Movin' in

As it stands, we are almost entirely moved in. There remain only six more boxes, three of which are leaving tomorrow (they're donations). That leaves three boxes of books that we've listed on Amazon.com to sell and get rid of. Who knows how long they'll be here. But, that means that the living room is 95% done, and the bathroom and kitchen are complete.

Bathroom





Kitchen




Living room pictures next Sunday.

In other news, I have a job: I just finished my first week temping at an HMO, as a 3rd tier admin, makin' some pretty sweet cash. I'm not sure how long I'll be temping at places, but I am glad to be pulling in some cash sooner than expected.

This weekend is Pride, I'm heading out for festivities later today. Yesterday we ate breakfast at Portage Glacier Cafe (really good), then went to Northgate mall (almost 4 hours north) for some housewares. I never thought I would actively seek out a mall, but they have a Target there, and we gotta buy things on the cheap. After that we hung pictures in the living room, ate lunch at Fourno's on the Ave (Grayson's favorite), had a bubble tea (see below), took two backpacks worth of books to Half Price Books to sell, and then came home to watch movies. It was entirely too hot yesterday...into the 90s, and we have no sort of AC in the house, just a noisy little fan in the window. Hobbes spends all his time laying on the kitchen floor, where the tile/linoleum stuff is cool.





Bubble Tea is something I had never heard of before I moved here to the University district, as there are about six places along the Ave alone that serve it. Basically, it's tea with milk that you can get these things called "boba" or "tapioca" in ... it's a treat that came from mainly Southeast Asia, though our favorite shop is Korean. At our favorite place (which is heavy on the Christianity) makes milk tea like milkshakes or smoothies, with tapioca in them. The tapioca are these little gummy balls about 1/2" in diameter, that are relatively flavorless but gummy and tasty. Last night we had a cookies and cream one, so it basically tasted like a cookies and cream milkshake with a hint of black tea, and had these fun tapioca to chew on. They seal the top of the cup with a lid that you puncture with these extra thick straws to suck up the tapioca in. They are super awesome. I've also tried a Banana (*****) and a Chocolate (**, only because it was neither very blended nor chocolate-y, we avoid that bubble tea shop now). Bubble tea was only invented in the 90s, so I think it just has not caught on yet. It will though, I think...they are delicious and fun!

Scenes from a Move

Before the big move, I spent many fun days with my friends before we left. Then we got the nitty-gritty:



Loadin' up the U-Haul (that's my little sister...while it may appear that she helped us move, I think that's the only box her dainty little hands touched. She just stopped in before we headed out.)



SNOW in the mountains through Oregon and Washington in JUNE. Crazy weather. The drive was nice and pleasant. Just mom and I in the U-Haul, while Grayson and our new kitten flew up together.



Here's Grayson and our new kitten Hobbes, the morning after the move.

So long, Boise!

Jar of Dirt

There's an urban legend that circulates throughout Boise, that those who wish to leave must take a jar of Idaho dirt with them, and it will ensure that they don't return. Boise, and Idaho in general, have this drawing quality for those that live there...of course there is familiarity, but it's just a safe, fairly sane town, and many people come back after trying to leave. So, the same day we were filling the U-Haul, I went into my mom's backyard and filled a small, cleaned out spice jar with dirt. It sits now on a shelf above the kitchen...keeping me at bay with its high-desert magic...

Scoping it out

This past Memorial Day Weekend, husband and I drove up to Seattle for a show, and to pal around. We were able to take a look at not only our soon-to-be apartment building, but also the neighborhood around it. We located grocery stores, book stores, etc., and were able to see all the other crazy-convenient stuff in our area. The roof has a view of the Space Needle and Queen Anne, and the neighborhood is chock-full of awesomeness. Being able to concretize where we're going and what we're going to do when we get there has helped both of us refresh our anticipation for the move, amidst all the stressful details.

As far as other emergent details, we have decided to get a kitten, which we will bring up with us. My brother-in-law has a new litter of cute orange-stripey cats (my favorite), and we've picked one for our own. Hobbes is only 6 weeks old right now, and he's already costing us a fortune! Grayson will fly him up on moving day and now we have all kinds of kitty accouterments to acquire, as well as all the bureaucratic and health things to look into. However, he's a super cute kitty and will totally brighten up our tiny apartment.