Thursday, May 21, 2009

Hitting the Reboot Button - The Comforts of a New Home

I have been out of communication for quite a few weeks now as my life turned into a tornado of activity. First I was busy trying to get a new quilt done for my mother. She wanted one of my play quilts for a friend's new granddaughter. I was more than happy to turn another one of those out. They are fun to do, and of course due to all the craziness of packing, I forgot to take pictures of this one. It turned out similar to all the others, and I ended up liking the replacement fabrics I substituted in since some of the others I used in the first two were no longer available. Next I had to pack up all of our stuff at the old apartment and begin the task of moving us two blocks down. It does not sound like much, but I think this was more difficult than doing the cross country move. Since we were going such a short distance, Dan and I decided to use our car to ferry different loads of boxes back and forth. I would load up boxes during the day and pack the car, then at night, we would bring them up and unload them. I would repeat this process for several days. Finally the movers came on my birthday, April 29th, to get the furniture and heavy book boxes moved into the new place for us. I spent all of the next day cleaning the apartment top to bottom. It was a full day of trying to get train diesel particulate out of carpet and windowsills. It made me happy to realize that I would no longer be battling that fight against grime any longer.

The next day we were off early to get on a plane and head back to Illinois for a friend's wedding and family visits. We went down to Champaign to see how things have changed on the campus and also to just see the countryside. I forgot how much I could miss flat land until that trip. It was good to get back to the water and hills though. I guess my patience for flat is less than it used to be. While in Champaign, I got to see a great friend and hang out before she makes her trek out to the left coast for her own personal reboot.

I also got some inspiration and creative recharging when we went home. We went to go see the Mies van der Rohe creation known as the Farnsworth House. It was great to see it in person rather than just in pictures. I always love his style of architecture, and I suppose that is what I also enjoy about our new building. It really seems to me to be a take on the steel and glass structures that he created.

After the Illinois trip, I had a few days to unpack and make the apartment as livable as possible before my parents arrived to visit here in California. I mostly succeeded. All was done but putting up the mirrors and a few of our pictures that I am just not sure where to place yet. While they were here we went to the Marin headlands, Golden Gate Park, and San Juan Bautista. We also did the 17 mile drive in Pebble Beach. All things were really fun, but I think the Marin headlands drive that we did was my favorite.

Now I am settling into the new office and sewing studio that I have here in the new place, and the apartment seems extra quiet. While I love everything here, it seems almost too quiet. With all the windows closed, I cannot really hear the trains or any outside noise, which is good. It just seems extra quiet after having a couple of weeks with people around to talk to and now going to just me again. I guess we will have to get a pet or something.

Today is filled with looking through back e-mail and working on getting the last address changes done. I also have a lunch meeting and tutoring at 826. I guess I should go and get that crock pot loaded up and get some other things done before lunch.

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