Little Boxes Made of Ticky Tacky

So, as some of you may know I landed a new job and start tomorrow at 9am (I'll post about it later no promises). And since I am staying in San Diego for the foreseeable future I had to find a new place to live, which means MOVING. I found a lovely 1 bedroom apartment in Ocean Beach (which was a couple minute drive before). AND as many of you know packing/moving is not high up on my list of favorite things to do soo.... yay: new place in a great area, bleh: everything related to getting there.

my life in boxes

I have so much crap and I have moved every year since 2004. I always say to myself that I am going to purge as I pack or unpack but it never seems to happen. This go round I was able to make some progress on getting rid of things, but I am getting down to the wire and I am sort of in the mode of just throw it in a box/bag/car/anything and get it to the new place. I am hoping to actually sort out a lot of it once I am there but I fear it will turn into the same thoughts of, "this place looks messy, let me shove things into every crevice and hide it all so that I don't look like a slob."

I have packed up most of my things and they are all labeled and sorted. These are the visible and highly used items like dishes, small electrics, desk accessories, books, entertainment, decorative items etc. However, I am now getting to the back of the closet, under the bed type items which leave me wondering one, if not all, of the following things:

1. I own this?
2. Why didn't I shred and throw away all of these snail mail credit card offers?
3. Ohhh, there you are! 
4. Gross.
5. Erin, why on god's green earth...? just why? 

I have the rest of tonight (but I already started drinking a nightcap sooo...), tomorrow night and Friday night to get everything ready to go. Then I move on Sunday (Saturday is a fun detour of brewery tours for Michael's birthday/THE RAPTURE). 

Though my postings are always sparse at best, I may be off the interwebs for a bit with settling in to the new job, moving etc. But I'll be back soon with exciting posts on topics like (again no promises): 

• Things my roommate left behind
• Sad Keanu visits my old apartment complex
• One word: newjob
• Livin' right near da beach boy-eeee!
• Viva Las Vegas

Elbows Up, Side to Side in the Bath!

So there was an incident near my home (and by that I mean the shootout happened on my street [though admittedly I was enjoying a game of hockey in Orange County]).

Here is the follow-up Trojan Alert that was sent out once the incident cleared:
"The LAPD/DPS search of the North University Park area for three outstanding suspects was cleared at approximately midnight on March 11, 2009. Menlo is still not open to vehicle traffic, but students and residents are able to return to the area.

LAPD Detectives are still investigating this case, but we now know that four suspects were involved in a shooting with LAPD officers at Budlong and Adams March 11, 2009. The suspects then fled in a vehicle before crashing in the 2600 block of Menlo after striking a USC tram. No one on the tram was injured. Three suspects fled on foot and were apprehended through the efforts of LAPD, DPS and persons who called with information.

Any additional information released about this incident will come from LAPD through the local media or a media release. Thank you for cooperating with this investigation and contact LAPD if you have any information that may be helpful."

This description (lifted from the first Trojan Alert) "one suspect is described as male Hispanic, shaved head, white t shirt, dark pants and stud earrings in both ears," prompted me to google image search cholo. Because, well, why not make assumption and group people and be racist etc. (white girl at a hockey game in orange county when the shots were fired, after all).

This was my most exciting result:

















I found this exciting because:
a. heteronormativity, hazing, and defining sexuality.
b. did they really put a hazing ritual on the interwebz? Don't get caught, guys. (I am assuming this to be hazing, yes)
c. the guy in front has a clown faced woman tattoo... I think they are creepster. the end.
d. men, masculinity and gangs. <3s.
e. this was the 2nd result when I google image searched. why? what does it say about our society's browsing behavior and prevailing opinion.

Only in Cali where we riot not rally to live and die - 2Pac

I was driving around today and took a few photos of the area around my new apartment. I was prompted to do this because of the people on the corner by the lavanderia and their small kid improperly placed in a shopping cart.

Trying to be stalker like and get a photo of the people and their shopping cart kid.


Better, but not good.


LDS building, church, temple - something on the corner. Also sign saying West Adams. holler!


School that is near my house. It is new since I started college (I think). Looks a little bit like a detention center.


Little park that is down the street. I want to have a picnic there and also shoot some hoops - but I would get schooled so hard by all of the people that live around me.


Mural covered in graffiti - sorrow. Exterior wall of the market at the end of the street.


More of the defaced mural. Please note that the speed limit is not 30, it is graffiti miles per hour.


