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!