MOVING!!!!!!! - Part 1

.........urgh. I'm going to preface this post by saying that I am the world's WORST mover. You see there are 3 types of people when it comes to moving.

Type 1. Laid back, take on the issues as they come, and deal with them appropriately - the ALEX's

Type 2. Totally stressed out crazy people and everyone knows they are stressed so everyone avoids them.

and then there are those like.....ME...

Type 3. They THINK they are the type 1, happy happy happy....then at a moment when no one expects it, they INSTANTLY become Type 2+ with a vengeance.

You can imagine how this story plays out

I'm relaxed. I'm excited! I'm moving out to Sunny California, in the same city as my boyfriend, and taking on an adventure! Well, it sounded sooo good on paper....

Tuesday, Feb 14th. Happy Valentine's/Moving Day. Alex and I received some news from Alex's family that occupied the morning. But at 9am the packers and movers showed up at the house whether I was ready or not.

I thought they would walk around a bit, see what work needed to be done, and start in slowly. Well they entered the house, shook my hand for introductions, and the house looked like this in about 20 minutes!

It was so crazy!! There were 6 men in my tiny apartment all with their specific tasks. I wasn't allowed to pack or move anything so instead I basically stood in the middle of the house and just spun around in a circle....oh and took this picture. It was crazy but I was living it up in Type 1 mode... happy happy happy...

So 4 hours later, the van pulled away with everything that I own, including my car. All that was left was a suitcase, a mattress that I was giving away, and Sunny and I. (see him over there on my pillow??....kinda creepy kitty...kinda cute?)

A couple rides to work later from my friend Lindsay (shout out), Abby showed up at my sooo inviting apartment on Wed night. She actually had an interview with BIG YELLOW on Thursday. I'm pretty sure that when your sister visits from college, you are supposed to make her a nice, warm, home-cooked meal. But I had no plates, cookware, or utensils. So Carrabbas it was! :)

We ate dinner, went over typical interview questions, and talked about life.

The next day it was time to go to the airport to actually MOVE to LA. I sent Alex this picture on Thursday to show him how excited Sunny was to get on the plane in his harness! He REALLY likes his harness......haha....poor little guy!

Abby got back from her interview, Sunny got a sedative (Thanks Alicia!), and Abby took us both to the airport. (Thanks Abby!!!) My suitcase grew from Packing day to Flying day. I'm not sure how...but my suitcase was 64 lbs when I got to the airport! Also, I had a backpack on with 2 laptops in it, stuffed to the brim. I had my monster size purse, and had Sunny in a carrier. Still in moving Type 1 mode.....for a moment longer....

SIDEBAR: You know those people you see at the airport?...You know the ones I'm talking about! They have WAY too many bags, usually 2 kids acting up in the airport and running around, they keep yelling at them in public, and then they apparently haven't flown since 1990 because they get to security with 3 bottles of water and nail clippers in their suitcase? Yes, those people! Sadly, I was most definitely that person on Thursday. It wasn't kids and water bottles....it was a cat and too many carry ons.

Keep in mind, i called the airline ahead of time. I told them that I had a cat and asked all the appropriate questions! Made NOTES! Made a P-L-A-N!!!

Somewhere in between realizing that a cat counts as one of my 2 TSA designated carry ons, sunny meowing like crazy, my bag being over the 50 lb weight limit, having to repack all my bags in the middle of the airport, some stressed-out gorilla tears, and a sympathetic old man working for the airline.... The "PLAN" got chucked out the window and I landed my self in INSTANT Type 2 mover mode!!!

Yep!!! It happened and it happened in front of one of the nicest old men ever who thought it was all his fault that this CRAZY woman was tearing up at his ticket counter....

Sunny and I finally made it through ticketing, security, and we took a couple minutes to collect ourselves before the flight. I sat down the in the terminal, looked over at sunny, who was sleeping. "Looks like the sedative kicked in!" At that moment, I realized that I had one more cat sedative in my purse and was tempted to try the thing out. Looked like Sunny was enjoying himself! ;)

***Got to LA at 9pm Thursday night. The move wasn't over yet.... More to come. :)

Visiting Home, I mean L.A., ....Whatever

Everyday, the count down is getting shorter for my move to L.A. Alex has been living there since Thanksgiving but I have stayed back in Kansas City finishing up some work stuff back there. Well the count down has begun. I officially get on a ONE-WAY flight to California on Thursday the 16th.

So before the big move, one last trip to see Alex as a VISITOR is the Los Angeles area! I flew in Friday night and Alex picked me up in Orange County. We checked out a delishious mexican resturant in Santa Ana while we were there.

This place was really cool. Authentic (or what I think of as authentic), good music, fire pits outside, really fresh tasting, and really enjoyable atmosphere. Very cute. We were comparing it to our favorite KC mexican resturant, Mi Ranchito. I don't think Alex is ready to break ties yet to our fav KC spot but this was PRETTY close!

On Saturday we checked out this new place Alex and a friend found called Waba Grill Teriyaki House.

Their menu is all about protein, rice, and teriyaki sauce. What's not to love?! It is delish and healthy. We loved it!

Then it was back to the house for swimsuits!! We went out to Santa Monica Beach. What a great day!! It was gorgeous outside....Do I even need to say that? I mean, it seems like no matter when I visit, its gorgeous. I bet the weather men there are so bored!! "Well, residents of Los Angeles, looks like we have another Sunny and 80 degree day. Enjoy it."

