Well, after seven years of living at the Beach, Jon and I are moving inland.
A ghastly 4 miles inland to be precise.
Oh the tragedy of moving so far away. It will now be a 10 minute drive to get to the beautiful sands of Redondo.
Actually, I am still getting used to the fact that we are leaving this neighborhood. So many things I will miss. The pier, the quiet neighborhood, the wild parrots, the drugstore right up the street, and the amazing beach sunsets that we got so used to that we started taking them for granted.
The new neighborhood is a cute tree lined street with little bungalow houses, one which we will be renting - yes, we are still renting....prices are still insanely ridiculous out here for homes. There is a small downtown area nearby with a Fosters Freeze, a small town bakery, and some nice non-chain restaurants. Jon will be able to walk to work as he will be so close to the office. The one thing that I believe is the icing on the cake is the fact that we will have a washer and dryer....one that I will NOT have to feed quarters. YEAH!!!!!!
I wonder if I will still collect quarters like a squirrel collects nuts. There have been times at the store where I will hold up a line just to count out the change in smaller denominations to save the quarters in my coin purse....No more...I will hand over that quarter with glee, unless I find out it is a rare quarter from some special year that is worth more. And I will still hold up the line with coupons.
The place we are renting is a small three bedroom with a fireplace, a little backyard and a HUGE garage. The bedrooms are very small, but I am hoping to fit all the furniture into them.
Well, that is also why I have been so lax on updating the site.
We are in the midst of packing:
Right now I am shoving things into boxes a little haphazard. I dumped all the drawers from the kitchen and living room and labeled it combined junk drawers. Hopefully the movers we hired will know exactly where to put that valuable box.
Trying to purchase new items:
We must find a washer & dryer to buy before April 1st when our sales tax in this state reaches an all time high...what was it again, 90%? I also want to buy an area rug, curtains, and a huge bottle of Excedrin.
Writing a list of places I need to make sure get my change of address:
Whew...so many, I cannot believe we have been in our place for 7 years....too much has accumulated.
Setting things aside for Yard sale:
Well, a couple of days ago a few very expensive items that we could have probably sold to a collector were taken to the goodwill. I tried not to get too upset as I should have said something before, but blast it, they was worth monies.
Stay tuned for pics and for things I will NOT miss! :)
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Sunday, March 08, 2009
The Odds
I started out on Sunday with some shopping and then as I returned home and parked the car I bumped the curb with my right front tire. Thought nothing of it until later that evening and realized I had popped the tire and it was as flat as a pancake.
Well, no worries on that one. Not a big deal. Swapped it out for the spare and then the next day we took it to America's Tire. Yeah, New tire, rotation. Swell!
Then on Friday, we went out to dinner with some friends and we drove through a construction zone. We hit what we thought was a little gravel and I kept hearing a sound come from the rear right tire. Jon figured it had to be a rock stuck in the tread, but all I could think was...not again....so when we arrived at our friend's place I got out to look and sure enough I heard the distinct hissing sound of a punctured tire. It seems that one of the construction workers left a utility blade out on the street and that is what lodged in the tire. Kinda looks like a ninja blade. Yeah, we were hit by ninjas in our beach community.
So, once again the spare was brought out from the trunk. BUT SERIOUSLY....Two flat tires in one week!!! What are the odds?
I have found this week has been full of eating a lot of food. Note to self: STOP immediately before having to purchase elastic waist pants.
I have gone out for lunch a couple of times this week, ate Portillo's sandwiches (makes me miss Chicago) with friends who went out to Buena Park to pick it up and a vast variety of other lovely items. There is a show on the BBC called "You are what you eat" and in the show the host has the person who needs to lose weight write down everything they eat in one week and then they display the entire contents of that one week on a table for the person to see and be horrified by all the food that they have eaten. Well, this week I kept thinking about that table. At least I did get to the gym a little bit.
Hoping I have more time this next week even though I do feel cheated a little cause we just had to "Spring Forward" an hour.
Well, no worries on that one. Not a big deal. Swapped it out for the spare and then the next day we took it to America's Tire. Yeah, New tire, rotation. Swell!
Then on Friday, we went out to dinner with some friends and we drove through a construction zone. We hit what we thought was a little gravel and I kept hearing a sound come from the rear right tire. Jon figured it had to be a rock stuck in the tread, but all I could think was...not again....so when we arrived at our friend's place I got out to look and sure enough I heard the distinct hissing sound of a punctured tire. It seems that one of the construction workers left a utility blade out on the street and that is what lodged in the tire. Kinda looks like a ninja blade. Yeah, we were hit by ninjas in our beach community.
So, once again the spare was brought out from the trunk. BUT SERIOUSLY....Two flat tires in one week!!! What are the odds?I have found this week has been full of eating a lot of food. Note to self: STOP immediately before having to purchase elastic waist pants.
