Christmas Week Part 1 - The Chars

We've had Justin's family here for about 4 days and my parents for a couple days after that so this has basically been one long awesome Christmas week.

For the first time (including when we were living in Irvine) we were able to host a dinner in our apartment with people sitting at a table instead of on the floor.  With Justin's family we visited with other family members in the area (great-aunts, second cousins, etc.) and visited the Golden Gate Bridge.

We also explored Half Moon Bay to walk on the cliffs, see the seals, and eat lunch at a haunted restaurant that use to be a speakeasy (sadly there was no sign of the ghost that day). 

 

There were seals but the beach is closed to keep people from walking too close so I couldn't get a good picture.  Instead here's a picture of the sign:

Near the restaurant there was this sign.  Look closely - see those people out on the trail with the extreme danger?  Yep, those are my sisters-in-law.

 Visits with the Chars are always an adventure!

Chirstmas!

Just thought I'd give you a quick peak at the apartment before Justin's family comes this evening.

We got a Christmas present in the form of a free 7ft tree from Home Depot.  Guess that's the benefit to waiting till Christmas Eve to get a tree.  That worked out for us since that was the first day we had enough space in the apartment to put up a tree.  Now we've got our tree, stockings, lights on the balcony, and presents.  So ready :)

Merry Christmas to everyone!

Fastest Unpacking in the West

Since we had less than a week between moving in and having family visit for Christmas, we've moved pretty fast with the unpacking.

Here's a shot of the living room with the new couch and tons of boxes and bags sitting around.  And the fish tank which was of course the first thing set up.  We love our little guppies!

The boxes left after the kitchen was unpacked.

The patio became a dumping ground for everything that just needed to get out of the way while other things were unpacked.  Since then everything has found a home and we got a sweet table and chairs for out there.

In the midst of the chaos, we got a new Ikea table.  Nothing we love more than putting together furniture :)

And finished!  We already had the 2 white-covered chairs and with the addition of 4 black adjustable stools, we can seat 6 people.  We're pretty excited to host Christmas dinner when family comes.

So all it took was 6 days of work, 3 trips to Ikea, and a little bit of cramping boxes into closets and we're ready for visitors!

If you're thinking of moving yourself...

...seek professional help.

We managed to move ourselves and all our belongs the nearly 400 miles north to Sunnyvale.  And it is not something I would ever want to repeat.  I'm very impressed that we got everything down from our old apartment, into a U-Haul, through the 7 hour drive, and up into the new apartment.  By ourselves.  Including the stairs.  But, seriously, never again.  We had planned to leave on Saturday but quickly realized we were kidding ourselves as we spent all day Saturday packing and loading and left on Sunday instead.

Source: Uhaul.com because I somehow forgot to take a picture of our truck.

Things that saved our butts:

• An appliance dolly rented from U-Haul - it has straps for tying stuff on and rollers on the back for getting up or down steps.  Also, a wheeled cart borrowed from the apartment office.

• An elevator down from our old 4th floor apartment
• An extra roll of paper towels left in the old apartment to clean up the very last second dropping of a glass bottle of Bailey's
• Music for the drive and NPR podcasts for when my voice started going out after 3 hours of singing along
• Superhuman strength that comes from realizing that your sofa is wedged in the stairwell and you have to lift it up to free it even though a few minutes ago you couldn't lift it at all
• Plenty of patience with each other

Since our new apartment doesn't have an elevator, the unloading was a pretty challenging experience.  Then we decided to quickly find a couch on Craigslist so we could get it home using the U-Haul before having to return it.  And it was getting the couch up the stairs that almost killed us.  And, yes, we might be slightly crazy.

But it feels so good to be home!

Bonus Picture: Justin cuts up a kiwi using the knife from our emergency kit and a pizza box as a cutting board because we'd packed everything else.

The Last of the OC

We finished up our OC Bucket List with a ride on the Giant Wheel at the mall.

From the top we could see our apartment and the whole area we've called home for 2 years one last time.

