Look what came out today

J.K. Rowling's first book for adults.

I have high, high hopes.

Observations

As I write this, I'm sipping on a Pumpkin Spice coffee, available in K-cup (!).  I would like to point out that I made it myself, in my own coffee maker, and am drinking it out of my own mug.  It has been a long time coming, people.

Also?  I'm sitting on my own furniture!  In my own living room!

We are surrounded by a sea of cardboard, but it's coming together.  Slowly but surely.  Here are some observations thus far of life in the Mile High City.

*Nine times out of ten, when we tell people we are moving/have moved to the Denver area, they say one of two things.  (1) "Oh, I love the Denver airport!" or (2) "Do you know they have medical marijuana there?"

*What 300+ days of sunshine per year?  It has rained almost every day we've been here.  False advertising.

*Everywhere we go, there are independent bookstores, coffee shops, row after row of pubs and little restaurants.  I'm in Heaven and will never leave.

*Apartment living is turning out to be an easier adjustment than I expected.  This was most likely helped by living with the in-laws for a few weeks.  I'm just sayin.  Although the overall living area is smaller, it turns out that each room, or each "mini area" actually feels larger than it did in our house (except the kitchen).  So, any given room feels spacious and complete; I never feel like I've "downgraded" to an apartment.

*I think this is helped by the type of apartment complex this is.  They call it "luxury style apartment homes" in an attempt to market it, but I have to say that little details make a big difference.  We can pick paint colors for accent walls, and the normal walls aren't an industrial white; they are a warm beige with white molding accents.  We have two balconies that are big enough for our deck furniture and bikes, and the wagon we bought (yes, you read that right) to cart our groceries up from the car to the apartment, via the elevator.  It has come to this, people.  We are also considering carting Orca around in it when she gets here.

*The appliances are modern (black) and the countertops are faux granite.  A little detail goes a long way to make it feel more homey and less temporary.

*We have been to Wal Mart four times in the last three days.  I'm not the biggest fan of that store, but as G puts it, where else can you find groceries, washer fluid, shower curtains and modems all in the same place?

*Although I'm convinced that this move has strained our marriage to the limit, it has not been without humor.  I have found myself saying things like, "Ok, G, after you unpack those boxes, don't forget to set up the router and get the oil changed in my car.  And then you will need to search through all the boxes and find the TV cords.  I can't remember what box they're in, so just look through them all.  I'm going to put up the fall decorations.  Oooh!  I forgot all about this porcelain pumpkin!"

Want to come over and help us unpack?  I'll give you some Pumpkin Spice coffee!

The beginnings of home

We're here!

Hello to our awesome CO neighbors!

I woke up this morning with a bloody nose, so it's official.  I have to go through this process all over again.

Also, we keep inhaling but there is no oxygen.  Can someone do something about that?

I woke up bright and early at 5:00 this morning and we can't check in to our apartment until 10:00, so, hello peeps!  Also, I'm very hungry!  And thirsty.

Plans for today include getting keys to the apartment and unloading my Beverly Hillbillies car.  Then we have brunch at 11:30 with C, my main work peep who has been waiting for me to get out here.  C introduced me to The Good Wife, Mad Men and Vampire Diaries - therefore, she is a very important person in my life.  I consider her my main line to all things pop culture.

After the mimosas, the manual labor begins.  We are going to buy 500,000 shelves to put up in every nook and cranny of the apartment in order to help us adjust to what happens when you downsize from three floors to three rooms.  Organization!  We are going to be clean and we are going to be organized!  Even if it kills us - and it just might.

They deliver the furniture tomorrow and I have this sinking feeling that it is not all going to fit.  We may be able to walk across the entire apartment on furniture itself, like lily pads in a pond.  No need to even use the floor.  But we will cross that bridge when we come to it.

I am so happy to be here and so happy that G took the time off work to make the hellish drive with me and to help get things semi-situated before going back to work.  He leaves in a couple of days to go back and continue the job search.

I am going to miss him and the bun bun.

I am not going to dwell on that, though.  That comes later.  First, we have to survive the last of the manual labor.  Wish us luck!

Missouri Loves Company

Hello from the road.  The first day, we drove to Lexington, Kentucky for the night.  Yesterday, we drove through more of Kentucky, then some of Indiana and Illinois, then a boatload of Missouri before entering (finally, finally) Kansas.

I'm writing this from Topeka, as we gear up for breakfast and one.more.day of driving. 

The view from the only back door of my car that we can open.

The other night we had dinner at Cracker Barrel (is there any other place to eat on a road trip?) and G bit into a biscuit.  He goes, "This is a d@mn fluffy biscuit."  He then elaborated, "I mean it.  See?  I can press down on it but it just bounces back into its former shape.  Very, very fluffy."  That, (and one Sonic lunch), was a highlight, my friends.  It's like the only semi-interesting thing I have to include in this post.

Taking Orca to be boarded at the vet.  She has been there so much lately, she's practically a regular.  We walk in and about three techs appear out of nowhere going, "Well hello, Orca!!!!"

