This post will be short and sweet, since we've done little besides unpack, clean, and organize.
All of the boxes have been emptied, and they're now stacked up in the garage, waiting for the moving company to come on Wednesday to pick them all up.
We spent a bit of yesterday and today getting our phone plans all sorted out (cell numbers remain the same), but we're going to try to use the house phone when we can (unlimited), so if you need that number, send one of us an email or text and we'll pass it along.
Comcast is scheduled to come tomorrow, so barring unforeseen issues, we should have cable by lunch :)
While we still have plenty of organizing and arranging to do, the new place was in good enough shape to take some pictures of, which you can find here.
Our first visitor (Paige's mom), arrives in about 30 minutes (her dad comes Wednesday), so I've gotta go ahead and wrap this up.
There should be some more interesting posts coming soon, as we will likely make a few trips to San Francisco and Napa Valley while Paige's parents are in town.
See ya!
Monday, June 29, 2009
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Home At Last
We finally got to spend the night in our new bed :) The townhouse is beginning to feel like 'home' now that we have all of our stuff (and some of it is actually put in it's correct place).
Since we've gotten a bit behind in our blogging, I'll give you a quick recap:
Thursday - This was supposed to be the day that DirecTV installed our dish and started service. Before the installers came to the house, I had contacted the HOA about correct dish placement (gotta follow all the rules...), and they sent me a picture of a dish mounted to a conduit on the roof. When I showed the same picture to the DirecTV guys, they said that their new dishes are too large to mount that way, and that they had to bolt it down. The HOA obviously doesn't want to void the roof's warranty by bolting things down into it, so DirecTV is a no go. The only real problem with not having DirecTV is that I can't order NFL Sunday Ticket and watch all of the Titans games (and that we're now forced to have Comcast). The rest of the day was spent doing more unpacking and organizing. We did manage to take a break Thursday evening to go have dinner with David Long, a fellow Jacksonian who went to school at Stanford and has been working for Google's legal department for the past 2 years (you may remember him as the really tall guy from Prep who played basketball and football).
Friday - Delivery day! Our couch, bedroom suite, and mattress set were delivered in the early afternoon. The couch looks really good and is quite comfortable, but we think it managed to grow a bit larger since Paige made her model of the living room. Anyways, the couch and love seat are something we bought to hold on to, so if it's not perfect this year, we can deal. I spent several hours assembling the bedroom furniture, and it all looks great. We definitely made a good choice there. The mattress set is ridiculously comfortable, so we're feeling good about the bedroom setup.
Today - We slept in today (just getting moving really), but we've got plenty planned to do. We've got to find a replacement for my destroyed desk, so I think we're going to make another trip to IKEA. I also may try to mount the bedroom TV to the wall. There's also always more unpacking, but the more we unpack, the more boxes pile up (the garage is already half-full, as is our downstairs entryway), and those aren't getting taken away until Wednesday.
We'll post pictures and some more description later this weekend, assuming we have the place in a decent state by then.
Since we've gotten a bit behind in our blogging, I'll give you a quick recap:
Thursday - This was supposed to be the day that DirecTV installed our dish and started service. Before the installers came to the house, I had contacted the HOA about correct dish placement (gotta follow all the rules...), and they sent me a picture of a dish mounted to a conduit on the roof. When I showed the same picture to the DirecTV guys, they said that their new dishes are too large to mount that way, and that they had to bolt it down. The HOA obviously doesn't want to void the roof's warranty by bolting things down into it, so DirecTV is a no go. The only real problem with not having DirecTV is that I can't order NFL Sunday Ticket and watch all of the Titans games (and that we're now forced to have Comcast). The rest of the day was spent doing more unpacking and organizing. We did manage to take a break Thursday evening to go have dinner with David Long, a fellow Jacksonian who went to school at Stanford and has been working for Google's legal department for the past 2 years (you may remember him as the really tall guy from Prep who played basketball and football).
