On the Road Day Two - TX

Here are some interesting things about driving through Texas:

• Texas has a speed limit and a speed minimum. I guess this is what keeps those tractors that don't do more than 45mph off of the freeway.


• Texas also has a speed limit for daytime and one for the night. Cars can do 80 mph during the day, trucks 70 mph, but at night everyone is limited to 65 mph.


• Funniest sign: "LITTERING IS unlAWFUL" Texans are so clever!

The only other adventure from being on the road in Texas was being pulled over. Yup, it happened. Apparently I missed the sign where the speed limit changed from 80mph to 70mph and the friendly police officer pulled me over doing 79 mph. Luckily, when he was writing up my ticket he received another call and decided to return my driver's licence to me with a verbal warning and no ticket. Phew!

So now I am staying with my brother and his girlfriend and getting to see the cool sites of San Antonio.

On the Road Day One - CA, AZ, NM, TX

In case you are wondering I am posting from the hotel computere heree at the America Inn located in the delightful Van Horn, TX. In case you're not sure where that is, it's about 430 miles west of San Antonio and 120 miles east of El Paso, off of Interstate 10. I must admit, one of the perks of staying at this hotel is the free internet. I guess I can officially admit that my blogging has reached addiction levels.

So now let's get back to the subject of the blog, day one on the road trip to Virginia. This morning I set off at 6 am from North Hollywood, hopped on Interstate 10 and kept heading east until now. In case you didn't know, Interstate 10 goes all the way from Santa Monica, CA to Florida. I also learned today that Interstate 10 is also called the Pearl Harbor Memorial Freeway.


101 in Hollywood minus the traffic

Here are some of the highlights from today's trip:

• Vital Stats: 906 miles driven, four states visited (see title of blog), 245 songs listened to on ipod, 2 conversations with my copilot plant.


• Best billboard: It was one of those black billboards with the white type written message from God which read, "Life is short, eternity is forever. ~God"


• Hottest temperature: 109F according to the thermometer in my car.


• Funniest street name: Sore Finger Road

My Copilot


Interstate 10 California

Interstate 10 Arizona

Interstate 10 New Mexico

Interstate 10 Texas

As you can see, all the states look pretty much the same off of Interstate 10. In total I spent 12 and a half hours on the road today but in all honesty it felt like three. The only traffic I hit was just outside of Phoenix due to a small fender bender. I also haven't had any thunderstorms yet, although I did some some lightning in the distance and also saw the rain falling behind me. Tomorrow is going to be a much lighter day of travel, only about 5 or 6 hours of driving, and I get to see my brother in the evening. It will be nice to see where he calls "home".

Now that I have my blogging fix it's time to return to my room for the night, watch a little tv, and get a good night's sleep. I have continental breakfast to look forward to in the morning and then back on the road!

T minus 12 hours (give or take)

As I drove away from the Hawaiian Villa, my oasis for the past three and a half years, it finally hit me ... I'm leaving LA. Hard to believe that this much anticipated "moving date" is finally here and as it was when I arrived, my apartment is now empty. Besides a little snafu with the couches I can happily say that the entire packing process ran pretty smoothly and efficiently.

Since there is absolutely nothing left in my apartment, I have decided to spend my last night in LA at a friend's house. It will be nice to have a night in with the ladies as we plan our upcoming adventure to China. It will also be nice to have one more meal of Numero Uno pizza, one of my favorite pizzas in the world second only to Bravo's cheeseless vegetable pizza.

The next post will be 1350 miles into the 2670 mile drive when I arrive in San Antonio, TX. There I'll be spending the weekend with my brother and his better half. Then on Sunday, my dad will be arriving and together we'll be embarking on a road trip as we drive across the other half of the United States. Until then it's just me, my plant, and the Wreckers

T minus 40 hours

• The ReloCube arrived this morning, was loaded this afternoon and is scheduled to be picked up tomorrow morning.


• The electricity is scheduled to be shut off on Thursday, the internet has been gone for a month now.


• The landlord has done a preliminary walk through, the final walk through is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon.


• The ex-roommate's parents are stopping by tomorrow to pick up her remaining items; the couches are being picked up tonight (fingers crossed!).

I guess you could say I am ready to go!

Last Weekend in LA

Yesterday I arrived back in LA and was greeted by my friend Trouble at the airport. I have to say I am definitely not going to miss LAX once I leave. Although from what I experienced of Dulles, it's not that exciting either.

Trouble and I had decided to spend my last Saturday night in LA like we always do, out on the town. The evening's excitement began when we walked outside to climb into our cab to find that it had been pulled over by the police for "crazy driving". After reassuring us that he was a safe driver and that the police officer was crazy and not even a real police officer but one from the local community college, we jumped into the cab and headed out. Everyone in LA is a crazy driver.

