Tuesday, December 27, 2005

Quick Update.
It's been a while since the last post, so I thought I should update. We just painted the living room and dining room of our apartment. Previously, the walls had been a mauve color that really brought out the BRAND NEW brown swirly carpet! It looks much better. Unfortunately, our camera is busted, so no pictures available. But the dining room is a buttery yellow, and the living room is "seaweed" green, or an avocado. The bedroom will turn light blue soon. I am just excited to finally be able to put stuff up on the walls, and already feel more at home. It's amazing how much color can affect you. The mauve was so depressing to me, and I felt disappointed every time I walked in the door. Our hallway is still that color... But it could be handy to keep, just to show people how much better things look in contrast!
On another note, we will be leaving for Oregon on Thursday to spend time with Jeff's family and to see Joy and Chris. We are so excited, a little anxious about the freezing weather, and glad for a change of scenery (and to be away from the paint fumes!) We have really enjoyed having family all over the place to go and visit-- though I have to confess I'd much rather have you down the street! Guess I can't have everything (everyone.) I am just thankful to be closer to the ones here, and the great fortune of actually being able to travel and see everyone. So wonderful!

Monday, December 05, 2005

Installed!
It was swift, almost painless. At 2 p.m. on Saturday, friends began showing up at our South Pas apartment, eventually making twelve, including strong, ambitious nephew E. By 3:30, all seven cars were loaded to the max, and it was about 4:30 or so when all of our belongings landed in our new territory. It was actually pretty shocking for a transplant to just happen that quickly. We're still trying to catch up-- like jet lag with moving. Move lag? Anyway, I have said a few times that it was really kind of a "warm fuzzy" way of moving into a neighborhood-- having all of our new neighbors so happy to have us there that they would actually physically make it happen! Aunt Robin really enriched the experience by baking and sending over a HUGE batch of chocolate chip cookies. I almost felt guilty handing them our to our moving friends, since it looked like I had actually spent time baking cookies for friends in the middle of packing. I quickly denied it, explaining that my aunt must have just known what we would be needing at this point in the day.
As I said, we are still trying to figure out what happened, and what to do next. Jeff is thrilled that his bus trip to school and back will be quite a bit shorter. We have great views of the Whittier hills from our apartment. I am looking forward to doing a little gardening around here (I have been confined to pots up until now!) We had M&M over for dinner last night, and it was such a nice experience to have neighbors over for a meal, and wonderful to know that these times will be much more frequent than we could have dreamt of while living in Pasadena.
More on the actual apartment next time. Maybe I'll even figure out the photo thing.