So, not like earth-shattering news or anything, but we got the house. NBD.
Are you kidding me?! That's HUGE NEWS.... WE GOT THE HOUSE!!!! (insert girl hysteria noise here).
Because of that, I've been up all hours cleaning out our former house in Stockton. I say former because today I officially moved out. Moved out as in no longer living there, not as in turned in the keys. J.D. left for Arizona today because his job starts Monday. We packed our little hearts out until nearly 2 a.m. this morning. Then today I stayed behind and packed some more stragglers and cleaned up a bit. He's flying back later next week and we'll finish cleaning then hand over the keys to our landlord and drive down to AZ to move into our new rental!!!!
For the time being Woodstock and I are at my parents' house.
As far as work goes, I'm newly unemployed. That's very frightening, but there are affordable insurance plans I could buy. And I do have some leads on jobs.
As originally planned, I'm still going to go and get fingerprinted so I can be a substitute teacher (hopefully for English or French classes) in Phoenix. Then I'm going to write freelance articles for a few sports/fitness magazines/blogs in the area. I also signed up to tutor English, math, history and French with a private company. And I'm hoping to work some games on Arizona State's event staff. So maybe volleyball, basketball and when the season comes baseball/softball.
Plenty of things to keep me busy until I find a full-time paying job! Provided any of these options pan out, that is.
And knee update. The move up and down stairs is KILLING my knee. It's so swollen and painful. I'm taking some advice and seeing a chiropractor on Monday, because guess what, I'm insurance-free right now :-\ so scary with how much I'm sick/injured.
Hopefully it doesn't last long.....
I guess I'm going to pick up biking tomorrow as my form of exercise since running is clearly out of the cards for me right now. I'm also really excited about moving to Phoenix because they have tons of Lululemon stores down there which means yoga classes!!!
Just thought you'd all like a quick update on my life :) Now back to insurance and job hunting!
We had some major news on the house renting front yesterday!! After work, I had a loud, excited message from J.D. on my voice mail saying the house was almost ours!
Let me explain. THE HOUSE, our No. 1 pick, brand new house, is in reach! Someone else had snuck in before us with an application, after the place had been sitting unoccupied since May. Apparently they did not pass the credit check!!!!!!!! SO we're next in line! The property management woman met with our Realtor (J.D.'s cousin) this morning to get the ball rolling for us. We sent in the application, references, employment contracts, etc. She seems really optimistic we'll get the place. But we should know at some point tomorrow.
Keep those fingers crossed!!
In the meantime, here are some pictures of the place we absolutely loooove!
Fireplace.... even if it's not actually wood-burning, it's cute!
Ample storage space in the kitchen and APPLIANCES INCLUDED!
Double vanity in the master bath :)
Landscaped backyard with grass and a water fountain -- so rare in AZ! (Well, in our price range)
And really neat light fixtures!
After hearing the good start to good news last night, we buckled down and continued viciously packing. We did some major damage on the kitchen, but there is much more left to do. Eventually, we had to take a break and cook some dinner. More cleaning out the freezer/pantry, yay.
We went with some home-made takeout. Orange chicken, brown rice, grilled veggies and an Asian salad with ginger/citrus dressing.
I also have some very depressing news to share with you. I may have injured my knee in my determination to become a long-distance runner :(. As you can see on the sidebar to the right, I ran a lot in May and June. July has had a few setbacks because I thought I had bronchitis, then had a severe reaction to the antibiotics I took for it. Then it turned out I just had really bad allergies. And now my knee's bumming me out.
In order to continue on my half marathon training plan, I did an "easy" run last night. Two miles at a 9:00 minute/mile pace. I could tell it'd been a while since I ran. My lungs hurt and my knee throbbed the entire time. Even walking afterward was grueling.
This morning I went in to see on of our athletic trainers. Another perk of working for an athletic department (only two more days, however). She looked it over and said I had some visible swelling on the affected, left knee. I could tell plain as day once she pointed it out. Apparently the fatty shock absorbing sack around my knee is either deteriorating or just super inflamed. So I've been instructed to lay off running for a bit. When I get back in a few weeks, I'm supposed to take 15-20 minute walking warm-ups before my run, ice heavily afterward and also take lotsa ibuprofen.
