I live in "the city," but I work in Westchester.

It feels like the sticks. Hell, it IS the sticks. Lemme just say--I'm a city girl (more to come on that). So a quick trip to the drug store for an Excedrin should not mean trekking a fourth of a mile down "round the bend"--but it kinda does. My friends always give me the head-tilted, confused-faced "Oh wow, you work ALLL the way up there!?!?!" And I rationalize it all by giving them the rundown of how much I love my job (and I do), and how "we have a stellar cafeteria and an awesome gym and, for a publisher, the pay and benefits are a cut above the rest and yadda yadda more more blah blah blah."

I've worked in the heart of NYC twice before--Midtown and Wall Street--and yes, it was exhilarating to be have the free will to hop to a designer sample sale (or any sale, for that matter) during lunch, or listen to a band in Bryant Park after work, or even walk down the block to a happy hour or an afternoon coffee break if the mood struck. Oh the sights! And oh the people I met! Or rather, the people I'd always see...the celebs, the fashion folk, the models, those kids from those reality shows who decided to hang on and stay here even after the show ended.

But now that i'm in Westchester, I frequently miss those lunch-time city walks and again, it's just thrilling to have the option--even if I don't take advantage of it--to run out on a Manhattan street, buy a trash magazine from a vendor, sit on a bench, and clear my head of all things work-centered.

But, then there are tiny joys of working in the sticks...i.e. today I saw two striking, ash-brown deer eating clover in the brush outside my office window. (Yes, I actually have brush and clover outside my window!!! lol). They were peaceful and unafraid, and I thought "too bad I'm not a deer, it'd be lovely to join them for lunch." Silly. But how sweet! And something to appreciate after I return to "my city" and the noise that surrounds it on all sides.