First stop was one of our local faves, Beechwood, where we sat by the outside fire pit in the warm Venice beach air and sipped our blood orange martinis. After decompressing from my plane ride, Trouble suggested "you need some adventure for your last night in LA" and off we headed towards another destination.

En route to Fin McCools, site of the graduation celebration two weeks ago, we decided to change locales and ended up at the mojito bar at World Cafe. We batted our eyelashes at the cute bar tender working the mojito bar and somehow found ourselves taking part in another group's birthday celebration. As the birthday celebration migrated to our third bar for the evening, Trouble and I found ourselves making friends with some of my old classmates from UCSB. After tonight's outing I don't think I'm going to have a problem making new friends in Virginia.

The evening ended when we returned to Trouble's apartment at 3 am ready to rehash the evening over pizza and climb into bed. Now I am faced with organizing myself and preparing for the impending move. I can't believe I have four days left in LA, but I am really looking forward to returning to Virginia.


***FYI I used to refer to my friends with italicized letters but have decided to switch to italicized nicknames. Enjoy!***

Doing some Research

I was just doing a little bit of research about my new neighborhood and according to MapQuest I am only 6 minutes from Trader Joes, 3 minutes from Target, 5 minutes from Safeway, and 6 minutes from Harris Teeter (grocery store). So far so good!

***6/24 Addendum***
My apartment is 15 minutes from downtown DC and 5 minutes from Old Town Alexandria. I am told Costco and Ikea are about 20 minutes away as are my friends High School Sweethearts. I can't wait to get back and do some exploring!

I've got one!

Who would have known that the absolute last place I look at, and the very first one I emailed to my Virginia family months ago, would be the place I decided to live in? Definitely not me!




This morning I signed the lease on my brand new apartment and this afternoon I was driving away with the keys in hand. It's a cute little one bedroom one bathroom bachelorette pad. This apartment is the only one we looked at that had a kitchen I felt I could actually cook in, which you all know is very important to me. It's about $300 less per month then I was expecting to pay and it has a small balcony off of my room; Perfect for those tropical summer evenings or cheery spring afternoons. The location makes it easy to get to the metro, hop on the freeway to head up to Maryland, or to head south to Old Town Alexandria. Which means it is perfect for guests, and if you fly into Reagan airport you are literally at my doorstep.

Now that the living situation has been figured out, Michelle and I can actually enjoy a little time off for vacation. Tonight we are heading into Georgetown for drinks with friends and then tomorrow we are heading into the city to visit a museum and get a tour of the Pentagon. Tomorrow night we are taking over the kitchen to cook dinner for our favorite Virginia family. I just can't wait to get back and get fully settled in to my new place. It's going to be a great city to explore!

Apartments, Apartments, Apartments

After a restfull 11 and a half hours of sleep, Michelle and I decided it was time to seize the day. After a nutritious breakfast we had a strategic planning meeting where we identified the location of the ten apartments we wanted to see today. Then we created ourselves a little route, numbered the apartments in the order we wanted to see them and headed out into the neighborhoods of northern Virginia.

Let me start by saying 10 apartments is a little ambitious for two people to see in one day. We started off highly energetic but by the end I think our glazed expressions, lack of questions and generally exhausted demeanor led the leasing agent to comment, "I guess you've seen quite a few apartments today."

Instead of boring you with information about each apartment we saw, I am going to provide you the highlights. As of right now, there are three possible apartments I could see myself living in, and there's at least one I really want to see tomorrow and one showing in the evening. All four are not in the EXACT location I want, which I don't really understand my obsession with because I honestly don't know exactly what I want. One is cheap rent, in a fabulous neighborhood but on the downside it is a little small and not very light. The other front runner is a gorgeous apartment in a fabulous building, the downside to this one is that it is only just within my price range, or what I think my price range should be. The third one that I am considering is the same price range as the second front runner (only just in my range) has a better location but the building and apartment are definitely not as nice.

Overall, we had a very successful day looking at apartments. What I need to do tonight is think about the pros and cons and then figure out what exactly I want to do. I also know that I will not be making my decision tonight as there is definitely one more I have an appointment to see tomorrow morning at 10. But hopefully tomorrow I'll be able and ready to make my decision.

