Welcome to Paradise...

(I've got that Greenday song in my head now...)

We're here! We made it! We're back in Paradise!

the flight went well, and was fairly uneventful - always good. We were able to upgrade to first class using our frequent flyer miles - we had been wait-listed, and didn't think we were going to make it, so that was a nice surprise!

It's gorgeous here. Really beautiful.

And yes, I do have high-speed internet access - in our room! Actually, they charge by the day, so I think we'll touch base every few days, not every single day. It's really nice and convenient, though. I'll try to take some pictures, and upload a few of them here to share with you.

more to come... :)

Closing, and packing....

Wow - what a week it's been!

We accepted offers on Dick's house last night. It all went well, but I can't really say anything until all is said and done. More on that later.

We also closed on the downstairs condo TODAY! Yep, we're now the proud owners of both units - upstairs and downstairs! It's very, very exciting. We've been busy scheduling contractors to do the work downstairs, so we can move in (hopefully) during the last week of April.

PHASE THREE HAS BEGUN!

I say "phase three" because this is the third house that we have had all of this work done on in the last 2 months. We started by doing the floors and painting my upstairs unit, then we had the interior of Dick's house done for the staging. (it looks gorgeous). Now, we're having some minor contractor work done downstairs, then we'll have the floors done, and have the whole unit painted. The good news here is that we've interviewed/used so many contractors now, that we know exactly who we want to go with for each type of job!

Here's the VERY EXCITING NEWS:
We're leaving for Hawaii TOMORROW!

WHAT?

Yep. Hawaii. The Big Island to be exact. We can't wait. We've been so busy and stressed with all of this moving stuff, and poor Dick hasn't really been able to enjoy his sabbatical from work. So, we scheduled this vacation just last Sunday. :)!

New site Launched!

Just launched my latest site for a new client, Buck's Restaurant:
http://buckswoodside.com/

I'm pleased with how it turned out. Buck's (like it's owner) is a very colorful restaurant, with lots of interesting things to look at when you walk in. I really wanted to convey the atmosphere of the restaurant into the site of the design.

I especially love the animated roll-over navigation elements. They're pretty funny. The butter dripping down the pancakes in the background is fun, too.

Weekend of Pageantry and Movement....

What a nice weekend! First of all, the weather has been just perfect - that's always good.

Last night, we went to see a performance by Company Chaddick. We have several friends who dance in this company, and have been supporters for many years. It was a great evening. The performance was very good - I especially enjoyed the "4 Men" piece, and the last piece. After the performance, we attended the gala reception. Dick's band played all evening, as we all mingled, and ate yummy foods and chocolates. A good time was had by all.

Today, I spent the day in Hayward at the WGI Western Regional! Most of you know that this was an activity that I was involved in for about 12 years from ages 13-25. Going to the local regional is great fun - get to watch some great guards, but (more importantly) get to catch up some several very old friends (old in the sense that I've known them for years. Not in the sense that they are "old" per se) ;). It was wonderful.

Todays Musical Selection

I'm laughing at the different types of music that I've listened to today while working.

The Carpenters: Love Songs

Dee-Lite: World Clique

Green Day: Dookie

Well, at least you can't say that I'm not diverse!

...and have I mentioned how much I'm loving iTunes?

All of our CDs are boxed up and in storage for a few weeks. Luckily, all of our music has been ripped onto our computers! LOVE technology! :)

Things that are annoying to me today...

Is anyone else out there getting LOADS of SPAM in their inbox today? Actually, it looks like a virus has hit, but I haven't read anything about it yet. Dick's computer hasn't received any bad mail today, which I suppose is good, since he's on a PC. Crazy. Hope it stops soon. I got around 100 emails today related to some virus thingy. I have my Norton Anti-Virus on, so lets hope it's doing it's job. One good thing about the Mac. Do any hackers out there really think it's worth putting a virus out there to the 4% of the world who uses Macs?

Second gripe of the day: My GoLive has the annoying habit of not allowing me to Cut and Paste after a while. It's been happening for months now. Could be a biproduct of upgrading to Panther. Anyone else have this problem? Really annoying. I'm working on a big project right now, and cut and paste is just one of those things that I use a lot. I have to quit and relaunch the app to get it up and running every few minutes.

