Thursday, August 07, 2008

Painting does weird things to your brain

After crawling into bed at midnight...


Me: "Did you ever eat that burrito?"

Steve: "I don't know what you're talking about."

Me: "Dinner. What did you have for dinner?"

Steve: "That frozen burrito"

Me: "Right. So remember you heated it up and then left it to cool?"

Steve: "Oh yeah, I devoured that thing so fast"

Me: "Oh okay, because I never even saw you go back and eat it."

Steve: "Hmm...actually, maybe I didn't eat it. I don't remember now."

Me: "It's probably still sitting on the counter"

Steve: "Yeah, whatever. I'm over it. Goodnight"

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

My Best Friend is a GENIUS!

My best friend Heather just launched her Hippie Sack business. With her own two hands, she created all kinds of neat handbags and beach bags that are colorful, lovely, and very functional!! With scraps of fabric she found from all over Hawaii, she has managed to put together the most beautiful collection of bags. Go take a look at her website, HippieSacksHawaii. If you want to order one, email her at heather@hippiesackshawaii.com

Heather, you're so talented!! I can't wait until I get my very own hippie sack in the mail! :)

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

And Then We Dreamt of Paint

I wish I could say that we're all moved in to our condo, having fun decorating and arranging all of our furniture, and back to cooking gourmet meals, but unfortunately the only three pieces of property inside the place are two bikes and a futon.

Last Friday at noon, we arrived to find the carpet installers busy at work, just getting started on re-carpeting the condo. As awesome as it was to be getting new carpet, we were a bit annoyed that this meant a delay unloading the Uhaul. Time was of the essence because the Uhaul renter called saying he needed the truck back by 5pm.

We gave the carpet company another hour before we asked if we could park our moving truck where there's was in front of the garage and start unloading. By this point, I was pumped to start getting our stuff out of the cramped truck and into the ever-so-tiny garage...I just wanted to make SOME progress.

By 3:00, Steve and I managed to get EVERYTHING out of the Uhaul. Even the washer and dryer and the 40,000 pound tv. Must be all that spinach I've been eating because I really didn't think I would be able to be of ANY help, let alone help carry our monstrous furniture. You should have seen the look on Steve's face as I lifted my end of the dense leather couch with such ease and grace. He kept telling me how proud and amazed he was. Go me!!!!!

With the first hurdle behind us, we returned the Uhaul, chugged ice cold bevs, and returned to the condo to inspect what was to be our new home. To our dismay, the place was absolutely disgustingly dirty. The previous tenants didn't bother with cleaning...not even the toilets. I thought my toilet was dirty but these were nauseating. I imagined what their moms would think, or even what my mom would say. Before I had the studio cleaned my mom made me clean my toilet, saying it would be embarrasing to have such a dirty toilet for the cleaning lady. How can someone have the audacity to leave such filth in their wake?

Long story short, we called the property manager and demanded cleaning asap. He sent over two craggy college guys (Steve swears one of them was a 40 year old meth addict), but they looked young and harmless to me. They cleaned for about an hour and said they'd come back in the morning to finish. They never came back.

So, here we are: Saturday afternoon, half clean condo, new carpet bits scattered everywhere, boogers on the walls, an annoying alarm sensor that beeps everytime you take a step, and nothing to eat. The property managment is closed for the weekend and we still don't want to move stuff in until it's properly cleaned. ROAR!!!

Steve got a hold of the property manager on Monday and he said he would have the cleaners call to arrange a time to come back (Yeah right!) but he did say we could paint and they would pay for it!!! Let me tell you - we're going all out on this one!!

We decided to paint our bedroom dark grey - and have done so, leaving one white wall. We may or may not paint that white wall yellow, but the grey looks awesome! The guest room/office is going to be brown, the living room olive green, and the bathrooms taupe. We painted last night from 7:00-11:30 and fell to the floor exhausted, but we're doing it all over tonight, and tomorrow night, and probably for the next week! Phew, what did we get ourselves into?!

We are so excited to make this place our own. Steve said we're going to be here for a few years, so we might as well make it comfortable and fun. I can't wait for you all to come visit and see what we've done. I am going to try to take before and after photos if I can find my camera before we get too far along. Look for a future post about that...
Love and miss you all!!

Friday, August 01, 2008

Mother is Always Right

When I told my mom we were staying one night at Motel 6 before the move, she gasped in horror! We tried booking a night at Apple Farm but it was $179! Motel 6 for $50! We arrived after work and our non-smoking room smelled like an ashtray, so I asked if we could move. After a bit of hesitation, we were moved and the second room was a bit better, but still pretty nasty. The tv was from the 70's, greasy remote and all, but luckily the picture wasn't as fuzzy as the one in our first room. I ordered wireless internet for $3.99 and I spent an hour trying to connect and it never worked. The ONLY thing that saved my sanity was So You Think You Can Dance.
I am never going to stay at Motel 6 again! YUCK! Let's hope we get things moved in today so that I have a real bed to sleep in tonight. Moving-in starts in 47 minutes!! Wish me luck!

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Moving is HELL

I've been spending most of my after hours time, working. Packing, cleaning, packing some more, moving stuff to the garage, cleaning again, packing everything into a Uhaul, arranging for a professional cleaning, transferring delicate plants, and loading more stuff into the Uhaul. Two words: moving sucks! We've completed Phase I of the Big Move. Everything Steve and I own is in a 17 foot Uhaul, in my car, or in the studio garage. Together, we have approxiately 12,759 belongings that fit into 4,578 boxes and 73 bins. I thought I threw a lot of junk away?!?! Where did it all come from! By the size of our truck, you'd think we're moving a family of 8 across the country.