Friday - Delivery day! Our couch, bedroom suite, and mattress set were delivered in the early afternoon. The couch looks really good and is quite comfortable, but we think it managed to grow a bit larger since Paige made her model of the living room. Anyways, the couch and love seat are something we bought to hold on to, so if it's not perfect this year, we can deal. I spent several hours assembling the bedroom furniture, and it all looks great. We definitely made a good choice there. The mattress set is ridiculously comfortable, so we're feeling good about the bedroom setup.
Today - We slept in today (just getting moving really), but we've got plenty planned to do. We've got to find a replacement for my destroyed desk, so I think we're going to make another trip to IKEA. I also may try to mount the bedroom TV to the wall. There's also always more unpacking, but the more we unpack, the more boxes pile up (the garage is already half-full, as is our downstairs entryway), and those aren't getting taken away until Wednesday.
We'll post pictures and some more description later this weekend, assuming we have the place in a decent state by then.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Moving Day
After the nice break that was our trip to San Francisco, the past two days have been back to business.
Tuesday began with the delivery of our new TV and stand from Fry's, which I spent the next few hours assembling. While it wasn't very fun to build, the end product looks great. I then began my second assembly of the day, the wine tower. It was significantly easier to put together, and it also turned out nicely.
After that we took a trip to Bed, Bath, & Beyond and Wal-Mart to pick up cleaning supplies and various necessary everyday household items (of which there are thousands). Tons of fun, lemme tell ya...
Dinner was at Chipotle, which is a burrito/taco restaurant similar to Moe's. We were both pretty hungry, so it was extra delicious.
After dinner we browsed TJ Maxx/Homegoods, and then went in search of a reasonably priced stainless steel trash can. We found one at our third stop, Target, although it's not quite as large as we might have liked. We then called it a night.
Today was another early day, and it was also a long one.
The movers arrived with our stuff at around 8 this morning, and they wasted no time in getting the truck unloaded. Everything was off the truck and inside by around 11:30. Well, I say everything, but what I mean is everything but the desk (my desk from Nashville) and bookcase (Paige's ladder bookcase from upstairs), which were destroyed in transit. Apparently we'll be compensated for them, so we'll see how that goes (we weren't particularly attached to either, so it isn't all bad). Otherwise everything seems to be in good shape, although the packing crew did pack a few boxes quite oddly and label them incorrectly.
We've been unpacking the kitchen and living room stuff since the first box came off the truck, and Paige is still at it in the kitchen (working on the Christmas stuff now). We haven't really even touched our clothes or any of the bedroom boxes, so we're hoping to get to them tomorrow. We know that the unpacking process will take some time, but neither of us are particularly patient right now.
Sorry for the lack of enthusiasm in this post, but Paige and I are both exhausted. The blog will pick back up a bit once we get some of the house stuff settled, and we'll also probably be in much perkier moods :)
Tuesday began with the delivery of our new TV and stand from Fry's, which I spent the next few hours assembling. While it wasn't very fun to build, the end product looks great. I then began my second assembly of the day, the wine tower. It was significantly easier to put together, and it also turned out nicely.
After that we took a trip to Bed, Bath, & Beyond and Wal-Mart to pick up cleaning supplies and various necessary everyday household items (of which there are thousands). Tons of fun, lemme tell ya...
Dinner was at Chipotle, which is a burrito/taco restaurant similar to Moe's. We were both pretty hungry, so it was extra delicious.
After dinner we browsed TJ Maxx/Homegoods, and then went in search of a reasonably priced stainless steel trash can. We found one at our third stop, Target, although it's not quite as large as we might have liked. We then called it a night.
Today was another early day, and it was also a long one.
The movers arrived with our stuff at around 8 this morning, and they wasted no time in getting the truck unloaded. Everything was off the truck and inside by around 11:30. Well, I say everything, but what I mean is everything but the desk (my desk from Nashville) and bookcase (Paige's ladder bookcase from upstairs), which were destroyed in transit. Apparently we'll be compensated for them, so we'll see how that goes (we weren't particularly attached to either, so it isn't all bad). Otherwise everything seems to be in good shape, although the packing crew did pack a few boxes quite oddly and label them incorrectly.
We've been unpacking the kitchen and living room stuff since the first box came off the truck, and Paige is still at it in the kitchen (working on the Christmas stuff now). We haven't really even touched our clothes or any of the bedroom boxes, so we're hoping to get to them tomorrow. We know that the unpacking process will take some time, but neither of us are particularly patient right now.
