Settling In: New Apartment!

The past couple of weeks have felt like a couple years. Like a monsterous marathon that ends in me running full-speed into a brick wall.

I'm now in the post-marathon-smash-into-a-brick-wall phase. Now I just want to lay on my freshly vacuumed (praise the Lord) carpet and tend to my achy joints and drink Gatorade.

Or something like that.

These weeks have been filled with some highs and a lot of lows. I'm currently in a love-hate relationship with my apartment/ apartment complex.

Even looking back a couple weeks to when I wrote this blog post, that was only at the tip of the iceberg!

The good news is that Ross and I found a place, even it is was the only and last one left on our list. We were in a definite crunch time, but we signed for a place and moved in pretty quickly, with no thanks to the awful Complex Manager. I am not trying to complain, but nothing about moving has been particularly easy. It is exhausting, but we made it.

In honor of "making it." I'm going to go ahead and list some of the highs of this whole adventure.

1.) I think I'm getting really old cos, I just dropped $200 on a vacuum and felt amazing about it. Maybe it's all those years of custodial work but I'm a little obsessed over ... My vacuum.

2.) I love exploring new places. And just because I live back in boring old America, in a semi-familiar location, I am not deterred in finding new and fun things to do in the area.

Going up to Big Bear Lake isn't new so much as it is fun. My family came down to see our new place and we grabbed some lunch first at this local place called Nick's Burgers. They had some serious hamburgers and they were delicious!



We wanted to get to some cooler temperatures so we headed up to the mountains.



Apparently everyone else in the world had the same idea because parking was positively horrendous. But once we got parked we had a fun time. They had a huge chili cook-off going on, which we thought would be fun, until we realized how expensive it was.

Saturday August 16th, 2014

That's okay. We are more ice cream people anyways. 

3.) When you move to a new place, you are sure to get at least a few overlapping recommendations from locals. One of those overlappers was the summer concert series at the Redlands Bowl. With moving in and Ross starting rotations, and summer drawing to a close, we weren't sure we would make it.



But we did! We decided to walk instead of braving parking, and I am glad we did because it was a lovely 10 minute walk right at sunset. When we reached the bowl we laughed and wondered if we were really permitted to be there because we could only see a handful of people under the age of 70. But that is what you get when you have a Glen Miller Orchestra playing.

Tuesday August 19, 2014

The concert was, to borrow a word from the older generation, a "hoot." The music was amazing and it was fun to be able to recognize some of the pieces even though it was before our time. The stage was all lit up and Ross got us some snacks. Here in Redlands you get a strong sense of community pride. It's definitely a different concept for me, but a very lovely one at that.

4.) Another "must-see" is the farmer's market here in Redlands. It is every Thursday night. As much as I complain about our apartment, it is in the perfect location. I love taking walks and it is only a short walk from our place to the farmer's market. This farmer's market is a far cry from the dinky one in Lancaster. But when I got thinking about it, it makes sense because we are so much closer to growers and farms in general. Ross and I got some BBQ pulled pork fries.

Thursday August 21, 2014 

They also have a couple flower vendors with bouquets of flowers for only $5! Ross encouraged me to pick one out.



I love how bright and happy it is.

5.) Ross and I are officially moved in to our apartment, but not moved out of boxes just yet. I feel like when it comes to unpacking, it goes quick, then you always have a couple boxes that take forever.



Those pictures were from when we just barely moved in. I'm already shuddering at having to pack it all up and do it again. It makes me never want to buy anything ever again. But moving is the life of a IMG and therefore mine too.



But since this post is about the positives of life lately, I will focus on how wonderful it is to be in possession of all my stuff again. When I opened my kitchen boxes I positively wanted to weep at the beauty. Those colored knives are awesome and I can't wait to use them again. Real dishes and cookie decorating tools, and a slow cooker! I really appreciate the little things. It was also fun to unwrap our stuff and see it wrapped in local Provo, UTAH grocery adds from December 2011. It's now AUGUST 2014 and I haven't seen this stuff since the year we got married. It's fun to have almost brand-new, nice things to start the next chapter with.