More reasons to love my MINI

I just got a little box in the postal mail today filled with all kinds of MINI goodies! What a wonderful surprise - it really brightened my day!

contents:
1) a MINI welcome note from the General Manager
2) a cool MINI pen - with a car that "drives" from Hollywood to New York. (it's even a MINI!)
3) a MINI plastic business card holder with little MINI cards
4) MINI Messaging Kit
5) MINI journal
6) MINI BINGO boards!
7) a new MINI Roadside Assistance card complete with VIN Number

It was all wrapped up in a big "Let's Motor" rubber band.
very cool!

I already LOVE my MINI, but this stuff makes me even happier to own my MINI!

Signs of Getting Older...

I think there should be a rule someone stating that women with dark hair should be exempt from having white/grey hairs.

Not that I'm complaining, mind you. I find the whole thing kind of facisnating.

But really - white hairs stand out so strongly against jet black hair. I seem to be getting a lot more lately - is this what happens when you turn 33? They're popping up predominately on the front left side (by the ear). There are also a few popping up in the back - it seems like only Dick notices these, as he's the only one with that high vantage point.

My friend, Sal, used to say that he had "one grey hair for every person he ever taught" (in color guard and drum corps). I think my turn is coming, and I'm a little nervous, because I've taught my fair share of color guard students over the years.... hundreds, I'd guess. Uh-oh.

So, once they start popping in more often... then what? Do I start dying my hair? Hide them amongst highlights? eek! Isn't that one of those things that once you start, you can't ever stop?

I'm going to wait this out, and see how long I can ride the wave. I think my Mom was around 50 when she made the plunge to hair-dying. that seems really good - hopefully, I've got her genes!

Monday afternoon goodness...

Mmmmm. I'm eating a slice of Carrot Cake from Just Desserts. Yum. I think it's one of my favorite desserts.

We just got back from a quick jaunt over to SF MOMA. Saw the Pop Exhibit. What a great exhibit. I was really pleased with it. They have some great pieces.

My excuse for getting a slice of carrot cake: I got hungry after seeing all of the Yummy Wayne Thiebaud paintings. :) I absolutely LOVE seeing Thiebaud oil paintings in person.

Open House

Today is the big day! Dick's house is officially up on the market. Today is the first Open House. It'll also be open next week. :)

Laundry Euphoria

This might sound odd to most people (although I suppose most of my blog would sound odd to most people) but one of the perks of living in my condo again is the laundry room. Our washer and dryer are mere feet away from the bedroom. Doing laundry is a breeze!

To understand this, you must know that our laundry facilities at Dick's house were in the basement. Our bedroom was on the second floor (third if you include the basement as a floor). So, doing the laundry was somewhat of a chore. It was a hike to go back and forth. (not to mention that we had annual floods in the part of the basement where the washer and dryer were)

I realize this is nothing compared to not having laundry in your house at all, and having to go to a laundromat. (yes, I've done that, too). That's not fun at all, because you have to sit there to make sure that your clothes aren't stolen.

I remember that about a year ago, my friend Mykail called me from his San Diego apartment. We were both doing laundry. I told him that it was such a chore at Dick's house because of the distance to the basement, but then I realized that I shouldn't complain because he had to take his laundry out of his unit, and to the laundry room in the complex. When I apologized to him for complaining he cracked up. He's been to Dick's house before, so he knows the set up. He told me that his laundry facility was just around the corner (literally) from his front door, and much closer than mine was.

Anyway, it's not that I love to do laundry now, but I'm happy that it's just so much easier! :)

Where in the World have I been?

This is cool:


create your own personalized map of the USA
or write about it on the open travel guide

Believe it or not, I've been through all of these states. When I say "been through" I've driven through them (and stopped within them), at the very least. Most of them, I've actually spent a bit of time in. Most of my travels happened between the ages of 17-24. My color guard years. My vagabond years. :) Took many a road-trip during those years. Plus, my sister used to travel all over the place for work, so I used to take short vacations visiting her. I've flown through Georgia, (Atlanta, on route to Orlando, FL) but I don't count that. Kind of amazing, no? Dick says we'll have to plan a trip out to the South to finish off my map-age.

