A Million Tiny Things

I know that I am not the first person to ever sell a house or make a big change, and I even know that some of you have very recently done this (Nicole, Suzanne) without nary a peep about any of the annoying things that one must do in order to make this happen. Ladies, I applaud you. It is something that is not high on my bucket list, but it is One Of Those Things that must be done in order to get to the next step of your life, hopefully a Good one, or even a Better one than you were at before. 

Of course this makes me think about all of those things that we do to get to something beyond them. Even something as simple as hiking is sometimes not that fun, but you know that the beauty that you will behold will make the trudge worth it. It is almost a kind of type two fun, where the activity itself is often not that fun in the moment, but when you look back you talk about how fun it was. Will I look back and wax poetic about selling stuff on FB Marketplace in six months or a year? Currently I do not think so, but you never know! 

Gratuitous hiking photo: Healy Pass in the snow - Banff, AB

I feel like I have a million tiny things to do. In case I did not mention this in my last post, I am selling my house, but not only that, I am paring down my belongings to a few boxes, mostly of mementos, camping gear and a few reference and childhood books (I just could not help myself!!) This means that much of my last several months of life has consisted of working on my unsuccessful side hustle, sorting through stuff, throwing stuff away and giving stuff away. I do not want to bore anyone too much, but I could tell a whopper of a story about how hard it is to get rid of a simple couch (it is hard). 

Oh, you do want to know why? Well, after having no luck selling it, I tried to donate it to Habitat For Humanity, who by the way is very picky about their items. They do not take any patterned upholstery, sleeper sofas or anything that has oak. They also will not accept anything that has ANY stains or nicks, no matter how tiny. They will not take anything made of particle board or that is painted. So, in a nutshell, they basically do not want used furniture unless it has been wrapped in plastic and never used. However, after speaking to a woman on the phone, submitting an application and submitting photos, the couch was accepted. I was more proud of this day then when I was accepted for college. The truck arrived, the driver disembarked and after looking at the couch, he turned his nose up in denial at it, as if it had just let out a silent but deadly fart, because it had a tiny water mark on one arm. Not only that, but when he was moving out the items that he did accept, he must have also scraped something dirty on it, causing it to have a black smudge on it after he left. I had submitted a request for about 20 things and they only took about 10 of them, and they were not the large items that I really wanted to get rid of. 

A few days later, I phoned option number two, Out of the Closet, to see if I could schedule a pickup and was told that I had to specifically call back on the next Tuesday to schedule a pickup for their next pickup day, which was March 15th. When I called back on Tuesday promptly at nine, I was told that I was going to have to call back on March 18th to schedule a pickup for their next day, which was March 28th. This simply would not do. 

A few days later, I had my brother come with his truck so that we could take the couch, and several large items to Salvation Army, whose website said that they accepted furniture. We pull up to the donation center and we get denied, as they state that they do not accept any furniture. At this point, we already have the car loaded with half of the items, including the couch, and my armpits are starting to smell bad from the fear that this is going to be a lot more difficult that anticipated. 

Broski, the truck & the accursed couch.

I decide to try Out of the Closet, which is down the street from the Salvation Army, so I call them and speak to a nice lady named Brenda who says that yes they do accept furniture, but not if it has any stains or nicks. I tell her that I am going to come with a truck and she says she will come out to look at the stuff when we get there. I get there, go in and get her and she comes out and looks at everything and says that yes, they will take everything. I wanted to kiss her! We unloaded everything and then told her that I had a second load, and even showed her photos and she said she would take all of the second load too. We went home, loaded up the rest, came back, unloaded it and got the heck out of dodge as fast as possible. I kept waiting for Brenda to start chasing me from the back screaming, "wait, this couch has a tiny stain, take it back!" and me yelling, "sorry Brenda, possession is 9/10ths of the law! It's yours now! Have a nice day!" 

Anyway, this story is just one of many similar ones and although it has not necessarily been stressful per se, there are some things that have not been my favorite. For example, I do not really like having strangers in my space. In the last six months, I have probably had no less than 100 people come onto my property, whether it is to buy something, fix something, look at something, load something up or take something. On the other hand, I sold a ladder, a bike rack and a BBQ, all things I was worried that I would have to take to the dump. And thirdly, I talked to all of the people who bought these things, and I was even friendly, which simultaneously makes me feel a little bit like I need a social break and a little bit amazed that I can do things that I hate, and am even okay at faking them fairly well. 