We can't move into the new condo until tomorrow after noon, so we're shacking up at Motel 6 tonight. It's gotta beat the last two nights on the hard, cold floor, right?? Plus, they'll have a tv and I'll get to watch So You Think You Can Dance! and all my stress will be forgotten.

Anyway, I really hope we manage to throw half our stuff away before moving it all the way in. If not, I am hiring someone to do the work for me next time.

In closing, I leave you with a photo of The Stain that I've been trying to remove for the past three months. You know that quaint wooden room divider I had set up in between the "living room" and the kitchen? Well, it left the lovely mark below and made me want to kill myself.

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

In Response to My Last Post

Alright, alright, I get it. You all hate me because I live in Paradise, and I'm complaining about it, right?? Well, I KNOW that San Luis Obispo is a nice place to live. It's beautiful, there's lot to do, it's relatively safe and quiet, and the weather is nice. I do enjoy living here, but the part of me that wants to explore and experience new things is taking over! I have never been the type of person who doesn't like change. I live for change! I need stability in my relationships and career...but I want to offset that with adventure in other ways! I want to buy a house and re-model it. I want to live in the middle of a bustling city. I want to grow a garden and raise goats next to my country farm. I want to escape into a conversation with someone who lives much differently than I do.

All I am trying to say is that San Luis Obispo is not the perfect place to live for ME, FOREVER. It may be great for some of you, and it is pretty awesome right now, but I want more for my life than being stuck in one place, good or bad. I never take for granted living here. I appreciate every warm day, every rolling hill, every glistening coastal sunset, and every quaint corner of this place. But, I know in my heart, I can be happy somewhere else too.

As for the poll - the top three things to do in San Luis Obispo were:
  1. Farmer's Market
  2. Hiking in Montana de Oro
  3. Wine Tasting
Pretty good picks, but all I really want to do is watch SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE!!

Thursday, July 24, 2008

"The Most Californian Place in All of California"

Sunset Magazine published an article about the top 10 dream towns and San Luis Obispo made the cut. The article definitely highlights some of the nicer things about SLO, but there's always a second argument. It mentions lots of undergrads roaming around. I don't particularly like this aspect of SLO. I used to be one of those "kids" but now I am a career gal and all I want is to remove myself from the college environment. Yet, everywhere I go, I get this question: "So, you go to Poly?" And when I tell them I graduated from "Poly" (I hate that nickname) three years ago, they look at me with such surprise like 'what on earth could you be doing here if you don't go to POLY!?'

The writer does make a statement about the average housing prices here. If that isn't enough to make you want to stay away, I dunno what is. Even if you work in SLO (and let me tell you, there's not many places to work here), you make a pretty decent salary - wait - make that two pretty decent salaries in your household, you're both responsible with money, and you both have outstanding credit, guess what? You're still not going to buy a house here anytime soon. Not without the help of Grandma's trust fund or the settlement you'll get after "accidentally" splashing chemicals into your eyes at work.

Maybe I am cynical because I have lived here for 7 years and everyone else got to leave and go experience a new place. Hmph! Let me out, SLO!

Anyway, read the article for yourself. It's pretty short. If you've never been here before you can get a glimpse into my life...or not. If you have been to SLO, or even lived here, PLEASE comment and tell me your thoughts about this town. I'm very interested.

Sunset Magazine Top 10 Dream Towns

Also, for your viewing pleasure, here is an article that the local newspaper wrote about its Sunset Magazine pride. San Luis Obispo Tribune

And just in case the honest conservatives of the SLO Tribune feel that some of the comments about the article reflect badly on our quaint town, I have immortalized them below: (and my sweet boyfriend made a lovely comment at the bottom - alias "Jonny")

Posted by: kenfield 2008-07-24 11:58:44
Subject: SLO made other lists
The Chamber of Commerce is proud to note that SLO has also appeared on many other magazine top-ten lists: -- It's 4th on White Flight magazine's list of Places to Escape the Horrors of Cultural Diversity, just below Boon, ID -- SLO is 1st on Nuclear Power Weekly's list of Cities to Avoid When the Big One Hits -- BusinessWeek put it 7th on its list of Towns Unsullied by the Stench of Venture Capital or Management Talent -- Chi High, the magazine of Delta Chi fraternity, put it at #9 on its list of College Town Sidewalks Most Covered in Undergrad Vomit -- Cal Poly Magazine listed SLO 11th on its list of Top Ten Cities We Care About, just below Jubail, Saudi Arabia

Posted by: norske 2008-07-24 12:10:39
That was very funny and sadly true.

Posted by: LivinginaSLObubble 2008-07-24 12:17:16
Subject: Paso
I think Paso says it best, "Darn near paradise" Abosolutely, only about 30 minutes north of it. IMHO Is SLO perfect, no, but I havent seen a better place to live yet.

Posted by: prosperity 2008-07-24 12:21:28
Subject: Kenfield is a so smart
I agree with you man. This place isnt all that its cracked up to be. Lots of people have blinders on in this town.

Posted by: beachrat 2008-07-24 12:29:59
Subject: It really is!
SLO is as close to paradise on earth as anywhere we have ever been. The weather, the people, the ambiance, yes it truly typifies California.

Posted by: jonny 2008-07-24 12:59:23
Subject: not so nice anymore!
Maybe it used to be a nice place. Crime has risen dramatically over the last few years, largley due to the town's proximity to Santa Maria and Atascadero. If you like obese 60 year olds who wear the same dirty sweat pants for weeks at a time, this is your place.
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