Movin' on up. And out.

The apartment search didn't last much more than a few weeks before I knew I'd found my new home. A large two-bedroom (for the price of 1BR) with walk-in closets, a balcony, a big kitchen and breakfast bar, fantastic management, tons of storage, and did I mention the walk in closet? I could fit a queen size bed in that closet! Well, I could have, before I filled it with shoes.

With the first of the month being a Monday, and that particular Monday being a dinner party with some of my fav friends from my Bible study in Winona, I didn't move in until Tuesday. By moving in on Tuesday I mean I picked up a bed and brought in a suitcase. And an espresso machine.

It's amazing what little you need to live on when you're traveling or without a permanent residence. I spent eight weeks this fall living out of a suitcase. It made me wonder why I owned so much stuff back home. It probably made my whole family wonder why I made them pack it into a truck and trailer and haul it down last Saturday. But when you know you own that many pairs of fabulous shoes, you start to miss them.

I've been told my shoe ownership/obsession is a little out of control, so let's move on. Tuesday night I went grocery shopping for the basics. I still haven't gone all out on baking goods, cause that's a whole other subject we could get carried away on. Jake, exploring my new apartment that evening, was a little skeptical of the contents in my fridge. "Are you sure the rabbits haven't worn off on you?" My psuedo-vegetarian habits must not be contagious yet.

The rest of the week I spent running to Walmart, organizing, running back to the store, re-organizing, more shopping. The whole family came down Saturday with furniture and the rest of my earthly possessions. We set up and unpacked and hung pictures and went searching for more furniture. I now own a dining room table. It's beautiful, and it makes me feel like I'm actually an adult. An adult who owns a table. It's funny, the little things that make or break a label. For me I guess it's a dining room table.

Well anyway. My to-do list isn't getting any shorter. I promise these pictures are merely a teaser of what's to come. (My apologies, too, the rest of the pictures won't load. Might have something to do with stealing internet from a mystery neighbor somewhere in my building.)

Que Fuerte

This morning was, by far, the most ridiculous morning of the year. (Que fuerte, loosely translated, means "that's ridiculous", or "how ridiculous". It's one of my favorite Spanish phrases. I used it a lot in Spain. Spain is kind of ridiculous, in a wonderful way.) I digress.
I knew I had to open the coffee shop at 5:30 am. I also knew we were in for a blizzard. I set my alarm for 4:30am to have adequate time to prepare and get myself through the snowy streets. Ha.

4:30am - wake up to obnoxious ringtone. Look out the window. I see nothing but white. My street has not yet been plowed, but I can see the cross street is plowed.
4:32am - I wonder if I should really go to work. I wonder if my boss even wants me to risk my life to go to work.
4:40am - I check my email. My final is cancelled 'cause my prof doesn't want to put us in a dangerous situation like driving to campus at 1pm. Again I wonder about my decision to go to work.
5:00am, my street is plowed, pushing even more snow toward the end of my driveway. My little black Ford Focus looks kinda sad and covered in snow. I venture outside.
5:05-5:12 I brush snow off my car. We're talking more than a foot, and it's blowing everywhere. I'm starting to question my decision to try this.
5:15 - I try to just back my car through the snow. I make it ten feet down the driveway and get stuck. My car will not go forward or backward.
5:20 - I call my friend Paul who is scheduled to work at 6am with me. We discuss the ridiculousness of the situation and wonder to eachother if we should go to work. Paul has his roommates' 4wheel drive and is convinced we can make it. He offers to pick me up in 20 minutes and we can open together. I gladly agree and start to shovel my driveway while I wait. 16 inches of snow takes a long time to move.
5:30ish Paul shows up and I leave the driveway in its sorry state and wade through drifts up to my thighs to get to the street. We plow through drifts in this amazing 4wd that could take on blizzards in the arctic. It was amazing. We get to Mugby. It hasn't been plowed at all. There's no way we're going into the parking lot, and we wonder who would drive through an unplowed parking lot in this mess to get a cup of coffee.
5:46 - I feel bad for waking my boss but I call her at home and ask her what to do. While she calls the snowplow company, Paul and I go pick up the bakery order since we have 4wd and some time.
Bakery run consists of wading through more 16inch snow, dropping off one box at the other store, and coming back to Mugby, which still is not plowed. Plow service isn't answering the phone. Paul and I find the whole situation halerious and ridiculous. Evenually we park across the street at the hospital and trudge through the snow and streets, carrying boxes of fresh baked scones, and unlock Mugby. We figure we deserve a scone or two.
By this time my boss has looked outside and recognized our heroic efforts. I'm still wondering if heroic is a synonym for delusional.
Customers in pickup trucks start coming slowly, apparently giving no concern to the drifts they plow through. I think they're ridiculous. They think we are equally ridiculous for being open, and give us good sympathy tips.
It's 7:30 before our drive-through or parking lot is plowed. Bored with the lack of customers, we find refrigerator magnets and make stupid sentences all morning. Ashley comes to replace Paul and there is still nothing to do. We drink coffee. I work til 12 and get another co-worker, Ben, to drive me home in his pickup.
I decide I should either:
a) move south ASAP - oh wait, I decided that a long time ago
b) buy a vehicle with 4 wheel drive
c) not leave the house for about 3 days

It took both roommates and a wonderful friend to shovel the driveway and get my car unstuck from all the snow I packed under it. I'm looking forward to doing it all again tomorrow.

The Fourth Tenor

It turned out to be a dark, chilly evening. My house was quiet and I was sleepy and pensive. This combination is perfect for cuddling under blankets in sweatpants with an eclectic collection of opera on itunes with my leather bound journal and a lot of blank pages in front of me.

Even better with a soy latte, but I hope to be asleep soon. Journaling is always therapeutic for me, and there's been a lot on my mind about my future as of late. But the opera got the better of me tonight.

Andrea Bocelli made me cry. This man is amazing. If nothing else, just listen to Canto Della Terra once. If it doesn't touch your soul, please, carry on with your life as usual. But give the blind tuscan a chance. He was once called "the most beautiful voice in the world", and I believe it. According to my sources at itunes, Andrea was a disciple of Pavarotti and I don't know what else you could ask for from an Italian tenor.

I may be partial to tenors 'cause my Daddy is a tenor and he sang a lot of Pavarotti and John Denver in his pickup truck when I was little. I also happen to be partial to Italian because I once sang an Italian aria, and all the best things come from Italy. Espresso, leather shoes, opera. And now Andrea Bocelli.

A Few More Things

Some things I forgot to add:
Openair windows, mountains and ocean and tropical flowers. When you order coffee in Europe they bring you shots of espresso. How incredible is that? Almost makes me wonder why they have afternoon siestas!
Tonight we are going Salsa dancing! Apparently there is a place downtown that gives free lessons on Wednesday and Thursday nights in downtown Malaga and Katrina´s friend says its lots of fun and is going to bring us. We´re pretty excited.
Before we head out today Katrina and I need to learn aerobics. I started an exercise class on Fridays for the Muslim women at the community center, and last week we did mostly pilates since I´ve done alot of pilates over the last couple years. The women were glad for the class but asked if next week (tomorrow) we could do dance aerobics with music. Being the agreeable pushovers we are, Katrina and I said yes. We keep putting it off because we have no idea what we´re doing but I think the new plan is to make it up as we go along. And no there will be no pictures. Ha.