The half I had originally planned on competing in is the Scottsdale/Tempe Women's Half Marathon on Nov. 7, for my first ever half!!! What do you think? Can I train for it if I take 2-3 weeks off and ease into it? To give you some perspective, it's exactly 15 weeks away. I don't know what to do!! I mean, there's always the Phoenix Rock 'n' Roll in January also, but I don't know if I want to take this long to do a half! It's taunting and torturing me!!
So I guess in the meantime, I'll be using packing and moving as my cardio. I won't be wearing heels much more, since they kill my knee. And once I'm in Arizona, I'm considering reserving the third bedroom for my indoor workouts, such as pilates and yoga. Maybe I'll start working on creating a killer home gym :)
Oh, I can't believe I forgot to share this too!!! Woodstock passed a major milestone in his puppyhood! He passed his puppy class, and only missed one point on his test! So proud of my little wiener :)
Pictures of pictures never work, but I really wanted to display this cuteness :) He even sat still like a good boy with the mortar board!
Alright, two days to go. Lots of cleaning and packing ahead. I also need to start working on a playlist for the 12 hour drive down! We will only get solid radio stations in three places along the drive: here, KROQ in Los Angeles and what I hope will become my new fav radio station in Phoenix, 103.9 FM.
I know for sure THIS is going to be on that playlist:
I'm not sure why the video is so creepy, but it's a good song anyways. Also, I LOVE Katy Perry. Maybe it's because I LOVE Zooey Deschanel and they're basically doppelgängers.
I'm pretty excited for a number of reasons today. First, I'm back on the blog world. But I told you it'd be sparse, so I'll be back and forth until we're living in a house in Arizona. Haven't signed a rental agreement yet, however...
My second reason for excitement is the announcement of my Open Sky Shop! Open Sky is such a cool concept. If you're unfamiliar with the service it provides, check out its About Page. Basically I'm going to provide you with links to items I talk about and love, so you can find and buy them on my site directly! This is also going to include give-aways... with one coming up pretty soon :) I was sent a runner's tank top to try out, but it unfortunately doesn't fit me, I think my chest is too big for their sizing :( Nevertheless, it's still a neat product, so stay tuned for that one. Though, I don't think I'll be kicking that off until I move.
Tentatively, my shop is set to open August 10, so keep checking back for the grand unveiling! And also, go learn about Open Sky and all the neat people already using it (like NLF Linebacker Shaun Phillips)!!
Ok exciting item No. 3, my last day of work is FRIDAY. I don't know if this is exciting or not. I'm excited for a change in scenery and the chance to try something new. I'm not excited about being unemployed. I've been scouring the Internet for sports jobs down in Phoenix and have literally sent my resume to over 40 companies. But then again, if it doesn't work out, I'm still seriously considering getting my master's in French Comparative Literature and being a TA for undergrad French classes.
Because our big move is so quickly approaching, J.D. and I made the 12-hour trek down to Arizona last weekend in search of housing.
We saw some neat things:
Closets big enough for cartwheels... Are you shocked that J.D. has more clothes than I do and claimed the walk-in closet for himself?!
Some weird things:
Apartment washer/dryer tucked away in a garage crevice.
Backyard putting green!
Received free baseball tickets:
DARN YOU DIAMONDBACKS FOR TRADING MY FAVORITE PLAYER THE DAY AFTER WE LEFT!!! Now I won't get to see Danny Haren play in Arizona when I move there :(
We ate breakfast at a restaurant featured on Diners, Drive-ins & Dives (video about Over Easy's feature on the show):
Caramel iced coffee with a splash of lowfat milk... one of the few times I haven't drank nonfat milk.
J.D.'s Reese's Pieces pancakes! Oh man those were good... I may have snuck several bites :)
My egg white, spinach, asparagus and ham custom omelet!
Overall we have a good idea of where we want to live. We picked out five houses, two almost perfect for us. The top two, however, have already been applied for. So on to the next in line, I suppose. We hope to hear back by the end of the week!!!!
Wish us luck :) We'll need it with all the packing to be done this week...
I'm also trying to get creative with meals. We can't really buy anything new, since we're trying to clean out the fridge/freezer. So last night I opened up some frozen eggplant cutlets, plopped them atop whole wheat spaghetti and made my own marinara sauce with frozen veggies and ripped up some mozzarella balls. It was kind of tasty for being a weird amalgamation of items :)
Thanks again for all your well-wishings on the move and also my new short hair! It's going to be so much easier to care for in the desert. I would know, since it was 108º the final day of house hunting.
