Home Sweet Home?

It's been a whirl wind of craziness....after staying with our friends Joel and Amy in Fullerton, CA for a couple of nights we were off apartment hunting in Burbank, CA. I thought that I had prepared myself for the move, and perhaps I had in my own way, but this was very different indeed. We must have looked or drove to over 40 apartments. Most of the apartments were either too run down or too expensive. We finally settled on a cute 1 bedroom apartment in a safe and nice neighborhood. The only problem is that we think we could find something cheaper, so we signed a 7 month lease. This means I can't paint the apartment like we did the last one, but at least we found an apartment. We also had to jump through a lot of hoops to get the apartment.... Nothing seemed to be easy. We also had to change our insurances on both the car and the renters insurance. The costs of both doubled at least... ouch!

The same day we were finalizing our lease, James got a call for work as a production assistant for a show with E!. It was also his birthday so we were really excited for him. The only downfall was that he was going have to be at work the next day and we had to move everything in that same day. Alsop the moving truck we paid to haul our stuff to CA was too big to park outside of our apartment. So around 5pm James an I drove out to the truck hub and unpack all of our things and re-packed them into a u-haul. Then we drove the u-haul back to our apartment community. By the time we had completed this task it was really late and we were exhausted so we went to bed. The next day I was stranded at our empty apartment because James' job needed him to have the car during the day. I also had to find a way to unpack the u-haul and return the vehicle within the next day. So I passed the day by unpacking what I could of the items in the u-haul. It was really difficult and the progress was slow. Also, most apartments in CA do not come with refrigerators so I had nothing cold to drink and the temperature was in the 80s-90s. Luckily there is a nice grocery store down the block so I made frequent trips to get cold water and feel the air conditioning. Around 7pm Joel and Amy drove 45minutes to come assist me with unpacking. We are so blessed to have such amazing friends!!!! They helped me unload almost everything from the truck while James was still at work. James got home around 9pm and was able to assist with the bigger items. By 10:30 we finally had all of our boxes and furniture in the apartment. Praise God!!!! But wow it was a crazy day!

The next day we spent briefly unpacking some things and then since we had the U-haul truck we decided to craigslist a refrigerator. We found a pretty good deal and went to go pick it up. Yes, James and I then loaded and unloaded a big fridge. It was a lot of work too, but now we can keep food cold and we didn't have to rent a U-haul again. The fridge has seen some better days but hey it works and it's another item off the check list. By the time we got it home the day was done and we were whooped. That evening I continued to trip, drop, and run into boxes... it was like a maze. I think boxes can make any place look ugly and dangerous. That night I looked at my legs and couldn't believe what I saw. My legs are covered in all kinds of bruises and scratches. It was kind of painful, and very un-attractive. The next day James had work, and I made my way unpacking...box by box. Our apartment turned into a sea of flattened boxes and trash bags with packing paper. It was really hot too! But I made progress with most of it....

Sunday James had off of work and we visited one of the Mosaic churches and we met up with our friend Josh who interns with Mosaic. It was great to see him and I really enjoyed the service. It reminded me of Frontline Arlington back in Virginia. The whole multi-site church thing and the look/feel of it. Though both are still quite different, it was nice. When we got home James wanted to go check out a car for sale so we did. It was a pretty cheap car, but in the end we didn't want to make a quick decision so we decided to wait. When we came home we assembled things and put more things away... the unpacking just doesn't seem to end....

Today, James had the day off again so we awoke, and decided to go get our license and registration taken care of. Joel and Amy gave us a little insight into the CA license procedure and informed us that we would have to take a written exam. (Which was news to us we thought they would just transfer our license over.) So this morning we read up on some of the practice tests and got all of the paper work that we needed for the DMV. I was so nervous about taking the written exam... I hate tests. I also knew that you aren't allowed to miss very many or you won't pass. If I didn't pass than I would have to re-take the exam and I had no idea when I would be able to drive to the DMV again while James and I are sharing cars. James is a great test taker so I knew he would pass with flying colors. I decided to take my time with the questions and carefully read each one. As I was still taking my test, James had already completed his and I heard them telling him congratulations on passing the exam. So the pressure was on... I finally turned in my test.... and I passed!!! Yay! I only missed one more question than James did too! James and I are now registered drivers with a registered car in the state of CA. So this too was a huge blessing! It would have been incredibly difficult to coordinate another day and time to take care of our DMV responsibilities. Praise God for making this one easy.

Tonight James and I have been going through the remaining boxes... I think we have 4 or 5 left. The temperatures have been extremely hot and the ac in the apartment isn't the best it only cools one room and the windows aren't much help. We're still trying to figure out the best way to get our apartment cooler. James likes to walk around with a wet towel on... it makes me laugh :) We have a few things still left to buy... our apartment doesn't come with a microwave, we need to get a new file cabinet ours broke in the move, and we need to fix the coffee table... another moving causality. But all in all we're making progress one step at a time. James is also keeping his eye out for a car so I can begin my job hunt and go on interviews. Busy times for James and I, we're pushing hard to get the "have to's" done so we can maybe get a day off to play at the beach. James tells me the road trip isn't over until we make it to the beach, I think I agree. I'll be happy when we can join the real world and forget all the getting settled stuff... that will be nice... I think.