Sorry for the lack of enthusiasm in this post, but Paige and I are both exhausted. The blog will pick back up a bit once we get some of the house stuff settled, and we'll also probably be in much perkier moods :)
Monday, June 22, 2009
Day Trip to SF
Since today was the only day for the next week that we were free of deliveries and installations, we decided it would be the perfect day for a day trip! We decided to try out the Caltrain, which is the train that runs all through California. Since we are still in corporate housing that is right in downtown Mountain View, we were able to walk over to the train station. The train ride from Mountain View to San Francisco is about an hour long. Once you get to San Francisco you hop on a bus and go wherever you like! It is so much easier than driving and having to worry about parking and all that mess! The bus dropped us off right by Fisherman's Wharf and we immediately focused on getting lunch. We were craving clam chowder, so we went to Boudin's which is a restaurant right on Fisherman's Wharf that is famous for its fresh sourdough bread and clam chowder. Absolutely delicious! We also made a special trip up to Ghirardelli and split a World Famous Chocolate Sunday! :) After satisfying our sweet tooth we just wandered around taking in the city. We wandered the "crookedest street in SF", watched sea lions lounge at Pier 39, and walked up and down the SF bay. Click here to see pictures.
We ended up getting back to Mountain View around 6ish, and it was immediately off to do more shopping. We started by going to Ashley furniture and ordering the square ottoman and end table that Scott posted pictures of yesterday. Then we went to do some more research into accent chairs. We are still undecided on this, but hoping to reach a decision and have one ordered by tomorrow afternoon!
We happened upon the BEST burger place in as we were coming back from the Stanford shopping center in Palo Alto. We were starving and Scott wanted a burger so we stopped at a place called The Counter in downtown Palo Alto. It was a gourmet burger joint and had a create your own burger worksheet. First you decided your meat (beef, turkey, chicken), then your cheese (all kinds of specialty cheeses!), then up to 4 toppings (there are like 25 to choose from!), then your sauce (once again, all sorts of different options), and then finally your bread! Scott was boring and pretty much just got a cheeseburger. I mixed things up and got a turkey burger with some kind of provolone and roasted red peppers, tomato, field greens, and red onion with sun dried tomato vinaigrette on a honey wheat bun! It was AMAZING!! We're definitely going back to this place!
Tonight we also cleaned up and started packing most of our stuff since we are moving out of corporate housing on WEDNESDAY!! We are so excited and ready to start moving into our new home!
Tomorrow morning begins the crazy week of moving in!
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Burning Up The Plastic
Paige is busy reading trying to finish the last book in the Twilight series, so I'm on blog duty again.
The past two days have been taken up primarily by furniture shopping. Yesterday we were able to find a sofa (it's a sleeper so we'll have extra room for you all to come visit ;) ), love seat (matches the sofa), bedroom suite, duvet, and wine rack from Crate and Barrel, a TV (for the living room) and stand from Fry's, and a mattress set from Mancini's Sleep World. Talk about an expensive day...
Today we got up at a decent time and headed over to the townhouse to wait on delivery of our giant washer and dryer, which our landlord kindly purchased and had installed. After that, we headed back out furniture shopping, this time in search of an ottoman or coffee table and an accent chair. We think we've decided on a square leather-topped ottoman from Ashley Furniture (with accompanying end table), but we're not quite sold. We've also spotted a few chairs from Crate and Barrel and Pottery Barn that we like, but we've got to narrow those down as well.
Things are really starting to come together, and by the end of this week we should have a functional, semi-furnished home. Needless to say, we're both really excited to have all of our things from out of storage in addition to all of the new furniture that will be coming.
So, for anybody considering a trip this direction, we'll be ready to accept visitors as soon as next week, so come on out :)
Pictures of our purchases/considerations:
(click to open full size)
The past two days have been taken up primarily by furniture shopping. Yesterday we were able to find a sofa (it's a sleeper so we'll have extra room for you all to come visit ;) ), love seat (matches the sofa), bedroom suite, duvet, and wine rack from Crate and Barrel, a TV (for the living room) and stand from Fry's, and a mattress set from Mancini's Sleep World. Talk about an expensive day...
