Peppy's Dream Moving Adventure Blog

This morning, as I took my shower in the campground at 6:00am, I thought to myself, “This is the last time.  The last time.”  I was so happy that we would be moving into the apartment today.  I could not wait.  I was filled with anticipation.  What would our boxes look like?  Would they all be there?  Would the moving men show up on time?  What about our bed?  Would that arrive safely?  On time?  Would it be everything we hoped (dreamed) it would be?

We left the campground at 7:00am.  I went to get us bagels, and Eric drove the RV to the apartment.  We ate our bagels together in the RV and then rang the bell of the manager, a young man named Brett.  He took us up to the apartment and proceeded to give us his “spiel,” with lots and lots of papers to sign, warnings about asbestos and lead paint, and drowning in the pool (since there’s no lifeguard on duty).  Actually, there IS no asbestos or lead, but they have to warn you, in case it turns out they’re wrong about that.  It’s a little crazy, but California is extremely litigious, so they have to have everything in writing.

While we were still signing the lease, the bed arrived!  They set it up in our new master bedroom and left.  It looks great!

Once the paperwork was all signed, we got our keys, and Brett gave us a little welcome package – a $20 gift certificate to TARGET (where I had just been on Saturday) and a $10 gift certificate for STARBUCKS (did he read my mind?).  I thought that was so sweet!

After he left, we made a bunch of trips back and forth to the RV, bringing in all the stuff we had been using and wearing for the last 15 weeks.  It was more than you think.  As we brought it up, I put it in the appropriate room.  I’ll tell you one thing about this place – there’s lots of storage.  There are seven drawers and 24 cabinets in the kitchen alone!  There’s a large, mirrored sliding door closet in the master bedroom, a small 2-door closet in the other bedroom and a linen closet, too.  In the hallway, leading to the bedrooms and bathroom, there are four large cabinets (big enough to put a stand-up vacuum and other tall stuff), with small cabinets above that for storing rarely-used items.  The bathroom even has lots of drawers and cabinets.

Since we’ve been living in one tiny room with lots of cabinet space for 14 weeks, we were REALLY able to put everything away easily, because there’s so much more space.  I knew that this place would feel like a mansion.  It really does!

At 10:30am the moving men arrived.  There were two nice guys – Jason and Johnny.  They pulled the truck into the parking lot and proceeded to bring all the boxes upstairs.  It was a long walk from the truck to the one flight of outdoor stairs, and then we’re right at the top of the landing.  For heavier items, they brought a dolly, but they still had to carry everything up the stairs.  They were working REALLY hard and we felt bad for them.  They would put everything right inside the front door and then Eric would take over.

I had a “master list” on my computer, with my box numbers and a list of what was in each box.  The moving company puts their own labels with numbers on it, so he would first tell me their number, and I would mark it off on their chart.  Then, he would tell me my number, and I would tell him what was in the box, so we could decide where to put it, and I would mark it off on MY chart.  The stuff we’re not going to open for a while went into the second bedroom and up against the wall in the living room.  The clothing and furniture for the master bedroom went in there; the bathroom stuff in the bathroom, etc.  It was very organized!

It was WONDERFUL to see my vanity again.  How I’ve missed it!  It was such a luxury to have it all these years and get to sit there every morning to put my make-up on.  I also got to enjoy the beautiful lamps that belonged to my grandmother, Rose, which are my prized possession.  I can’t wait to see them again!

Since Eric was helping so much, we got done really fast and – since we were paying them by the hour – it really helped us a lot, but I felt bad, because he was lifting some really heavy boxes!

At the end, there was just one discrepancy.  According to their list, all the boxes had been delivered, but according to my list, there was one missing.  It turns out it was my error – made in NY when I numbered the boxes.  I accidentally gave a box two numbers, but only wrote one number on it.  We figured it out, because the contents of the box were exactly the same on two descriptions.  It’s a good thing I was so detailed, or we would have thought they lost a box, or spent another hour recounting, etc.

They were out of here by 2:00pm.  We went back to unpacking the RV and made a bunch more trips.   By now, it’s practically empty of things we need to bring into the apartment.  Eric said it probably weighs about 3,000 pounds less (but I think he’s exaggerating!).

I took some pictures with my cell phone of the outside and a few of the rooms, so you can see a little of what it looks like.  I’ll take more, once we get rid of a few of the boxes.

The view from right outside our door:

When Eric came back from his last trip to the RV, he heard me in the bedroom saying, “Oh, yeah.  That’s good.  Oh, baby!”  He said, “What are you doing?”  I said, “I’m laying on our new, comfy bed!”  I had made up the bed with the dust-mite allergy proof mattress protector, and our new chocolate brown sheets.  I had put the pillowcases on our new memory foam pillows and laid out the flat sheets.  I was ready for a nap, and so was Eric!

