Thoughts on Moving - Part 2 - The Pieces Fit?!

Alright, picking up where I left off...

A few months into the city search we set our sights on Philadelphia. I know, I know, I shot the idea down at first but somehow Shawn eventually convinced me to at least consider it. And with a reluctant sigh, I did. Now, you're probably wondering why I was so against the idea of moving to Philadelphia at first. You are, aren't you? Well, I used to be of the belief that Philly is dirty and dangerous and too long of a drive to get to because of traffic. Why? I don't know, I guess other people's opinions of the city led me to believe as such. Well, I must say I've been proven wrong.

My only real complaint about Philly and its surrounding areas is that driving anywhere sucks! The highways are always backed up and getting in and out of the city is nearly impossible at most hours of the day. But it gets a little better once you get closer to the suburbs, where we are.

But I'm getting side tracked here - lets get back to the point, about how it all came together. We visited Philly a few times and I started looking for jobs on craigslist… and that's how I met Tim Noble, of Town Hall Coffee in Merion Station. The place was still being put together at the time, but he liked me enough to guarantee me a job whenever Shawn and I could find a place to live. And so the apartment hunt began.

We initially looked at some places in center city but then decided it'd be best to find a place closer to my job. It only took three tries before we found it, and when we saw the place we immediately knew that was it, it just felt right. So after an agonizing two weeks of feeling like we were in limbo (between finding out the place was ours, to the day we picked up the keys), and then an even more agonizing unexpected three days wait that forced us to move in over 2 days instead of 4… and after several trips to Ikea and Target and local grocery stores, we finally, finally, feel completely moved in. I'd say I feel at home too, but I honestly feel like I'm on vacation in someone else's home with all my belongings in it… it's slowly dawning on me that we live here and all this is ours, and it's just us, and it's fantastic!

And the job? It's awesome! The guys I work with are great and I love being able to interact with customers again. It's great to be a part of something so new! And I get to bake scones too! It's all very exciting.

And so, finally, after months of searching, much frustration, an overabundance of stress, and a lot of patience, the pieces fit.

:)


Italian hoagies for lunch on the makeshift table; Day Two

1 Week in...

It seems that marine and I have made it a week without driving each other crazier than usual!

Hurray for us!!!

We also quickly found out how much it takes to fill an apartment with all the food items that we like to consume.

So, after several trips, to several stores, we are pretty close to having all the things we need to cook and snack and drink and yada yada yada.

For fresh produce and our first real meal in our new apartment, we went to the Ardmore Farmer's Market. There we picked up some peppers, which were brillant in color and loooooked soooooo tasty. The asian girl that rang up our fresh produce felt the need to warn us of her extreme hyper-ness. (believe me, you could see her hyper from a mile away.) Which made the experience of buying peppers even better!!

We also picked up some salmon that was too amazing to walk by. So in my head i instantly thought. Peppers. rice. salmon. i can do something with that. AND I DID!!!

Rice with Garlic Herb Buttered Peppers served with Teriyaki Salmon.

So, what really makes a dinner a dinner??? DESSERT!!!!!

So we also picked up a delicious Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake as well!!!!!

Enjoy your day and there is lots lots more to come!!! Have fun!!!

~Shawn

Thoughts on Moving - Part 1 - How it All Started

Alright, it's finally time for a Marine post :)

Shawn and I have been ready to move for weeks now - boxes have been gradually getting packed since we were approved for our apartment, but we've been mentally prepared to move since the first few setbacks we encountered. Now, if you've never moved from one city to another, you might not know what I mean by 'setbacks'… let me tell you a story and then give you some examples.

A few months ago Shawn and I looked at each other and decided it was time we start looking for a place to live together; we've both been living at our parents' houses for a few years now and it's just time to get out and start creating our own life. Of course the first question on our minds was - Where do we even start looking? You might not believe it, but we kinda love New Jersey, and it's really hard to leave! In the same token, the cost of living in NJ is completely ridiculous and way out of our means, so we knew we had to look elsewhere. Shawn's first suggestion was Philadelphia, and I shot that down pretty quickly (come on, we're from Jersey! We hate PA!) Other cities were then considered: Providence, Washington DC, Boston, etc… one thing was clear, we wanted to stay on the east coast.

Moving on to the second question on our minds - What about jobs? It's one thing to throw some money down and move somewhere, but don't you want to make sure you're moving somewhere with the ability to support yourself after the move? Here began the endless craigslist searches for not just apartments but also job opportunities - with no specific location in mind yet. At one point, with the help of a little social networking, I was able to line up a job interview near DC, but that plan flew out the window with the uncanny timing of the east coast's first big snowstorm - both canceling my interview and my desire to work there, and also succeeding in convincing us we really didn't want to move down there anyway.

The rest of the job search consisted of countless email responses to craigslist ads, with an unfortunate amount of "It's a pity you don't know when you'll be moving/can't start immediately" responses. It was a little heartbreaking at first, but we trudged through. At some point, we finally set our sights on Philadelphia, and that's when the fun really began and it all started to really come together…

But I'll cut this short (ha!) and continue in another post.

Stay tuned for: Thoughts on Moving - Part 2 - The Pieces Fit?!

:)

Something Silly

We are currently 2 days from massive insanity!!!!

Please keep your hands and feet inside the ride at all times! at no time shall you stand up while on the boat! Shiver me timbers and all the JAZZZZ!!!

sorry. i got a tad bit outta control there...

and when you think about it. shiver me timbers. that is a rather interesting statement.
lets break it down. (apparently i'm on a word kick here)

if you take a look at http://www.thefreedictionary.com/ you will find that Shiver ( Nautical To cause (a sail) to flutter by sailing too close to the wind.) and Timber ( Nautical A rib in a ship's frame. ) share a Nautical theme.

Could this be the reason why Nautical Adventures will exclaim "Shiver Me Timbers" ??

I would assume that something would have to be pretty scary to shake the ribs of an entire boat!

So when a ships captain removes his musty spectacles and whispers "shiver me timbers" under his rum stained breath, you know that the kraken or some sort of Spectral Entity is sure to be close by. With impending doom looming what would you do!

by the way. i have fallen in love with DIXIE'S newest jingle for their ultra sturdy plates! You can find the commercial HERE!!!!!

Watch, Listen, and ENJOY!!!
(shawn)

mooooving??

Reality is setting in. Five Days until WE (marine n myself)(myself being shawn), move into our apartment in Bala Cynwyd, Pa.

It's rather crazy to think about. We've been sitting in a weird limbo for like a month now. Let me tell you something, you can only go so low for so long when doing the limbo. We've just been Waiting and Waiting. Looking foward until we can finally have time to think and breath.

"Some times in life, you just have to step to the side to get a good look at where you are standing." - Shawn (me!)

The next year will be crazy and tough at times. But as long as we have each other, we shouldn't have any problems. . . . this blog will serve as a means of documenting our craziness!

so enjoy. many more things to come. CHECK OUT THE FLIKR for now. . . . NOOOW