We're home!

It's been a crazy couple of weeks but we're finally at our new house and have managed to get the house into a mostly livable state! Here's the update so far.

A couple of days before our movers were supposed to show up they called and asked if they could come a day early. After a quick phone call to my dad (who was flying in to help us drive cross country) and a survey of our mostly packed things, we decided that yes, we sure would be ready for them a day early! We finished packing on Sunday evening, the movers came Monday morning, and on Monday night we picked up my dad from the airport and got a few hours down the road.

Just one of the several piles of boxes waiting for the movers

Our first big stop was at my aunt and uncle's house in Glen Carbon, Illinois. They were so nice and let us crash there with our dog too. We got to see lots of family including a cousin I'd never met before. There's no doubt though, we're related! Meeting family is so awesome and I'm so glad it all worked out. My mom joined us and after a day of resting and catching up, we hit the road again.

Uncle Terry, Me, Dad, Cousin Tori.
Redheaded Family! 

The cross country drive was about as good as it could have been. It was uneventful and calm. Sadie did really well! We actually had a harder time with her during the few days preceding the move and while at my aunt & uncle's house. Now we know, right? She's a great traveler in the car though and mostly just slept.

Our last stop was in Reno where we gambled, met up with another cousin, and allowed ourselves to admit how tired we were. The drive from Reno to Lafayette is only about 3.5 hours so we slept in and then drove to our new house!

We didn't catch all of the state signs but we got most.
12 states in less than a week, not too shabby!

We had the hardwood floors refinished but they weren't quite done when we arrived. So after a quick tour through the house we headed back to a hotel to rest. The next morning, our movers arrived at 7:30am with all of our stuff, but since the hardwoods were just finished the night before we couldn't move any of our furniture into the house! We had the movers put the heavy big furniture in the kitchen on the tile and everything else went into the garage. This is also about the time that we realized how much dust and debris hardwood floor refinishing creates. Every single surface in the house needed to be cleaned. Separate from the hardwood dust, the house had been vacant for nearly a year and needed a good scrubbing anyways.

Yeah... we have a lot of work ahead of us

Needless to say the first two days were insanely busy with cleaning and repairs. Then I left Mark up to his own devices while I flew back to Blacksburg to get my kitties. Annie met me there and after a few delayed flights and a mad sprint through Atlanta, we managed to make it back to SFO on schedule.

I look so happy here because I haven't figured out that "a lot of work" means "A LOT OF WORK!!" 

The next few days were filled with a million projects, cleaning, shopping, cleaning, and projects. Stephanie was able to come and visit for a couple of days and we put her to work too! Coming soon will be some more details about a few really big projects, including (spoiler) the cattery Mark built, the brand new toilet Mark and Annie installed, and the insane amount of yard work we've done.

We're currently on a weekend trip to Santa Barbara, where our friends got married last night. When we get home, it's just going to be us and the furballs and the thousands of things left on our list to tackle. In fact, tomorrow construction starts on our backyard fence and dog run!

Things I Will Miss

Last year I posted a list of things I anticipated missing about living in California. I was pretty much spot on. With boxes everywhere and our move just one week away, I've been reflecting a bit on Blacksburg and Virginia. Here's my list of things I'll miss about living in Blacksburg, VA:

1) Living on half an acre. It led to us adopting Sadie and giving us the space to decompress from six years of tiny apartment living.

2) Living in a huge house. Our house is admittedly much too large for us. We hardly used the downstairs living at all, the guest room was only occupied a handful of times, and my craft room could have easily been combined with Mark's office. I'm sure I'll miss the tons of space and huge closets when I'm trying to fit everything into our new little house.

3) Cheap everything. Seriously, 5% sales tax, fancy sit down dinner & drinks for under $50, and gas regularly under $3.50. We're definitely going to miss that!

4) Really cool birds and other wildlife. Cardinals, blue jays, robins, and who knows what else. I've enjoyed watching birds right out my front window (and deer, bunnies, chipmunks, and other assorted wildlife.)

5) Spring. I'll admit it, it's fun to watch the seasons change. And spring here is full of beautiful flowering plants. So much color!

6) 5% sales tax. Hmm I think I covered that already... but I'm really going to miss that!

7) Fireflies. Watching them is magical. They rise up off the grass and then later make the trees twinkle. They are the only bug besides butterflies that I like.

8) Band. The community band here has been an awesome venue for me getting back into playing my clarinet. I'm not sure what the community band scene will be like in the east bay, but I know I'll miss the band here.

9) Brick/colonial style architecture. There are some really neat homes and it's been fun living somewhere so different from the Spanish Mission style.