Looking to the right:

We fell asleep very quickly, as we had really had a long day and it was only about 3:00pm!  I woke up once, because I kept hearing a strange noise.  I finally figured out that it was someone practicing the drums!  Can you believe it?  Just my luck, there’s a drummer in the complex.  Actually, they have a rule here about quiet time between 10:00pm and 8:00am, so I guess he was being respectful, because it was the middle of the afternoon!

Looking left!

Eric kept sleeping, but I got up to walk around the apartment.  It was now 5:30pm and dark outside.  I figured out where the dining room light is and did some work on the computer.

Looking straight down, over my railing.  Notice the Birds of Paradise?

Eric got up a little after 6:00pm and we decided to walk to a restaurant that is on the same block as our complex.  It’s called LA DOLCE VITA and I noticed it once when Eric and I were just driving around last time we were here in October.  It’s so strange, because we actually passed our complex once.  We decided to leave Pacific Beach and got onto I-5 South and got off at Clairemont Drive.  We drove right past our building and had lunch at the Hometown Buffet, right before we went to SeaWorld.  The shopping center where that restaurant is located is walking distance from our apartment!  Out of all the places in San Diego, we were already at “our” shopping center!  I thought that was a big coincidence!

Another view to the right:

Anyway, we walked over to LA DOLCE VITA TRATTORIA.   We got a lovely greeting from two handsome Italian gentlemen, as soon as we walked in the door.  We were shown to a booth and looked at the menus. 

Right away they brought us a basket of fresh baked hot breads, including garlic bread, with a sundried tomato dipping sauce.  It was SO good.  Eric ordered the Chicken Dolce Vita, which is sautéed with mushrooms, garlic, artichoke hearts in a gorgonzola cream sauce, served with linguini.  I ordered the Penne alla Vodka.  If I would have read the description, I would have seen that it has prosciutto in it, along with fresh tomato sauce, scallions and cream, flambéed with Vodka.  I don’t really eat meat, but it DID add a lovely flavor and the pieces were so tiny!

 Every entrée comes with salad bar and soup.  Their salad bar was so nice.  They had anchovies, which I LOVE, along with all the vegetables you can imagine in a salad.  Their soup tonight was tomato, and Eric and I both agreed it was more of a tomato bisque.  Lovely!

By the time they brought the entrées, we were stuffed from all the salad, soup and bread!  We only ate half our meal and brought the rest home (lunch tomorrow!).  We shared a piece of tiramisu and walked back to the apartment.

Tomorrow, after the cable guy is done, we will go food shopping and all this eating out will come to an end.  Eric and I have promised that we are going to be better about eating out so much.  It really was pretty much a necessity in the RV, because the fridge was so “iffy” and we wasted some money buying groceries that we had to throw out, because it had stopped working.  Now that we have a working fridge, and a lovely kitchen, we will be making our meals at home.  I’m not much of a cook, but Eric seems to enjoy it!

Our cute little kitchen:

After we got back, we unpacked for about three hours, until we were exhausted.  We didn’t even make a dent, but we managed to find some stuff that we wanted to get to right away, including the remote for the TV (so the cable guy can program the box), and the DVD player (so he can hook it all up for us).

The view from the Master Bedroom window:

Eric is now sleeping and I’m standing in the kitchen typing.  One of the first things we have to get is a table and chairs, so I can set up my computer, and we have a place to eat. 

The view from the second bedroon window:

We’re both happy with the apartment.  It’s really clean.  The carpets were just steam cleaned, so they are in excellent condition.  The apartment was freshly painted and the kitchen and bathroom are spotless with beautiful tiled floors and countertops.  The manager is so nice and he obviously runs a tight ship, because the complex is pristine.

Our sunny little bathroom:

We haven’t formally met any of our neighbors yet, but I’ve noticed there’s a big mix in the complex.  We saw a young woman with a boy about 4; an old lady, an old man, and there’s a nice young woman who lives right next to us and two guys who live underneath us.  I’m sure we’ll get to meet them all eventually.

We DID get to meet the “pool guy” this morning.  Eric noticed a dog with the guy who maintains the pool (and you know how he LOVES dogs!).  He started talking to the dog from outside our apartment and the guy asked us if we were moving in.  He was very nice and asked us where we were from.  He said he noticed we were New Yorkers, because he heard us talking.  He said he was originally from Rockaway Beach, but moved here 30 years ago.  We had a nice conversation and he wished us luck here.

I already feel like we accomplished a lot, and I know we will do a lot more in the next few days, because Eric and I are on a roll.  It’s just unbelievable how much stuff we brought from New York.  After living with so little in the RV for so long, it just seems crazy to have all this stuff, but we brought it all, so we might as well unpack it and see what we’re going to do with it!