Last night was one of the more enjoyable nights I've had living in Stockton! Does that ever happen to anyone else -- you seem to go out, do more and make more friends right before leaving?!
It happened when I worked for the AVP and left. It happened literally the final two weeks I lived in France. And now it's happening in Stockton! I'm someone who struggles at meeting new people and going out and enjoying new cities/places at first. But once I'm out of my shell, it comes much easier for me. My goal in Phoenix is to start loving life and meeting people right away!!
Anyways, back to last night. A couple of friends from work were planning on meeting up at Windmill Cove, an island-ish bar and grill located right of the Delta draining into the San Francisco Bay. The easiest way to get there from where we live is by boat down the river. It would have been a five minute drive. Except, none of us has a boat.
So instead we drove 20ish minutes to get there. And immediately started having the time of our lives! There were two live bands, a DJ, beach volleyball courts and all-you-can-eat tacos for $7.50! Greatest and cheapest dinner I've had in a LONG time. I went nuts and had about five mini tacos :) You had your choice of crunchy or soft shells filled with either shredded chicken or ground beef. After getting the tacos then a line formed by the condiments area, where you could add hot sauce, pico de gallo salsa, gaucamole, sour cream, cheese, lettuce and olives. I sampled a little bit of everything and was in heaven.
Then upstairs where the band was playing I tried one of their famous house mai tais. Strongest drink I've ever had. It was composed of four different rums, more alcohol, more alcohol on top of that, a little bit of orange juice and then the bartender floated white rum on top. My first sip was pretty hard to get through. Eventually I got there and enjoyed it. One was enough for me, the lightweight :)
We saw a really interesting mix of people there too. People watching in Stockton is one of my favorite activities. For example, we saw tons of women dressed super cute and fairly young, who when they turned around to our horror were in their 50s-60s and dressed like their teens! Think of that one leathery scene from There's Something About Mary... Then we saw a chick wearing a denim onesie with a bright pink... um... body thong underneath it? I saw a girl wearing a full on rainbow outfit, a woman wearing socks under her sandals, dude with beer guts flapping in the wind, and then some. Free music and flowing alcohol really brings out the city's finest :)
This is the entrance to the place, grassy area for dining downstairs, grill inside and bar on the upstairs patio.
And oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I CHOPPED MY HAIR yesterday morning. I knew I wanted a change; something easy I could manage in the 100º + heat I'll be living in down in Arizona. I walked in with these two pictures:
The mai tai in hand helped me cope a little bit. It's nothing like what I asked, and a good two inches shorter than she said she was going to cut it. Worst of all is that I can't even put it in a ponytail!!! Nor a half pony or anything. I don't know what to do with this :( It's shorter than anything I've ever had and I don't think it looks good for my face structure. Another downside is that my hair grows at a sloth's pace. It takes forever to grow out. So I'm stuck with this mess for a little bit. Oh well.
We still enjoyed our evening though! As did the rest of our crew.
I love the summer!!! It's my favorite season of the year :)
Over the weekend I got one last chance to make the short drive over to my parents' house before our big move! As mentioned in my previous post, I purchased two really good tickets to the Giants game back in May for J.D.'s birthday. He's a HUGE New York Mets fan and this was the only local roadtrip the Mets took this season. Of course I had to take J.D. to see his favorite team! And I joined him in cheering on the visitor because I hate the Giants (you can only root for one team in the Bay and I chose the Oakland A's a looooong time ago!) and I think the Mets' third baseman is pretty attractive.
Creepy shot, I know, but we were close! We were this close to the field:
Really awesome seats! The day's festivities began with a San Francisco baseball tradition, garlic fries.
And then we were in the mood to split some nachos (does this sound like Midwest Trip déjà vu all over again?!).
And in true SF style, we shared a Ghiradelli hot fudge sundae. Surprisingly enough, Sunday happened to be national ice cream day! Maybe I knew that, subliminally.
They were really good seats. We got to catch all the action in the bullpen, super up close. Close enough to have five people around us leaving with foul balls. Close enough to hear this douchebag kid get chewed out by the bullpen catcher. That was pretty entertaining.
We got to see frickin' K-Rod, whose nickname, I think, should be Blown Save Rod. Honestly. The guy's a joke. I hated him with the Angels and he's still living up to that as a Met.