I am not done yet. I still have so many things to do. This week, I have my Global Entry appointment, I have to put my car up for sale and I need to get my bike tuned up. I will have at least two more trips to the donation center, one more night with the girls, and much packing and cleaning to do. I hope to be fully done by this weekend, and will spend Saturday hopefully out on the trails, basking in the (fingers crossed) sunshine and the beauty that is the Pacific coast, before heading out. 

In one week, my house will be empty, I will be the proud owner of nearly no possessions, and I will be free to go where the wind takes me. Did I get everything done that I wanted to get done, the way that I wanted to do it? Nope. But I have accomplished a million tiny things, one tiny thing at a time, and that is good enough for me.  

Have you ever sold your house and/or all/most of your possessions, or moved from one place to another? If so I would love to hear your thoughts about the process! How did you feel? What was the hardest part? What do you hope you never have to do again? 

P.S. I was telling my friend K this story, and she said she just hired people to come and take everything. They recycle or donate 80% of the items and it cost her about $200 to have them come the next day. This is not a sponsored post, but maybe if you want to avoid the hassle of DIY, hire someone like this company in your area! PPS but she won't have the "fun" stories that I have, will she?! 

A New Place

It's kind of fun moving to new places all the time. I do it a lot for work; I work a few months here, a few months there... and now that I am home for a little while, I have lived in two different places and am now moving to my third place today. I am a planner kind of person, so before going to a new place, there are a few things I research.

(1) Running Clubs -- I don't join the running clubs, but I have found that they can be an excellent source of knowledge about where to run, races and other running related things. I found out about the Ohlone 50k that I volunteered for through a running club in Oakland; I found out about where to run in NYC through a running club there. As you probably know, runners are fun people and like to talk about, you guessed it, running. So I try to find a runner and ask them questions about what I want to know!

(2) Running Routes -- Even if I don't find a person or club to get advice from, one of the first things I do is get on Google Maps or Dailymile and find out where the good running routes are near my new place. A few things I look for: (a) trails, (b) routes where there are minimal street crossings and (c) routes that have a nice view. For Santa Cruz, I can run in the mountains or on the ocean cliffs. I am looking forward to both, as well as finding new routes.

Where I will be running this week.

(3) The Library -- I always find out (a) where the nearest library is and (b) what the card policy is. In Missouri when I was working, if you were not a local, you could pay $15 per year to have a card. In Oakland, cards are available to any CA residents. In Santa Cruz, if you have another CA Library card, you can have visitor privileges. Luckily, there is a library about a mile from the new place!

(4) The Burrito -- I always say, if there is not a burrito within walking distance, I don't want to live there. Luckily, there is a taqueria only about a half a mile away. Yes, this is a criteria.

(5) The Grocer -- I also like to walk for groceries. I found no less than 5 grocery stores (including a natural food store and a neighborhood bodega) less than a mile away.

2 = running route, 3 = library, 4 = burrito, 5 = grocery store (scale = from 2 to 3 is about 2.5 miles)

I always start with these. Of course there are man other things I like to research, but these are the basics!

What do you always find out before you move to / visit a new place?

Lovely News

I have to be honest with you all. 

I have been hiding something from you. There are a couple of reasons for this. One, I am a doubting Thomas. I don't really believe that something good is going to happen until it actually happens. This is especially true when it is something that I have absolutely no control over. I mean, I doubt no matter what, while at the same time hoping that plans will go through, but still keeping that low expectation in my mind so I won't be disappointed later on. I know that is no way to be, since it limits my getting super excited over anything because there is always a seed of..."will it really happen?" in my mind.

Also, I feel like if I say it out loud and then it doesn't happen, I look like a flake, or like someone who doesn't follow through, even if it wasn't my fault that the thing didn't happen. So I just keep my mouth shut until things are in place. 

I am a planner, so when I know for sure something is happening, I like to do everything I can to make it go smoothly and be perfect, but if there is a chance it won't happen, I am kind of at loose ends, not knowing if I should start buying stuff/moving stuff/working on things/organizing things/making plans or if I should just sit back and wait. Which I am NOT good at.

