Why don't you make like a tree....

.... and get outta here.

The outside of my former abode.  The front porch was all mine and that was lovely.

The dishwasher-less kitchen.

Well, call me ginko, cherry, maple, tulip poplar or whatever you wanna, I'm outta my apartment on Roland Ave in Baltimore!  It was a cute little place, to be sure, and super convenient to work (hey, can't really beat a 10min walk) and Zeke loved going to the little grocery store a few blocks away to meet new friends.  But, after 4 years of no dishwasher, little to no storage space, no central air, weird/badly wallpapered bathrooms, and a W/D down in a scary scary basement populated by cave crickets it was time to move on.  Oh, not to mention the guy on the floor above me who liked to stomp around in bike shoes - you know, the kind with the metal clips on the bottom - at any and all hours and blare his TV loud enough that I could lie in bed and almost guess what he was watching.  Yeah, not going to miss that. 

The "cozy" (a.k.a. tiny) living area.

So, on to my nomadic summer, bouncing between places with Zeke at my side.  I've managed to keep my summer needs down to one large suitcase and a carry-on and that was a daunting task.  I selected 5 pairs of shoes to get me through from now until essentially the beginning of August.  "But wait, 5 pairs sounds like a good number of shoes," I hear you say.  "Surely it wasn't all that tough to select - and really, why do you need more than 1 or 2 pairs?"  To those of you thinking this or something similar, please refer to my previous post for more background reading. I still have a few more weeks of school followed by musical theater camp then the wedding week and the drive out to CA.... what's a girl to wear!??!  Oh and a friend's wedding, too!  The catch is, whatever I have with me now has to come in the car on the honeymoon.  With the dog, his crate/food/toys, Kevin's suitcase he'll need for the wedding week, and possibly/hopefully the "fourth" car companion, Flo.  My plant.  Some context:  There's a commercial where the opening line is, "My house is where plants came to die."  I relate very strongly to this.  I enjoy plants but despite my best intentions and constantly renewed promises to really truly keep this one alive and kickin' for a good long time... they all end up in the same sad state eventually.  Even a cactus.  But that's because it kept falling (or purposefully jumping...) off the window sill and it just gave up.  All but Flo.  She's a real trooper and has managed to stick it out with me for several years now.  I just can't see parting with a plant that has bravely hung in there and survived my benign neglect.   I've done quite a good job keeping Zeke healthy, even with his delicate bulldog constitution, but Zeke makes noise and lets me know when he needs attention of some sort.  Flo just helplessly sits on her stand, subtly starting to droop without my noticing, until somehow I mercifully remember to put the rest of the water from my bottle or drinking glass in her pot.  I'm a terrible plant parent.... Her sheer fortitude has won her a spot in the car. 

So, all four of us in the car and anything else we need to cram in the CR-V from coast to coast.  Oy vey.  Sure, the whole situation is a little displacing, and Zeke has just given up on trying to figure out just what the hell is going on, but it adds to the adventure of it all.  Just one step closer to finally being able to call CA home, weird as that still sounds.  Weird in a good, exciting, OMG sort of way, but weird nonetheless.  Luckily, that's a state in which I am perfectly comfortable existing.  Oh - did I mention that I also have my Lord of the Rings extended director's cut DVD trilogy along for the summer?  I sensed that a marathon might have to happen at some point.  Making space for that was an easy decision.  Boo-yeah. 

My life in boxes

The "living area"

When I started taking things off the walls and putting some incidental stuff in boxes 3 or 4 weeks ago, I thought, "Eh, maybe it's a little early to start this, but let's take it nice and steady."  Now I'm incredibly thankful that I started packing when I did!  Almost everything is packed snugly in a temporary cardboard home, ready for a long journey to our new apartment in San Mateo.  As the number of boxes has steadily increased I'm starting to feel as though I'm in a life-sized game of Tetris.  Not only is it a test of whatever spacial reasoning skills I possess to get everything puzzled into a box, but now it's a matter of maneuvering through the boxes to still have some sort of walkable pathway for Zeke and I.  And speaking of the moosh-man, he is less than thrilled with all the change going on.  When I brought a large wardrobe box in yesterday I leaned it against the couch as I peeked outside to check the mail.  Zeke came over, the box slid down, startled him, and he bolted.  Out the front door.  Thankfully, I was right there and tackled him on the porch before he could continue God only know how far - very possibly into the busy street - and I shoved him back inside, both of us a little shaky after the whole stupid incident.  Everything's just a little more exciting nowadays...

Zeke checking out the boxes.

There's a bedroom somewhere in here.