 

Our apartment complex was also having a big winter party on the last day we were there.  We treated it like a going away party, so nice of them to throw it for us!  There was even "snow"!  Or more like a packed down chuck of ice but the kids were still going nuts for it.

 Like a true Coloradan, wearing flip-flops in the snow.

Climbing Rocks

I mentioned in my Thanksgiving post that Justin and I went indoor rock climbing while we were in St. Louis.  When we lived there we use to go to Upper Limit Rock Gym several times a week to climb.  Shockingly, since I'm scared of heights, I was the one to suggest this activity years ago while we were dating.  But it's so much fun!  You definitely don't have to have tons of upper body strength (I certainly don't!) because it's surprisingly a lot of leg work.  And tons of core work.  Oh ya, and it's still a workout for your arms and hands.  I like it cause it's way more fun than going to the gym and lifting weights.

Source: Upper Limits website

They have tons of routes at all different levels and auto-belays so you can climb alone (without a partner to hold the rope and stop you from falling).  Excuse the weird look on my face, that's the look of terror that comes from knowing you're about to purposely climb up a large wall and likely fall off and trust that someone will not drop you.

We didn't get any pictures from Thanksgiving but these are from a previous trip. 

We haven't been able to climb while in Irvine (ok, we could have but there's no place convenient) so we're really hoping to find a gym in Sunnyvale.  There's one near our apartment so we'll see if it's any good.  And, of course, climbing's not the cheapest adventure ever so there's that to consider.  But it's so much fun!

Moving - Phase One

Phase one completed.

Justin has made the move and started his new job.  I'll follow in a couple weeks (after a whirlwind of packing).  He managed to fit more than I expected into his car (including two of the bikes) but there's still plenty for me to pack and organize.

Here's a couple shots from the new apartment.  I haven't seen it yet but I'm excited about what I see.  Especially the walk-in closet and the washer/dryer.

Also we're ridiculously excited by this:

 That is a storage closet that Justin thinks will fit all six bikes!  That means no more bikes hanging on my wall!  Seriously, that makes my day.  Also, we'll be able to get a dog here which is something I've been waiting (not so) patiently for.

Check out the view!  Ok, it's not particularly remarkable but it's not an office building and the 405 (America's busiest freeway).

So there's your sneak peak (and mine).  I'll include more "befores" when I'm closer to also having some "afters".

Thanksgiving (or No I Didn't Get Lost)

Sorry for the delay in posts, I'm still learning how to include this in my list of things to do.  And with traveling for Thanksgiving and phase one in our move to Sunnyvale all happening in the same week I was a little busy :P

We went to St Louis for Thanksgiving to spend some time with Justin's family.

After a very nice dinner, the evening devolved into this:
 

If you guessed that we made up a game involving blowing drops of water around on the tablecloth then you're right!  It was seriously fun... you'll just have to try it to believe me.  Get yourself one of those water-repellent tablecloths so the water just beads up on top.  I know that's what I'm asking for for Christmas!

We went to Forest Park to take family pictures.  Many of them included climbing in trees or on railings. 

Can you find the Chars?

 Justin and I celebrated a return to the place of our engagement on Art Hill by flashing our new ring bling.  The museum is still under construction but the hill is free of snow fence this time.

Aren't we cute?

Also these guys are cute.  We first met them when they were babies and my sister-in-law was fostering them and their mother.  Now they're big enough to escape me when I try to pick them up to cuddle.

Did you notice they're cuddling my camera?

Beautiful St. Louis - the Christmas tree in front of the capital in front of the arch.

And Justin loving on a big weird rabbit sculpture.  Of course.

Other things we did that didn't get photographed: mountain biking, rock climbing (indoors), and ice skating.  Overall a busy, wonderful trip.

Safari Park

We've checked another thing off our OC Bucket List!  We went to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.  Justin got me a membership to the San Diego Zoo for Valentine's Day last year so we've gotten to go several times over the year but this was the first time going to the Safari Park.  Here they have large exhibits with multiple types of animals living together to mimic the wild.  You can walk around the park or take a "safari" tour into the largest exhibit.  You can even doing a flying safari on a zipline. 

