Making home

I had to leave my plants in Kansas...all of them. Some were left at the office, Jacob's sister took my pothos, my mom took my favorite jade, & my corn plant was finally put out of its misery - let's have a moment of silence for Mai.

To me, a home never feels like a home until it has plants.

Yesterday I started to get sick of all the boxes & mess surrounding me all day so I bought two new plants for the apartment. Hopefully they'll survive living with the cats & me (all brown thumbs here).

Denyse Schmidt & LAMQG

WARNING: This is a quilting post.

In the weeks leading up to our move, Jacob & I frequently talked about all the things we looked forward to in California: fresh avocados, no freezing winters, panaderias, the beach, fresh avocados, etc. One of the things I was really excited about was the active modern quilting community out here. Living in Manhattan, the closest modern quilt guild was in Kansas City. Where we are now, I have the luxury of choosing between two guilds!

Last night I attended my first guild event: Denyse Schmidt gave a talk for the LAMQG about quilt design, fabric design, stationary design, & writing books. Denyse is credited with starting the modern quilting movement & I was so excited for this opportunity!

Here are a few of my favorite quilts that Denyse highlighted at last night's event:

Photos courtesy of dsquilts.com

I stayed a little longer after the talk ended so I could be one of those people who asked for an autograph.

Because of our move I haven't done any sewing in WAY too long. I think I had some separation anxiety being apart from my fabric for so long. After last night I'm feeling super inspired & motivated to get back to my rotary cutter, rulers, & machine. Hopefully I quickly make some progress on my WIPs (works in progress) & start some new ones.

Today I will...

The trend that's going around blogland right now is "52 lists, 52 weeks." A year's worth of lists...count me in! I'm a bit behind the rest of the pack (they're on Week 3 & I'm just now starting) but I'll catch up...if you didn't know, I'm a pro at list making.

So the first week's task is today's to do list. This is the list that will be ruling my life for a while. It's the inventory list from the movers. Each line item represents another box to unload. Jacob & I made some pretty good progress last night & I've been productive today. As you can see, Avey is helping, too.

We're here...

Yesterday was our first full day in California! In Kansas the first topic of conversation is always the weather (whether or not rain or snow or ice or HEAT or hail or tornado or etc. is in the forecast or how bad the weather that just passed through was or how it wasn't nearly as bad as X many years ago) go ahead...nod your head in agreement...you know what I'm talking about. So as a good Kansas girl, I'll first let you know how gorgeous the weather is here: sunny (except for a bit of cloudiness in the mornings), the perfect temperature for jeans or shorts & a t-shirt, & it seems to get warmest around 6 or 7 p.m. I told Jacob last night at dinner that it felt weird not complaining one way or another about the weather. That seems to be another Kansas conversation staple – it’s either too hot or too cold…too humid or too dry.

The next bit of business would be to discuss our trip out here. To sum everything up, it was so much easier than I had expected. It was 1,767 miles spread out over 8 days with stops in Bird City (to visit Jacob’s parents, brothers, & grandparents), the Denver area (to see my cousin), Albuquerque, & Phoenix (to visit Jacob’s aunts, uncle, & cousins).

We made it to Long Beach by 4 in the afternoon on Monday & spent the evening checking in with the leasing office, unloading the car, & running errands. Some things I noticed on these errands: wine for sale in Target (oh yeah), basil plants the size of my head that cost less than the already packaged/almost wilted stuff at Dillon’s, bouquets of peonies for sale at the grocery store, & baggers at Trader Joe’s who know what they’re doing (if you’ve ever gone grocery shopping with me you know how that can make or break my day)! While Jackie says she can give me the equivalent to all that if I move back to Kansas…I don’t know that will quite be enough. (That doesn’t mean I don’t love & miss you, Jack.)

