i love our new neighborhood

I love that it's genuinely diverse. In 30 seconds you can pass two white yuppie-ish gay men negotiating over who has to stand outside the store with the adorable dog ("Pleeeease? I'll buy you something swee-eet!") and a Latino grandmother speaking Spanish with her grandson, who has a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle figure almost half his diminutive size.

Along the same lines, I love that I can walk a block to one convenience store that features Ding-Dongs and a whole aisle of 40-proof liquor; I can walk a block in the other direction to a convenience store that has Entenmann's and Ben & Jerry's.

I love that I can walk just a couple more blocks to a passageway under Lake Shore Drive and out to the park beyond, where the lake this morning was soooo lovely between the trees, glittering with bright sunlight... and then just a few blocks north I can cross back under the Drive. AND at this northerly crossing, there is a lovely little public garden with flowers and fountains.

I love that there's an independent coffee shop just around the corner - AND that it has coffee and pastries that are both better than Starbucks. Also in walking distance are a diner and a Mexican seafood place, neither of which we've tried but both of which look great.

I love that there are garbage cans all over the place for dog poop. I love that there are so many dogs.

The architecture is wonderful and historic. Mmmmmm.

This morning I pulled our new blinds up and sat in the front bay window with my latte and scones and newspapers and email just felt soooooo happy to be here....

I have a ton of work to do for Monday and no idea how I'll get it done... but those few hours in the window this morning were precious.