Today we got up at a decent time and headed over to the townhouse to wait on delivery of our giant washer and dryer, which our landlord kindly purchased and had installed. After that, we headed back out furniture shopping, this time in search of an ottoman or coffee table and an accent chair. We think we've decided on a square leather-topped ottoman from Ashley Furniture (with accompanying end table), but we're not quite sold. We've also spotted a few chairs from Crate and Barrel and Pottery Barn that we like, but we've got to narrow those down as well.
Things are really starting to come together, and by the end of this week we should have a functional, semi-furnished home. Needless to say, we're both really excited to have all of our things from out of storage in addition to all of the new furniture that will be coming.
So, for anybody considering a trip this direction, we'll be ready to accept visitors as soon as next week, so come on out :)
Pictures of our purchases/considerations:
(click to open full size)
Friday, June 19, 2009
No Longer Homeless
Well, I can proudly say that we are no longer without a home! Paige and I (yes Scott is indeed blogging) signed a lease today on a brand new townhouse in Mountain View. We were given keys as soon as the lease was signed, so today marked the beginning of "nesting" (as Paige so fondly refers to it).
We spent a good bit of the day taking measurements and modeling furniture layouts, followed by yet another trip to several furniture stores. Paige did take some pictures of the place (click here), and you can even see me struggling through seemingly endless phone calls to DirecTV and AT&T (both will be done by Thursday).
The movers also set a date for delivery of our items from storage, which is Wednesday, June 24 (not as soon as we would have liked). AT&T has scheduled phone and internet installation on Wednesday, so we should have a busy day and a full house.
We're hoping to make a few furniture purchases tomorrow (so far we haven't actually bought anything, just done a lot of browsing), specifically a bedroom suite and a couch. We'll see how any of that turns out...
Anyways, it's time for me to go to bed, goodnight.
We spent a good bit of the day taking measurements and modeling furniture layouts, followed by yet another trip to several furniture stores. Paige did take some pictures of the place (click here), and you can even see me struggling through seemingly endless phone calls to DirecTV and AT&T (both will be done by Thursday).
The movers also set a date for delivery of our items from storage, which is Wednesday, June 24 (not as soon as we would have liked). AT&T has scheduled phone and internet installation on Wednesday, so we should have a busy day and a full house.
We're hoping to make a few furniture purchases tomorrow (so far we haven't actually bought anything, just done a lot of browsing), specifically a bedroom suite and a couch. We'll see how any of that turns out...
Anyways, it's time for me to go to bed, goodnight.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
The Waiting Game
The past three days have been dedicated to finding a home. I think we have looked at every home the area has to offer, and we have finally reached a decision! It is actually the very first one we looked at, the one that I have described in a previous post. It is a three story townhouse. The bottom story is the garage and laundry room, the second story is the kitchen, dining room, living room, and 1/2 bath, and then third story is two bedrooms and two bathrooms. We went to lunch with the owner today and got along with him really well. We should hopefully be signing a contract either Friday or Saturday! Our stuff will hopefully be able to be moved out of storage and into the townhouse on Monday! I will post up pictures as soon as we can take some!
We have also been looking at furniture whenever we haven't been looking at houses. We really like the Crate and Barrel stuff, and we will most likely be getting a bed and couch from there. We went to probably the worlds largest Ikea store yesterday...we actually got lost in it!
Today we tried our first Mexican restaurant, La Fiesta. I'm just not so sure about mexican food with no cheese dip...it just doesn't have the same charm. Apparently it was voted to have the best mexican food in the Bay Area. I'm really hoping that we just have completely different taste buds than all these people because I was quite dissappointed. I guess we'll just be getting our mexican fix whenever we come home!
I am hoping we can either take a day trip to San Fransisco or Napa Valley in the next week. There is a train from Mountain View to San Fransisco that takes about an hour, so we think that could be fun to do one day!
Hopefully next time we post, we will not be homeless! Everyone keep your fingers crossed that this deal goes through! We'll keep you posted.