So Far So Good

This morning I arrived in Baltimore after having a red-eye flight from Los Angeles with a layover in Chicago. During the first leg of the flight I was sitting in between two high school boys who were returning from a baseball tournament in Hawaii. They were a little talkative, probably the lack of sleep combined with the red bull, which in turn meant I didn't get much sleep. Luckily I was able to sleep for two hours on the second leg of the flight and then for another hour at the airport as I waited for Michelle's flight to arrive. Then, attempting not to acknowledge just how tired I was, we headed off to Thrifty car rental. Being the high rollers that we are, we had booked ourselves an economy car for the week. Unfortunately there was a wait for the economy cars so instead we were upgraded to a sophisticated minivan for the weekend. Let me just say there's nothing like cruising in a minivan.

First on our agenda was making our way to Virginia, a very quick one hour drive, and checking in to our guest house for the weekend. It's in a remote area of Alexandria but it is very quaint and I had the opportunity to practice my Spanish with the caretaker of the house. After fueling up with lunch in old town Alexandria, Michelle and I hit the road to explore the area. We called into a couple of apartment complexes but all in all it was just a drive by. Luckily J & P were their standard welcoming hosts and had us over for dinner. My task for the evening was to look up apartments to visit tomorrow, thank god for internet access! So now, with a fully belly and a list of apartments to look at, I am back at our "home" for the week ready for a good nights sleep.

My impressions so far:

• Humidity: To me it feels tropical. It reminds me of the weekend I spent in Veracruz Mexico last summer and as long as you know you are going to be in air conditioning soon, it's not so bad.


• My hair: So far it's manageable. Luckily it is now at a length so that I can tie it up if it gets unruly. So at least I know I won't be looking like Monica in the episodes of Friends in the Caribbean. Today I had it straight and tied back. Tomorrow I'll test the curly hair style.


• Nature: The guest house we are staying at for the weekend, read hostel for non-rowdy travelers, is located outside the beltway in Alexandria. It's a cute little house with a very sweet caretaker. But the best part is watching the fireflies dance around the garden. This is only the second time in my life I have seen fireflies, and they still are able to make me squeal in excitement. The first time I saw them was with A at the field of dreams in Iowa.

Will I Miss Monterey Park?

When I first arrived in Monterey Park I wasn't only living in a brand new city but for the first time in my life I was living as a minority. Monterey Park is predominantly Chinese followed by Hispanic and then White. I know I can't claim I know what it's like to live as a minority but in all honesty, living here took a little getting used to. The easiest was getting used to the store signs in Chinese; the hardest was getting used to the feeling that everyone was staring at me as I entered the local library or went out to eat. The most surprising was getting used to the whistles and cat-calls my roommate and I used to receive during our evening walks. However, after three and a half years, I now realize that these are part of Monterey Park's character.

As I walked out of the American Automobile Association office today and didn't react when I received a whistle from a car driving by, nor did I think it was strange that grandpa was sitting outside the office on the grass under the shade of the tree while the rest of the family, and by family I mean THE ENTIRE FAMILY, went into the office, I smiled to myself in appreciation of the character of Monterey Park and I remarked to no one in particular, "I'm going to miss Monterey Park."

Life of the Unemployed

With no internet access at home and only half an hour from the library each day, it's been a little difficult to keep up with everything and everyone lately. I guess the good news is that at least I have some internet access.

Graduation weekend was absolutely amazing. Fifteen of my closest friends and family piled into a hummer limo on Friday afternoon to attend the master's commencement ceremony before partying until the wee hours of the morning. You know, getting around LA in a car isn't so bad when you have someone else doing the driving. I also had someone else in charge of the photography, but I promise I'll post some pics as soon as I get my hands on them.

Reflecting on this weekend, I am so lucky to have such supportive friends and family. I'm even more lucky that they all get along with each other so I don't have to split my time amongst them. I think that was one of the best parts of the weekend. People were free to do what they wanted when they wanted but I had an opportunity to spend time with each and every one of them.

Now that everyone has left I am faced with an increasingly empty apartment and the task of getting myself organized for my move across the nation. When I said goodbye to my father this past sunday, he reminded me that we would be seeing each other again in three weeks in San Antonio, Texas. Hard to believe it's only three weeks until I leave California. But good to know it's only three weeks away because as of today everything in my apartment is packed and half of my furniture has been sold.

Coming up: Next week I'm in Virginia/DC to apartment hunt then I return for a mere four days before I leave California for good on the 28th. Hopefully four days will be just enough time for a going away party, packing up my relocube, and completing a final cleaning on my apartment.

Graduation

I know I arrived at the bar and I know I woke up in my bed. Besides that, my friends tell me I had a good time.

Happy Birthday Blog!

Since this week is a week of celebrations, I thought it was only fair to acknowledge that my blog has officially turned one year old.



This blog started as I prepared for my two month learning vacation in Mexico. Now, on it's one year anniversary, I am preparing for a move across the country. I can only imagine where I'll be going this time next year.