10) Beautiful country drives. Nothing beats a romantic drive with gorgeous rolling hills and the sun roof open.

11) Hiking. There are really great trails here!

I admit... it's been a bit of a stretch to think of the things I'll miss here because I'm honestly so relieved and excited to move back home to California. But I really have enjoyed our time here, and I'm definitely going miss it!

House Hunters, Lingwood Edition (Episode 2.2)

House Hunters, Lingwood Edition (Episode 2.2)

After a lot of mulling over and revisiting the top choices more than once, Mark and Kristen made a decision!

They chose….

....

....

wait for it….

....

....

It’s gonna be legend….

....

....

I hope you’re not lactose intolerant because the next part is….

........

........

House number 2, the short sale fixer in the prime location!!!

(DAIRY!)

Are you surprised? Did they pick what you would have picked? Because of the nature of the short sale, they are not yet under contract. Mark and Kristen put in an offer late Friday night and now have to wait for the sellers to accept. Given the holiday weekend, it could be another couple of days. Once the sellers accept, Mark and Kristen will have about 45 days after that to wait for the bank to approve the sale. Then, after all that waiting, assuming everything is approved, a standard 30-day escrow will start with many, many inspections. Although the sale is considered “as is”, that doesn’t mean Kristen and Mark have to accept it as is. Should something deal breaking come up in any of the inspections, they can walk away.

If, and only if, all of the above goes smoothly, the couple will be embarking on budget and calendar busting home improvements. No one can say they don’t seize a challenge! The real question is, who is willing to come help pull weeds and paint?

Find out why we picked what we picked and more on the next episode of House Hunters: Lingwood Edition. 

Antici...

After a relatively calm couple of months, Mark and I are looking forward to a five-six month time span of absolute insanity. We're nervous, excited, in a state of disbelief, and thrilled. It should be a really fun time in our life, and we're so ready for it. 

Here's what's coming up. You can consider this a little preview of the future blogs to come.

1. San Diego/Oceanside/Disneyland/SLO/East Bay. 

Ok, if that sounds tiring it shouldn't. It should sound FUN AND AWESOME! It'll involve science (ACS conference for Mark), family, my niece's 3rd birthday, and house hunting. But most importantly-- family. 

2. Thirteen Point One

I'm going to be running a half marathon and at the same time Steph and Julia will be visiting! Training is going great so far, just gotta keep at it. 

3. Australia. 

What can I say? Opportunity comes within sight and we chase it down. Another conference for Mark, and a ton of sight seeing for both of us! CAN. NOT. WAIT. 

4. Another Trip to Cali

We figure we're going to have to make at least one more trip out to house hunt, and/or take care of closing and other house business. You might be seeing a reprise of House Hunters: Lingwood Edition. 

5. Moving

Not quite fifteen months after moving from California, we're going to pack everything up and move back. This time we'll have a dog and reasonable assurance that it'll be a one way trip. 

6. Santa Barbara Wedding

Some friends of ours from grad school are getting married in Santa Barbara shortly after our move. We hope to make it to the wedding and to spend some time in a town we thought we'd never miss. 

7. Beginning of Fall Semester

Mark starts his new job, with hope that he'll be working there for a long, long time. 

So with that, I'll let you breathe a sigh of relief that you're not the one logging in tens of thousands of miles on cars and planes, collecting cardboard boxes, committing to a 30 year relationship with a bank, and running until your toes bleed.

(pation)

Home!

Per request, I just wanted to do a quick post to let everyone know that we are in our new home, with our cats and all of our stuff, safe and sound. We've been here for a week now (with our cats since Tuesday night) and the reality has finally hit us. We're exhausted but settling in! I'll definitely be writing and posting pictures eventually so just wait longer :P

So long, California!

First, I uploaded a few pictures from yesterday. Don't forget I have link to my picasa albums on the right column of the blog. If you want something even more obvious and easier, you can click HERE

Next, here's the run down on the last two days.

Day: Two
Miles driven: 0
City: Anaheim, California

We spent our second day of our trip enjoying the Disneyland Resort. We started the morning off in the California Adventure park (DCA as most call it) and then spent the afternoon and evening in the Disneyland park. Our evening was filled with fireworks and topped off with a quick round of last minute rides. I can't believe I won't be living close to Mickey Mouse any more. I guess I'll just have to go to Disney World!

Some quick highlights of the Disney pics for those not inclined to scroll through the picasa albums:

Toy Story Mania is the best ride ever! 

Steph and Julia have a tea party

Kristen and Mark go on a cruise

Steph and Julia on Mickey's Fun Wheel

Day: Three
Miles driven: 430
City: Williams, Arizona

Today was a driving day. we made good time on the road and we're well into I-40, which will be the interstate that we spend most of our trip on. We're all done with California and have seven states to go!




