I can’t believe it’s already been a month. One month ago today, on my 28th birthday, my husband and I squeezed into my packed blue Jetta and headed north to our new home: Sacramento.

Moving to Sacramento meant my husband would be taking the next step in his career. (Hooray!) But moving to Sacramento also meant leaving our lives and our families and the beach and my job in Southern California. (Boo.) Besides, what would there be for me in Sacramento? To me, Sacramento was just a hotbed of stuffy suits hovering around the capitol with no trace of culture or art or anything fun ever, ever, ever… right? As it happens, I was wrong.

Sacramento is awesome. In this one month after that drive north, I’ve unpacked our roomfuls of boxes, bought a bike, floated down the river, wrote for a local magazine, explored the markets, did some yoga, met fantastic people, set my sights on great adventure and felt embraced by the entire city.

My conclusion: I love this Sacramento life.