Anyway, this time the waiting has paid off. Mr Lovely, who recently decided to go back to school, applied for some research projects with different schools around the country and he got accepted for one in Santa Cruz, which is about 60 miles away from San Francisco. The project is for 10 weeks and it starts in a week! I am excited because as you may or may not know, he lives near Boston and we only see each other once in a while, so this will be some much needed time spent together. Also, what better place to spend a summer than on the beach!?

Lighthouse Point Park

We had a heck of a time finding an apartment. We wanted something furnished. Since it is only 10 weeks, it doesn't really makes sense for me to move all my furniture etc down there (my storage is about 200 miles away), load it and unload it, just to load it up and move it back in a couple of months. However, you may be surprised, but apparently we are not the only ones looking for a furnished, short term rental near the beach for the summer.  So we went with plan B, which is to get an unfurnished place. I have the essentials already, like kitchen stuff, linens, some small appliances and bedding. Our next adventure is a trip to the thrift store for (hopefully) a couple of ugly cheap pieces of furniture which we will have Salvation Army pick up at the end of the summer.

Something like THIS maybe? (source)

Or this? (source)

So right now my car is jam packed full of odds and ends. Our move in date is set for June 3. We are ready for a new adventure! Bring it on!

Have you ever been to Santa Cruz? Do you have any tips on buying used furniture?

Less is More

The other day, this girl wrote a post about being a minimalist. She spoke of people who had packed up their entire life into one car and drove off into the sunset. She said that sometimes she wishes she could be like that, but on the other hand wanted to know if we thought it was wrong to want stuff.  She asked us if we were “minimalists”.  It really got me thinking.  Am I? And is it wrong to want stuff? This question is especially prevalent during the holidays.

I have mentioned before that I live in a hotel most of the time. Let me explain. Roughly 7 years ago, I gave up my (much loved) apartment in San Francisco, put all my stuff into storage (Yes it all fits. I gave my furniture all to my brother) and headed to Europe for an adventure extraordinaire! Six months later, my savings had run out and I came back home, wondering…now what? 

But yes…now what? The great part was that I had no ties. I could go anywhere I wanted. I thought about joining the Peace Corps (I still think about that from time to time). Of course I had friends in the Bay Area, but they had lived without me for six months, so they could stand a few more. So I was all of a sudden at this wonderful and horrible place, where the world was my oyster. I could do what I wanted.

I just had to figure out what that was.

It is very freeing to not have a lot of stuff. You have nothing holding you back. You don’t have to make sure the dog is in the kennel or the kids have a babysitter. You don’t have to worry about moving boxes and boxes of books, a couch and a bedroom set down 3 flights of stairs. All of these things sway your decision making process. They make it a lot easier to remain right where you are. However, having no excuses NOT to do something is hard too. We are used to letting our responsibilities, our friends, our THINGS, make our decisions for us. Making a decision without these factors is strange (and difficult!). 

People always say,” Man, If only I didn’t have (to) _________ I would go with you to Europe”. But would they? It’s not like I twisted your arm and MADE you buy that new ____ which is now making it so you can’t afford the trip. It’s not like I signed you up for a 6 week ______ class so now you don’t have the time. You chose that. You chose that over the trip to Europe.

They also say, “I would totally love to have your lifestyle” (living out of a hotel, having all their stuff in storage, traveling).  But they really wouldn’t. Could you live out of a suitcase 9/10 of the year? Could you wear one pair of shoes and 2 pairs of pants for the next year? Could you avoid buying things so you don’t have to lug them around? 

I sometimes want to putter but I have no place to do so. I want to have a mindless activity such as re-organizing my already organized closet/bookshelf/pantry.  But then I sit and actually think about it, and I don’t really need that. I like having no clutter, nothing holding me back. If that means I can’t re-read my favorite book or wear that great red suede jacket I bought on sale at Nordstrom, so be it. I can do what I want, when I want. I can go wherever I want or need to at basically a moment’s notice. 

At the point in my life when I came back from Europe, I could do whatever I set my mind to. But. I was out of money. So in this case I could do anything I wanted, but I would have to somehow get money. Why would I need to get money? I needed to live. I needed food. For that I would need an apartment, and then I would need a fridge. Then I would have to buy food. So to get money I would need a job. To get a job, I might need something other than the one pair of shoes and the holey pants I had been wearing for the last several months. 

