#7, 8, 9, 10, 11

(in Utah on our drive across the country)

A two month hiatus, but I am grateful for...

-How quiet our new apartment is, and that there are trees outside our living room window so it looks like we live in a park, and that there is a window above our kitchen sink just like I wanted, and that there are pink flowers on the tree outside our bathroom window which is a nice decorative touch I hadn't counted on.
-Living somewhere with a washer and dryer. Doing laundry has become a bit of an obsession.
-The furniture we were able to find to fill our space, all of it affordable and lovely. My favorite is the wingback chair I described here.
-The excitement of starting a new grad program, and how good I anticipate the program being.
-The fact that, in the midst of what feels like a million transitions, I have my husband, a constant friend with whom I can experience these adjustments, and who helps me to enjoy and laugh at this time. Also, he's pretty cute. I'm grateful for that.

Desk space

Desk: Ikea

Hydrangeas: the garden of Emily Jansen

Little flowered box: my grandma's sewing box

Little lamp: goodwill

Little ceramic pencil cup: the pottery talents of Chelsea White

Number of things that are new...

I am writing this post from our rust colored, blue flowered wingback chair. That is one of the new things. I love it.

It has been just over three weeks since we left California, 17 days since we arrived in Virginia, and 15 days since we moved into our apartment. We are blessed to say that our journey went off without a hitch, and that we have had so many of our needs and wants provided for us as we have been settling in.

We spent the first week without a car, which made settling in quite difficult, and made me begin to get desperate. The day before we ran out of food, not only did our smart car passes arrive, but we finally purchased a car. A cute 2010 Hyundai Sonata. This car has so far successfully transported one rather large bookshelf and several pieces of IKEA furniture -- all hanging out of the tied-down trunk. The chair we purchased certainly would not have fit in the car, but I happened to find it less than a mile from our place, and the next door neighbor happened to have a truck that she put the chair in to follow us to our home, and the rain waited until we got the chair inside before it let loose. I think these details are important to recount.

Tomorrow I start orientation, and we are celebrating by today making fresh ginger ice cream. We also took a nice walk to Theodore Roosevelt Island, and puttered around in Georgetown yesterday. We had to take advantage of the few days of summer not pressured by moving.

I am also somewhat alarmed to say that we had a visitor in our kitchen the other night who must have been one of Chester's distant cousins -- yes, a cockroach. There was some screaming, but the husband was calm and trapped him and we let him outside. Time to be vigilant in cleaning our kitchen and keeping foodstuffs sealed.

Things I miss about California: price of avocados, dry heat, open spaces
Things I like about Virginia: George Washington Parkway (trees, shade, the Potomac), the drive into Georgetown,  friends from San Diego who have moved here

Twenty-five

 We had a nice weekend celebrating my birthday. My parents came up earlier in the week, helped with some packing and took me to lunch at the Rialto Cafe. On Friday, Alex took me on a picnic to a lovely park, and then to the melting pot for chocolate-caramel-sea-salt dipping deliciousness dessert. On Saturday we packed and feasted on the lemon birthday cake treated to us by my parents from Beverly's Best. On Sunday evening we saw Harry Potter 7 p.2 with two good friends.  All in all, a relaxing break from all the moving stresses we have been wrestling with. Now to find a way to make sure none of that cake goes to waste....

Peace

Alex and I are moving across the country in T minus 17 days, and are in the midst of searching for an apartment and a job, selling our car and purchasing a new one, and preparing all of our possessions to be packed on to a Uhaul, which means that our house is in progressive states of disassembly. I cannot say that these last few days have been without their moments of panic or tears, but at the same time, I am confident that our God will provide for us what we need when we need it.

Color-arian-ism.

Yesterday at work we were talking about all the different "-isms" and "-arians" when it comes to food --- vegetarian,  pescetarianism, veganism, raw foodies, etc. There are even some fruitarians who only will eat what falls off the tree!

I was wondering if maybe I should start my own branch -- colorarianism. Colorarians will only eat foods with lots and lots of color. Hence, the salad above.

Saturday

Last week and weekend I ran around like a crazy woman. From Thursday to Monday I worked Baccalaureate and Graduation, went to a wonderful all day book and supper club hosted by our friends Mark and Carri, hosted a bridal shower with my friends Jamie and Amy, and had a Bachelorette party which ended in a sleepover where all of us decided we are too old for sleepovers since our sleep habits are both particular and sensitive ("I can't sleep with a fan!" "I need white noise to sleep!" "I feel claustrophobic!" "This room is too bright!"). I don't think I fell asleep until after 5 a.m. Fortunately, you don't need much sleep to enjoy coffee and pancakes with your friends in the morning.

This weekend is much more laid back. This morning we read, worked, drank coffee, had yogurt and muesli for breakfast. Today I am planning on doing a little shopping for our Hawaii trip, which we leave for next Saturday. Tonight we are going to a cocktail party at our friends' apartment up in L.A., for which I made these. Tomorrow we have church, and after are planning to come back and hopefully nap and read this, which I checked out for vacation but now think I will have finished before then.