No pictures...yet!

I was trying to wait til I could post pictures of the new place but I left my camera at my parent's so I'm going to stop putting it off.

We made the official move last Saturday (thanks Zoro, Zoro's friend Dan, Mandy, Mom & Dad, Hk, Tony & Jason!). We stayed up until about 2 am because I got on a roll unpacking boxes and unpacked all but probably about 6. Part of it was looking for our clean sheets (we didn't find them), part of it was trying to get settled so we could go to the first Gathering at church. I already have alot of stuff up on the walls and have 1 box left. We even got a new loveseat off Craigslist that matches the rest of our furniture!

That's the update for now :)

New addition to the family...

Well, we had seen him a few times about 3-4 months ago around the laundry room at our apartment complex and Matt thought he was the coolest cat because after Matt pet him he would follow Matt around like a dog. We haven't seen him for a long while but Saturday morning we went to leave the house around 6:45am and he was asleep on our welcome mat. We got home around 11am and he was still there asleep, so Matt let him inside and he wandered around exploring for a while then stretched out on our living room floor and fell asleep. We put him out a little while later when we left to take some boxes over to the new apartment but when we got home around 11pm he was waiting at the top of our stairs for us. We let him in for a little while then put him out when we went to bed. Sunday morning we asked around church if anyone might want a cat if we found out he was abandoned and we couldn't keep him at our new apartment. We were under the impression that pets weren't allowed at the new apartment but Matt wanted me to call and make sure. When we got home from church Sunday he was on our balcony again so I let him in. Matt decided to feed him some cat food and he gobbled it. We left again that day to take boxes to our new apartment and noticed a cat in the apartment below us, so Matt got hopeful :) Monday I took some pictures down to the management office and they said that most of the pets here at the complex will have collars and the maintenance lady didn't think it belonged to anyone here. Then I called our landlord and said that we had just rescued a cat and had thought that we weren't allowed to have pets but had seen a cat in the apartment below us. He said that they had paid a large deposit and if we were willing to do that we could have it. So we have a cat...and his name is Bagheera (as in Jungle Book). *sigh* He's a pretty good cat, as far as cats go :) He doesn't get up on the furniture except when he sits next to us on the couch. He does get up on the bed to be with us but he doesn't fight us when we kick him off. He seems to have been a pet previously because he doesn't have fleas, has been fixed, wants to stay indoors, and knows how to use the liter box. He doesn't scratch anything and he seems to not shed that much.

MOVING!!!!

Yep, that's right! We're moving! We found an apartment in uptown Whittier that's $300 less/mo. plus pays for utilities (except electricity). It's very 60's/70's but it's worth the money! We sign the rental agreement tonight and start moving in Friday. Unfortuntely, because our current apartment requires 30 days notice and the new apartment won't be held for us, we're having to pay for both apartments for the month of September. The one benefit from that is that we have all of September to move!

I'm sad to be leaving this apartment for a few reasons, the main one being it's where Matt proposed and where we came home to from our honeymoon. But aside from that, there's alot of memories...our Christmas party, sisters sleepover the night Matt got in his accident, Michael leaving for Liberia, our Guitar Hero parties with way too many of us in the place, decorating my first home...but the money we're saving will mean a more permanent house sooner hopefully.

Once we've officially made the transition I'll send everyone our new address. And if you want to help us move, just let us know when you're available!

"Equality California" Commercial

If you don't know what I'm talking about, you probably don't own a TV. If I have to see it ONE more time, I just might shoot my TV. It's not even JUST the content of the commercial (which, if you haven't seen it, is a bride confronting numerous obstacles just so she can get to her wedding...the final one being an older woman tripping her with a cane as she walks down the aisle, the groom trying to rush to her side and being held back by the officiant and best man with the words "What if you couldn't marry the person you love?" across the screen) but the fact that it's played EVERY commercial break on EVERY channel. I was looking for it on YouTube to post but figured then I'd have to watch it every time I came onto my blog. But as I was reading the comments, a person had a good point. They use a man & a woman...the way it's SUPPOSED to be. Of course it looks wrong when two people that SHOULD be allowed to get married are stopped. If they had used two men or two women, which would be what their ACTUAL message is, it wouldn't have the same impact! The commercial has to start with the assumption that you see NO difference between men and women whatsoever to make the comparision valid. I think I scream every time I hear the commercial. In fact, yesterday I was in the kitchen out of range of the TV and heard some classical music, very generic, not a well known piece or anything, but I knew it was that commercial because they play it SOOOO much! Ok, done venting...

Just an update...

I spent yesterday with the preschoolers at the LA Zoo then today at Splash! with the elementary kids. Needless to say I'm tired, probably a little sunburnt, but had fun! It's been a long time since I've been to a water park (probably 8-10 years). Unfortunetly it was overcast and the elementary kids didn't want to stick with me so I didn't go in the water for too long. I did go down the fastest (straight drop) slide twice though. I was just scared I'd lose a contact lens and then not be able to drive home!

Then a highlight of my day was finding a route home from work that hits 3 grocery stores so I can actually take advantage of figuring out what's cheapest at which store. I didn't think it'd be worth it if I have to drive to 5 different stores, but if I go home from work one day one route I can hit 3 of the 5 and then go the other route the next day I can hit the other 2! I got some yummy stuff today...salmon, Matt's favorite OJ ("LOTS of pulp"), Kix, organic waffles and kiwi...all on sale!

Now I'm watching the Tyra show while waiting for pork chops to defrost so I can start making dinner. It's slightly pathetic, but it has to be a goal that I work towards to make dinner at home twice a week. Somehow we always end up having dinner somewhere else (and we're not eating a bunch of fast food or restaurants...). So I finally sat down and went through recipes again yesterday and planned out a weekly menu. And I got my new Simple & Delicious magazine (THANK YOU OLSONS!!) today and I'd say 85% of the recipes in there sound worth trying. I was a little discouraged because last issue had maybe...3 recipes that I wanted to try. But now I'm motivated to make dinner now. I just wish the apartment didn't get so hot.

Enough rambling...I'm sure you've had enough!

Babysitting

Last night we had the privelege of babysitting for our good friends Derek & Amy. Kaylin is 4 and Trevor (TJ) is 2. Kaylin painted my nails, had me braid her hair, and we played "pool" for quite some time. Despite the poopy pants, courtesy of Trevor, we had a blast! And we even got a few good photos out of it!

Taken by Trevor

Taken by Kaylin

She was just trying to get him to look at the camera

Trevor kept "singing" at the top of his lungs

This is Kaylin's "emo" picture (I was having fun with settings on my camera)

See Derek & Amy?! It was no trouble at all!!

Apartment Pictures!!

Our apartment was finally clean (thanks to Carri's bachelorette party) so I snagged the chance to take some pictures to show ya'll that haven't seen it.

Bathroom

Bedroom

Living Room

Dining Room

Kitchen