Saturday, January 30, 2010

When you're DOOOWWWNTown...

...Just listen to the music of the traffic in the city
Linger on the sidewalk where the neon signs are pretty
How can you lose?

The lights are much brighter there
You can forget all your troubles, forget all your cares and go
Downtown, things'll be great when you're
Downtown, no finer place for sure,
Downtown, everything's waiting for you!
(Downtown)
 
 
 
 
So, it turns out that the sound of traffic (and clubbin' coming from right around the corner of that opening in the pic above) isn't ALWAYS a great thing when you're DOWWWNNTOWN, but even so, we are delighted with our new abode.

We will most certainly be outdone by folks moving into REAL abodes (Yay P & K!) but we thought we'd share a few pictures now that we have completed our furniture set. We did that, by the way, through the magic of craigslist and a guy named Tom who was moving to NYC and just wanted to get his stuff to a nice home.  Lucky for us, we helped him achieve that. We bought a cushy, 3 month old futon from him, and he threw in a free bed!!

As you'll see, we're in a loft that's made up of three rooms: a living area, a bath, and our bedroom. With it's treated concrete floors and big ductwork, it has a bit of an industrial feel, which is kind of neat. The floors are also good for stocking-footed slides, such as dramatic sliding entrances.

Here's the kitchen-- the fridge is just left of you when you walk in the door of the apartment:


Mmm good tea.

So it's nice, with ample cupboards and all the appliances. (Even a stacked WD in a closet next to the bathroom. That's to your right as you come in the door...It's basically behind me in that photo.)

And taken from the fridge area, facing the patio/living room:

 

Modeling Ikea furniture. 
Hey, I tried.



Second effort. Same results.


Ready to have a ball!! In a bowl! (chair)

Note the fine, contemporary decor. Thank you Ikea. And World Market for the big, colorful bamboo rug.



We call this artsy shot "Ikea Futon and mirror, below Star of Little America Rest Stop."


 

And our new bed! It's not inflatable!

****
Ok, unlike most of the posts of mine, this one's short and hopefully sweet. I hope, though, that it packs a potent punch and inspires a few of you to come for a visit!

 (Not pictured: Luxurious, elevated Queen Airmattress bought just days before hitting it big with the free bed.) 

Finally, our outdoor space. Our little patio area opens up to the courtyard, which has nice seating and plants and a big grill. And as you saw in the first pic, it overlooks the street. We've eaten outside a few times, and it's very nice. 

It does also mean the city sounds that Patula Clark talks about are right outside our window, so we bought ear plugs but haven't really needed them. Good news...

Another neat thing: the hallways are sort of outdoor. See in this shot the exit sign above one hallway:
  

And to the right of our patio...


Sweet bike!
Take care all...

P.S. Thanks for all the comments. We love hearing from each of you, and giggling at some of them. And we're glad to be sharing at least a bit of the fun...


Monday, January 18, 2010

Happy 'n Rosey 2010!

Happy 2010 Everyone!



Or TWO OH ONE OH...

So there are Cara and sister Bethany on Colorado Ave, Pasedena, California on January 1, 2010, just before the start of the Rose Bowl Parade. We'd rang the new year in at a diner with a TV we spotted at about 11:57 PM while driving to downtown Pasedena. Here we are at Shakers:


Cheers!

The funniest part of this visit was the un-synchronized countdown brought to us by Cara and Bethany and probably the closed captioning delay on the TV... not sure how it happened actually but it went something like: TEN! ten! NINE! nine! EIGHT! eight! (you get the idea...) 'twas fun! And note the festive gear and sharp, new Scarlet track jacket on the guy...

This is what came next, for about 7 hours. Cool Dollar Tree glowing stuff:

  

TWO OH ONE OH!

However, we kept ourselves occupied, and there was a nice sunrise as you can see, along with the other campers:




Not all of those campers were as happy (or friendly) as others, but it was part of the experience I guess, and a fun one for sure.

To the parade:



Yay 2010!


Big guy with his moving trumpet arm...





 Jack Hannah, who is as friendly looking when he's in a parade as he is when he's on Dave... but go Columbus Zoo!

 
And Go Bucks!
(sorry that it focused on that stray finger on the right side. Good news: it's yelling GO BUCKS, too.)



 These guys were sharp looking, though.



And of course our other Ohio friend was there! Yay Akron! Thumbs up Rose Bowl Parade! (corner)

But that wasn't all the fun we had with Bethany. Far from it, but here are just a few of the other activities.



La Jolla Beach Sisters.




It wasn't just Cara's closed eyes that "ruined" this one... SOAK UP THE SUN!




Coooooool. Hollywoooood shirts.



At the San Diego Zoo, imitating elephants, clearly...



And scientists.



Balboa Park, museums and fountain in the background. Bethany in the fore.



This is where we got those shirts!


...After the Theater and Stars walk:



That's Jim Carey's, and our bad/successful effort at looking like Dumb and Dumber.



Mr. Depp.




Mr. Snoop Dee Oh Double Gee.

Wax version.



At The Grove Shopping, Hollywood

 

 
That's a big tree!


And ending with the beginning of Bethany's visit, we picked her up from the airport and went to the harbor/Seaport Village.

More big trees: Can you spy Cara and her?



And how about the human between them? 

 


It was a lot of fun, and we enjoy every minute. Thanks Bethany! We also had fun with our friend Kristen, who came the next week (no photos available : (    ). And we look forward to future friends and family coming so we can have even more!

Will post more about our new place and job soon, once we're all settled. Take care and love to all.

Happy two oh one oh!