The Move

Well, I have to say, the move went pretty smooth as far as moves go..

We moved pretty much all our stuff (minus a few things here and there) on Wednesday with the U-Haul, and only had to make 2 trips! (Under $40 for the entire U-Haul rental. Woohoo!) In fact, every time we've rented a U-Haul, (this being our 3rd time,) we've been upgraded for free from the 10-foot to the 14-foot, which always is necessary, but we've stopped worrying about the length of the truck as they always seem to upgrade us.

I just LOVE our new place. Even though not everything is unpacked and put into its place yet, it feels so homey. Since I moved out to California, none of the places I've ever lived have ever felt like a home of my own--I've always just felt like I was temporarily living in other people's houses. But this one... This one feels like our very own.

I've gotten really into this whole 'nesting' thing lately, and am greatly enjoying it. Even though we don't really have the money to do an overload of nesting, Geoff and I get excited about saving up to purchase things for the house, like new shelves for the kitchen,

and a shiny new tea kettle.. Silly things like that. I'm starting to feel less like a college kid already, and more like a (boring? older?) adult who brightens up her day by taking her boyfriend to Bed, Bath & Beyond so they can oogle at the fancy knife sets and high-tech toaster ovens. Oh well.. at least it makes me smile. :)

By the way, did I mention we spent 3 days deep-cleaning the house at Country Place? In 110 degree weather without AC? Yeesh, what a task. Thank goodness we have a pool here at our new place where we can jump in after sweating half our body weight while cleaning. We just finished yesterday.. I am SO glad to be done!

Geoff's family also has been kind enough to drive down one of their cars (a silver VW Jetta, which matches Geoff's black one,) down to Southern California for me to use for the summer! They heard how difficult it was getting me to my one job, and Geoff to his 3 jobs, and their Jetta was just sitting in the driveway, so lucky me! I am forever grateful, and will have to send them a nice gift for their generosity. Also, don't tell Geoff, but I am secretly amused by how cute it probably looks now that we both have matching Jettas in different colors.. haha. I don't know if he's thought of that yet, but I'm sure it would be embarrassing for a boy to realize.

I Skyped with Dad and Linda (and Olivia and Maxx too!) yesterday, so most of them got the grand tour of the house, via me walking around with my computer room by room.

For those of you that were not there, I'm afraid if we cannot Skype, you are going to have to wait for us to finish unpacking our things before I start to take photos of the inside. I am a little shy about how messy it is, (it's not that bad, but I want it to look perfect in the photos!) so after

everything is set up, I will post some inside photos. For now, enjoy the outside of the house and the side yard, where we have our cute little patio for barbecuing.

Work is going well.

Everyone is still very nice to me, and while working the cash register is pretty boring, I enjoy BevMo's atmosphere. I also have been running into friends I haven't seen in a while. Even people who don't drink come in for the unique snacks we offer and hard-to-find sodas. :) I especially enjoy the fact that as an employee, I get to do the weekly beer-tastings and wine-tastings for free, every Friday and Saturday. I am learning a lot from this, believe it or not, and it's been a lot of fun. Honestly, I am just grateful I can tell people truthfully what I think of their selections when they ask me. I hate having to say "Sorry, I don't really drink beer, I have no idea what that tastes like.." College taught me that all beer tastes mostly the same, and it's fairly gross. But, it turns out, that is because in college, people only buy the cheap, nasty beers in cans that are easy to drink really fast in large quantities (like Natty Ice, Coors Light & Bud Light). BevMo has over 300 different flavors and brands of beer, and via these tastings, I now see that they each have a unique flavor, and I am growing a new appreciation.

However, my new favorite beer is one that BevMo does not yet sell. It's from a local brewery right in Redlands, called Hangar 24. They have a beer called "Orange Wheat", and they actually toss in whole oranges from the local groves during the fermentation process, giving the beer a citrusy aftertaste! Very cool. They're a really small craft brewery though, and are not yet big enough for BevMo to stock. Sad, sad.

Also, Geoff and I may be converting to Rice Milk now... we are starting to have digestive problems with dairy. But I'm sure mine are just coincidence. Geoff might be getting lactose intolerant, but not me. Cheese is necessary to my survival. I will never be lactose intolerant. Ever. Take THAT angry tummy!

Work, work, work.

Well, life is slowly starting to come back down to a neutral level for us out here...

I've been getting more and more hours for work, so I'm glad to have that money coming. I did 30 hours last week, and am scheduled for 31 more, this week! Geoff has been doing a lot of EMT work on almost every weekend lately, so that is good that he is getting work also. He seems to enjoy it... most of it is pretty low-key stuff like hip hop concerts, dirtbike races and car shows, but all his EMT co-workers seem very nice, and I think he has lots of fun being there.

Honestly, the summer has been an "eat, work, sleep, repeat" routine so far for us.. We both usually have Sunday off, but we're still pretty broke, so we usually can't go anywhere. Yesterday we washed the car and had a barbeque afterwards with Bryce (our housemate,) and Mike (Geoff's younger brother), so that was good fun. None of us (except Mike) got to do anything fun for the 4th, since all 3 of us were working until the evening, so we kind of made up for it on Sunday. Geoff and I did get to watch a few of the fireworks from the street on our way home, since they were happening everywhere in Redlands, but we didn't get to do much celebrating.

We'll probably begin to do our packing this week, as the 15th (our move-in date,) is getting closer and closer! However, I've been trying to avoid thinking about putting stuff back in boxes right now. ...maybe tomorrow it will begin. :)

I guess that's all for now!

I'm sending all my love to all of you on the East Coast! <3

BevMo

So, the job is going well.

Yesterday, I got trained to use the cash register.

It's probably the most scary thing I have to do. Honestly, everyone is so nice and helpful, and keeps telling me not to be intimidated by it, and that I will soon get the hang of it, but it is still something to adjust to. I like to think I'm a pretty quick learner, so I'm not too worried about picking it up. I definitely started getting into a flow, and by the end of my 5 hour day, I was able to check people out by myself. :)

However, I still much prefer being on the floor, answer questions, and facing bottles. I do enjoy organizing. Also, it helps me when I face bottles and put new cases on the shelves and such, because as I do it, I learn where everything is, and so I can better help people locate different items. I also secretly really enjoy unlocking the glass cases and getting people the fancy liquors from the cabinets. They're all so pretty!

This week, my hours are from 5-10 most days, but I just got a call asking if I would come in today at 1, (which is in 35 minutes,) so I guess I'm doing an afternoon shift instead today!

We signed the agreement on our new place last week, a two story townhome in Redlands. It's very lovely, and I can't wait to move in. Our move-in date is July 15th, so I will have more to update next week as we get everything packed up. And I'll definitely take lots of photos so you all can see our new home.

Ciao for now.