For the time being I am continuing to work with my client in Santa Cruz during the two weekends a month that he is in town. I know that it may seem crazy far but I so love public transportation and I am glad to use it.

The night before I was a bit nervous as I planned my trip and drew out maps and notes to myself. This wasn’t my first time doing it but I had tweaked with my route a bit and wanted to have the timing perfect. I was set to leave the house by 10am the next morning.

I decided to ride my bike ride downtown to the Berkeley Bart Station because I had so much stuff and figured it would be the quickest. Also I arranged for a friend to come and pick up my bicycle later so it wouldn’t be there all weekend.

Bart trip from Downtown Berkeley to Powell Street, San Francisco. This costs about $3.50 and you magically end up at Nordstroms. I had money on my Bart card already so this part was easy.

Walk down 4th Street to CalTrains Station. I had a hard time remembering my plan was to get to S.C. because I was lured in by Anthropologie and the Container Store along the way. Also Whole Foods is on 4th – a good place to stop and refuel.

CalTrain trip from San Francisco to San Jose Diridon Station. This was $7.50 and you can pay with your credit/debit card. This is definitely the longest part of the journey (taking 1.5 hours) but the train is comfortable and I have never seen it full. By the time I got to the station I remembered that I needed cash for the bus. Thank goodness they do have an ATM at the Diridon Station.

Hwy 17 bus from Diridon Station to San Cruz metro. $4 cash (one dollar bills are easiest). This took longer than expected because traffic over the hill was slow.

I made it with plenty of time to get to work. The timing went well and I had books to read and my iPod to keep me company. I am not sure that I will enjoy doing this quite as much on the return trip because I will be exhausted from the long weekend, but I appreciate not having to rely on someone else for a ride, or needing a car of my own.

This month has been chock full of new and exciting adventures. My life has gone through many major transitions lately, including moving and starting school. I have uprooted from my Santa Cruz home and my house mates and I have moved in with even more friends and into a bigger place in Berkeley. I have yet to spend much time in it, but it does feel very “homey,” especially being surrounded by people that I both love dearly and can draw inspiration from. It brings me such a warm and fuzzy feeling. _ I am still learning the layout of my new city and where everything is. I love finding new places to eat, shop and hang out. I also really appreciate the access to the Bart and close vicinity to San Francisco.

As for my new school, I am still so excited that I am finding it hard to sleep. I am finally an art student in a big city just like I always dreamed! It took ten years to happen therefor I believe that it allows me to appreciate my education more fully. I am surrounded by creative people, most of which are way more experienced than I, and I want to learn everything that I can. I am buzzing with energy to create. My focus is Computer Arts & New Media and this semester I am taking two design classes. The first class is more technical and we are learning Adobe’s Illustrator program. I do have some experience with the program but there is still so much that I don’t know. In fact I primarily use the paintbrush tool for everything and never even touch the pen or pencil. The second class that I am taking concentrates on design theory. In my first assignment I used digital photography to demonstrate the versatility of paper clips. It was so fun!

So I have decided that it was time to graduate to my own WordPress blog and my muse helped me to work it out. I’ve been using Vox for the past year and have really enjoyed the experience of having a space to write and post pictures. With this new blog I feel more in control of the content and site and free to expand my presence with more photos, art, and ramblings.