In contrast, here are all of the countries I've visited: (not nearly as impressive. Dick can beat my socks off in this category)



create your own visited country map
or write about it on the open travel guide

Tired Cats

I'm exhausted. I think all of this moving stuff has finally caught up with us.

We had a great weekend. We went to Reeve's & Paula's house in San Jose Saturday night to celebrate Reeve's 35th birthday! What a blast, and a welcome change from what our schedule has been. They threw a magnificent dinner party. Delicious food (Fred Steak, and cupcakes!), wonderful company, and all-around fun.

Yesterday, my parents came up (again!) to help us (again) move the rest of our stuff over from Dick's house (again!). This time, we really got it all. We're leaving some of the furniture behind for the stagers to use, but everything else is here with us now. Our "storage room" in my condo (aka the dining room) is stuffed now, as is our storage space in the basement. It's such a relief to have that whole process finally over and done with. I still think it's weird that the movers weren't able to take everything over in the first place, but.....

We went to Dick's house today, and for the first time, we were able to go over, and just enjoy it, without having to feel like we need to pack more stuff. The painters are almost done. It looks fantastic. The stager will come in over the next few days, and make it look beautiful. It'll be on the market this Sunday for open house.

Everything is happening right on schedule! :) (knock wood)

Where's my printer??????!!!!

I've been waiting for UPS to come all day. Yesterday, they attempted to deliver at 2:54pm. I was out meeting a client, and Dick was away for an hour or so. They left a tag saying they would return today between 2-5.

So I've been waiting at home, all afternoon. We're getting hungry, and would like to go out, but now we need to wait....

Hmmm.

I want my printer.

------------

6:26pm
update
UPS just delivered
:)

testing...

A new client of mine gave me this test to take as we met yesterday:

Count the "F's" in the following text:

FINISHED FILES ARE THE RE-
SULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIF-
IC STUDY COMBINED WITH THE
EXPERIENCE OF YEARS...

How many "F's" did you find?
did you get 3?
or did you get more?

Please leave your answers in the comments section. It's pretty fascinating.

Which Peanuts Character are you?

got this from Willo:

Turns out, I am...



Which Peanuts Character are You?

haircut

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh. I finally got my hair cut.

you may have noticed that my hair has been the longest it's been in, well.... at least 12 years. Back then, when it was long, it was also big, huge, and PERMED! aak!

here's the story (because there's always a story): My former tenant was also my hairdresser. As a hairdresser, I really liked him; he consistently gave me a good cut, he was very nice. As a tenant, it turned out he wasn't good at all: consistently late with his rent, problematic, and noisy. I was so frustrated as his landlord, that I just couldn't bring myself in to see him to cut my hair.

I only had my hair cut twice during that time - and both times he was up-to-date in paying me :) Once was in April, the last time was in October.

Needless to say, my hair grew very, very long. I actually forgot how quickly it grows. I guess the good news is that he had given me such a good haircut that it grew out really well.

My tenant has since moved out, (he gave notice in January) and moved to a different hair salon. Lucky for me, because now I'm in my old neighborhood, and I really liked going to that salon. So I walked in this morning, and signed up with a new hairdresser. He was great - gave me a good cut, and seemed to be very nice. He took about 4 inches off the length. My hair is so thick, that the extra length makes it very heavy. It feels really good!

I'll try to post some pictures soon of my hair styles at different stages over the past year. It should be pretty funny, now that you know the story.

My phone is working!

Yay! My phone was supposed to be turned on last Wednesday. Never had a dial tone. I wasn't able to call SBC about it until Monday morning. They sent someone over this morning, and (eventually) it was turned on! :)

Dick and I will be sharing a phone line/number now - which is a first for us. We're using the Message Center, too. Dick has always had it. I've always used my own answering machine.

Anyhow, I'm trying out this new package from SBC: All Distance. Essentially, it includes all local calls, long distance calls, call waiting, caller ID, call-waiting ID, and the message center for $48.95/month. Not bad.