We made one slight detour in the beginning of the trip (a million years ago) to see Betsy, the lady who owns the B&B that we love so much.  We showed her Africa pictures and she told us about her recent Alaskan cruise.  It was nice to get a chance to chat with her before the move.

And she surprised us with a gift basket: a couple of shirts from the local state park; mountain dew (which was invented there); some paraphernalia from the B&B; and her yummy scones for the drive.  The scones are almost gone, of course.  Devoured.

Ok, I have procrastinated long enough.  Time to get back on the road.  See you in Denver!

On Our Way

We are hitting the road, America! 

The end of the world as we know it

{but I feel fine}

Today is my last day of work (here) before the long drive to Denver and the new start.  And I'm ready.  Really, really ready.  Yesterday traffic was horrific on my way in, and I just turned up the music, smiled to myself and marveled at all the poor schmucks around me who have to do this the rest of the week.  And the week after that.  And the week after that.

Bye bye, commute!  You suck, BTW!

Earlier this week I said goodbye to a few coworkers who will not be in the office today.  Some people ask me if I'm sad and I give them the politically correct answer about new beginnings and opportunities, etc.  The fact is, no, I'm not sad.  And no, I will not miss this area.  It's not so much that something is wrong with this area (besides traffic!) as it is a general I-just-don't-fit-in-here experience.

So I packed my car to the gills last night, channeling my old college self.

We have decided to leave Orca here with G, until he joins me there permanently.  Not only is she old, but we just found out that she has bone cancer, and it is best to have her near her vet as long as possible before switching things up.  Overall, you know that we are sad and this is not good news for us.  It was literally a welcome-back-from-Africa slap in the face.  But.  Every other bad health issue we have experienced with rabbits has ended tragically and suddenly within about 24 hours, and this is one of those things that will be manageable for the next few months.  And Orca is not in pain; we make sure of that.  So.

Also, remember our downsizing efforts of late?  How we have managed to get rid of like 45% of what we own in this moving process?  Yeah, I thought of that as I bought souvenirs in Africa.  How very ironic it is to undergo the cleansing effect of purging so much crap, only to buy more crap stuff on vacation.  Actually, it's nice stuff.  And also?  I keep thinking of things that are packed in boxes that I am immediately going to take to goodwill once I unpack them in CO, so it's all good.

I got bangs, thank you Jesus.  I look like a human again, sort of.

P.S. I would have looked more human in this pic if I had makeup on.  And if I could lose about 40 pounds.  I'm just sayin.  Do me a favor and imagine me looking a lot better in real life.  We'll just go with that.

A few days ago I visited the doctor for a last check-up before the move.  She said that she has known a few clients who moved from here to Denver, and absolutely love it there.  And then she has a few clients who moved from Denver to here and are having a hard time.  I was like, stick me in that first category, sister!

We are on the cusp of a big change.  Although I know that when I settle in Denver, real life will kick in and I will have problems, it is very hard to imagine at this point.  It is all romanticism and idealism and westward expansion at this point.

Problems?  Those are staying behind in Virginia!  Life is going to be nothing but sunshine and butterflies now!

Livingstone, I presume

A more upbeat story about Zimbabwe:

Victoria Falls owes its reputation as one of the seven natural wonders of the world to a British missionary doctor named David Livingstone.

Finding himself in Africa doing missions and medical work for the mother country, he wrote prolifically and his letters spread like wildfire through England.  He said that Africa was a beautiful and lush country, filled with industrious people.  He said that it was not a dark and lost continent.  Africans credit Livingstone with helping their countries' reputation and spreading good news to the "civilized" world.  The beginnings of marketing, if you will.

Then Livingstone contracted malaria and was unable to keep up with his writings.  News from Africa stopped and Queen Victoria became so concerned that she asked her country, who would go look for him?  Who would venture into this new world to help find him or, God forbid, bring his remains back home?

A man by the name of Henry Morton Stanley volunteered to go, and it took him over a year to find Livingstone.  He would travel from tribe to tribe, and unable to speak the language(s), he would blunder his way through communications, trying to make his point.

At last, he came to a tribe and saw a man in the distance.  This man was shaggy, extremely gaunt and unkempt.  Stanley put his hand to his eyes to block the sun and shouted, "Livingstone, I presume?"

 

Livingstone was (and still is) beloved by the Africans.  Before he became sick, as he would travel through the continent, he would denounce the slave practices that were occurring within tribes even though slavery was supposedly outlawed.  Quoting scripture and preaching God's love, he would defend human dignity and repeat endlessly that slavery was a sin against creation, against how we are meant to relate to one another and live together.

At one point, out of desperation, he "bought" two African slaves simply in order to free them.  As he turned to walk away, they followed him, asking if they could work for him.  They said they would be willing to do anything at all for him.  He turned and said, "I do not need workers.  I need friends."  So they became his friends and traveled with him until the end.  After he died, they carried his body across the continent until they were able to find a boat that would take his remains back to his home land.

Livingstone is remembered (as I think all missionaries should be) for his love.  He deeply loved Africa and its people.  He named the falls "Victoria Falls" not only to honor his queen but also in the hopes of making the area more relate-able, more approachable, for the rest of the world.  In his mind, Africa was a place to be visited, appreciated, explored.

We agree.