I have gone out for lunch a couple of times this week, ate Portillo's sandwiches (makes me miss Chicago) with friends who went out to Buena Park to pick it up and a vast variety of other lovely items. There is a show on the BBC called "You are what you eat" and in the show the host has the person who needs to lose weight write down everything they eat in one week and then they display the entire contents of that one week on a table for the person to see and be horrified by all the food that they have eaten. Well, this week I kept thinking about that table. At least I did get to the gym a little bit.
Hoping I have more time this next week even though I do feel cheated a little cause we just had to "Spring Forward" an hour.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Cruizin through a busy week
This last week has been a whirlwind. Jon and I decided to get away and take a 3 day cruise to Mexico this last weekend. We left on Friday night and headed down to Ensenada.
The boat was so big that we could not fit it in one pic frame. :) We got a room with a view...well, more of a small porthole view. 
The trip became more of a recovery cruise as I was under the weather with a shot site infection (diabetic stuff) and Jon had sprained both his thumbs skiing on Thursday. I had warned him that if he went on a ski trip right before the cruise something was going to happen...cause that is Murphy's law...and yup, he was hit by a punk snowboarder and bent both of his thumbs in directions they were not supposed to go...as you see in the photo he is wearing a brace in order to heal one of his hands.
We docked in Ensenada on Saturday morning and Jon and I signed up for the wine country tour. Normally you do not think wine when you think Mexico, but we were pleasantly surprised. We ended up bringing back a couple of bottles along with some olives and some olive oil that they had at one winery. Here we are at the wineries. Jon pressing some grapes at the first winery and the both of us in front of the bull ring at the L.A. Cetto winery.
On Sunday, the ship was at sea so we hung out on the deck for a while and I sufficiently burned my legs. After crisping my legs in the sun, we took a long nap as the ship seems to lull you into a deep sleep..rocking back and forth. We also caught the musical reviews they had in the evenings and the two comedians which were pretty good. Everyone at our dinner table was really cool, except for an elderly foreign couple who decided on the first day to change tables....I believe it was because they could not keep up with us. The one thing that we both felt about the cruise was how wonderful, nice and hospitable the staff was. Even when the activities on the ship were a little cheesy, their enthusiam never waved. They made the trip!!!
We returned on Monday and both of us ended up having vertigo once we were off the ship! How strange to be perfectly fine on the ship and then be at home and feel like you have to grab the counter for balance.
We ended this week with a Lakers game on Thursday night. They were playing the Phoenix Suns which was fun because Shaq was there. It was fun to see how the crowd reacted to the old Laker. :) The one thing that made the game even more fun was the HOT burrito that Jon ordered from the stand. It was soo temperature hot, I saw one employee almost quit when she tried to place it on our tray. She yelled, "Oh hell no, I am not dealin' with this" (delivered with ghetto attitude) and a second employee had to come over with a pot holder to transfer the burrito to our tray. I wish she would have given us the pot holder because I tried to move it to make room for our drinks and felt the lava like hotness radiating from the wrapper. It was so hot, Jon was worried that he would be libel for a hole in the ozone. One hot burrito:
This weekend we plan on taking it easy and maybe trying to clean the pit we live in. We hope.
The boat was so big that we could not fit it in one pic frame. :) We got a room with a view...well, more of a small porthole view. 
The trip became more of a recovery cruise as I was under the weather with a shot site infection (diabetic stuff) and Jon had sprained both his thumbs skiing on Thursday. I had warned him that if he went on a ski trip right before the cruise something was going to happen...cause that is Murphy's law...and yup, he was hit by a punk snowboarder and bent both of his thumbs in directions they were not supposed to go...as you see in the photo he is wearing a brace in order to heal one of his hands.We docked in Ensenada on Saturday morning and Jon and I signed up for the wine country tour. Normally you do not think wine when you think Mexico, but we were pleasantly surprised. We ended up bringing back a couple of bottles along with some olives and some olive oil that they had at one winery. Here we are at the wineries. Jon pressing some grapes at the first winery and the both of us in front of the bull ring at the L.A. Cetto winery.
On Sunday, the ship was at sea so we hung out on the deck for a while and I sufficiently burned my legs. After crisping my legs in the sun, we took a long nap as the ship seems to lull you into a deep sleep..rocking back and forth. We also caught the musical reviews they had in the evenings and the two comedians which were pretty good. Everyone at our dinner table was really cool, except for an elderly foreign couple who decided on the first day to change tables....I believe it was because they could not keep up with us. The one thing that we both felt about the cruise was how wonderful, nice and hospitable the staff was. Even when the activities on the ship were a little cheesy, their enthusiam never waved. They made the trip!!!We returned on Monday and both of us ended up having vertigo once we were off the ship! How strange to be perfectly fine on the ship and then be at home and feel like you have to grab the counter for balance.
