Crossing the border

Nik and I loaded up everything from our storage unit and drove from Portland to San Francisco on Friday to complete our final step in moving to California. The trip was uneventful, but in true Oregon fashion, it rained for the first third of our journey. Then, all of a sudden, we crossed into California, the rain stopped, and the sun came out! It’s funny how that works.

As dusk approached, we kept thinking about stopping for the night, but what would we do in some random roadside motel for the evening? Nothing. So we drove on. All the way to Mill Valley, which is about 10 miles north of San Francisco in Marin County. We stopped at a Travelodge for the night to avoid parallel parking the 17 foot Uhaul at 11pm. It was a smart move.

Saturday morning, we woke up around 9am to drive over the Golden Gate Bridge, and directly to our new apartment. The weather was perfect without a cloud in the sky!!! We quickly developed a system, and unloaded everything in two hours. TWO HOURS!!!! We couldn’t believe we finished before lunch.

The drive through town to drop off the truck was pretty funny as we spotted several other self-movers doing the same thing. Then as we pulled into the Uhaul lot, an employee came up to the cab to talk to Nik, and casually said, “How’s it goin’ Killer?”. Nik loved that someone called him “killer”!!!

Then it was back to the new homestead for a little unpacking, dinner and much needed sleep. Unfortunately, I slept terribly. I think the cause was the 9pm coffee we made just because we had our own coffee mugs. Oh well.

Since then, we have managed to unpack most of the boxes and functionally arrange the little furniture we have. I often find myself sitting in a room daydreaming of what we could do. I would love to have a big work table in the living room that we can both spread out on. I would love to have a nice vanity/dresser in the bedroom to display the little jewelry I have. I can’t wait to get a nice couch, and maybe some rugs. It will be great to have a bed (right now we’re sleeping on an air mattress). We want to start a little herb garden in the kitchen. And I have tons of little ideas for displaying photos and the few art pieces we have.

The room I am more excited about than I expected is the kitchen. I never thought I would sit in there when I wasn’t eating, cooking or cleaning, but I do. I think the explanation is that this is the first “eat-in” kitchen I have ever had. The room is basically a square with a small table tucked away in a cozy corner with a built-in bench and cafe lamp on one side. In the evenings, it feels like I am in a tiny restaurant alone after everyone else has gone home. It is perfect.

After we settle in a little bit more, I’ll take photos and try my hand at interior photo styling!!

The past 48 hours have proven to be a wonderful example of why I love living in a city. On Sunday morning, Nik and I woke up to sounds of cheering and yelling as the Bay to Breakers 10K race ran less than a block away from our apartment. Sunday afternoon, I rode with friends north to Petaluma to serve a dinner for Outstanding In The Field at County Line Farm. This morning, I had a work related meeting. Then this afternoon, Nik and I were given keys to our new apartment!!

Ferries frolicking near Fillmore

The Metallics

Hugh, is that you?

Calendar Girls

George & Barbara...scratch that....I meant Laura!

Neon Couple

The table

The rest of the table

How many doors are in this 3-room apartment?

Nik's bedroom : Original Refrigerator : Original Cabinetry : Original Ironing Board

Breakfast table : Entry Hall : Wood Floors : Nik, are you okay?

13 doors!!!! Yep, 1-3. It is a very open apartment!!!

Tomorrow, we will be flying up to Portland to visit friends and family for the week. Then on Friday, we will pack up a U-Haul and finally officially move ourselves to San Francisco. Wow, what a week this one has been and will be!

In the past couple weeks, I have looked at at least 300 apartments on Craigslist. Of those three hundred, I have actually been interested in about ten. Of those ten, I have visited about seven. Of those seven, I was mildly interested in three after walking through the apartments. Of those three, I took Nik back to look at one. We both liked it, and took the necessary steps towards rental.

Photos from the apartments I visited last week

But, we didn’t stop looking. Monday evening I conducted another Craigslist search and found seven more apartments that met our requirements. I was really excited about one in particular, and scheduled a viewing of it for Tuesday morning. I even drew up what I imagined the floor plan would be based on the four Craigslist photos! Then, I scheduled three more viewings for Tuesday evening for good measure.

Tuesday morning we took Midnight (this is what I’m calling Nik’s scooter. He hasn’t decided on a name yet) over to the Inner Richmond. Our new transportation speed made us an hour early, so we stopped at Angelina’s Deli for coffee and pastries before heading up the hill. We met the rental agent (who was super nice and knowledgeable) and checked out the top floor, west facing, one bedroom/one bath + office with eat-in kitchen, roof access and minimal views of the Marin Headlands. The space was clean, bright, quiet and cozy. To top it off, the rent was $400 less than we had expected to pay!!!

Needless to say, we filled out the rental applications pronto, canceled the three showings later that evening, called off the deal for the apartment I found last week and took a celebration ride to Muir Beach!!! Later Tuesday evening, the rental agent emailed to tell us the good news that the owner had chosen us as his tenants, and we signed the lease yesterday morning. Our move-in date is May 18th, and we couldn’t be more excited!!! I cannot wait to have a place that is all ours. We will be sleeping on our own bed, cooking with our own pots, eating off of our own dishes, sitting on our own sofa, and drying off with our own bath towels!! We will even have room for guests to sleep over!

Nesting Season

These pigeons are nesting on the fire escape outside our Fillmore Apartment…and that is exactly what we will be doing soon!!!

Nik sitting proudly

For the past three months, we have traveled by foot, bus, train or zipcar, and on Saturday, Nik added a fifth transportation method! And this one is SO MUCH FUN!!!! It is the first bike we have ridden that carries both of us comfortably up and down the steepest hills a city can offer. Today, we took it for it’s inaugural drive, and had a blast!! I took a few videos while riding on the back that Nik will hopefully piece together soon. But until then, please enjoy my fiance sitting atop his beautiful blue steed!!

A peak of the ocean through the hills