Happenings

Guys, moving is hard. Everyone else in the world knows that but I didn't. I didn't, because every other time I've moved in my life, I've had a few suitcases of possessions and not much else. Now, however, I am a Grownup, who is in a Relationship, and who has Lived in the Same Place for 3.5 Years. This means that while the packing could (and did) happen haphazardly, the unpacking can't, because then you wind up not knowing where anything is. And that is the situation I'm in now. A week after moving we finally uncovered our silverware. Hurrah! And yesterday Mike found all my jewelry in a bag of hangers, after I had thought it was lost forever.

On the upside, we are completely out of our old apartment, and it is spackled and sparkling. Seeing it all empty made me remember how in love with it we were when we first moved in - much like, I imagine, you might look back on a relationship you were walking away from. It had to happen, but you're still a little sad it's over, given how excited you were at the beginning. See, the beautiful bay windows?

So now we turn our attention once again to the new place. Aside from hunting down missing possessions, many many things have been done around the new apartment. As previously stated, there was much painting. Also furniture assembly, cupboard organization, huge-rubber-tub stuffing, and lightbulb replacing. Things are starting to come together, as evidenced by my Sunday afternoon spent reading on the porch with a cat of unknown origin. He is called Big Boy by the others in our building, and he lives in our backyard during the day. At night, no one knows.

You can view some of what we've gotten set up so far on my Flickr.

Moving is not all that I have been up to, of course, as evidenced by all the laundry hanging in the picture above. I biked to work again for Bike to Work Day - it was the 4th time, and my fastest, but also a bit dull. Maybe next year I'll take the longer hilly route.

That weekend we went up to Anderson Valley for the Boonville Beer Festival, which was, as expected, a great time. I have lots of pictures, but haven't had time to go through them yet, so they'll have to be for another post. Right now I'm in NYC after a weekend at my parents' agrarian dreamland, where we rode horses and walked through the hills and drank and ate too much. So clearly I have some blog catchup to do.

Yellowstone

Someone created a Facebook group for people who have worked at Yellowstone National Park over the years, and it's amazing. I was there for the summer of 2003, pre-Facebook, and so all my friends are just starting to reconnect. Heading out to Wyoming in my crappy little car was one of the best decisions I ever made, and it looks like others agree. My favorite wall post so far: "Canyon Lodge '85. The summer a buffalo got stuck in the post office for a day or two and we couldn't get mail!"

Yup, stuff like that would happen sometimes.

Ow.

That is how my back feels right now. But it was worth it, because this weekend we moved into our new apartment! I took Friday off work for some Home Depot-ing with my mom, who had flown in to help. We painted the ugly putty-colored kitchen a nice light grey, and avoided killing ourselves on the ladder.

Saturday we - along with our amazing friends - hauled the freakishly numerous contents of our old place into the creaky, beautiful, closet-less glory of our new place. Then we took everyone out for Indian to celebrate. Before going to bed, Mike and I sat on our porch and realized that in San Francisco you just don't sit outside at night very often - it's too chilly. Our porch is protected by a wall of windows, though, and with a wool blanket on my lap, it was heaven. The trees made some very soothing noises.

The house, however, made some super weird noises overnight. I'm not used to such silence, or darkness - our old place had a curtain-penetrating streetlamp right outside our bedroom windows, and living on a busy street meant constant noise. I got very used to it, apparently, because I spent a decent portion of Saturday night panicking when the cats stepped on creaky floorboards or knocked over precariously piled boxes. The cats, I should note, were also freaking out.

Sunday was Mother's Day, and we celebrated by painting even more - the bathroom, this time, in a very bright light blue. It's a bit much, but you know what? It's a bathroom, and it was a pain in the a$$ to paint, so it's staying how it is. Oh! And also! I woke up Sunday morning to TWO tickets on my car - the first night I've parked on the street in 3.5 years. Thank you, city of San Francisco, for being an epic jerk. I cried a little bit, I admit it. On the upside, I was simultaneously comforted by my boyfriend and my mom, which I highly recommend next time you are upset. If you do not have reliable access to a significant other and a mom, I am happy to offer mine.

We capped off our manual labors with drinks at the Cliff House at sunset, which I hope slightly made it up to my mom, who in total spent four days working very hard to help me and my poor apartment. Pictures to come!

My Best Friend is Muslim

Well, not my best friend, but lots of other people's. Actually, my best friend growing up did take Arabic classes, but her Bangladeshi mother and her Methodist minister dad raised her Christian. So, maybe, My Best Friend was Sort of Muslim?

Anyway, that site is pretty heartwarming, and I now have a new imaginary best friend. His name is Najam, and he sounds delightful, in an Oscar Wao kind of way. Enjoy.

Funk

I have been in a little bit of a funk lately. Not a bad funk, but definitely a funk. You know what I mean? When I'm not actively happy or excited, I slip into being dissatisfied or anxious. This is not my natural state, and I'm ready to move on out of it. I am blaming most of it on my insanely long and annoying to-do list, which is chock full o' shitty tasks for our upcoming move. There is so much crap associated with being a grownup. Can I get an amen?