While most things are tagging along for a new life on the west coast, some things are finding new homes here on the east coast.  I've been stretching my capacity of letting go:  There was a good chunk of stuff that didn't make it past the first cut and went to Goodwill right away.  But there was still an emotional attachment to many things and I was reluctant to part them with at first.  I tried bringing certain items to more prominent places to entice me to use them, but as time told, I didn't.  So, now, off to the donation centers with many, many more things.  And it's good really.  Not only is it practical because "spacious" isn't a word that immediately comes to mind for the new apt, but I'm starting to feel like it's healthy, too.  I don't need the things to keep the memories.  Sure, most of the stuff is still "nice" and there's nothing wrong with it - if we were moving to a luxurious house in the hills it wouldn't be much of an issue - but still, it begs the question, "Why keep it?"  Am I using it?  Have I used it in recent memory?  Or, more telling, did I even remember I owned it until I laid eyed on it again?  More frequently than I originally thought, the answer to those questions led me to put one more thing on the donation pile.  It's liberating in a way. 

Zeke expresses his displeasure with the new surroundings.

I only have to live surrounded by cardboard for just over a week and then it's on to my nomadic existence between move-out day and WEDDING WEEK!  Squeeeeeee!  While having my life compartmentalized in boxes and living surrounded by said boxes isn't ideal, (My end table is packed up and that box is now serving as end table stand in.) it's certainly a small thing to endure in the scheme of things.  I consider it character building.  Or something like that.  It's certainly keeping my life interesting to say the least. 

And now for something completely different

So far, I've written about all the various changes, upheavals, moving perils and final things going on.  And that kind of thing can be a downer in abundance.  Today, let's talk about something else - I'm thinking shoes. This is always a happy topic.

Some of the jewels of my collection. Love.

Pics don't do them justice.

OK.  Shoes.  Most of you know I love me some shoes - bright, animal print, peep-toe, wedge, platform, boot, cute flat, strappy sandal or - my fav - the stiletto. You name it, I probably have it in some form or fashion.  Luckily, Kevin indulges (and sometimes encourages in the case of the stiletto) my addiction.  I mean habit.  Or collection.  Yeah, we'll go with collection.  Shortly after the proposal I began thinking not just about my dream dress, but my dream shoes to compliment said dress.  My vision: bright, strappy, sparkly in good taste, and with some serious elevation.  Bonus points for walkable/danceable.  The hunt began.  The dress I found fairly easily, (woot!) but the shoes?  Those proved to be exceptionally difficult.  I wasn't expecting to find anything until March at the earliest - with a summer wedding date, I wanted something appropriately seasonal that would showcase a fantastic pedicure - so peep-toe just wasn't going to be airy or strappy enough. 


I began haunting my favorite shoe locations, Aldo & Nordstrom's, and searched other stores regularly as well, both online and in person but all to no avail.  They were either the wrong color, not high enough or with a clunky heel (What is it with that coming back in style?  Not cool!) or they were bedazzled with spikes, unnecessary zippers (another trend I'm not favoring) or were closed or peep-toe.  Not good for showing off the lusciously bright pedi I anticipate having.  Disappointment reigned.  I asked sales people, "When are your bright, strappy, high stiletto shoes coming in?"  I was met with crestfallen faces as they admitted, "Those aren't coming in this year and I just don't know why."  We would share a sigh and a knowing look that, unfortunately, for this summer, the adorable hotness I was seeking just wasn't meant to be.  Well, wasn't meant to be there at my price point - if I had the spare cash to justify Jimmy Choo's or (...sigh...) Louboutins with their tauntingly bright red sole, spectacular wouldn't be an issue.  Unfortunately, I could also pay a month's rent for the same price.  In an effort to be a responsible adult, I decided that, tempting though they were, it was ludicrous to drop that much cash on a pair of shoes.  Or, for right now with my current not-employed-in-CA-yet job status it is unwise, to say the least. 

Le sigh... Louboutin = Perfection

It became apparent that I would have to expand my scope - I had to have them before my first fitting for the hem length (you KNOW that dress is going to have to be shortened, regardless of how high those shoes are.  Unless I wear stilts.  Not happening.)  Originally I wasn't considering silver as I was really hoping for a bright pop of color or something else that was slightly different and, dare I say, edgy and unexpected.  I begrudgingly admitted that I would not have those dream shoes.  And I was ok with that.  Something wonderful could still be found if I kept my eyes open.  As luck would have it, I ended up at another Nordy's and found them:  strappy - yes, sparkly - yes, tall - yes (3.5"), non-chunky stiletto heel - yes, and for the bonus, walkable/danceable - after taking several laps around the shoe dept, yes!  Score!  AND - ON SALE!  Double score!  They're silver, so not my ideal color, but everything else is on the mark!  I'm still casting sidelong glances at Aldo and other hunting grounds, but I'm happy with what I've got.  More importantly, I'm ecstatic about the dress and even more over the moon about the groom - so really, the most important things are already taken care of. :)