New printer ordered

I love amazon.com.

here's the printer I chose. Seems like a nice one, and got really high reviews - plus, you can't beat the price. I've had good luck with Epson printers - had my last one for 4-5 years. I got it with free shipping, so it'll take a few days to get here....

The first casualty of the move

Crap.

My printer just died.

It was working fine yesterday. I plugged it into everything, and tested it.
Don't know what happened. Too much excitement for it's little brain I suppose.

amazon.com, here I come.

So much for retail therapy. This is just annoying.

My MINI meets a neighbor

I think we're going to be very happy here in the new(old) neighborhood.

Here's a picture of my MINI getting acquainted with one of our new neighbors.

Time for a break

We're taking today off.

I just sent in a (very large) work proposal that I've been working on for the last 2 weeks. It was quite a challenge getting it done during the move. I've been up and working at my computer at 6:30am the last two days, and was up late last night. Anyhow, the due date is today, and I just sent it out. I'm feeling a great sense of relief at the moment. I'm happy with how it turned out, and I know it's out of my hands now. That's all I can ask for. Fingers crossed - should know within the next few weeks.

We also made one more quick run to the old house to pack up some more stuff - will it never end????????????

We're bound and determined to take the rest of the day off. Not bad, considering it's only 10:30am.

It's gorgeous outside today. Weather reports says it'll be 75 degrees and sunny. I think we should go out for a long drive along the ocean in my MINI. Doesn't that sound lovely?

By the way, in case you've tried calling, my new phone number isn't working yet. It was supposed to be up last Thursday, but alas, no dial tone yet. SBC is sending someone out Wednesday morning to check the line.

Oh well. Happy to have a cell phone. Even happier to have high speed internet.

Happy Kitties

I forgot to mention - the kitties seem to have adjusted to the new house just fine. :)

Here's the proof:


PS: Marcel is sleeping on the blanket that my Grandma knitted him for Christmas!

March (moving) Madness!

Wow.
What a weekend.

First of all, let me tell you: I think my parents are super heroes! Really, I think their cover is "Henry & Barb Chow. Regular, everyday civilians." But underneath it all, I think they're hiding the fact that they're both super human!

As I mentioned before, Dick and I moved into the condo on Friday, but we still had quite a lot of stuff left at the old house (that the movers couldn't fit - I'm still questioning that one), and our kitchen was filled with boxes.

Lo and behold.... Saturday morning: Noon.
Henry and Barb arrive, swoop in, and SAVE THE DAY!

They are like a pair of Energizer Bunnies! My Mom immediately got to work in the kitchen - she and I spent the afternoon unpacking, and organizing. My Dad and Dick went down to the basement to rearrange, then spent most of the afternoon driving back and forth from the old house to the condo delivering (most) of the remaining goods. By the end of the evening, the kitchen was completely unpacked, and fully functional! We also managed to get a huge amount of stuff from the old house to the new. Really amazing. We couldn't have done it without them!

Dick and I were exhausted by the end of the evening. We got Chinese take-out from our favorite Chinese Restaurant in San Francisco: U-Lee. (On Hyde @ Jackson) Love that place. That was the only request my parents had! (and a good one it was!) After we ate, my Mom hopped right back up and said, "I just want to unpack that one last box in the kitchen."

Amazing.

..and even more interesting.. they keep insisting that they enjoy it!

I hope I've inherited some of their super-human-energy genes. I'm beginning to think it skipped a generation!

Thanks, Mom & Dad! I love you very much!

cool.

Check it out: my last two posts (below) were posted at the exact same time each day! geek.

Moving Mania

Ugh.

What a long day. We moved today. We hired 4 guys from emerald Moving Co. on Valencia. They had a big, huge truck. They weren't able to fit everything in the truck, so Dick and I will have to do a few trips back and forth to the house to get the rest of the little stuff. (Actually, it'll take a good many trips, but I'm trying not to think of it too much) As for the rest of the larger items that were left - we're just hoping that stager can use what we couldn't bring over. Anyway, the movers were with us from 8:30am through 4:00pm. They were pretty remarkable - we have some big pieces of furniture (Large Chinese Cabinets) that they were able to navigate up the stairs, and around the bend.

