Moraga

WE GOT THE APARTMENT TODAY!  Not the one that was out of our budget, a different floor plan in the same complex.  It's a third floor, 2 bed/2 bath unit with a balcony- book your vacations and come see us folks!  My parents are driving down on Saturday with the china cabinet and dining table my mom is giving me, and they will hopefully help us pack up and at least get the kitchen moved in when we get the keys on Sunday.  The movers come on Monday, June 20th, which will be a big help since we're going back to a third floor location.  I am so happy!

I should back up and mention that Sam and I are home in NorCal visiting our parents this week and my folks don't have wifi so I'm not blogging very much.  So far, it's been a whirlwind trip, and I have been panicking about whether we'd get the apartment or not (my unemployment made things interesting and far more complicated than I expected) and also whether we could get settled in before Sam's first day of orientation on the 22nd.

We came up late on Wednesday and went wake boarding on Thursday- I finally got the hang of it enough to stand up!  I had dinner with my dear friend Jackie on Thursday night up in Sacramento at her boyfriend's condo- Thanks Joe!  It was so nice to hang out with Jackie in a non-picnic day atmosphere where we were both relaxed and calm and able to enjoy eachother's company.  I wish Heidi and Marlena had been there, but I'm looking forward to seeing them (hopefully) soon.  Jackie and I booked flights to Chicago to see Marlena in July since her skit will be performed by Second City, the comidy writing group she's been working with.  I'd love to go up to Ferndale and see where Heidi's been living this summer, but we'll see how that works out.  Maybe I can tag along on one of Jackie's trips once Sam's schedule gets figured out.

Friday I I cleaned out my room for my mom. It was a real walk down memory lane to clean out my desk from high school and go through the poems and short stories I have written over the last 10 years. Thankfully my writing has improved, I may have to go back and rewrite a few of them and see if they are good enough to be published... we'll see. I also celebrated Lindsay's 25th birthday with her brother, sister-in-law, and cousin.  It was very fun to meet the family memebers I have been hearing so much about, and I feel as if I have known them for years.  After dinner, I headed over to Lorin's house to see he, Troy, Jimmy, Dan, and Mike.  It was GREAT to catch up with the old crew since I haven't seen them since Christmas '10 when I was last home for the holidays.

Saturday, my mom took me shopping (Thanks Mom!) for some new clothes.  I guess she was pretty impressed by the work I did cleaning out my room.  We found some very cute new stuff, and then I headed out to the Dispatch concert with Sam and his family and some of our friends from med school.  They were awesome!  I recorded a great version of The General when they played it, and I sent it to everyone who was there with us.  Hopefully we'll all think back to that night when we listen to it down the road.

Sunday was Dan and Tina's engagement party which also turned into a huge farewell party for Sam's classmates.  Kirellos leaves for Rhode Island tonight, Dan and Tina move into their house in Sacramento tomorrow, and Thuy and Jackie are already living in San Francisco.  It's really the end of an era here.  Sam and I went into the city to have dinner with my family (my cousin Brock was here from Hawaii) and Papa ordered something other than gnocchi for the second time in my life. 

This morning, I went down to the Soda Center, our community pool at my former high school, with my fellow Campolindo Water Polo Alum, Lorin.  He and I swam for a bit and then I saw Lindsay's mom doing some conditioning with the Mom's Polo team.  They were kind enough to let us crash in their pool space so Lorin and I got to work on our passing and a little 2m positioning.  It was really neat to be back in my 'home' pool with him since I have SO many memories of being there in high school.  The mom's invited me back to join them on Wednesday morning so I'm looking forward to checking that out.

This afternoon my Aunt Anne came down from Calaveras County to visit with me.  We had a great chat and were able to catch up.  I don't think I'd seen her since the memorial for Papa Hunter back in August of 2010 when the whole family got together in Tahoe.  I have a lot of personality similarities with her- we can both talk for HOURS. 

Tonight, Sam and I are meeting up with Mike and Liz for dinner in Lafayette.  I think the last time I saw them was fall of 2009 when they were on their way to the Stone Brewery in San Diego and we had them crash at my apartment on their way down.  It will be good to see them and hear how things have been.