Parking down at Santa Monica was pretty intense. Then we found the best spot ever. 5 ft from sand. We really lucked out. So we hit the beach! First stop, Santa Monica's muscle beach.

There were some odd birds out on Saturday. I guess thats basically everyday there though. Everything from climbing ropes, to weird fake fighting, to people lifting other people in the air, 8 guys running and doing flips off structures in the park....It was an eye full. :)

We walked through muscle beach and hit the beach. Now THIS is the perfect Saturday! I can handle the beach scene for sure! We layed out a beach blanket and just vegged out in the sun.

Alex carried our covert cooler. We weren't really sure if drinks were allowed but we just did what we wanted. Out of all the crazys that were on the beach that day, I doubt WE were drawing any attention. :)

You can see the Santa Monica Pier in the background which was our next stop. It was packed on a Saturday but it was fun to look around and see all that the pier had to offer. Carnival food, rides, art booths, and of course....crazys! :) Gotta love it!

The sun realy took it out of us! Or it could have been the traffic on the way home. Either way, we were BEAT! We went out to dinner with our friend Grear to a sushi place that was good but nothing impressive. Definitely not worth a blog shout out.

Sunday was go-home-day. We chilled at Grear and Alex's apartment, talked and hung out. Then went to IHOP for some brunch/breakfast. How can you go wrong there?! haha. Oh and we watch some TV favorites of the Grear/Alex household. Gold Rush and Bearing Sea Gold. These boys LOOOOVE these shows.

So funny but I think I'm hooked too! They made 75,000 in one day! So interesting! :)

Then it was off to the airport. Funny thing is that last week my boss decided to send me to the job a week early to give a training. So I left on Sunday and will be back Wed night. Not sure WHEN I'm going to get my house ready for the move. As Alex always says, 'it will all work out.' :) And he's right. It always does.

This is slightly...okay, totally unrelated to the post however I have to leave you with a flirty wink from my nephew Ethan. It sure does make my day better when I see that cute little face! Hope it works for you too! :) Later all!

A New Reason to Visit Home A Lot!!

Congratulations to my brother and sister-in-law and their new family!! On Wednesday, February 1st, 2012, Ethan Thomas entered the world at 8:15am. He's one handsome fella! Baby girls everywhere, watch yourselves. This little-big man is weighing in at a football potential of 9lbs 5oz. His doctor reported, "We have a boy and he is deliciously full-bodied."....Sounds more like a cup of coffee than a baby! :) But then we saw him....and he's perfect. :)

He's not only a looker He's tall too! At 21.4", he's in the 99th percentile. I'm sayin'!!! NBA scholarships!!

And HAIR!!! (he is about 3 hours old in this one...i think....there were a lot of pics going around....I think I know what song was in Michelle's head at this moment...None other than Ms. B-Spears 'Paparazzi')

There's not much newborn hair in the family. We were all a bunch of baldys. Thank you so much Ethan for bringing baby Mohawks into our lives!!

Mr. Ethan Thomas has a VERY large fan club! Lots of loving family members were there. Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, and Grandpas and Grandmas!! :)

(Abby will get a pic here if she ever sends it to me)

Mom, Dad, and Baby are doing great. All the nurses and doctors kept going on and on about what a labor BEAST Michelle was. Michelle is changed in my mind forever. Don't let her cute hair cuts, girly dresses, and photography artistic flare fool you. This girl is a Natural Childbirth Champion! Sounds like she was REALLY hardcore in there. She didn't even show up to the hospital until 2 hours before Ethan arrived. Although, lets be serious....Did we really expect Adam and Michelle (the famous non-planners) to arrive early? I think she even surprised Adam with how tough she was about it all. I have an adorable picture of her and Ethan but if she ever posted a pic of me in a hospital gown on her blog, I would probably delete her blog from my favorites bar. :) So instead I will just tell you that she looked awesome. Kinda sickening how great her hair,skin and new Mommy smile was after 14 hours plus of labor. None of us looked that good and all we did was sit in a waiting room. She rocks. PERIOD.

I think it was a little shocking at first. I mean, Adam and Michelle's TO-DO list for the last 9 months has been 1 item. Get baby Ethan into the world. Well CHECK!! Its like I can read what Adam is thinking in this picture..."Okay, He's here!!!......No what?"

Just kidding! :) In truth, I've never seen my brother be so comfortable with a baby. He was all about the info on the pregnancy, labor, and all the medical stuff they do post birth. But then again, its not surprising. Adam was born to be a Dad. Even when we were little, people would ask us what we wanted to be when we grew up. Adam would always answer, a Dad. Well sometimes he answered 'a slide so that rabbits will hide under me when it rains'. But turns out one of his childhood dreams has come true yesterday and I'm so proud of his new family. I can't wait to see Ethan grow up. Getting to know him is going to be so fun. :) He doesn't even do anything yet except sleep, potty, and coo and I already can't stop starting at him.

Ethan, we are all in love. I'm not sure when I'm going to be able to finish thanking God for making you and adding you to our family. You are so precious. God has placed you perfectly with a Mom and Dad that prayed for you, love you so much, and are going to be such great parents.