long time no see

It has been a while since my last post, and in that time we drove across the country (for 3 days), spent the night at our new place on an air mattress that refused to stay inflated, received and unloaded our pod/cube thing, walked at the marina, and have been to target a million times.  I did manage to keep up with posting a few things here and there on Facebook, so if you were checking in there over the past week you've probably seen most of the important stuff.  Here is a recap of the past week just in case you missed it :)

The drive:  It was really long but totally tolerable.  We made it in 3 days staying overnight in Albuquerque, NM, and then in Barstow, CA.  Our old car totally rocked it...not a single problem.  We even got better gas mileage than we expected considering how completely loaded our car was.  Frannie was a trooper and snoozed pretty much the entire way.  She barely made a peep.  We tried to start the drive as early as possible each day, but free hotel breakfast didn't start until 6am.  

This was the view for much of the early part of the trip.  Lots of Fallout jokes.  

Yay...we were very excited to see this sign.  

It was getting hot hot hot...it made me doubt the fabled cool weather of the bay area.  Even just 45 minutes south of Oakland it was still 95 degrees.  

Eventually the drive started to look like this...European countryside?  

The arrival:  We got to our place around 4pm on Thursday afternoon.  Ilya had a cot.  He has been living in our place at least 1 month prior to my arrival with just a cot.  Poor guy.  He immediately unloaded the car and then we went on a little tour of our new hood.  I was busy talking on the phone with out landlord during most of the tour because when we tried to get into my studio space, there was someone else's lock on the door.  Needless to say, we broke in and found that someone had been using the space.  Everything is cleared up and her stuff is cleaned out...I was annoyed.  

Part of the tour of our new hood :)  very exciting.  

At the marina, I forgot to take pictures while the sun was up.  It was kind of hazy and losing light...neat nonetheless.  

I'd like to say that I spent the first night comfortably on the air mattress, but sadly, that wasn't the case.  The air mattress had a hole, and I spent the night mostly on the wood floor.  Ouch.  The next day, Friday, our pod/cube thing arrived!  Ilya had it unloaded by 3 pm and the truck came to pick it up later that afternoon! Since then we've been shuffling and unpacking boxes.  We plan on having most things unboxed by this evening.  I've installed some shelving in the bedroom and am building a desk desk today.  We found a cool dresser at this awesome resale/salvage place and are picking it up today (it is solid wood and super heavy so we had to enlist a pal).  Once it is here I can get to sanding and refinishing!  The place is kind of a scattered mess, but I will post pictures ASAP!    

The slowest gas pump in the world

The apartment is empty, and there is very little evidence of my existence left in my former studio. The pod is packed...hopefully on its way, and the car is loaded to the top. Frannie sits on my lap, whimpering in protest, not being able to move freely about the cabin. The sun is coming up and we are rolling out. First stop, the gas station, second stop, Albuquerque! It's been a painful couple of days packing our whole life into a tiny cube, dealing with our adorable lemon of a pup, and trying to unload the washer and dryer. Thanks to some great friends and family, we are finally hitting the road! We love you and will certainly miss you. See you in Cali, as I assume all of you are checking your calendars and reserving your flights to come visit...

The empty closet

The empty studio

My studio door sign in the trash :(

Early morning gas stop on our way out of town

less than a week...

In less than a week we will be on the road to California.  The cube should be here tomorrow evening and we will celebrate Independence Day by loading it up with all of our belongings.  We are hoping to be done with packing and loading my studio on Wednesday so I can turn in the keys.  I sure will miss that place.  Lots of late nights and hard work happened there.  I practically lived there on my couch off and on (depending on deadlines of course).  I procrastinate with the best of them.  Mamaw and Papaw are coming to visit on Thursday and Mom and Dad will be here Saturday.  Kelley will be around at some point this weekend as well...hoping to have some good time with family and friends before leaving the Lone Star State.  I am fully expecting to have visitors in California once we get settled so start saving your pennies for a ticket and plan your trip!   

