I just recently got my Washington drivers license. Which wouldn't have been such an accomplishment -- a milestone really -- if I had not: a) lived in Seattle for nearly six years and b) been driving around with an expired California license for well over a year. Oh and also, just generally speaking, I'm the worst driver on the planet. So passing with an 80 percent on my FIRST TRY was something to write home about. My office gave me a trophy. Seriously.

 But I digress.... my new license gave me pause to think about the fact that it is very likely I will never live in California again. It helps that I got my entire family to move up here (what can I say? I can be quite persuasive!), but even more than that, for whatever reason, I really found my "home" here in Seattle. Yes, I willingly left the sunshine for this moody weather -- and I'm often asked to explain myself.

So please excuse my blubbering, I just need to brag a little bit about why I love my adopted home, Seattle, Washington. Don't get me wrong, I love Southern California, I do. It's beautiful and I know a lot of amazing people who live there; however, I'll take my fleece and drizzle and roads full of Subarus any day of the week.

First of all, let me get this out of the way: Yes SoCal, you're pretty. It's sunny. We get it. But I truly believe that the beauty of the Pacific Northwest is so much more well-rounded; rich with character and textures and changing seasons. In Seattle I appreciate it all so much more. However, this is not a debate about looks -- and that is precisely my point -- in Seattle, it is about so much more than the surface. There is a spirit of authenticity that is palable.

Make-up is optional. (Ladies? Can I hear an amen!) Flaunting one's money is frowned upon. It just comes off as tacky. People are interested in what you do (hiking, biking, sewing, writing), rather than what you do (to make money that is). Creativity and an entreprenurial spirit is in the air. It's unavoidable. People talk about things (issues, politics, social justice, rather than things (thier new flat screen, fill in the blank). In Seattle, quirky is encouraged. (Maybe that's the end of my insight right there... I'm quirky therefore I like it. Period.) Different is good. Original is better. And really everyone drives a Subaru -- Microsoft millionaire or college students alike -- it is truly a strange and hilarious phenomenon.

I suppose most of all I love Seattle because it is here that I found myself. That I was able to truly embrace and understand and explore all that I am. It was here that I learned to own the confidence I was born with. And it was here, in Seattle, where I met a fellow defected Californian whom I fell in love with and married. Life as I know it is rooted in Seattle and I guess it's true, home is where the heart is. And my heart is very much here.