The Move. The New Pad. Far Out.

I'm in the new apartment and it is AWESOME!!! Love it. Wonderful light and great breezes moving through. I sleep with the door open. It is not as crazy as it sounds because it is a two story apartment with bedrooms on the ground floor and the one I'm sleeping in has a private courtyard off of it via sliding glass doors. The courtyard is surrounded by walls that go all the way up to the top floor of the apartment so it is totally private and secure. Love it!
Am also loving the fab futon that I purchased. Seven layers of cotton and wool heaven. The frame is Japanese style and the color of dark rosewood, though I think it is oak. Will send photos when my phone is working... one day soon, I hope.

The move itself was actually really fun and laid back. Heather and I picked up the keys at the realtor around 9am, then dropped off an initial load of stuff at the new apartment and cased the joint. Remember, I had only seen the place once, about three weeks ago, for 5 minutes with about 50 other people crammed in checking it out as well. Based on that, we applied for the apartment. Whew! It is even better than I remembered! Yea!

Heather and I then headed back to the burbs where Brendan met me to fill up his red station wagon for trip number one out to the new pad. It is about a half hour drive between the old place and the new pad. Brendan is a totally chill kind of guy, so it was more of an enjoyable morning than a stressful moving event. We had healthy snacks and good conversation in the car. I brought donuts, apples and muesli bars. You know I always have to have the food as a priority no matter what the occasion (ha!). Brendan is Mr. Healthy, not to mention a vegetarian who doesn't eat eggs, so he ate the fruit and left the donuts for my ever-expanding self. I opted for an apple.

After we unloaded round 1, Brendan and I headed back to the burbs for the second and final pick up of stuff. Everything fit perfectly. Brendan masterfully mounted and secured the table on to the roof rack while I fluffed my hair (just kidding about the hair). We then took another relaxing, drama-free ride to the new apartment and unloaded the goods. Then off to a cafe lunch. We don't know the neighborhood yet, so we picked randomly and ended up at a place run by an older guy named Mike who was a real character, full of "piss and vinegar". He kept calling Brendan a "vegematarian" and cracked jokes with all of the customers. We shared three kinds of salads: tabbouleh, dill potato and Greek, and a freshly baked ciabatta. Yummm. Then headed back to the apartment where my bed was just about to be delivered. Everything happened like clockwork.

Brendan left to go to choir practice (he's learning to play the Ukulele)and I stayed and put things away until my friend Jenny came by to pick me up and take me back to her place where we had stored all of the Ikea household goodies we bought a week ago, including a flat-packed desk. By the way, both Brendan and Jenny say "far out". They say "far out" when they are expressing surprise (in a good way)about something I've said or they find something bizarre. Anyway, Jenny and I loaded up her Audi wagon and headed back to my new apartment where we unloaded everything. We then scrubbed the table and chairs that Heather had loaned me. Jenny introduced me to Gumption-- a Clorox brand product they sell here. I can't really think of a US equivalent, but it had a wax-like consistency, came in a jar and did an excellent job cleaning. Love the name "gumption". She also turned me on to Eucalyptus oil to remove old tape and sticky stuff. Worked wonders! By the way, my adjustable wrench is apparently called a "shifter" on this side of the world.
Then it was off to fabulous Indian food and fun conversation.
I slept great that night!

WORD WONDERS
Rack-off: get lost
Yonks: long time, ages
Pull you up: call you out on something
Going off tap: busy, really happening
Taking people off: immitating someone