Home Sweet Home

I've got lots of pictures for you guys today! And best news of all, I'm writing this from the comfort of my own desk. The cable man came this morning and set us up with internet and cable TV. woo hoo!

Alright, so lets start the show...

This is what our first two days in our new place looked like. Nothing but suitcases and a little airmattress:


So fortunately, our furniture arrived on Saturday morning and we got to work, putting everything in its place. Here's a little tour of our itty bitty, happy little home:

Standing in the kitchen, looking into the living room:


Another of the living room, from the front door:


Our sweet as pie bedroom. Thankfully you can't see all the stuff we've shoved underneath the bed!!


In the bedroom, looking towards the living room:


I also attempted to take pictures of the kitchen and bathroom, but they're both such small spaces that you really can't get a good picture.

So that's our place. We love it so much! And everyday we open our windows and just enjoy the sounds of the city.

Melissa

Day four.

In less than 24 hours we managed to put most of our puzzle together.
We found the appropriate place for the couch,
hung a lifetime worth of photographs on our walls,
we found a spot for my great grandmothers china dishes in the kitchen
and slept as soundly as I think we've ever slept in our own bed,
in our own bedroom,
in our city.

Last night, just after we turned out the lights from a busy day of unpacking
Brent began to laugh.
My eyes were closed when I asked, what's funny?
You'll never believe what I just saw out our bedroom window, he said to me.
What?
A man in a wedding dress and blonde wig, pulling a suitcase just walked by.
We both giggled.
Oh San Francisco, how weird and wonderful you are.

Sometime during the night,
a neighbor decided to do some decluttering
and left a giant pile of odds and ends on the sidewalk beneath our window.
All night, and all morning,
people of all sorts have been stopping by.
Homeless people, eclectic middle aged women wearing purple and straw hats.
Moms with strollers, men in sandals and socks,
They've all stopped and rummaged through the free for all in front of our window.

They can't see us.
We're just out of sight up above them.
But I keep sticking my head out of the window to see who's out there now,
finding something to take home with them.

We couldn't help but join in,
afterall, the WHOLE neighborhood had atleast taken a look.
So we got ourselves a might fine bright blue milk crate.
And Brent bungee corded it to the back of our scooter.
And just like that... voila! We have a trunk for our scootie.

I can think of ten things I plan to put in it.
Like green curtains for our living room, and bananas, and
a new DVD player if I can figure out a place close by to buy one.

Today Brent and I took our first long scooter trip.
(a whole 7 minute ride!)
We took Fulton St. all the way west,
and landed at the ocean.
The pacific pales in comparison to the lovely, golden Carolina shores.


Everything was gray. The sky, the sand, the water.
And there were a million jelly fish on the beach.
But it smelled like the ocean,
and the breeze felt distinctly familiar
and there were dogs dancing in the surf.
And we were both happy to have the experience and
plan to go back soon.

We also saw a beautiful Windmill and a herd of Buffalo in Golden Gate Park


We hiked to the top of Buena Vista Park with the dogs
and got a glorious view of the whole city and the bay.
Check out this beautiful view!!


Here is Brent standing at the corner of our street Baker, and Haight St. The green area behind, and the stairs lead to the trails of Buena Vista park. How fortunate we are to live so close to such a beautiful natural area!!



So after our day of adventures, we came home, made turkey sandwiches with mac n cheese
and spent a really long time
just looking around our apartment,
with walls full of pictures of people we love and familiar things,
and tried really really hard to grasp the idea
that this is HOME.

PS. I just read this aloud to brent. Afterwards he said to me, honey, are you about to cry? And I said, No. Not at all. I'm just... so overwhelming happy. Just beyond happy right now. And he said... well, there's that... and the fact that you've been drinking wine. So yes, maybe a little tear did form in my eye... a mix of joy, sentimentality, and two buck chuck.

P.P.S. Brent and I both swear that Mr. Miyagee (from karate kid) just walked by! Goatee and everything!

Wax on, Wax off,
M

2 blogs. 1 day.

I think this is the best day I've had all year.
Just Brent and the dogs and a gallon of light green paint.
Our kitchen is a pale creamy green, and our bathroom the same.
And my elbows and fingernails match.

I am 10 feet from brent.
Facing him.
I am writing and he is singing and playing guitar.
The dogs are curled at my feet and my hip.
And I am astounded at how peaceful I feel right now.

Lately I've been battling anxiety.
More than I've had in a long while.
And I always try to think mind over matter
and bring myself down from the brink,
but still, they've been happening when I least expect it.
In the bed at 11pm, during breakfast, or just when I'm driving and stopped at a red light.

As soon as my mind has an inch of time to spare,
I'd start worrying. Consumed by what ifs.

Right now I'm reading a book
that's teaching me to let go.
To follow what this big world holds for me
and stop worrying about the future and just
really enjoy what is right in front of me , right now.

And that's what I'm doing at this moment.
I am enjoying the smokey voice of my husband
and the mellow sounds of his guitar.
I feel the warmth of my dogs curled into me.
And oh the joy I find in putting these words down.