And also, starting pitcher Johan Santana warm up before the first pitch.
Can't you tell we had fun? And can you guess which team won by our faces?? :)
The night before we got to cooking at my parents' house. I've been craving homemade mac'n'cheese for a reallllly long time, so we got everything together to make some seafood mac'n'cheese. If you want the recipe, you'll have to steal it from here.
Just kidding, I got it from this website. It was fairly simple and took under an hour to prep and bake. And it tasted amazing! I'd suggest making it in an oven-safe pan, so as to limit your time spent washing dishes after the meal.
I cooked it in this iron pan and it went right into the oven and later broiler. We topped the entire think with panko crumbs and while mixing up the cheese, also threw in some yellow onions. And oh, the beauty of cooking with wine is drinking it during and after!
It was so good! We also had a spinach salad, some grilled corn on the cob and steak, cooked up by my sister's friends. The entire meal was enjoyed out in the backyard with candlelight and pool light ambiance. A perfect summer evening shared by family and friends!
Two days left until we make our drive down to Arizona in search of housing!!! It's coming up sooooo fast!
First I'd like to thank you ALL for the sweet comments about the move and my boyfriend's (hope that clears up some confusion haha) new job. I'm down for meet-ups now that I'll be closer to some of you :) Or you know, you can always come to me!
Since J.D. was offered the job, we've been doing a lot of running around like decapitated chickens. He obviously accepted first of all. We both turned in our resignation notices. We scheduled a visit next week to go house hunting -- best part about that trip is staying in a SPA/RESORT FOR DIRT CHEAP since it's Phoenix's low season afterall!! And today is really our only free day from work, so we've been cleaning the house, doing laundry, donating items we don't want to Goodwill, boxing things up and posting to Craigslist like it's my job.
Got 10 offers for this little guy in two minutes of posting! Thank God we won't have to cart him on a 12-hour drive.
But speaking of jobs, I've kind of come to a conclusion about what I will do in the meantime. I applied for a job in athletics I'm still waiting to hear back from, but am ready to accept the fact that I'm not getting an interview there. As SOON as we have an address, I'm going to Arizona's Dept. of Public Safety and getting finger printed/background checked so that I can be a substitute teacher. I feel like I could teach any HS subject: English, AP history, US history, World history, French, biology, algebra, etc. I did pretty well in all those subjects and even went on to study some in college. Subbing would be a pretty neat way to get benefits and also a paycheck until I find a career.
But I'm also toying with the idea of finishing my master's at Arizona State. I mean, they provide fully-funded TAships to many of their grad students! How sweet is that?!?!? Obtain a master's AND get paid for it?!?! Sign me up.
My only problem is trying to decide which program of study I'd apply for. French Comparative Literature? English? Education? Communications? Luckily I have until January to figure it out.
So with all this craziness going on, we've been going out to eat often. And at the same time, trying to use everything in the fridge. That being said, I got the itch to use my frozen bananas again in attempt to make some banana soft serve. And guess what, you all were RIGHT about cutting the banana up before freezing. Not only did it stay white, but it also blended pretty consistently! The only problem I'll have to tweak is that I wanted to prep the night before. It gets way too hard in the freezer, but turns to mush in the fridge. So if I make it again, I'll have to stick to day-of preparation.
This time I blended up some frozen bananas with raspberries. It was tart and creamy and delicious! I then put it in a nice little parfait with CHOCOLATE OVERNIGHT OATS! You know, just regular overnight oats and milk snazzed up with a little chocolate syrup ;)
Ready for some more breakfast photos??
This morning I made a honey Greek yogurt parfait with lowfat granola, cherries and pineapple. It was yummy and hit the spot :) The perfect start to a day of boxing and moving preparation!
And now we're off to my parents' house because tomorrow night we're going to a Giants/Mets baseball game in San Francisco! J.D.'s favorite team is the Mets, so for his birthday two months ago I bought him third-row tickets to the only series the Mets play in California this year! What a nice girlfriend, right?! :) I just love David Wright. I wish our seats were on the third base side......
Once we get to their house, we've got all the fixin's to make seafood mac'n'cheese! I'm pretty stoked for this meal; we've had a box of elbow macaroni hiding in the pantry for MONTHS. It's about time we put it to some use!
Have a good weekend, everyone! And sorry in advance again, but my posts will continue to be pretty sparse until August. Two more weeks!! Eeeek :)
