Some Things I love About California, in no particular order

• fresh, accessible fruit
• foggy mornings
• my family, both immediate and extended, who are pretty much committed to never leaving the Golden State
• avocados
• the wildflowers that line even the ugliest highways (see Route I-5)
• my block party (and being pronounced "too grown" by the neighbors who "watched you get ready for your first day of kindergarten")
• projects like the East Bay Children's Book Project (http://www.eastbaychildrensbookproject.org/), that supplied me with a substantial start to my classroom library
• Art & Soul
  
• the beach(es)
• thrift stores that are actually affordable
• the bartender who asks you if you blazed in the parking lot (which you actually did not), and why didn't you invite him?
• talking to strangers without it being weird
• running in the same circles as multiple former teachers
• warm afternoons and chilly evenings
• listening to Harry Potter on tape in the car with my dad