We ended this week with a Lakers game on Thursday night. They were playing the Phoenix Suns which was fun because Shaq was there. It was fun to see how the crowd reacted to the old Laker. :) The one thing that made the game even more fun was the HOT burrito that Jon ordered from the stand. It was soo temperature hot, I saw one employee almost quit when she tried to place it on our tray. She yelled, "Oh hell no, I am not dealin' with this" (delivered with ghetto attitude) and a second employee had to come over with a pot holder to transfer the burrito to our tray. I wish she would have given us the pot holder because I tried to move it to make room for our drinks and felt the lava like hotness radiating from the wrapper. It was so hot, Jon was worried that he would be libel for a hole in the ozone. One hot burrito:
This weekend we plan on taking it easy and maybe trying to clean the pit we live in. We hope.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Ski Freakout & Downtown Art
I do hope everyone had a good Valentine's Day. We do not do too much for the holiday, but we did get out a bit. The new Dan Graham exhibit opened at the MOCA so we went to the special preview during the day. I really wanted to go in the evening when they were having their opening ceremony with DJs and cocktails and finger foods, but I was excited just to go see it during the day.
Dan Graham: Beyond was interesting and kept us there for quite a while. He experimented with architecture as well as video and performance art. He had one certain room with two cameras, two monitors and mirrors so that you could see yourself walking away as you walked toward yourself...if that makes any sense, but it was really cool and we spent a lot of time trying to turn around really fast and see what it looked like....which we could because one camera was on delay. That room was worth the entire trip there. so cool.
Right before visiting the gallery, we had lunch at a place that I will DEFINITELY go to again. It was a little French Dip sandwich place called Cole's French Dip. Clink on the link and check it out.
I normally don't enjoy spicy foods, but I even loved their atomic pickles that they served with their French Dip sandwiches. The atmosphere was the best and they played a ton of good music. They are the oldest running restaurant and saloon in LA.
We made it an early night and did not stay out too late as the next morning we woke up at the crack of dawn to hit the road and go skiing. 
The conditions were perfect and I was getting along really well at the easy green slopes and I even met the chairlift operator Mike who said I was his favorite lone passenger. I was actually having a darn good time even though my face was being exfoliated by the fierce winds, when Jon said, "Oh, let's try this other run. It is not that bad and I think you will be able to make it....only the end is really steep. I thought, no problem, I am getting good at this and haven't even fallen once.
Well....Let's just say the entire run from beginning to end was steep. I uttered more curse words than a sailor after a case of rum and had the ultimate freak out moment when I was able to stop myself mid...sheer cliff face and start crying because I had this image that I would never make it down to the lodge. Jon in all his smugness was skiing backwards saying, "Oh just take it slow, just lift up on this leg or that leg." Things you cannot tell a person who is fearing death on a 90 degree angle.
Thankfully, I survived and what should normally take a seasoned skiier 15 minutes to get down took me about an hour. I now have various bruises on my...well, let's just say everywhere and my legs have given up on me and are advertising for a new body.
Today was full on hard core rain and all I wanted to do was stay at home and watch movies and drink Celestial Seasonings Peach tea - which has become my favorite right now.
Dan Graham: Beyond was interesting and kept us there for quite a while. He experimented with architecture as well as video and performance art. He had one certain room with two cameras, two monitors and mirrors so that you could see yourself walking away as you walked toward yourself...if that makes any sense, but it was really cool and we spent a lot of time trying to turn around really fast and see what it looked like....which we could because one camera was on delay. That room was worth the entire trip there. so cool.
Right before visiting the gallery, we had lunch at a place that I will DEFINITELY go to again. It was a little French Dip sandwich place called Cole's French Dip. Clink on the link and check it out.
I normally don't enjoy spicy foods, but I even loved their atomic pickles that they served with their French Dip sandwiches. The atmosphere was the best and they played a ton of good music. They are the oldest running restaurant and saloon in LA.
We made it an early night and did not stay out too late as the next morning we woke up at the crack of dawn to hit the road and go skiing. 
The conditions were perfect and I was getting along really well at the easy green slopes and I even met the chairlift operator Mike who said I was his favorite lone passenger. I was actually having a darn good time even though my face was being exfoliated by the fierce winds, when Jon said, "Oh, let's try this other run. It is not that bad and I think you will be able to make it....only the end is really steep. I thought, no problem, I am getting good at this and haven't even fallen once.Well....Let's just say the entire run from beginning to end was steep. I uttered more curse words than a sailor after a case of rum and had the ultimate freak out moment when I was able to stop myself mid...sheer cliff face and start crying because I had this image that I would never make it down to the lodge. Jon in all his smugness was skiing backwards saying, "Oh just take it slow, just lift up on this leg or that leg." Things you cannot tell a person who is fearing death on a 90 degree angle.
Thankfully, I survived and what should normally take a seasoned skiier 15 minutes to get down took me about an hour. I now have various bruises on my...well, let's just say everywhere and my legs have given up on me and are advertising for a new body.
Today was full on hard core rain and all I wanted to do was stay at home and watch movies and drink Celestial Seasonings Peach tea - which has become my favorite right now.
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