So I'm moving to Utah

Born in Taipei and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, I spent much of my childhood curled up against airplane windows watching movies in giant headsets and eating tiny food from plastic trays. There were summers in Cambodia, winters in France and impromptu trips to China. With my parents living in Thailand and family members scattered across the globe, I felt, in a way, that everywhere was home.

However, I never imagined a life for myself too far from the pleasures of modern metropolis. When college rolled around I went to school in L.A., then grad school in Boston and then later I moved to New York City to work at a PR agency specializing in food, one of my chief obsessions.

Work sent me traveling around the country to cities like Chicago and Atlanta and as far as the avocado fields of Michoacan, Mexico. There were editor lunches, brand launches and early morning shoots at NBC. So much did I love my job that at times it hardly felt like work.

On weekends I rode my Vespa around Brooklyn or explored Manhattan by foot and train, tweeting along the way. If there was a free concert in the park, I'd pack a picnic. If there was a new exhibit at the Met, I'd grab a friend. If a new bar opened up in my neighborhood, I'd be there opening week (poking my head in during renovation, too). Life was as it was meant to be.

Many friends and family members were horrified to hear I was moving to Utah.

"Chica, they have 1% beer there. ONE percent."
"Omg, someone's going to kidnap you and make you a sister wife."
"Utah? Are you f*%&ing crazy?"

I was going to be landlocked for the first time in my life. In a city I'd never been to and knew hardly anything about. In a red state that just passed a law condemning... miscarriages? Where teenagers can get into trouble with the law for rapping their order at a McDonald's drive-thru.

I thought, what am I getting myself into?  
But I believe that things happen for a reason.

So here we are. In four short weeks I officially start my life in Salt Lake City. All I can say is: I sure hope the universe has a plan. Because I sure don't.