Like the zoo, this park participates in amazing breeding efforts to help endangered species.  That means seeing lots of babies!  Like this mother and 5 month old baby gorilla...

And dad playing in a box...

There were also a bunch of baby elephants!  This little guy was running around chasing deer in his pen.  Then he got scared and all of the adults ran to him to comfort him.  So sweet!

They also have special activities like the Cheetah Run, where you can see cheetahs hit their top speeds of 70 mph down a track.  The cheetah has a large dog friend that goes with it to help it feel safe.

At the end of its run, the cheetah got a nice bowl of raw meat.  That helped us feel safe, since it probably wasn't worth it to the cheetah to chase us if there was stationary food.

Finally there's the tigers.  Cause I love them.  One of the ran off when I pulled out my camera.  I guess he was shy.  That weird grey line is one of the bars of the fence - another helpful safety measure, especially since this one didn't have a bowl of meat...

Home Sweet New Home

We found a new apartment!

Ok, actually we decided on one from our trip a couple weeks ago.  And have already signed the lease so I guess this post is a bit delayed...

It's a little bit bigger than what we have now with a much larger patio and a storage closet out there for the bikes (hopefully at least most of them).  Of course it comes with a slightly larger price tag but we decided it was worth it.  Especially for laundry in the apartment which I've grown very accustom to in our current place. 

It'll still be a while before I get up there to start pretty-ing it up but I'm already gathering ideas.  Stay tuned!

Fits Like An Old Shoe

My very first pair of running shoes is on its way to the trash.  Quite a tragedy really. 
Ok, not really.  But these were the shoes that covered those first miles with me when I first started running.  And when they were broken down too far to keep pounding the pavement they got retired to "everyday" shoes.  And when they're replacements also got demoted, these shoes found a new home on the floor of my car as "dirty shoes".  Perfect for walks in creeks and hanging out in the mud.  And perfect for walking dogs when I'm volunteering at the animal shelter.  And because they live in the car there's no risk of tracking anything "questionable" into the house.

But now it's finally time to say goodbye.  While I would prefer to donate things I don't need anymore, these shoes are a bit past their prime (like years past).  So trash it is.

Since we're on the subject of my first running experiences, I'll mention how I got started.  I used the Couch-to-5k program, which was pretty great.  It's a 9 week plan that gets you running 5k (3.1 miles for those who can't visualize what a "k" would feel like).  It's nice because it really takes you up slowly and you have concrete goals to hit each week.  And it only takes 30 minutes a day, 3 days a week, so that's a win.  I've been running off and on for a few years now.  Very casually, mind you.  Never further than about 3 miles, a few times a week.  I have dreams of a half-marathon but for now I'm still in the "hobby" phase instead of the "obsession" phase that would take. 

San Juan Loop Trail

On Sunday we took a quick hike on San Juan Loop Trail in Cleveland National Forest. 

It was a beautiful trail with tree cover for a good portion and water nearby (at least now that it has rained a bit).  This is a 2.2 mile trail with only about 350 ft of elevation change.  It's a great hike for beginners or families or anyone short on time.  I particular liked this trail because it was different from some of the trails nearer to us in Irvine, which are in full sun with lots of scrub and sand.  This had that nice cool, walking through the woods, feeling that reminds me of Colorado.

There were a few overlook spots and waterfalls (these might be better after a bit more rain).  Also, there were a couple sandy beach like areas near the edge of the stream that would be fun for a photo op or for kids to explore.  Justin liked these rocks of course.

Fun, easy, quick.  We might bring a visiting friend here next week.

The trailhead has bathrooms and water.  You need a parking permit to park there but they sell them across the street (also sold? candy) so it doesn't require planning ahead.  We used our Adventure Pass which works for Angeles, Cleveland, Los Padres, and San Bernardino National Forests.  You can get them at REI, Sports Authority, or other big sporting goods stores as well as online.  Daily passes are $5 and annual passes are $30 so it's hardly a bank breaker and, after seeing how well mantained these trails are, I'm happy to support the National Forests.