My new place!

I went over this morning and took some pictures of my new place! I'm going to start moving some stuff over tomorrow night I think. It looks so spacious now because it's empty. I kind of hate to fill it up!

Fireplace in living room.

View from living room to patio.

From living room looking toward bathroom & kitchen. I love this built-in shelf - I'll fill it up very fast!

Dining room & kitchen.

Kitchen. The refrig is larger and I think newer than the one I have now.

Bedroom. I had turned the flash off so it's kind of dark. The window looks out onto the street. I think my cats will enjoy the view!

Front door! And you can see my "old" front door across the way.

So far so . . .

I believe the next word is good but I'm not sure it applies! I'm making some progress toward my upcoming move but I'm beginning to worry. I decided to use some boxes for small items so I've done a little packing. Drawers I figure can just be carried over as can large items. I emptied out all my bathroom cupboards, packed the stuff in a box and then realized I needed something at the bottom of the box. Took everything out and repacked. Wow this is fun. Tomorrow night I'm going to empty most of the kitchen cabinets into a few more boxes and I think that will be it for packing. After that it's just going to be many, many trips back and forth. My biggest problem, as it is anytime I move, is partially shown in the 2nd picture. I say partially because that's just a small part of the books I have. For some reason I can only get people to help me move once. After they've lugged boxes and bags of books I never see them again (the people, not the books). It's good though, new people I can always find. Books on the other hand, are irreplaceable! When I left for work yesterday I suggested to my cats they could do a little packing while I was gone. The last picture gives you an idea of their interest level in helping. Oh well, their little claws would just tear things up anyway.

Musical Monday

Silent Sunday

Poetry Day

What Lips My Lips Have Kissed...

What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why,
I have forgotten, and what arms have lain
Under my head till morning; but the rain
Is full of ghosts tonight, that tap and sigh
Upon the glass and listen for reply,
And in my heart there stirs a quiet pain
For unremembered lads that not again
Will turn to me at midnight with a cry.
Thus in winter stands the lonely tree,
Nor knows what birds have vanished one by one,
Yet knows its boughs more silent than before:
I cannot say what loves have come and gone,
I only know that summer sang in me
A little while, that in me sings no more.

Edna St. Vincent Millay

Musical Monday

Silent Sunday

Happy Birthday ! ! !

To me! And I'm way older than I'd like to be. . . I guess it's ok though. I'm still trying to convince people I'm 39 but no one seems to buy it. Anyway I was going to post a birthday song but since it's my birthday I decided I'd put up a couple of versions of my all time, always and forever favorite song: I Walk the Line by Johnny Cash. Hope you all enjoy it!

Tender women and snakes . . .

I'm a pretty smart woman. Really I am. You'd never know it sometimes though. I've posted this song before and the links to that post get a lot of hits which leads me to believe I'm not the only one who has a problem remembering the message of the song: You knew darn well I was a snake before you brought me in. Maybe my problem is being a "tender woman?" Although weak-minded pushover is probably a better term.

Ok, I'm off to have the lyrics tattooed on my arm. . . .

Back on course

I've been feeling lately that things really aren't working out the way I'd wanted. I've been sitting here going through my Google Reader and in the back of my mind was my usual little mantra: "you've messed up, nothing is going to change, you're old, it's hot, maybe you should go back to the bay area (where it's cooler!)."

Then I read a post from Christine Kane's blog, called Why Your GPS Gets You There: 7 Success Lessons From Navigation. And I think she's right. I just have to get back on the road, maybe change the routing a little and focus on the next step, not the huge impossible-seeming end result.

She says this: Sometimes when you turn the car off, you lose the destination. No worries. Just re-enter your destination – and your navigation will begin again. So it is with your goals and intentions. Sometimes our minds can’t remember why we got started in the first place. We get caught up in something else. Everything feels lost. We can’t find motivation. No worries. Just re-decide. Re-commit. Re-enter your destination and your navigation will begin again.