We have also been looking at furniture whenever we haven't been looking at houses. We really like the Crate and Barrel stuff, and we will most likely be getting a bed and couch from there. We went to probably the worlds largest Ikea store yesterday...we actually got lost in it!
Today we tried our first Mexican restaurant, La Fiesta. I'm just not so sure about mexican food with no cheese dip...it just doesn't have the same charm. Apparently it was voted to have the best mexican food in the Bay Area. I'm really hoping that we just have completely different taste buds than all these people because I was quite dissappointed. I guess we'll just be getting our mexican fix whenever we come home!
I am hoping we can either take a day trip to San Fransisco or Napa Valley in the next week. There is a train from Mountain View to San Fransisco that takes about an hour, so we think that could be fun to do one day!
Hopefully next time we post, we will not be homeless! Everyone keep your fingers crossed that this deal goes through! We'll keep you posted.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
LONG DAY
Today was an extremely long day! We met with Jennifer, our real estate agent, at 10:45 AM and finally returned home from looking at 4:30 PM. We saw around 9 properties today, some that we really liked, some that we didn't. We still have a few more appointments to go to both Wednesday and Thursday. We still have a lot of pro/conning to do before we make any decisions, but at least we know we have a lot of good options! I'll probably post more details about our final options either Wednesday or Thursday when we have seen all of our options!
The really good new is that we got our cars today!!! We were told it would be 10 to 15 days until we got them, but we got them in 6 days! They also make the entire journey with no bumps or bruises which is also great news!
Sorry there isn't much to report. We're both too exhausted to rehash all the details today!
The really good new is that we got our cars today!!! We were told it would be 10 to 15 days until we got them, but we got them in 6 days! They also make the entire journey with no bumps or bruises which is also great news!
Sorry there isn't much to report. We're both too exhausted to rehash all the details today!
Monday, June 15, 2009
A Low Key Day...
Today was a pretty low key day. We woke up and put on our exercise clothes and went for a walk through downtown Mountain View. I think my favorite thing about downtown Mountain View is that either way you look down the street, there is a view of mountains! Such a beautiful place! :) This picture isn't particularly pretty...but it gives the idea of just seeing the mountains as you are driving down the road.
I also really like how all of the restaurants have an extra little sidewalk with tables and umbrellas so that you can always sit outside and enjoy the beautiful weather!
On our way back from the walk, we stopped at Long's Drug Store (which CVS is currently in the process of taking over) and bought some groceries and other things we needed. It is so handy living within walking distance of everything! I feel like I should also comment on how AMAZING the weather is here. The air is so thin and crisp...quite the opposite of the ridiculous humidity we are accustomed to! Today I actually had to wear a fleece when the sun went behind the clouds!
This afternoon we went and saw The Hangover. We had very high expectations after talking to all of our friends who have seen the movie, and I've got to say that it definitely lived up to all the hype! After the movie we decided to drive around and explore the city. Scott was trying to teach me the roads, but with my sense of direction, we didn't really get anywhere. We have decided that I am just going to have to drive from now on so that I can't zone out and lose track of where we are. Tonight we are just taking it easy and relaxing. It will be a long day tomorrow looking for a place to live!
Tomorrow morning we are meeting with the real estate agent at 10:45 AM. Our first appointment is at 11:00 AM. Keep your fingers crossed for us that we can find our new home tomorrow! We are so ready to finally have a place to call home and begin the "nesting" process! I would really like to start moving and looking for furniture before Scott starts work on July 6th.
We'll post more about what we see tomorrow!
I also really like how all of the restaurants have an extra little sidewalk with tables and umbrellas so that you can always sit outside and enjoy the beautiful weather!
On our way back from the walk, we stopped at Long's Drug Store (which CVS is currently in the process of taking over) and bought some groceries and other things we needed. It is so handy living within walking distance of everything! I feel like I should also comment on how AMAZING the weather is here. The air is so thin and crisp...quite the opposite of the ridiculous humidity we are accustomed to! Today I actually had to wear a fleece when the sun went behind the clouds!
