Touring the Apartment

We finally have internet at our place, thank goodness :)

Though, with no internet and no cable (we're not going to get it for a few weeks since, who really needs tv anyways? Especially when you have the whole Six Feet Under series on loan to you :) ) we've really been able to focus on getting the apartment ready for my family's arrival on thursday. I've also been enjoying reading the book In a Sunburned Country which is about traveling in Australia- a very funny account.

The move was surprisingly easy (well, as easy as moving two people's apartments into one can be) and was mad much better by backing the u haul the night before with the help of Ed's brother and his girlfriend and by the help given by two of Ed's friends moving in on Sunday. Also, I really started to appreciated the fact that we had a downstairs apartment (I previously wasn't sold on the idea), which made moving so so much easier. We only had to move things about 20 feet from the U haul to the inside of the apartment :)

What made this whole move difficult was the fact that we couldn't get the key until 3pm. This could have worked okay, except that we bought a beautiful mattress that was going to be delivered between 8 and 11. We called the mattress people around 8 sunday morning to make sure that they were going to call us an hour before they arrived (like the paperwork said) only to have them tell us that actually they were about an hour out right now. We quickly finished loading up the rest of the stuff into my car and with Ed in the Uhaul made our way to Campbell.

I got there before Ed since he had to drive slowly over the 17 (a notoriously dangerous and windy highway connecting Santa Cruz to the East Bay) and luckily, we were both there about 10 minutes before the mattress people. However, the Uhaul was pretty full, and we still had a futon, table, kitchen wine rack thing/table, two bookcases, and my papasan chair. We decided the best option was to have Ed hop the fence of our new patio, and to lift the mattress and box spring over the wall and into the patio to store it until we got to go inside.

Having done this, we figured we might as well make use of Ed's position over the wall. I unloaded my car, passing things over the wall, and even got some things out of the Uhaul to pass over as well. A group of three older women were watching this whole process, somewhat suspiciously. But, since we were putting things in and not taking things out, we couldn't have seemed too harmful. Afterwards I talked to them and introduced myself, just to make sure they didn't think I was too shady :) The people living at this complex have, so far, been really nice and friendly. There are lots of young couples here and young families, as well as a number of older individuals living alone. We've been reassured by almost everyone we've talked to that this is a very peaceful, safe, and quiet place to live, which is music to my ears!



The first night, our goal was to get three rooms functional- the kitchen, the bedroom, and the living room.



Our kitchen was full of boxes as the start, but we soon had all the dishes in sensible spots (I had so many pretty dishes that we decided Ed's more batchloresque tableware would stay in its box...totally Ed's decision though!) and the kitchen was ready to be used, though we didn't have any food yet!



After some hard work, we had our living room furniture assembled and ready to use. We got some really good chinese food from a place nearby and watched an episode of Six Feet Under in comfort, enjoying our new couch





Still lacking anything readily edible in the morning, we walked to the mini mart right outside our complex and bought milk, butter, jam, and honey and, with the bisquick we brought with us, I made us a lovely breakfast of biscuits. It was a good way to break in the kitchen!



Our big challenge from the beginning has been the office. Not only do Ed and I have a ridiculous amount of books, all of whose boxes were originally placed in the office, but we also had a desk delivered monday that came ready to be built in 66 easy steps :P. When we first got here, the office looked like this:




Now, it looks like this:



A pretty great improvment! THe desk was a beast to put together, but looks great and will be so nice to have. With the futon in there too, we can both work in here at the same time (I usually work on a couch or bed, so the futon will be perfect). We still have some boxes of files and books that don't have a home (we're in need of another bookcase) but overall, its' pretty much put together.

Now, our living room feels very homey. We finally got around to decorations last night, putting up posters and pictures, filling the entertainment center with meaningful momentos, and making it a cozy place to relax. It's a very cost-plus living room, with the couch, chair, and coffee table from there :)



This is one of my favorite decorations in the apartment- a poster of nisene marks, where we had our first run/date, with a photo of John Muir woods on one side, and a photo of big basin on the other :) We have a map of the nisene trails up on our hallways wall.





Our bedroom, though still a little sparse, is beautiful :) The poster is from a japanese seasons exhibit at the van gogh museum in amsterdam. And our bed- well, it is amazing! Good sleep is very important to both of us, so we splurged a little on a high quality bed, and, compared to the rock of dorm beds, it is amazing. Not in the photo, but important, are the two bookcases we put in here for my books. While picking them up in Mountain View (for $10 a piece!) we ran into Norbert, who I hadn't seen since Dick Collins. I didn't recognize him at first, since it was so unexpected (he lives next to the person we were buying the bookcases from!) but it was really great to talk to him. He was getting ready to tackle Diablo, and hopefully had a great race in the steamy weather.



We have this amazing Korean chest of drawers in the bedroom that Ed's parents got when they lived in Okinawa. Above it we have out tribute to our amazing Valentines day, with a trail map of Mt. Tam, the letter from Mountain Home in welcoming us, and the menu from our dinner that night :)


Overall, we couldn't be happier living in our new place. I can't think of a single thing I would want to change about our apartment or location. My family arrives in a few hours, and I'm excited to be able to play host to them. I'm making tandoori chicken, with naan and basmati rice, with samosas for appetizers and homemade vanilla and coffee ice cream for dessert!

I'm also going to get to show off the amazing graduation present Ed got for me:


I was so totally suprised (to be honest, it didn't cross my mind that he would get me anything!) and am so excited to relearn bike riding. I did a few loops around the parking lot, which was really fun, but I also almost fell off the bike :P. Definitely need to work on my balance! He got me a mountain bike, so we can hit the trails together. I'm also thinking that I can use the bike to help him run, by biking along side of him. That way, we can do long runs together even if I can't run them :)

Well, I've got to go do some more house things before the family arrives. Signing off with all smiles in Campbell :)