Here are the cliff notes from today's pictures:

GAS off of route 66

The cost of gas at formerly mentioned gas station

Arizona State Line

Tomorrow morning we're heading a bit north to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon! When I was seventeen I went on a very special trip there with my dad and aunt and uncle (we took the mules down to the base and back) and now I can't wait to share this fantastic place with Mark and Steph and Julia.

Starting out!

Day: One
Miles driven: 35ish.
City: Anaheim

We've got four exhausted people, but we're all excited! We left our apartment around 7pm tonight after managing to get work done, flights flown, and apartment cleaned and checked out. THEN we packed up the cars and now and we're all set for a big day at Disneyland tomorrow. Now the fun really starts!

No pictures tonight, but will upload some when I get the chance.

Things I Will Miss

If you've been reading my past few posts and thinking wow, it sounds like Kristen is really jazzed about moving to Blacksburg! then you would be correct. However, that doesn't mean there aren't a lot of things about California I won't miss. Maybe even some things about Los Angeles... well I won't go that far. Here is my list of things I know for sure I'll be missing. 

-Proximity to family and friends. From our current apartment, I'm close to my new friends in LA, an hour and half drive from San Diego/Oceanside where my brothers live, and a three and half hour drive from my parents. I won't be able to see my sister-in-laws and my nieces and nephew as often let alone my brothers, who both work out of town. AND my parents will be even farther away! What's more? Our place in LA is only a quick two hour flight to Seattle, where we like to pretend that we live part time. It'll be 10-12 hours total travel time to get to Seattle or San Diego from Blacksburg. Ugh! I'm still in shock over the distance and I think this will be the single hardest thing about moving for me. 

-Disneyland. Mark and I both have annual passes and I love the Disneyland Resort (DLR). Living about a thirty minute drive from the park, it is easy to make evening or half day trips and I'm really going to miss Mickey Mouse. I don't know what I'll do when I have to face buying plane tickets, paying for a hotel, and buying hopper passes every time I want to go now! Sadly, I think the answer is that regular Disney trips are going on hold for a bit now. However, we will be moving much close to Disney WORLD. 

-Avocados. There is a reason why in other states when you order something called a "Californian ___" it is the same menu item with an avocado on it. I love avocados and I am accustomed to putting them on most everything: salads, sandwiches, burgers, tacos, omelets, etc. I'm going to miss being able to add avo to anything I order in a restaurant and I'm surely going to miss being able to buy fresh, good quality avocado in the grocery stores for a good price. 

-Trader Joes. I think it's interesting that Trader Joes seems to have this reputation as an elitist hippy store in states/regions that don't have a Trader Joes. Maybe for some people that rep fits? But for me, I love shopping there because of the good prices, the good quality, and the nice people who work there. I mean, where else can you buy $1.99 cheerios, $0.19 bananas, and have a checker remember that you're from Washington but moving away to Virginia? No where else in LA, I'll tell you that. 

-Eight Lane Freeways. Okay, I know I whine about the traffic, and I know I hate commuting. And overall it is probably a good thing I'll be leaving that life behind. But when there's light traffic (this does actually happen, sometimes) driving in LA can be exhilarating. Especially in Mark's WRX, in the fast lane. The urban girl in me loves taking six freeways to get to Disneyland, loves taking the cloverleaf interchange on the inside lane... all at or below the speed limit of course...

-The Weather. Hard to complain about the small window of weather we've enjoyed in the last six years. Rarely too hot or too cold, not too muggy or to dry, pretty much perfect year round. I am looking forward to real seasons, but it is nice only needing to own a spring wardrobe and being able to wear flip flops in February. I'm sure I'll have a part of me that always misses that. 

-Apartment Amenities. I won't lie. I'm going to miss having a pool, hot tub, package service, 24 hour maintenance, huge trash and recycling bins that I never have to bring to the street, and night security. Not that those things make apartment living worth it, but they still make the list of things I'll miss. Especially the hot tub.

-Coffee Shops. I think my days of living in the cute little coffee shop culture are numbered. Blacksburg has two Starbucks in town and I honestly didn't see any other coffee shops anywhere. And none of the grocery stores had coffee shops in them like the do here. I honestly don't know how any of the Tech students graduate!

I'm sure there'll be more things I'll miss, but that's it for now. Seven nights left in our LA apartment and then we're off! 

House Hunters: Lingwood Edition Revealed

Tonight we signed the lease! Forget the options? Check last night's post here.

We chose.....



.....




.....