Donate, sell, trash, keep, and maybe.

We started cleaning the closet out yesterday.  Staying true to most of my cleaning efforts in the past, I got about half way through (at least I made it to the messiest part of the process) and ran out of steam.  This means of course, that everything has been pulled out of the closet and is now in piles (I use the term "piles" loosely) all over the room.  Donate, sell, trash, keep, and maybe.  Ugh.  Moving is the pits.  You'd think after my many moves, I might have learned not to hang on to so much stuff.  Stuff and I have a love/hate relationship.  I certainly don't need much of it and will be happier when it's gone.  Woo.  

The class I am teaching is almost over which means things are crazy on that end.  It is going well, but who wants to pack after being up to their elbows in art stuff all day?  Not me.  Looking for energy and motivation in the form of naps and the promise of better weather for now.  Also, looking forward to making the new place nice and homey...ready to get a fresh start :)

I'm melting

Is it too much to ask for some clouds and a cool breeze?  I am not looking forward to the super heated summer we are headed towards.  It is already melty outside but we are scheduled to hit triple digits over the weekend.  Things are not looking good for a heat stroke free move.  Bummer.  Check out the difference...

Woo!

Slow going

I haven't really done much as far as packing goes.  It has been really busy with the class I am teaching this summer and trying to get some other stuff finished up before the big move.  I guess I'm saving all of the really fun stuff for when Ilya arrives on Wednesday...laundry, packing, purging, taping, lifting, sweating, cleaning, etc.  I'm sure he's thrilled.  I'm excited to have him home :)  so we can get to our new home in one piece.  

The Relocube

This nifty little guy works just like a POD only the price is right.  It is a 6' deep, 7' wide, 8' high "cube" that will be dropped off at my apartment and picked up and shipped to our new place once we are done packing it.  Pretty neat.  Also a good way to encourage efficiency.  No extra stuff is going in that tiny cube.  It will be just like a game of Tetris...with furniture and boxes.  Fun.  I am relieved to have the Relocube scheduled, that's at least one thing checked off of my never ending list of stressful things to worry about.  

Getting our move on.

location location location

The countdown has begun!  Just 22 days until we begin our trip to California, our new home.  The next few weeks will be filled with packing, planning, and of course all of the regular life obligations still to be completed here in Texas.  At least there is one thing we don't have to worry about for now, and that is finding a place to live.  A few weeks ago we secured a small bungalow located at the very northern tip of Oakland, just below Berkeley.  Ilya is living there now sleeping on a cot, but it will be new to me and our stuff.  The whole process of organizing a move across the country is pretty daunting.  It also seems like a pretty good time to purge ourselves of excess stuff.  I am very excited about getting rid of lots of things I never use.  If I haven't touched it in the past year, it must go!  I'm sure there will be exceptions of course, but for now, that's the rule.  Throwing things away is harder than it sounds.  I liked it when I got it.  What if I want or need it later?  I don't want to rebuy something.  Isn't this the stuff hoarders say?  I have started getting rid of things a little but the real purging process won't begin until Ilya arrives.  He always encourages me to get rid of stuff quite happily (I assume it has to do with the fact that he does most of the heavy lifting).
We are very lucky to have found such a nice place!  The whole rental process was kind of stressful.  It isn't like Texas where there is an abundance of large, well kept, affordable apartments.  You pretty much have to be the first in line with your money and the promise of your first born child in order to secure a place, then you sign in blood and promise not to burn candles.  

The new place is full of quirky little additions to the interior, designed by the owner and landlord, an architect from Berkeley.  I can't decide if white floors are exciting or terrifying.  I am pretty excited about the outdoor space and studio at the new place.  It will be great having a designated work space so close to home, but not IN my home.  Here are some pics of our new digs...I'll post more of the inside once we get our own stuff moved in.  

The front of our new digs

The yard

The living room with stuff that isn't ours

Studio space off the yard.  It doesn't look like much now...

Into the kitchen  

Peek into the bedroom with a strange cabinet