The market at the end of the street. Carne Carne Carne!


Next door neighbors.


I blame that man for waking me up everyday at the ass crack of dawn.


Tonka trucks.


Giant drilling thing with poles they delivered last week. I couldn't get it all in the picture: too tall.


Our cute house.


Front o' the house (which is now 4 apartments)


View down the street. I took one the opposite way but that photo disappeared in the cable from camera to laptop.


AND FINALLY:
the only completely finished area of the apartment:

My bed and nightstand area! Woo! The middle of the long frame says "hidden in a valley beside and open stream, this is the type of place that you will find your dream." The best fortune cookie quote ever. Courtney sent me that as a text today and made my life 1000000% better.

Home Sweet Home

So after several weeks on bits of moving I finally have everything (well sorta) into the new apartment ready to be unpacked and put in its place. It has been super stressful and I still have about one box full of things to bring over - mostly things I am using to clean the old place and tidbits I forgot here and there in drawers and cabinets. I have been having major anxiety about moving out/moving in. I feel like there is a ton of stuff that has been made my job by virtue of me being around. I don't really mind making the call for the carpet cleaner or patching the holes etc. but it is turning into a lot of little things that are driving me crazy. In other news, I am giving Sonya my bathroom accessories and shower curtain. I am going to embark on a giant project of organizing all of my stuff. I have more clothes than anyone really needs and I have about a billion papers that need to be sorted, filed or shredded.

I also want to build a bar or some similar drink station for one corner of the kitchen. I think it will be using a lot of this stuff:

(via Home Depot)

At least they do on HGTV...

I will edit this post later to include some pictures (mostly because I'd like Kate and Courtney to see what I've done with the place and for insurance purposes [apartment insurance?] and also so the thieves know what is there)

EDIT: OMG PICTURES



View from the front door - featuring a mess of stuff and some furniture that will only be there through mid July


View from entrance to Kitchen - featuring curtains that I love, blow up couch which I love ironically, giant TV courtesy of Joe and more mess. Oh, also, ugly beach cover up thing that the previous owners used to cover window in door.


View of our one wall of cabinets featuring the sink and stove. There is approximately zero counterspace. On the left side of the picture you can see the table I got for a kitchen island - covered in crap. The kitchen is the least unpacked area.


A sideways picture of the hall that I can't seem to fix or get to in a different order, damn you blogger. As you can see, everything in this part of the hall is unpacked.


Sideways picture of the kitchen from the area between the fridge and the stove. Featuring kitchen island table and piles of crap.


View of the other end of the hall (kitchen end as opposed to the bedrooms/bathroom end). Some junk is currently waiting in the closet-y area to be sorted out. broken bike, miscellaneous crap I don't know what to do with yet. I got a closet organizer thing to hang on the bar and act as our linen closet - extra towels, toilet paper, paper towels etc. I thought it was pretty smart.


Kate's Room featuring my Mom's blow up mattress (on top of Kate's mattress and box spring - my mom is weird) and my desk lamp. woo!


Courtney's room featuring Courtney's new/Jordan's old cooties bed, my computer because my internet jack doesn't work, lawn chair in which I do homework and interneting, and finally a headboard and footboard that I liberated from my old parking garage that is waiting to see if Courtney wants it.


View from window area of Courtney's room featuring my computer and Joe and Jordan's old lamp because I felt bad and didn't want to throw away a perfectly good lamp.


Bathroom featuring unorganized products (mostly because I don't have to share with anyone yet) and a rubber duckie towel - I stole all of the blue-ish towels from my mom because they match the floor tiles.


Picture of bathroom from inside the shower featuring blue floor and my box of tampons. Yea!


View of my room from the door featuring bookcase and a giant pile of bags of stuff - shoes, random bathroom stuff like cotton balls and a bunch of other junk. Once organized I think I will commission Kate to paint something for the wall so it isn't a big white wall as you go inside.


View as you step inside of my room. HUGE mess. Features my bed in disarray, my beloved exercise bike, fan because my room is a hot box, and more mess mess mess.


Picture of my room from the best thing ever - my exercise bike - features a view of my unused internetless desk currently covered in papers, my poorly utilized nightstand, and more piles and piles of mess.


and finally a view of my bed featuring gross unmade covers, my sort of headboard that hasn't been attached, and my nightstand with my favoritest picture of Lex and me, oh and my backpack.


people in the neighborhood are exploding fireworks.