Didn't I

Even though I work at this great dance studio here in the city, I seriously miss the dance class that I used to go to in Atlanta. My teacher, Susan, had converted her attic into a dance studio. It was blistering hot in the summers and freezing cold in the winters. It didn't matter. It was such a beautiful space and class.

I used to bicycle there a little bit early so that I could sit chatting on her porch before going into class. It was sitting there one evening in early June that I told her about the possibility of moving to San Francisco.

I loved that everyone felt welcomed and able in her class. There were beginning dancers next to professional dancers. Susan has an amazing ability to see people moving and communicate what they are doing. And she always picked great music for her combinations. I fell in love with this song by Darondo while dancing to it in her class. Since I'm being nostalgic, I thought it fitting that the first video I found of it was a guy free style dancing on his street in San Francisco. I hope you enjoy as much as I did.

It begins

We did it! We fit everything we wanted to take in the Honda Accord the rental place gave us. I don't know how Martin did it, because I ran away (to get a new phone and plan, don't worry the number is the same). When I came back, all that were left were odds and ends that I easily found places to stuff them. True, we can't see out of the rear view mirror, but that's what side mirrors are for, right?


Amazingly, we left only an hour behind schedule and that was because we had to stop to load up on snacks, get a car adapter for the mp3 player, and to get a road map. We also gave ourselves a treat before leaving and had brunch at the Highland Bakery, one of Martin's favorite places. And we got into Little Rock only a half hour behind schedule, which was only due to the time change.

Our route - Atlanta to Birmingham, up to Memphis and over to Little Rock.

Highlight - finally figuring out a good use of the poorly designed gps system outside of
Memphis by using it to find a really cool local coffee shop (with wireless).

Low point - Throwing away the manual to the mp3 plug-in/radio thingy and not being able to listen to our tunes in populated areas (too much radio interference).

Miles driven - the trip tick says 519, but I didn't start it until OTP (outside the Atlanta perimeter) so you should add at lease 10 to 15 miles.

Next on the menu - Heading to Oklahoma City for lunch with Aunt Joni and her boys. Then onto Santa Rosa, NM where we have a campsite for the night.

A newsworthy event

Here's the scoop, for those whom we have yet to tell,
Martin and I are moving to San Francisco!


For my friends and family
who have yet to meet him,
this is Martin.





For Martin's friends and
family who have yet to meet
me, this is me, Lauryn.




Martin's company is moving their headquarters from Atlanta to the Bay Area (Mountain View to be exact). They offered everyone the opportunity to move there. And it seemed, to us, that this was a great opportunity. Martin's been wanting to explore other parts of the world since I met him (he was supposed to join the Peace Corps, but stayed because of me). And since all of my jobs are tied to the academic calendar, summer was a good time for me to let my employers (Moving in the Spirit, APAL and Emory Schwartz Center) know that I was leaving.

So here we are. Our last day in Atlanta is tomorrow. Our room is a mess with boxes and half packed bags. I'm still trying to get rid of some of my furniture from my old apartment (Anyone in Atlanta need a HUGE bulletin board, a fake marble bedside table, or a blue rocking armchair?). We're both exhausted, and at the same time, we can't wait for Friday when we load up the car, head west on I-20, and start this crazy, exciting, new adventure!