I woke up sick yesterday, right in the middle of my packing week. Blech!!! I've felt like total crap most of the past 48 hours. Thankfully the Mucinex, throat lozenges, & ibuprofen seem to be doing a good job at knocking back some discomforts associated with hacking my lungs out, irritated throat, and all-over horrible aches (the kind where if ANYTHING brushes your skin, it instantly hurts). I'm doing a bit better today (temp is back to normal after being up most the night shivering while it spiked to 100.8 - that was not fun). I think this contraption Mom sent me a picture of would be perfect right now...I wouldn't have to leave my packing every 5 minutes to blow my nose in the bathroom!!! Genius!!
So far, I've managed to pack all my clothes, linens, bedding, and kitchen things - minus what's in the wash for both. I'm working on the bathroom and decorations tonight. I think I'm going to end up shipping my books and lighter decor stuff by parcel mail. All in all, I'll give you the count on how many rubbermaid boxes I'm able to jam into my RAV4! The plan right now is for six 3gal, three 10gal, nine 14gal, and six 18gal roughneck totes.
I've measured every square inch of packing room in my RAV4 and have this thing down to a SCIENCE.
My lease in SoCal expires the end of January and I've given my notice. I'm heading back down in a couple weeks to weed out my year's accumlation of stuff, pack whatever I can into my RAV4, and roadtrip on home. Thankfully, one of my good friends from back home (M.L.) volunteered to accompany me on the drive, so at least I won't be alone on the return trip home!
Seems like I am making moving a semi-annual event either way. I should be a pro at this by now, eh? Definitely not something I ever wanted to put on my top 10 list of "most experienced at...". I'm so sick of packing up my immediate belongings only to move them to a different location every six months, and never seeing the rest of my stuff which just sits in storage. Hopefully soon I can put down some roots for a good while...a solid year or two would be a nice change, AT THE LEAST!
The job search will be on full-blast come February. Although I'm not limiting my search to just Yakima, it is the place I most hope to find work these days. But, the pickings are slim at first glance. I'll proably end up wherever work actually is. Just not in SoCal. Please. No more SoCal... I'm so sick of fed AND state taxes absorbing nearly 40% of my paychecks, rent being 3x the national average, and gas shooting up last summer to almost $5/gal. Not to mention that very unsettling feeling I would get in the pit of my stomach every time I'd read yet another article about long overdue earthquakes. And don't even get me started on what it's like living in 949, surrounded by SoCal girls (ever see Bravo's Real Housewives of OC? yeah. sadly, it doesn't dramatize far from the truth - at all! I'm dead serious.)
I'm so ready for the PacNW!!
Don't get me wrong. There were some nice things about living in SoCal: convenience to every store imaginable (when you had the money to spend), proximity to the beach (if you like sharing murky water and stinky bay smells with lots of people on the beach - including the SoCal girls who wear their bikinis with their ugg snow boots on an 80+ degree day, just 'cuz it's phat like that), and waking up knowing that it's going to be yet another sunny day (for the 200th frickin' day in a row).
So I learned something about myself with this move: I am a die-hard PacNW girl. Give me my tevas with socks in the winter. Give me my gun-shootin' beer-drinkin' pubmates, from a hole-in-the-wall that doesn't have another like it in the country. Give me my seasons where I can melt in the summer and slide on ice in the winter. I want my country with wide open spaces where there isn't a skyscraper or noisy airport nearby. I want to smell fresh air every day. And I want to hug a pine tree. Yes, you heard me. HUG a pine tree. THIS is where I belong.
I actually hear them chirping outside my door!! I'm sure they must have been there another night this summer before now, but for some reason I notice them tonight.
I close my eyes and can almost believe I'm back home...
I miss the countryside and the sound of nothing but crickets and maybe the occasional coyote or owl.
...oh yeah, and there's the sound of another foreign-made car starting up as well.
Almost home. Almost... Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
Are you watching the Saddleback Presidential forum too? Weird to think all these folks are sitting there talking just a few minutes away from me, as I sit here in my neighborhood coffee shop watching/listening to them by internet, live! Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
a canal runs between my office and my apartment complex, and occasionally there will be some interesting wildlife down there that has trickled in from the nearby nature preserve. while on my way to lunch the other day I saw this stork, as well as a turtle, fish, and some ducks. a nice reprieve from the animals I work with!! ;)
So it's pretty close to official these days... I'm a Californian now (or as close as I'd prefer to come).
My Washington vehicle tabs expired on the 8th, so I had to make an oh-so-fun trip down to the local DMV office to get my plates changed out and my mug shot taken for a new California driver's license. Oh the joys of waiting in line at the DMV!!!
Of course, the online checklist of information I needed to bring with me was insufficeint...and of course the gal behind the counter moved as slow as molasses and treated me like a dipstick for not KNOWING I needed a power of attorney letter from my bank and their tax id info. What the...???
I get the joys of returning for my plates when they are ready, as well as taking the written driving exam in order to get my official CA driver's license.
wooohoooo.
You can take the girl out of the countryside, but you can never take country out of the girl. PacNW or bust!!! One day I'll be back...even if I have to take the long way home.
Yea, I know...it's a pretty foul mood to have over things, but good grief...stuff that I paid a 1/3 the price for back home was 300% safer and nicer than what I'm finding down here! There's gotta be SOMETHING affordable worth living in down here, without resorting to cost-sharing with a complete and utter stranger.
