Road Warriors

Well we made it!

1370+ miles on our tires, not including air travel.

(And by tires I mean the spare tire we both gained with all the crappy eating over the last few weeks.)

But seriously I feel like I am still catching up on sleep. I wish Chris would have had a few more days off before his first day but it is what it is.

So here is the short version of the last few weeks:

• I had my three month check-up with my Neurologist. It went well. He was amazed at how detailed I am with taking notes about reactions and my symptoms. I had to refrain from any jokes about what percentile I am in etc. (You know, so I can brag to people about my amazing percentiles later.) because I cracked a joke at the receptionist that made her uncomfortable when she laughed and I didn't want to do it again.

Scene: I left the apartment at 8:30 am for a 9 am appointment. I drive the 8 miles (roughly 20 min in traffic) to the Neuro's office. I check in.

Me: Hi, my name is Angelina. I have a 9 am appointment.
Receptionist: Good morning. I see your name here. Your appointment is at 9 am and it's 8:35 so why don't you have a seat in the lobby for a while.
Me: What? It's 8:35? How is that possible?
Receptionist: (points at clock) See? 8:35. You can have a seat in the lobby.
Me: But how? It left my house at 8:30 and it's 8 miles away. I could have swore I left my place at 8:30. Maybe I read the clock wrong? Weird.
Receptionist: (smiling patronizingly) Well you have 20 minutes till your appointment if you would like to have a seat.
Me: (muttering to myself) That's just so strange. I swore I left at 8:30. I guess that's why I have a Neurologist.
Receptionist: (starts laughing hysterically. I laugh too.Then she stops.) Oh gosh I shouldn't have laughed at that. I'm so sorry.
Me: No, you were supposed to laugh at that. It's funny.

I sat down and looked at my phone clock. It was 8:47. It took me 17 minutes to drive there. I am not crazy. Her clock is crazy.

• The Airborne Toxic Event rocked our socks off at the Hard Rock. Hands down best concert I have ever been to. It far exceeded Korn, Foo Fighters, Britney etc. The pool was quite an intimate setting. And we could get in the pool, which was deep unlike the Mandalay pool. So deep in fact that Chris and I waded out chest high to the little "islands" to get a great view of the stage. Did I mention that I was fully clothed? I wore a sundress on purpose but forgot to consider the fact that it would float up and show my white (soon to be see-through) granny panties. This didn't occur to me until after the show when I used the ladies room and saw my undies. Oh well. All those times I jumped off the island into the pool and floated around imagining I looked a pretty pretty mermaid were all in my head. I may have ruined a few others viewing experience but what can I do about it now? Chris did get some very unflattering pictures of this. They will never be on the internet.

• We drove to Sacramento in one day. Chris in the U-Haul and I in the shark car. I left an hour after Chris but could drive over 70, while he was limited to 55 because of the trailer, and he still arrived before me. I even passed him on the road several times.  But since I have "the bladder of a field mouse" according to Chris ( I choose to think of it as superior kidney function), I had to stop 6 times in 10 hours on the road. Also, I listened to an audio book on the drive and I blame the hilarity of Jeneration X by Jen Lancaster, as read by Jen Lancaster.

• Our apartment is small but modern, which is a change for us. However, there is absolutly no storage. Ugh. Good thing there is an Ikea near by. This place will be a model of efficiency in no time. My fears of living in a crack den are (so far) unfounded. We unloaded on Sunday and attempted to fall asleep early as my sadistic husband had booked our flights for 630am on Monday morning.

• We had a great time visiting as many people as we could while back in the Northwest. The most rewarding part of the trip was watching my little cousin Daniel graduate from drug court! It's been a really long road for him and I couldn't be prouder. He has 22 months of sobriety and is starting his tattoo apprenticeship. The graduation ceremony was surprisingly personal. I was crying hearing the stories of people I have never even met.

•  We drove our second U-haul of the trip from Port Orchard together. We made to Crater Lake Oregon the first night. We stayed in a little roadside casino called Seven Feathers which was surprisingly well accomodated. We also won $75 at the Roulette table which will pay for that trip to Ikea later :) We drove the final six hours on Saturday.

• Saturday sucked. Even though I listened to Tina Fey read Bossypants on Audible. ( Hilarious BTW). Let's just say I wasn't feeling well. We went to Target to get some supplies before we went back to the apartment and unloaded and well... I just felt exhausted. And I didn't even have to do the hard stuff!  But I have been very stressed out and it's taking it's toll in weird ways. Saturday night was the worst injection site reaction I have ever had. I won't go into details yet but it wasn't pretty. I was the small print on the warning label. I was the 1% of patients who suffer crappy x side effect. It was the scariest thing. Basically, on Sunday night when it was time to take my meds I told Chris, " Please don't make me do it. I'm scared." I have since done my injection and was fine.

•  Strangely, I felt totally normal on Sunday and was itching to explore Sacramento. We went to an amazing Farmer's Market. It was about 3 blocks and was all produce, handmade cheese and local meats. No crafts! The prices were fair and every booth we purchased from haggled over the prices so would buy. We spent $42.50 and walked out with a 1/2 flat of strawberries, 1 lb. of local organic cheese, spinach, basil, mint, freestone peaches, plums, nectarines, grapes, potatoes,  tomatoes, onions, green peppers, and 5 ears of corn.  Good eating is back on the menu :)

I am going back to my unpacking now. I have been unpacking and organizing all week long. I hope to be done this weekend so I can get back in a regular routine and start looking for a job. I'm looking forward to finally being settled and getting to know this city, which so far I am loving. It's nice to be driving down the highway looking at farm land. My apartment complex is covered in trees, grass and squirrels. When I was driving down I-5 to get here I was thinking to myself, " Why did we leave Vegas again? What are we supposed to do on the weekends? Vegas has the best concerts and shows". But then I saw the sunset leaving Bakersfield. And then I saw the stars and realized that the lights of the strip weren't blocking them out and I knew we had made the right decision. I haven't had a single second thought since.

That's the sunset leaving Bakersfield and Chris driving a U-Haul with the Speedwagon towed on the back :)