This afternoon we went and saw The Hangover. We had very high expectations after talking to all of our friends who have seen the movie, and I've got to say that it definitely lived up to all the hype! After the movie we decided to drive around and explore the city. Scott was trying to teach me the roads, but with my sense of direction, we didn't really get anywhere. We have decided that I am just going to have to drive from now on so that I can't zone out and lose track of where we are. Tonight we are just taking it easy and relaxing. It will be a long day tomorrow looking for a place to live!
Tomorrow morning we are meeting with the real estate agent at 10:45 AM. Our first appointment is at 11:00 AM. Keep your fingers crossed for us that we can find our new home tomorrow! We are so ready to finally have a place to call home and begin the "nesting" process! I would really like to start moving and looking for furniture before Scott starts work on July 6th.
We'll post more about what we see tomorrow!
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Welcome to our blog
Hey everyone!
Since we have just moved to California, we have decided to start a blog so all of our friends and family can easily keep up with us.
I guess we can start with the getting here process, which was, of course, ridiculously long and drawn out and went wrong at every step possible. It all started at 6:30 AM when we woke up early because we still had not packed for our move to CA. Our flight was supposed to leave at 9:40 AM, but when we got to the airport to check in, we discovered that our connecting flight from Dallas to San Jose was cancelled. Finding this out and sorting out the problem took about 45 minutes because there was only one competent person working behind the counter and about 20 other people were having the same problem we were. I won't even go into the ridiculous amount of time spent on the concerned mothers that were sending their daughters off on their first "unsupervised flight" to girl scout camp that were ahead of us in line. We finally got our flight rescheduled to 2:40 that afternoon so we got to hang out in Jackson for a few more hours.
When we got back to the airport we started checking our bags which they were so graciously supposed to comp for us. However, my bag was 5 lbs overweight so that was going to be a $50 overweight bag fee!! Completely ridiculous. So we started throwing things out of my bag and got it down to 50.5 lbs, which they decided they would let slide.
Things went pretty smoothly until we arrived in San Jose, CA, and tried to go get our rental car. Microsoft was in charge of booking all of our travel plans and everything and we just had confirmation numbers that they had sent us. When we got to the rental car place, they could not find our name on the list. Of course, they're computers were down so they couldn't look up the confirmation number that we had been given. We spent around 45 minutes trying to figure out this problem, and finally we just got a car and we're just going to hope that everything sorts itself out once the computers are finally back up.
We finally arrived at the apartment complex where our corporate housing is located. We had an email that gave us very specific instructions on where to go to find the lock box that contained the key to the apartment, so we got that no problem. However, there were no instructions whatsoever to the actual apartment. There were 4 main buildings all in a square formation and each unit was marked with a four digit number. We were given a three digit number in the email and no building number. We wandered around for about 30 minutes searching for anything that was remotely similar to our number. Brief recap, we had woken up at 6:30 AM, and it was now about 12:30 AM central time. We were both extremely frusterated and about to give up, and then we found it! The random 5th building off to the side of the other buildings that didn't match the other buildings and was for some reason marked with three digit numbers instead of four digit numbers like the other buildings. Woohoo!
So long story, but we finally found our "home" for the time being. We pretty much dropped our stuff and crashed immediately. The apartment is pretty nice. Its a fully furnished one bedroom apartment and is SO SO SO much better than a hotel would be!
Today we woke up late and then wandered around Mountain View until lunch. We ate at a really yummy bakery and sat outside and watched a random parade that was going on. Our apartment is located right in the middle of downtown. I love downtown Mountain View! It is a cute cobblestone street type look with all kinds of stores and restaurants all along a one mile strip. After lunch we got on the internet and started looking up different rental properties in the area. We wrote down some addresses and went to try to take a look at several of the promising prospects. We actually found one that we are very hopeful about. It is in a new area that kind of has a seaside type look to it. They are all brand new and really nice! We meet with our real estate agent on Tuesday to start looking at some of the stuff she has found, so we are excited to tell her about what we have found and to see what she has to show us!
Sorry this post has been so long! There was lots of news to catch up on! I guess it is appropriate for the first blog post to be really long and probably full of tons of unnecessary information...that's just how I write and tell stories! We miss everyone already!
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