Adventures in Moving: Part 4 (What Was I Thinking?)

I made excellent progress tonight unpacking the kitchen, so in honor of National Ice Cream Day I'm digging into pint of Haagen-Dazs Chocolate Chocolate Chip and doing a little celebration dance while I blog. I have only two boxes left to unpack, and they may stay packed until I find a dining room set because they're just the right height for my laptop, given the only seat in the house right now besides the bed is an end table. And so far, I haven't caught myself saying, "Now I wonder where that thingy is...." which means the remaining boxes likely don't contain anything I desperately need.

In case you're wondering about the title for this blog, don't worry. I am not regretting my decision to move or anything of the sort. But in the process of unpacking, I realized the pre-move "junk purge" missed some things. I thought it would be entertaining to look at a few items that probably should have hit the junk bin, but that came along for the ride anyway.



This is a board game I've never unwrapped. I think I had a bachelorette party or some gag gift occasion in mind and thought this would be the perfect thing and I'd never find it again. Apparently I rethought my choice, because I still have the darn thing, Single ladies? Any takers?



These were intended to be birthday gifts for my nephews following my trip to Ireland. I was there in December of 2006. Uh, hello...that was 3 years ago! I really pulled a Mom on this one, and stored these away in the top of my closet, where I promptly forgot about them (a trick my Mom always managed to pull off annually when we were kids). The moment to give these without a long-winded explanation has passed now, plus the jersey won't fit the intended nephew any more. Anyone?



The banana stands are testament to the hazards of keeping half your life in boxes for 5 years. I knew I had a banana stand...somewhere. When I went looking for it and couldn't find it, I thought I was deluded and only imagined I owned one, so I promptly bought another. Now, I like bananas, but I sure don't need 2 ways to hang 'em. The black wrought iron one stays. The other just hit the trash.



You're probably thinking to yourself, "That is the UGLIEST plate I have ever seen! Who in the world would want that?" I kept this a proof I am NOT an artist! Everyone who sees my scrapbooks seems to think I have this hidden artistic talent, but this specimen is proof to the contrary. The plate was my first attempt at painting pottery. We went to one of those "Color Me Mine" places for Molly's birthday a few years ago. It was fun as a group outing, but the final product wasn't exactly what I had in mind. So much for my career as a painter....



Yeah, I know what you're thinking. "Exactly how drunk was she when she bought this?" I can confirm alcohol, as well as peer pressure from my co-workers, was involved. I got this at the Saddle Ranch Restaurant at Universal Studios in Hollywood. Dinner out was our summer fun event back when I was a claims manager, and all my employees were pushing to get me on the mechanical bull. Buying and wearing this thing was the only way I could get out of the bull ride. Of course, the funniest part of the night was leaving, running into Keanu Reeves (yes, THAT Keanu Reeves) in the parking garage elevator (still wearing the hat, of course), and getting so flustered it took me 20 minutes to find my car.

With a story like that, the hat will be with me for a while.

Adventures in Moving: Part 3

Well, I'm making progress. The hardest part of the day was actually getting out of bed, which involved 15 minutes of stretching my still-aching calves and taking 2 Advil to get me going. With that little feat accomplished, I managed to get the rest of the bedroom and living area boxes unpacked. I still haven't tackled the kitchen, but isn't that why God created restaurant delivery?

So now I can share some A.D. (that's after decoration photos). Here we go...

Bathroom...or as like to call it, The Spa!





Bedroom/living area....





Here's a better shot of the rug. This is the one I got in Turkey on my Mediterranean cruise last year. I think I had this room in mind somehow when I bought it, and now it gets to be out in full view! In my old place, it was partially hidden under the bed.





I put my CD's in storage to free up some space in the entertainment center. Perfect spot for my signed puck collection! Ovie is on top of the pyramid, the second row is Drew (left) and Sully (right) and the bottom three are Jon Quick, Matthieu Garon, and Jamie Lundmark.



And even though I didn't want roommates, there will always be room in my life for Sid the Kid.



Maybe a little change of scenery for Sid is a good thing. Hopefully it means better luck tomorrow against the Red Wings!

I am off to bed. Tomorrow is my first day back to work post move, and I have a new morning routine to figure out...

Adventures in Moving: Part 2

The movers came this morning at 8:45 am, and exactly 3 hours later they had me moved in, furniture assembled, to the new place. Without a doubt, the best $233 I have ever spent.

My day, of course, started 4 hours earlier with two last minute loads of laundry, and final packing to empty dresser drawers, etc. And continued until 5 minutes ago....

I have been on my feet the entire day, except when I made a couple of phone calls, incidentally placed to give me an excuse to sit down for 5 minutes. My calves are screaming. My arms are so bruised I look like a heroin junkie. I tore two fingernails down to the quick, and my right thumb is throbbing. I ate twice today, if you count a Diet Coke and a vending machine bag of White Cheddar Cheez-Its a meal. I have barely touched the kitchen, and everything else is about half unpacked. My refrigerator has nothing in it but 2 sports bottles of water and a bottle of champagne. I cannot recall the last time I was so physically exhausted. I'm going to sleep like a dead person tonight.

And you know what else...I'm happy. I'm going to love it here.

Adventures in Moving: Part 1

Today was a great but exhausting day of what I've decided to call "Adventures in Moving." It's the only way I could come up with to make a basically painful process seem like more fun than it is. After picking up the keys to the new place, and completing my move-in condition inspection, I made 3 trips to get the closet and bathroom successfully moved. This way, no matter what happens tomorrow I'll have a way to shower and find clean clothes.