Option THREE!!!! Country Mansion with Alpaca Neighbors

We LOVE LOVE LOVE this house and can't wait to move in. Here is the breakdown and the "reveal" of the real situations. I apologize for tricking you when I wrote the post last night to make it sound like the three options were all amazing.

House 1: Whomping Willow. We truly loved the character of this house. It had many of the characteristics we are looking for in our forever home. The sunroom offered me an amazing craft space and Mark would have plenty of space for an office. However, the bottom line was that with the oil heat and window unit A/C, we were worried we would freeze in the winter and burn in the summer. In addition to that, the layout was quirky and the kitchen had odd dining space, forcing us into choosing between a dining room and a guest bedroom. And, although it was a single family home, it was stuck right in the middle of tons of townhomes and all the way out in Christiansburg, making for a longer drive than Mark currently has now in LA. The final nail in the coffin was the pet policy--if we wanted to get a dog, we would have to pretend like we only had one cat and we could only get a 30lb or less dog.

House 2: Big City Living in the Country. I can't believe people actually thought we might pick this option!!! This was actually our back up option to be used in an emergency "we don't have anywhere to live" situation only. Clearly we have not been complaining loudly enough about our small space living situation. We are not interested in ever sharing walls, or floors, or ceilings, or walkways, or parking, or anything about our living space with 500+ other residents ever again. For the last six years we have had 

PHENOMENAL COSMIC POWERS 

but we've been stuck in 

ittty bitty living spaces. 

In addition to generally not wanting to have anything to do with an apartment ever again, this particular apartment wanted to nickel and dime us with $200 application processing fees (in addition to the application fee), non-optional cable packages, absurd pet policies, and was basically over priced. It also seemed to have a slight undergrad problem, mostly in that it had some. 

House 3: Our new house! We basically walked in and said "we'll take it." It was a bit more than that of course-- we toured the whole thing and had a quick private talk, but there wasn't much discussion for us. It has everything we want, especially tons and tons of space. It is also heated/cooled with a heat pump and located on an adorable country road. It has ceiling fans in the upstairs in addition to dual climate control for the two floors. There is a large back deck, huge fenced yard (can you hear the sound of a doggy playing fetch?) and a huge front yard. Not only do we get such an amazing yard, but we don't have to take care of it. Yard care is included in our rent. While there's no garage, there is a shed for tools and stuff in the backyard. Most importantly and hardest to quantify, it felt like home. There are definite downsides, but we'll make them work and, after all, we're not buying it and we didn't have tons of options. We are looking forward to moving into it in three weeks and making it our new home. Now... where to buy furniture, and possibly a pool table? 

Here I am again, showing off our new house: (I thought for sure this picture would give it away!)

House Hunters: Lingwood Edition

Today we looked at three homes, and all were great options!

Option one is a three bedroom, one and a half bath house in the nearby town of Christiansburg. It's about a 17minute drive to campus and has a tree much like the Whomping Willow in the front yard. This house is full of country farmhouse charm including dark hardwood floors, white molding, sage green paint, and two sunrooms. It has an eat-in kitchen, basement, and detached garage. Unfortunately, it's heated with oil heat and cooled with window unit air-conditioners. Cost is $1250/month plus utilities, we do our own yard work. 

Option 1: Front of house

Option 1: Living room (with view into bedroom/office)

Option 1: kitchen

Option two is a three bedroom, three bath loft-style apartment in an upscale apartment community only a few minutes from campus. It has high end finishes including a huge kitchen with nice appliances, tall ceilings, and large closets. There is also a full size washer/dryer in a utility room. The unit is on the top floor and the complex has the amenities that this LA couple is used to: a work out room, package pick up, pool, hot tub, and business center. It is truly big city living in a small town. On the downside, it's an apartment. Cost is about $1450/month + utilities, no yard work or snow shoveling. 

Option 2: Kitchen

Option 2: Living room with view into 2nd bedroom and bathroom

Option 2: bathroom

Option three is a four bedroom, two bath split level country house on a large lot. Clocking in at about 13 minutes to campus, this option is still in Blacksburg but nestled on the outskirts of town. Believe me when I say outskirts; the neighbors down the street have alpacas chillin' in their front yard. It has an eat-in kitchen, large deck and huge yard. This house is so big you could play laser tag in it. The bedrooms are nicely sized but the whole thing has carpet (no hardwoods), and the split level 80s style leaves a bit lacking in the character department. Compared to the other two options, this kitchen has less counter space and is not as updated. Cost is about $1250/month + utilities, yardwork included but we have to shovel our own snow. 

Option 3: Front 

Option 3: Kitchen

Option 3: family room

So, what's it going to be? Leave a comment with your vote. You can check out more pics in our picasa album if you need help deciding.

