are amazed at the variety/quantity of food items they can fit in one aisle in the supermarket! (just don't read the ingredients!)

you can think up any genre of food that you want to eat, and find a good restaurant around the corner!

you can drink a 30oz smoothie for lunch everyday, if your heart so desires! (mine has so far, eep!)

you are awake at 5am and can find a good place to get coffee with little effort, and you don't even need to get out of your car!

in fact, there is little that you need to get out of your car for around here...

oh! and you get to hang out with cool kids like these ones...

aaaand, that concludes the few thoughts that i've had on this subject so far.
for now, i'm going to collect my husband from the airport. and thats something that you can do anywhere, but its dang good to be in america when you do!