Last time I moved it was cross country, from Boston to San Francisco. I brought three suitcases (thank you, Southwest) full of artwork bundled up in my clothes. My parents shipped a box or two of books, and that was it. I was free as a bird on the wing! Now I own so. much. stuff. And it's not like I buy crap just for the sake of having it (well, maybe pretty dresses that have no place in the Northern California climate) - it's all the kind of things you need to run a household, like plates and mugs and electronics and curtain rods and chairs and oh my god this list could go on forever.

However. It will get done, the move will happen, and my mom is here to help. That woman can pack like nobody's business - watching her fill a moving van is like watching a master play Tetris, only with more cursing.

And once we've moved, I get to take on the task of prettying up what is a lovely but outdated apartment. New linoleum floors, new light fixtures, covering of the kitchen cabinets, and god only knows what else. Will this pull me out of my funk, or drag me deeper into it? Let's take bets!

Lies!

Everybody's Excited About Ross Mirkarimi for Sheriff. You lie, SFist, you lie. I am not excited about Ross being sheriff, because I like having him as my city supervisor. He is freaking RAD. And a little bit of a dreamboat. Amiright?

That's an unfortunate face on his kid, though. It's been a good week for children "ruining" fabulous photo ops.

Tina Feeeeeeeeey

Tina Fey's visit to Google last week (or was it the week before?) was a totally rad experience. I had a meeting that went until just before her talk, so I had to hover in a catwalk to the side of the stage instead of sitting way up front like I had hoped, but I got to watch the whole thing. I just really really love her. The video of the entire one hour talk is on YouTube, but Gawker has also posted a highlights reel. The editing is a bit choppy, but you get the gist - namely, that she is as wonderful as you want her to be.

Brew for all

Via The Kitchn: Brooklyn Brew Shop has a one-gallon, $40 all-grain brewing kit that looks like a great option if you are one of the dozens of people who has told me you'd like to start brewing but that it seems intimidating. It's a super small batch of beer (two six packs), but it'll give you a sense of what goes into the process, and the various types of beer they have on offer look tasty.

I'm a little skeptical of the value of doing only one gallon at a time - this kit is $40, which is the cost of ingredients for a 5-gallon batch - but it's worth it if you don't want to invest the $200+ in the gear (boil pot, carboys, etc) for the larger boil. So do it! And let me know how it goes.

Way better than a dollhouse

As someone with a past interest in Rube Goldberg devices and a current interest in San Francisco, I'm smitten with this dude's crazy toothpick rollercoaster sculpture thing.

It is muy muy rad.

Trust me

Llama Font.

So I pretty much have to keep these right?

That's what I thought.

$Z

I love LearnVest, because their emails are a daily reminder of how financially un-savvy I am. Half the time their articles aren't relevant to me, but even then, they're still (usually) interesting.

For example: apparently, if your last name starts with a letter at the end of the alphabet, you're more likely to be an impulse shopper. Really? Really? The theory is that by the time you're name got called in school, they were all out of birthday cupcakes, or something. You'd think that needing to pay attention for a longer period of time ("Please raise your hand when I call your name...") would make you more patient, not less. But I guess you also learn to get while the getting's good, instead of sitting there, waiting to get shafted. It seems like a pretty limited study, but still, interesting.

Happy to be a B.

I am the worst, I know

Even though I posted an adorable animals video last week, I can't bring myself to not post this one. Behold, a baby penguin being tickled. DID YOU KNOW YOU CAN PET A PENGUIN LIKE YOU WOULD A CAT? I didn't. I also didn't know they were ticklish. This is a big day for me.

Also, the penguin noises are making my cats freak out. I don't know if they want to eat it or befriend it or what.

We're moving!

Last night we signed the lease for an apartment in the Lower Haight. The place isn't perfect, but I'm excited. When I'm not totally panicked.

First, the minuses:

• very little closet space
• small bedroom
• no parking
• no laundry
• more $ than our current place

The pluses:

• private covered deck with storage shed
• a big backyard (that no one is keeping up right now - hello, garden)
• large kitchen and living room
• separate toilet and shower/sink rooms
• lovely Victorian details
• a firepit in the backyard!

On the whole I'm pumped for the changes. It's going to be a pain to give up parking, and it's going to hurt to pay a bit more each month, but we've been in our place 3.5 years and have reaped the benefit of comically low rent for longer than we expected. And a backyard, hooboy. Maybe this will be us!

I've posted many photos on Flickr, more than anyone probably cares to look at. In sum, it's an old Victorian that will probably be cold and dark and make us ready to move someplace new and shiny and bland after a year, but really, I can't get over the firepit. Party time.

Here's a few photo selections. The living room:

More of the living room:

The kitchen (ugly but huge):

The view out the kitchen door onto the porch:

And the backyard:

We are going to fix it up and make it so very very pretty.

Why why why

What is Kate Spade doing to me? A cruiser bike, in bright green, and a line of crazy expensive purses that clip right onto the beautiful sucker.

I waaaant it, especially now that I'm moving to an apartment on the Wiggle. (More on the move later!)