enJOY it

I am over the moon.

The packing and moving day were not the greatest. But the driving to the new place day totally made up for it.

I took the 1/Pacific Coast Highway for the last 42 miles. It's the scenic route for sure. I wish I had photos but I was too busy keeping the car on the road. On that drive, for the first time since I was 16 and a new and proud owner of a driver's license, I understood why people think that driving is fun. On my left was the ocean and on the right was solid rock.

I grinned like an absolute fool for all 42 miles. And I am pretty sure the people on the road with me thought I was either manic or auditioning for a California Tourism commercial (both possibilities, BTW).

So remember how I have never actually seen the place we're moving into? Remember how I signed a lease based on photos, fun videos and obsessive stalking on google maps? Remember how sometimes I am crazy?

Happily, it all paid off ten-fold.

I got there before the property manager and walked around a bit. I walked about 200 feet and saw this :

And then both of my parents and twitter got an earful.

To be clear, (and before you consider a career in very small internet crafting and the military) we don't live in any of those houses. We (obviously) can't afford beach front property. But man, we got super lucky with our place in that we actually get to live close to this. Close enough that my first run was highlighted with ocean air and wave sounds.

Seriously. I am in love. I am in love with a town I have lived in for less than a day.

Last week, I was high on falling leaves and seasons (I know, I know, Sacramento hardly has what one could call "seasons").

This week, I remembered I am wrong (and also crazy – see above). The sun and the beach and 70* on December 1st is where I belong.

Anyway. The property manager arrived and I continued grinning. He gave me the tour and at the end I exclaimed "I'll take it!" Which was hilarious and awkward considering I had already handed him a check for December's rent plus a sizable deposit.

It's gigantic. I couldn't fill all the space if I tried. And I am not going to try. This is going to be a dream year and a half and then we will more than likely be back in an apartment for awhile. I don't know. We'll see. The point is, I thought San Diego was the dream. And now I am realizing that everywhere we go can be a dream.

When I used to fret about allll the moves we'd be doing and alllll the places we'd have to live, Paul used to ask, "Isn't a little bit of you excited?" And I would summon up my energy to find excitement, but really all I felt was frustrated that we wouldn't own a home for ages or have control over where we lived for decades.

But Blogland, I totally get it. And Paul, was right. I am excited. I am excited for the next few months as I make this space ours. And then I am overjoyed with anticipation that Paul will be coming home to this magical beach town and we get to live here together.

Whew. As I write this, it's Thursday evening and am having an epiphany in this Starbucks. (No internet in the new place yet). Thank you for your patience, but I think I know why you are really reading, and that's the photos. I'll be the first to admit – they are seriously crap quality. I have the wrong lens with me, so these were taken with my iPhone. The after pictures will be better, I promise. And I have a million, billion ideas for the space. But this post is long enough so I'll share them next week.

This is what you see when you walk in. A big open space ahead and to the right with space for a kitchen table. (Those blinds lead out to a patio which is really all Paul needed to hear to agree. The man wants to grill.) The built-in couches and the fireplace are next to the door. (Yep, recovering the built-ins and taking down those lights to hang art will be projects 1 and 2.) The floor throughout the whole place is like this (Travertine tile) which was another big selling point. I hate carpet the same amount that Paul loves grills.

Kitchen! It's about double the size of our last kitchen. The frige I bought yesterday (super sale + military discount at Lowe's) will go to the left. You can walk in on the dining area side or from that big room side. (I am doing a tragic job explaining the layout of this place.)

Stairs! The space to the left of the staircase in the first photo leads to a half bath and the garage. The second photo is looking down from the second floor landing. I don't have any photos of it but it's decent size – not sure how we are going to use this space yet…

This bedroom I am planning to use as an office… unless I decide to treat the landing as that. There is a full bathroom attached and the ladder goes up to a secret storage space/hideout.

This is sort of what the hideout space looks like, but it's a bit bigger. I really wish we had older kids that could use this space. (I would absolutely love to put a climbing wall in to get up there.) How cool would a fort or something rad be up there? It is actually big enough that it could also work as an office, I can stand up just fine, but I am not sure Paul could.

This is the master bedroom. The widows on the right open up loft-like so you can see (or more likely, in our case, shout) downstairs.

And then there's a master bath with a closet and double sink. DOUBLE SINK, PAUL! We can finally know once and for all who's messier.

Seriously. The photos are not doing it justice. I'll of course take more once things start to settle and I learn how I can best use the space. Dude. I am so excited.

Thanks for letting me share! And heads up, until I get the internet working, email/comment responses may be slow. But I'll be super active on twitter and instagram in the meantime!

p.s. For privacy reasons, I am purposely staying a bit general on the location. Paul is stationed out of Port Hueneme so we are in that "area." 🙂