We drank and ate and hooted and toasted our new friendships. Then we retreated to the home of the dinner-organizer for drinks in The Pub. It's a truly spectacular basement renovation that feels like a separate entity. It looks like a building on the outside of the room and once inside, you completely forget that you're in a house. There's an authentic, 40 year old wooden bar that was shipped in from New York and an impressive wine cellar. Leather chairs, good music and funky drink glasses were a nice touch.

We drank vodka shots and play blackjack and craps for hours. I finally threw in the towel around 11:30pm. Husband got home after 1:30am. Over coffee this morning, we reminisced and giggled over how lucky we feel to live here and experience a newfound degree of happiness and fun.

Okay, I'm smart enough to know that money doesn't buy happiness. But cashing-out from the Bay Area real estate market and moving here was the best thing that we have ever done.