Yesterday Jacob went to work for a bit to fill out some paperwork & after he got back we walked to lunch (our first local restaurant – not bad) then went to the beach. It’s amazing that we can do that now…decide we want to go to the beach, pack up whatever we think we need, drive less than 10 minutes, & be there…AT THE FLIPPING BEACH! We walked barefoot just at the water’s edge (perfect temperature actually) watching the dogs fetching & chasing each other, the people kite surfing, & where we stepped (I hate kelp & whatever else washes up…bleh). It wasn’t our favorite beach, so we’ll keep looking & exploring, but still…we were AT THE FLIPPING BEACH!

Almost there...

Today this "vacation" of ours comes to an end. That's what this past week (I can't believe it's already been a week) has felt like. A vacation. And maybe that's why it's so easy to answer that I'm doing good whenever people ask how I'm really doing.

While we have had a great time visiting family along the way: Jacob's parents & grandparents & brothers in Bird City, my cousin in Denver, & his aunts & uncle & cousins in Phoenix...tomorrow the reality of it all sinks in. We'll finally get to Long Beach. We'll get the keys to our apartment. And we'll be "home."

On our way to Western Kansas...

We are now 5.5 hours into the 29 hour road trip…& we’re still in Kansas. Bird City, Kansas to spend some time with Jacob’s family before hitting the road again…so we’re almost out of the state (20 miles till Colorado) but not quite.

Monday’s traveling was rather uneventful & a nice change from the busy busy of Saturday & Sunday. (I’ll try to write more on that later.)

During the drive Avey & Jackson seemed to take turns crying in the back seat but were really manageable. Seaton was wonderful. He didn’t even cry until we got to Colby. It was the easiest drive I’ve ever taken with him. Seaton spent a lot of time in the car when he was younger. On the weekends when I drove to AC, he would come along. Just like you can set your watch by my sister calling at 5:02 every evening, you could measure the length of the trip by Seaton. He would get sick 4 times within the first hour & then be fine. So for Monday to go as smoothly as it did was such a relief. Thank you doctor at KSU Vet Med for the wonderful kitty tranquilizer you gave us! I may stay sane throughout this trip after all!

I love driving past the Giants just west of Salina. I could watch them all day...so huge & ...makes driving past them dangerous...especially driving while trying to take pictures of them!

What I didn't do today...

We just got back from our last sangria night at Coco Bolo's. I'm going to miss that place but I sure didn't cry in the car after we left...just like I didn't hang out of the car to yell at the jaywalker on campus...just like I didn't drop the F-bomb in front of a car full of kids at Wal-Mart. (But if I did do all that, just know that I apologized to the adult in the car, Mom!)

Not an engagement picture

The more I thought about us leaving Manhattan & all of our favorite places the more I wanted someone to capture all of it for us: Konza, Pillsbury Crossing, Aggieville, campus, Manhattan Hill, etc. I think it is important that we have regular pictures taken (as much as Jacob may cringe at that) & I think they're especially important right now.

While we weren't able to have pictures taken in Manhattan, we were lucky enough to spend Sunday morning in Wichita with Allie Burns, Jacob's cousin's girlfriend. She's been working hard at building up a photography business & her pictures are amazing. This picture is our favorite so far. I can't wait to see the rest.

Let the countdown begin...

A week from today the movers will have taken all our things, we will have thoroughly cleaned the empty apartment, we will have said our goodbyes, and we will be spending the last night in our apartment in Manhattan.

The past few weeks we have had dinners with friends and family, packed boxes, flown to LA to look for our new apartment, and basically ran around like crazy trying to prepare for this adventure. Because that's what this is. And even as I deal with the numbers, schedules, and sadness of leaving my Manhattan Home, I keep reminding myself that this is the start of a wonderful adventure and I have a wonderful person to share it with (aw...).

We want to share our life with family and friends so this blog will be full of stories about us settling into our new home in California (all the blunders and successes we will have along the way) and pictures of us/the cats/the beach/my quilting projects/whatever else tickles my fancy. Yes, the cats are coming with us! So I hope you follow along on our new adventure.