... week one under my belt

It’s been a week in San Francisco. The cats have somewhat made the adjustment. Hubby made it across country and even managed to swing through Colorado Springs to see our son. As for me, I’ve managed to get around San Francisco quite easily via bus. Now I’m ready to stretch a bit further to areas I don’t know how else to get to.

Getting back and forth to the area where I set up mail service and meet our realtor takes a bit longer by public transportation but couldn’t be easier or safer. I find asking a middle schooler directions works best but that only works after school lets out.

I’ve now seen all the houses available in our price range in the area we’re interested in. Not much on the market just before Christmas so now we just wait it out for more sale signs. It’s good to be non-contingent with full financing ready and waiting. Perhaps we can give some lucky homeowner a great Christmas or Hannukkah. 

With a bit of free time, I spent the day looking for the downtown Flower Market and shopping for the sofa we will eventually be needing for the new house. We lightened our moving load by getting rid of our sofas and beds before the move. I found both and can only say, “Wow!”

Which one is Rudolph?

orchids galore

Christmas apparently is a year-round event at this place

Name your color

Ribbon, ribbon, ribbon, ribbon

... let's call it Day 1

We packed the car to the hilt. Okay the husband packed the car to the hilt. I packed most of the rest of the house. Okay my best buds showed up and packed the entire kitchen. And in under two hours flat. But I did pack most of the house myself. It took most of each and every day between signing the contract and when the movers showed up (two hours later than expected) to move it out on the day of settlement. Whew that was a day.

But it’s behind us now and onward west ho. Hubby dropped me, the two cats and their happy pills off at Dulles International Airport bright and early the day after settlement. And less than six hours later, the three of us become officially unofficial California residents.

Sadly I didn’t think to get a photo because a picture in this instance would be worth a thousand words. Me, a piece of rolling luggage, my purse, an oversized pet kennel, two small under seat pet travel cases and a very valuable collapsable trolley to load most of it on. 

Now close your eyes and picture me getting on the BART (San Francisco subway system) with everything to get downtown where I reload into a cab for the last part of the journey to our new lodgings now known as Home Sweet Home until the real deal comes along. Yep it was all that and more.

I am dependent on public transportation completely until the husband can complete the cross country drive with the car and all the must haves that couldn’t go into storage. 

Surprisingly the bus is a snap to get around on. It takes a bit longer but it gives me time to enjoy the sights and get my bearings. Plus the temporary home is walking distance to about everything you need to get along in the life. I just need to remember not the get more than I can carry at any given time.

The great adventure has begun and we couldn’t be more delighted.

... it's about time

It took nearly 18 months, but it happened -- finally. The house sold and we’re moving to San Francisco. Now the real works begins and the clock is ticking. We’ve got less than a month to secure movers, pack, find temporary lodging on the other end (until the perfect home comes along), transfer our mailing address and all that comes with that, and, of course, say au revoir to family and friends that we hope to see again real soon.

Did I mention that this happens before Christmas. I said it was going to be an adventure and as it turns out, that’s an understatement.

Let’s start with the sale of the old homestead. Despite an economy that has been a bit less than healthy, people and their lives do go on. Situations change and we all adjust. Enough said.

Picking a moving company, as it turns out, is a bit easier than expected. With the consolidation of most of the biggies, a struggling economy and the movement of DIY movers with PODS, prices are relatively uniform. Since we had secured an entire garage worth of boxes and packing material from a friend of a friend, our price was significantly less. Let the packing begin and pass the Aleve.

On to the next challenge, finding temporary lodgings that come furnished and allow for cats. Not such an easy task as it turns out. First there are the renter laws in San Francisco that don’t allow for temporary lodgers to exceed 28 days. Okay we can manage that. Then there’s the cat issue ... 

All is well that ends well. Hooray there’s a place in the Marina District near the Palace of Fine Arts and uber trendy Chestnut Street shops. Okay it’s small. Really small. Really, really small -- tight quarters. And the noise level of Lombard Street is less than ideal, but it works -- for now.

Courtyard view from the bath and bedroom windows

Spaces appear tighter in real life

View of Lombard Street

Securing a temporary mailing address isn’t a ready, set, go either. Did you know you have to have a local address to rent a USPS post office box in another state? Nuts, right? Thanks UPS Store. We’re going to be BFFs.

Also on the list is tending to the cat issue. That’s the issue of getting the cats across the country. We determined that flying would most likely be the easiest on all of us. Better living through pharmaceuticals. A quick nap and presto we’re there -- sort of. A bottle a wine for me on the other end not so bad either.

More to come once the big move has happened.