I think this is the biggest thing I've ever done in my life.
Well, besides getting married.
That was probably the biggest.
But this is a close second.
I am days and days and miles away from anyone who can save me.
In this city, all I have is twelve foot ceilings, and my husband, and God.
And today, like the tide washes the sand clean,
I realized that I have all I need to be made new again.

Later I'm going to find a good place to do a handstand.
Just to make the day complete.

M

Afloat.

We are home.
our new home.
Yesterday was quite an experience.
Our little dogs, Bailey and Gibson did wonderfully on their cross country flight.
Making nothing more than an occasionaly whimper despite the fact that they
were stuck in small softsided carriers for more than 7 hours under our plane seats.

I've never traveled with so much luggage!
Four suitcases, 2 dog carriers, a book bag and my purse.
A cab dropped us off in front of our apartment
and our apartment manager was waiting for us at the door with key.
Once inside we dropped everything to the floor.
We were beyond exhausted.

But our excitement overtook our exhaustion and we grab the dogs leashes
and went exploring.
up and down the streets around our home,
criss crossing here and there.
Look! A Paint store!
A coffee shop!
A vet hospital right around the corner!

All the while, Gibson and Bailey were prancing on the sidewalks
as if they had spent their whole life in a city.
We ate lunch in a coffee shop/sandwich place/bicycle store.

Then we got down to business.
We had nothing in our empty apartment but our suitcases full of clothes and books.
and we knew we'd be needing somewhere to sleep for a few days until
our furniture arrives.

A taxi took us to Bed Bath and Beyond where we bought a single sized airmattress
(we only need one for three days and spending $150 on the full size one seemed excessive)
We bought a soft blanket, a pillow, and an ipod speaker station so we'd have some tunes.

Once we got it all set up we both stood there in silence.
Man, a single bed is really, really small.
We laid on it in the middle of the living room listening to music
and debating what to do next.

Brent suggested a bottle of wine to celebrate our first night home.
Minutes later, we found ourselves lying on our single mattress again,
sipping a really nice sonoma Cabernet straight from the bottle.
Our wine glasses have yet to arrive.

We debated dinner. It was 7:30pm, (10:30pm Eastern Time)
and I could barely hold my eyes open any longer.
We fell asleep when there were still bits of yellow sunset on our walls.

The two of us and our little dogs, all packed so tightly on a single sized airmattress
in the middle of an empty room.
Like refuges afloat on a life raft in the middle of an ocean.

I woke up in the middle of the night freezing.
It gets so cold here at night.
and I've yet to wrap my head around the fact that from now on,
my Junes and Julys will require scarves and occasionally gloves.

I am writing to you from a little restaurant across the street from our house.
We are all safe and sound and deliriously happy to be here together.
Today's adventure: paint the kitchen, and buy a portable space heater.

I miss you all already.

Love,
M

Wake me up in San Francisco

I didn't mean to go this long without posting,
it's just that I had no idea...
no idea
how much time this move would take from us.

Brent said to me over lunch today,
well babe, I think we are officially strapped into this rollercoaster.
We bought our tickets months ago,
but right now, we are tick tick ticking up that first hill of the ride.

His analogy was dead on.
strapped in we are.
Today our moving truck came.
They loaded our furniture,
our boxes,
clothes, all of it.
and drove away into the sunset.

as i write this I am sitting in a folding metal chair that i found in the storage room
all that's left are a few things to go to storage.
I am basking in the quietness of a house with no tvs or radio.
the dogs keep running room to room confused by the lack of furniture,
and my Ellie,
my big fat lover of a cat left for her temporary new home.
Brent's brother Jonathan and his girlfriend Debbie
have graciously offered to care for her for us.
I feel like I'm leaving a family member behind,
but I know she'll be much happier with a new puppy to lick and a big backyard to explore.

I can't believe we're less than a week away.
it seemed so far away for so long.
I'm too tired to write something cute or imaginitive right now.
I'm barely able to write competent sentence.

I have been traveling so much for work
that trying to balance this big move,
the flights and workload of my job,
and all the other needs of life have just worn me out.

I wish I could sleep for a week.

M

560 square feet of sweet heaven

Oh little bit apartment.


Finally, finally pulled these pictures off my camera.

Welcome to 561 Baker, our own little slice of San Francisco joy:

A Sunnier, larger picture of our building. I was standing in the door of a great little sandwich place when I took this picture:


Here is the yellow rose bush I fell in love with the day we went to sign our lease:



Step through the front door into the hallway that leads to our front door:


Our place is so small that it is really hard to get a good picture of the rooms. Here is the living room. I plan to paint it a really really light seafoam color:


Oh! The tiniest kitchen ever. but the good news is it has a full size range (some places we saw had tiny little stoves) and it has a dishwasher - a girl's best friend!!



This is our bedroom. We're going to keep it this pretty green color. There is one tiny closet in the corner.



And Finally, A picture of me and the hubby at Golden Gate Park. This beautiful piece of land is just a short scooter ride up Fulton St. from our house. There is a Japanese Tea Garden, An Arboretum, and acres and acres of the most beautiful foliage.




So now that you know what our place looks like, get your booty over to orbitz to book a plane ticket!! We just bought an awesome 1950's sofa that lays down into a bed...so we've got room for ya.

M