That's just how I've been feeling. Unmotivated, wandering, lost. So. . . . I'll re-enter my destination and keep moving forward. But just a note to the Universe: a little positive feedback, a few hugs, a smile or two, none of that would hurt!

July 14th

My mother died 11 years ago today. This was one of her favorite songs although I'm not sure she would have liked Sinead O'Connor! But I do and it's my blog so. . .

Musical Monday

Silent Sunday (more or less)

I took these the last time I went to the Soledad Mission which was a year ago. I really need to go back soon. I'm feeling so far away from everything today. I was 2 hrs away from the Mission in the Bay Area. Now I'm 3-1/2 hrs away. I was 45 min away from the ocean and now I'm at least 2 hrs away. But, but, but. . . I love it here, I really do it's just hard sometimes. Part of me feels like my home is still in the Bay Area and what am I doing all alone in this strange, very hot, city. I've decided it's like a relationship. You fall in love and everything is great for awhile. Then the rose-colored glasses come off and you realize, hey I have to work at this. But it's still good and it's still what you want. So...... I guess I'll go out in the heat & get my laundry done!

This is cute!

Yeah another cat picture. . . .I just thought this was so cute. I spend a fair amount of time sitting at my computer and periodically Mellifera will decide to have a battle of wills with me over the seat. The minute I get up she jumps up on the seat and gets comfortable. When I come back she looks at me with sweet little eyes and mostly I end up not moving her. This pose is guaranteed to let her keep the seat as long as she wants! She goes to a lot of trouble scratching at the throw to get it positioned over her and I just can't bear to make her move. You'll notice she's draped over most of the chair. In the past she'd curl up in a ball at the back of the seat with the throw pulled around her (I'm still not sure how she does it even though I've watched!). She liked feeling hidden but unfortunately if I wasn't paying attention I'd sit down and nearly squish her! She's learned to take up a lot of space on the chair for safety!

I'm moving!

But only 74". Since I moved here the apartment across from me has been sporadically occupied. The last tenant lived there about 4 months and due to work probably spent 2 weeks in the apartment. I met him on the day he moved out because he was never around! Anyway my apt. manager asked me last week if I was interested in moving over to that apartment. It's a one-bedroom like mine but is set-up differently. It has a separate dining area and a little more storage space. So I looked at it, decided I liked it and am going to go ahead and move around the end of the month.

Aside from a little more space there are some other things I really like about it. It has a security screen door so I can get fresh air and let my cats look outside. It has one more window than I have now. I think, I'm not positive, that the patio is a little bigger. A couple of things that I tentatively like but am a little nervous about are that the bedroom window and the patio face the street. It's a pretty quiet street and I don't mind street noise anyway but I'm just a little nervous about security. The nice thing is the cats can sit in that window and have a lot more to look at then they do now. Overall I think I'm going to be happy with it. Not that I've been unhappy with my current apartment - I love it but I think this new set-up will be good.

The only bad thing is I have to move everything! I'm going back and forth trying to decide whether to be organized and put stuff in boxes or just cart it all over in lots of small trips. I'm leaning toward some boxes because I think it'll make things go faster. Hopefully the weekend I move will be cool but I'm not optimistic!

View of my soon-to-be front door! That's a pizza flier stuck in the screen. They come around and stick these fliers on doors every week. It's awfully annoying.

View from my current front door to the new one. It's a very short move! The window you see is in my new dining area. The blinds are open a little and every time I walk past lately I peek in!

4th of July

I went over by the river tonight to see if I could see some fireworks. I didn't see a lot but enough to make me happy! It's been hot here all day and it was nice to walk by the river. There was a nice breeze and I was almost feeling cold at times! I just had my iPhone and took a few pictures. In the bottom one you can even see some fireworks. The top picture is the bridge - I stuck my phone out the window and took the picture. Fortunately I didn't drop it! The middle picture is of the river and the lights are a boat. There were a number of boats out, I guess they were hoping for a fireworks display.

Happy Fourth of July!