Option 1: Whomping Willow

Option 2: Big City Living in the Country

Option 3: Country Mansion with Alpaca Neighbors

I'll post what we chose tomorrow night after we sign our lease and it's official! 

Blacksburg house hunting trip-- Day 1

Welcome sign at the ROA airport

It took us about ten hours door to door to get from our apartment in Los Angeles to our hotel in Blacksburg. It involved a taxi, two planes, and a rental car. Whew! With the time change and everything, it truly was an epic travel event to get from California to Virginia. I guess the days of the puddle jumpers from LAX>SEA are rapidly coming to a close.

Cherry trees (?) in bloom, out of control! So pretty. 

Our first impressions of Virginia are that it's very green and springy here. It's spring like I imagined it and things are colorful, blooming, and beautiful. It feels very much like "the country" to us though we have a lot of exploring to do. I think "pastoral" might be a better description. From the sky, it looked nothing like California or Washington. The hills (though I am told they are mountains) roll gently in little bunches and everything is covered by trees or grass. All of the houses are huge and most of the yards don't have fences. However, parts of it do remind me of driving through the back roads of San Luis Obispo/Arroyo Grande in the late winter, only with much different flora. I hope to get more and better pictures up this week as we have time to take them.

Apparently people refer to it as "Tech" the same way we say "U-Dub". Thus noted. 

On the drive... lots of purple flowers! 

The view from our hotel

Tomorrow.... we find a new home! It's going to be house/apartment hunting HGTV style. Three homes, three choices, one decision! 

Moving update

Our move is really happening! We have some actual boxes packed now, though most of them are still waiting patiently to be filled with stuff. The cats have a reservation at the kennel club (my mom and I are going to fly them out for the big move) and all the little details are falling into place. The real big packing won't happen until the week before we move, because who wants to eat on paper plates for weeks? Also, due to culling our stuff down every time we move, we simply don't have that much stuff. 

The next exciting travel thing is our house hunting trip. On Tuesday Mark and I are flying out to Blacksburg to find a place to live. I'm so excited for this trip for so many reasons. First and foremost, it will be so good to get a lease all figured out and to know exactly where we're going to live. Also, I can't even believe what some of our potential options are. While we don't have very many choices, some of them are double or even triple the square footage of what we currently live in! It is unfathomable. 

I'm also looking forward to just seeing the town. For now, it's been this imaginary place that I've mostly made up based on things I've read online. Going there will help me visualize our new home and make the whole thing a lot more real. Cause, you know, the boxes strewn all over my living room haven't made it real enough. 

It's going to be interesting too for me to "feel" how the flight is from California to Virginia. Between the time change and the connection it's going to be basically a whole day of flying. My attention span can barely handle the short 2.5 hour flights to Seattle. I pity the people sitting near me on the upcoming long flights. Poor, poor Mark. And for those of you who know us both... My mom and I are flying together in May to bring the cats over. That's me, my mom, my two cats, on an airplane for several hours. You just think about that and laugh. 

Once we get back from our house hunting trip, we'll have just a short week to finish packing up, a quick family trip to Vegas, then the movers come and we'll be off on our grand road trip with Steph and Julia! Expect a lot of posts in the coming weeks as this is going to be a huge month for Mark and me!

Moving to Virginia: Myth Confirmed!

While I'm sure many of you have heard either directly or via rumor, it is true that Mark and I are moving to Blacksburg, Virginia! Mark has accepted a post doc research position at Virginia Tech and at the end of the semester we'll be moving from Los Angeles all the way to Blacksburg, Virginia. Here's some answers to the most common questions I've been getting.

When are you moving? 

We leave May 6th. We're road tripping with Steph and Julia and we can't wait! Yes, you can expect lots of posts/pictures about that adventure.

Is it a permanent move?

Nope. We'll likely be there more than one year but less than three years. Then who knows??? Life's an adventure. Roll with it. I threw the five year plan out the window five years ago.

Isn't Virginia... far?

Uh, yeah. It's about 2500 miles from Los Angeles and a three hour time difference. But we're still going to be just a phone call, video chat, IM, email, text, and a flight away. Just a longer and more expensive flight.

Are you going to go visit first? 


Yep! In a few weeks Mark and I are flying out to find a place to live, meet the new lab, explore the town, etc.

Is Kristen going to teach? 


Heck no. Forget about it. There's only so much subbing a person can take. I'm out. The end. Quilting sounds fun though.

Is Mark going to teach?


No. Mark's new position is a research position designed for people who have recently completed their Ph.D. He'll be working on research only for this job.