The kitties are trying to figure out what the heck is happening. Poor little things - you just can't explain things like this to them. We had them in the master bathroom all day, then went back to get them this evening. We have them in our bedroom now - we thought it best to keep them in a small space until they've acclimated a little more. Plus, we have our sheets, and comforter in there, so it should smell like home. Last time I checked, Marcel was still hiding under the bed, and Noe was still hiding in her carrier. Poor kitties.

We're exhausted. Just beat.

But, not too tired to get the high speed internet up and running! :)

more later. must take a shower now.

(Almost) Moving Day.....

We actually post-phoned moving day until tomorrow. Thought we could use the extra day to get stuff ready.

We're just about done. I just finished packing my dolls, then it's time for bed.

I scanned this picture several years ago when I first moved to Eureka Street. It's from the Raggedy Ann book "Marcella" by Johnny Gruelle. Packing my dolls again made me think about it....

Steam Cleaning Maniacs

My Mom and my sister came over to the condo today to help us clean for our move-in. They were both so terrific, and such cleaning pros!

They each have their own steam machines, which we used on EVERYTHING! You name it, we steam cleaned it: the softwood floors, windows, linoleum, blinds, refrigerator, counters, etc., Really Amazing!

I'm totally hooked on them now. I think I'll add one to my Amazon.com wishlist! :)

I can't find the exact model my sister has, but it's something like this one. Plus, this one has the bonus of looking like a cute mouse!

My Mom's handheld steamer cracked me up. It's called "The Steam Penguin". :) Now, if you know my Mom, you know that she LOVES and collects penguins. (like how I collect Raggedy Anns) So, you can see that this was the perfect machine for her!

Now that I'm looking these up on amazon.com, I can see that neither one has very good user ratings. Oh well - they both worked very well for us today.

A big "thank you" again to my Mom and Sister, Tiffini. They were so very helpful today. I really feel like the condo is ready for us to move into now!

Ch-ch-ch-Changes!!!!!!!!!!

We're moving.

WHAT?!

Yep. we're moving.
This week.

But, why haven't you blogged about this before?

It has all happened very fast, and we wanted to make sure that everything was in place before telling everyone.

Where?

We're moving to The Castro (a mere 1.5 miles away) - I have a little condo over there.

Why?

Ah, yes. There's more to the story than that. (there always is)

I've owned the condo in the Castro (along with my family) for over 5 years now. I have rented it out for the past 2 years, when I moved in with Dick. In a weird, (but great) series of coincidences, my tenants gave notice to vacate, and my neighbors downstairs (of the 2 unit building) also decided to sell their unit. Dick and I jumped on this real estate opportunity.

So, long story short: Dick is buying the downstairs unit, I still own the upstairs unit. We like to think of it as: His and Her Condos (some people have towels, we have condos)

The idea is that Dick can sell his big house, buy the condo (smaller investment) but we'll have the luxury of owning both units (ie: the whole building) which is the same size as Dick's big house.

We've been working out the details only in the last 4 weeks or so. Everything is squared away now, and we have an actual moving date, so I figured it was safe to share the news with the world now.

It's a 3-step process: We've been having a lot of work done on my condo upstairs (the tenants didn't leave it in great shape, and it was due for a bit of a facelift anyway). We pulled up the old carpet in the bedrooms, and had the wood floors in the entire place refinished. We also had most of it repainted - they're finishing it up today or tomorrow. It looks amazing. Anyhow, our move-in date is set for this Thursday.

We'll be moving in all of our personal items, and some of our furniture. We're having our house "staged" for sale, and will leave so furniture here, so we won't have to store anything. Then, Dick's house will be painted (in the interior) and staged for sale. It should be up on the market in the middle of the month.

Finally, we'll be moving into the bottom unit in about another month. Then, we'll be able to sort things out and move the furniture into both unit.

So, contrary to how my blog has read over the past month, we've actually been really busy on all of this. lots of packing, planning, and contractors.

That's the scoop. I'll fill you in on more later - just wanted to start to get the word out.

I'll send out an email with our new address(s) and phone number this week.