[blech]
There goes making breakfast in my underwear while singing country music at the top of my lungs...
I value my privacy way too much (and something tells me they probably would too!).
I don't think it helps my mood any that I've got massive amounts of quarter-end $h1t to do for work, the d*mn dud date I went out with last weekend never called again, every morning I wake up with five new zits, I have writer's block for my latest artistic outlet, I need a personal assistant / cook / maid for the stuff I can't get to because I work 8am to 7pm, dishes & laundry pile up until the weekend, and Bear's voice sounds like a squeaky toy stuck in the "on" position.
He has a casita / mother-in-law unit attached to the back of his house that he'd be willing to rent, right in my ideal price range! However, I'm up against someone who wants to rent out his whole house, which is his preference. :( Be praying that I get it, or don't, whatever is God's will!
5.4, about 20 miles from me. I'm on the 8th floor of our building, and thankfully (unlike the one in Seattle I experienced) this construction is built to withstand an earthquake. It was a rolling/swaying sensation rather than a jarring/crashing sensation. Quite mild comparitively, but still had my heart racing.
The kitties were wide-eyed and sat staring at me like they were frozen when I went home to check on them at lunch. They were slinking around like they were afraid the ground was going to give-out under them, poor things. Everything in the apartment looked untouched. Nothing out of place: my messes looked just the same as when I left them this morning. ;)
I didn't feel any of the aftershocks, but I guess there were quite a few!
Well, survived my first California quake just fine, thankfully!!
I went on my first-ever yacht cruise yesterday! It was sure a fun experience.
My companies' CEO invited me (2nd string pinch-hitter for another employee that couldn't make it) to accompany his assistant & him for the day on the adventure he was hosting. He supports a group of 20-some foster/troubled/down&out kids in receiving their college education. This trip was to honor their hard-work and give them a taste of the high-life.
Little did he know he's giving this small-town granola gal a taste of the high-life as well!
Before I get into pics & details of the trip, let me just tell you I discovered that "yacht" actually comes from the Dutch word "jacht," meaning "hunting"! I did a wikipedia search and learned it was:
"originally defined as a light, fast sailing vessel used by the Dutch navy to pursue pirates and other transgressors around and into the shallow waters of the Low Countries. After its selection by Charles II of England as the vessel of choice for his return to Britain from the Netherlands for his restoration, it came to be used to convey important persons."
The boat we were on - the "White Night" - was 80-some feet in length, 3 stories, 3 staterooms, crews' quarters, and a crew of 6 plus the captain. The Captain was a funny but true-to-character, lecherous old seaman with an awful mouth; the rest of the crew was very nice...especially the Moroccan chef, who had a beautiful smile... (I could have hung around the galley the whole trip!!!) ;) We were treated to a full-bar, gourmet kitchen & food, and luxurious resting quarters. We sailed out of the Balboa Harbor, went to sea for a little while past Laguna Beach, etc., then turned around and sailed the Balboa channel for a couple hours...oogling stars' houses and all the people out on the water.
Headed out to explore some new territory today...Corona, Fullerton, & Orange. This is a pic on the way to Corona. The town seemed pretty sleepy. Almost like a sprawling Selah. Loved downtown Fullerton - a lot of cute Mom & Pop shops.
I just got back from lunch with Aunt Audrey & Uncle Don - what a nice surprise to be able to visit with them down here in California! I'm sorry to hear of your loss, though. Hope you are at least able to enjoy your time with family and some of our unseasonably warm weather while you are here. Thank you for driving into town! I was glad to have been able to catch up with you briefly. And a very Happy Anniversary to you as well. :)
I will let you know when I plan to be back in WA, sometime towards the end of May!
I have been growing my eyebrow in for the past couple months in hopes of finding a good 'eyebrow specialist' down here to help me get the 'perfect arch' I've always dreamed of! LOL I've been so fed-up with my attempts at it that I've even toyed with the idea of going into L.A. to see one of the people that work on the stars...and look at it as an investment in my personal grooming well-being. (Good grief.)
I did a search on yelp.com this weekend for anyone, someone, who might be a better alternative for proximity & pricing. I found several outstanding reviews for this little place about 15 minutes from me that does eyebrow 'threading.' Feeling adventuresome (& mostly just sick of all the overgrowth above my eyes!), I hoped in my car & bit the bullet!
$7 & lots of hair lighter, I emerged with a decent-looking new eye-framing look. Albeit a little thinner than I had hoped, still a big improvement over what they had been looking like!! And for the price I can't really complain at all. Just wish I had done a before for this after. You'll just have to trust me - it's a big improvement. :)
The threading technique was very interesting to watch. The gals were all Indian, and there was an Indian-version of MTV or VH-1 playing in the background on the TV (I think they call it Baliwood?). They hold on end of the thread in their mouth while twisting the other parts of it to capture & pull the hair. It doesn't even hurt, really. Kind like sharp tugs at the skin. Here's a video I found on YouTube about "threading"...
They also do henna tattoo art there too! Next time I go, I'd like to allow a little extra time to get a small one on my inner wrist. I think it lasts for a couple weeks before it washes off. How fun! All kinds of new cultural experiences to be had here!
Speaking of cultural experiences, I met someone fromTanzania by the pool this afternoon! Talk about random.