Since I'm beat and have a long day tomorrow, I'm keeping this short. But there is always time for a few photos! I call these the B.D. version of the apartment (that's "Before Decoration").

Entryway....



Hallway to the bathroom....



That's a closet with the mirrored door to the right. There's another one just like in on the left side. I love closets!

The Powder Room :)



My small but functional kitchen....



And the big payoff....the bed/living room with one entire wall of windows!! I gotta admit, this is what sold me on the place when I saw it.



And I know I'm officially here because I already have mail. How about that?



And a nice "welcome wagon" package from the building. Two spas to try out, delivery menus, maps of downtown, coupons for everything.



Now I just need to figure out where Starbucks is....

Time to Say Goodbye...

Today at 4 PM, I signed the lease on my new apartment and the next phase of my life in Los Angeles. Tomorrow morning, I get the keys and officially start moving in. And while I get exhausted thinking about it, I'm running out of room to walk around the house since the official box count is up to 50. That doesn't even include the miscellaneous unboxed stuff that will travel in my car.



One of the sadder things I did today was say goodbye to the regular weekday staff at my favorite Starbucks on Huntington Drive. They have seen me every morning for the past 5 years. In addition to knowing my drink and breakfast sandwich order without me even asking, they always give me my first smile of the day. They're all such wonderful people, we're almost like a little family. As much as I'm looking forward to the new place, I will miss them. And now I have to train a new bunch of baristas...

Back at home, I passed my status board downstairs on the fridge. Since I travel quite a bit for work, it seemed like thoughtful thing to do to let my roommates know when I'm gone. That way they would know when they had the opportunity to enjoy unlimited bathroom access and not have to tolerate my hockey watching. So I guess it's time for one last update...



And away I go....

The Princess and the Cone

Last weekend while Nadine and I were shopping, her husband was giving their dog Sasha a bath and discovered some kind of big puss-filled boil on her neck. Things that ooze yellow generally aren't any better news for dogs than they are for people, so they took her to the vet. Miss Sasha had somehow ruptured an eardrum, and the infection was draining into her lymph nodes. Yuck!

So after a shave-down of the infected area, a good drain with a tube and an overnight stay at the emergency vet, poor Sasha is suffering the indignities of life in a cone. She looks ridiculous and un-princess-like, but in lovable doggie fashion, she's maintained her normal sunny disposition.



Her biggest problem is running to EVERYTHING cone first...the other dogs, the furniture, the back of people's legs - you name it! It doesn't help that she's a kisser, and the cone impedes her offering everyone a proper greeting. Undeterred, she just rams you with her cone until she gets your attention. I won't bother to tell you what my legs and arms look like after my visit tonight.

But the best way to feel better when you're sick is laugh about it, right? This t-shirt I picked up at Nuts for Mutts a couple of weeks ago came in handy for just that purpose.



If you have an injury prone member of your personal animal family and would like to pick one of these up, here's a link: http://www.dogisgood.com/

We managed to Sasha into it, cone and all! But we couldn't get her posed very well, so this glimpse is all you get.



Although if you really want a laugh, nothing beats a little live action. Because a dog in a cone is funny no matter how you look at it...



Get better Sasha! And thanks for letting Auntie Meg have a little fun at your expense.

Weekend Recap: Retail Heaven

This weekend was all about shopping. Why, when I'm now paying almost 10% sales tax (thank you Governor Terminator...) and doubling the cost of the roof over my head in 7 days would I want to go shopping. Because sometimes, as the illustrious Tom Cruise said in Risky Business, you just gotta say "What the &%^$!"

There was a practical purpose to some of my shopping. In the spirit of starting fresh with the move into the new place, I am also leaving behind my old furniture lest my roommates go back to sitting on the floor where they were before I moved in. That means new stuff! And unlike the last time I bought furniture, when my choices were influenced by an ex-boyfriend who disagreed with me on just about everything, I am getting EXACTLY what I want. Last time I wanted leather, but the BF whined "It will be hot and sticky in the summer! We'll freeze in the winter." I knew there was a reason I ditched him. So this time, leather it is!

So my first stop was the high-end furniture store around the corner from my office that's going out of business next month. They actually gave me some pretty good prices, and the pieces they sell are mostly Henredon, Drexel-Heritage...expensive non-Ikea quality stuff that I could never afford before. Here are some of my favorite pieces. Opinions?







The table has a lazy susan in the middle (the marble piece spins), which is kind of cool but sort of limiting at the same time. Undecided on that one.

Then I met Nadine for some outlet shopping, and we saw these at Restoration Hardware. For an outlet, their prices weren't that great, but at least I know where I can find the style of chair I want.



The impractical part of the shopping day revolved around the typical girlie stuff...shoes, bags, Rocky Mountain Chocolate....you know the drill. Although this was my first major shopping trip with my iPhone, so I posted pix of Nadine on Facebook trying on these beauties....Cole-Haan, 50% off...





Alas, no purchase in spite of Facebook encouragement from Michelle and my friend Jillian. In Denie's defense, they're a tad high for standing for any length of time, especially when you've broken a toe recently falling over your dog. Beauty is pain, but walking is essential.

Not to worry, we got plenty of other bargains....and bags!



Now I just have to pack it up and move it this week! T-6 days and counting....