The work is great. It was a really easy transition for me since I'm doing more or less the same thing as before, and my co-workers are genuinely nice people. As are the customers. I am constantly surprised by how nice the customers are, even (especially?) when I have to give them bad news. They just take it! I am not accustomed to this. When I comment on it, they all say (as if it were the most natural explanation in the world) that it's because we're in California. The rumors are true: happy people are in California.
Oh, and also - I take the 405 to work every day, which many people warned me not to do. BUT since I have a reverse commute, it's a breeze. I now have the shortest commute I've ever had since I graduated from college. Although I do miss reading on the metro.
David is loving his new job. It's a steep learning curve and lots of stress but also very fulfilling. His commute is even shorter than mine, but it's always been that way.
Other than that, right now we're in the middle of June Gloom, when every day starts out overcast and it usually doesn't get above about 65 degrees on any given day. But I'm not complaining. It's still quite beautiful here.
Enough about the work and weather. What else do you do there?
We drive around town and look at houses. And then we go home and get online and look at more houses and research neighborhoods and school districts and remodeling costs. And then we call our agent and talk about other houses. And if we find one we like, we brainstorm on how we could re-do the inside, or we lament little things that make the house a deal-breaker. And then we go look at it again, along with a couple other houses. And then we go to sleep and dream about them all.
Okay, so do you ever get to have any fun?
Sure do. Over Memorial Day weekend we rode bikes in Orange County with the Tustin Chipmans. We go running on the beach on a semi-regular basis (which absolutely counts as fun). We also took a Saturday off from house-hunting to go diving in Catalina.
One night we got to check out a Fidelity event at Disney Hall - there were some musical genius children that got to play solos with the Hollywood Bowl Philharmonic Orchestra. It was kind of amazing to watch those kids. And it reminded me of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother.
Guess what else. There's a Cafe Rio in El Segundo. I definitely count trips to Cafe Rio as fun.
Okay, so back to the house. Did you ever find one?
Not yet. We found some that we've liked quite a bit, but there's always been a deal-breaker in the mix (it's right next to the noisy 405, schools are bad, or it's just not a good area). There are some potentials that we haven't written off just yet. We just have to decide what concessions we're willing to make. We've been going to a different ward every week to get a feel for the area, which has helped us to narrow down the neighborhoods a lot. I think we'll be benefitting from a more focused search. We'll see.
So, since you don't have a house, where do you live?
In a furnished apartment in Marina del Rey, a nice little area where all the streets are named after Pacific islands. It's lovely. We packed only the essentials, and the majority of our stuff is still sitting in storage, awaiting a new home. But our location is permanent enough that we could use it to become legitimate Californians, with real-life California IDs and license plates and everything.
Any other questions?
Ask away.
7 comments:
I'm so glad that I get to be a co-star of this little post. Life is so much fun with you Abby!
She could probably say the same about you David!
Very fun post. California is lucky to have the Chipmans!
have you had any celebrity sightings?
No celebrities - I don't think I live/work in the right area to see many. Or any. Although I did take a check deposit from Theo Ratliff one day. (He plays for the Lakers.)
Love the reverse commute! It's what I have too and what I had when I lived in L.A. No better way to live! How do you like the area you're living in? Are you guys looking at any others or just M del R?
On our last trip home we flew through Phoenix. After having been there for about 10 minutes Alex said to me, "I forget how nice people are in the West!". There's really no place like home (in the broad sense of the word). Glad you're back in the land of happy. We hope to join you again some day!
Excellent update! Good to hear on all accounts. I hope you find your home soon, but in the meantime, life is sounding pretty darn good!
Leslie - LOVE Marina del Rey. It's such a pretty place. But we're actually not looking for a home there. We're more focused in and around Culver City. It's a more logical demographic. Much better schools, too (which means a host of other positive side effects).
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