I Love You, California

I've been to all 50 states, but I've only lived in one: California. Why move away when you're lucky enough to have been born in the best state of all? I combined old maps with scrapbook supplies to make this layout about the three cities where I've lived. The title is our state song, I Love You, California. 

I Love You, California (affiliate link)

I spent the first 18 years of my life (1972-1990) living in Livermore. It's about 45 miles east of San Francisco. Our family moved to a new house when I was 11, so I had two different addresses in Livermore. 

I moved to Davis for college in 1990. Davis is 15 miles west of Sacramento and 74 miles northeast of San Francisco. I spent two years in the same dorm in Davis, then lived in three different apartments between 1992 and 1997. 

I have lived in Fairfield since 1997. Fairfield is equidistant between Sacramento and San Francisco, about 45 miles from each, and about 15 miles east of Napa. I originally moved here to reduce my commute to Vallejo where I was teaching, but it's been almost 20 years (!!!) since I quit that job to be a full-time mom. I lived in an apartment first, bought a house while I was single, then moved to our current house with Steve just after we got married. 

I've had a total of 9 addresses in my life. Based on my age (almost 54), I'm right on track to be an average American in that respect. (There are many ways in which I am not an average American: my reading level is higher and my height is lower. I'm more widely traveled and have fewer children than average. This article about the "Average American" is really interesting.) We don't have any plans to move in the near future, but I doubt we'll live in this large, two-story house into our golden years. 

I really enjoyed putting together this layout. It's very unusual for me not to use photos on a page. I had fun working with the maps instead. I earned two more points for Twisted Scissors in Game 3 of the BYSS Winter Olympics: one for using green and black, and a second for incorporating circles. Go Scissors!