So, we’ve come back full circle. In order to live, we DO need a certain amount of stuff. In order to exist in society, we need stuff. So, we buy things. We buy what we want. We DO what we want. And then sometimes we use those things to be our beard for why we don’t do or can’t do other things (that maybe we don’t want to do?) We say we “have too much stuff” when in reality what we have is the stuff we chose to have. 

So, stop hiding behind your stuff. Stop making excuses. Do what YOU want. If it’s buying 100 new t-shirts a year, or every new gadget that Best Buy has to offer, or a Pottery Barn candle holder in every different color, do it. If it’s signing up for pole dancing classes or the gym, if it’s buying a new house or car, or if it’s traveling, or going to a new restaurant, or going to a play, do it. If it makes you happy, do it! And then be happy with the decision that you have made. 

I don’t think it’s a matter of how much stuff we have, but whether or not that stuff we have makes us happy. We can have fewer sweaters if we want to save our money for travel, or we can have more sweaters but not be able to afford that vacation. You can buy things in order to check them off your "I should have this" list, or you can buy them becuase they make you happy. You choose. 

It’s a matter of quality, not quantity. 

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Today I am being featured over at The Many Thoughts of a Reader. Go and check it out HERE!

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Are you a minimalist? Do you think that it is better to be a minimalist?

Can You Spare Some Change?

Just when I think I have learned the way to live, life changes.
Hugh Prather

I bet you thought I was going to talk about money. Well, I'm not. I AM going to talk about change, but not the dollar and cents kind. 

I have been working in the same location for about 3 months. I have a manager who I finally figured out what he wants. I have coworkers who I know and trust and can call up if I need advice or help or a coffee break. I have clients that I have developed a relationship with. They know me (and maybe even like me). I have a running trail and I know exactly how long it takes to get there and back and where each mile point is. I have a grocery store close by. I know exactly how long it takes to get to the airport from here. I have a kitchen in my hotel room and I can make a big meal and stockpile it for the week.

Well, just like Mr. Prather (above) says, just when you get comfortable, boom! That is when things change. We have finished our work here and are moving on today, to a new city, with new clients, a new manager, and new coworkers. I will be in a new hotel and have to figure out where the best place to run is. I don't WANT to have to figure it out. I want to be where I know what I am doing. I hate the feeling of not knowing. I don't have time to check it out. I want to know NOW. (Violet Beauregard anyone!?)   

The only hotel is a Holiday Inn. No kitchen. I will be lucky if I have a fridge and a coffee pot. Not that I am snobby about the hotel, but I do like to have certain amenities to help me eat cheaper and healthier. I have not yet found any running trails. I have to run 17 miles the weekend after next. I really don't want to have to run on the streets the whole time. 

Some people like change. A new hairdo, new house, new dinner menu or new friends. I am not adverse to any of those...sometimes... but usually I stick with what I know, the same long hair, a big pot of chili and that great girlfriend who you can tell anything to. Those are comfortable. They take less time and effort. So maybe that is what is scary about change, you have to take more time and work harder in order to make it work.  Or maybe you just anticipate having to work harder, whether that is the reality or not.

I am sure I will go to the new place and then new manager will be a great guy and all my new coworkers will be very helpful and the running trail will eventually be found and my new hotel will have free healthy dinners ever day (okay I just made that one up). It's hard, starting at the beginning again. But I've done it over and over, as much as I don't like it (and let me tell you, that's a lot). And I can do it again. Everything will work out in the end. I know everything will be fine. But right now I am not looking forward to it.  

Do you like change? What is a big change that has happened in your life recently? How did you deal with it? 

***Also, we have a winner for the My Memories Giveaway... picked by Random.org***

** Lisa of Lisa's Yarns ** 

I will contact you via email to confirm details!  

There is Something in The Way You Move

Maybe I am tired of moving. From Hotel to Hotel. From Desk to Desk. From City to City.

Or am I?

For a long time I have been living out of a suitcase. Carrying my belongings on my back. Not really having a place to call home. Except that I have always been told that home where the heart is. Well, I left mine in San Francisco...

I get a kick out of going to new places, seeing new things, trying new things, meeting new people. I love to travel; I travel light; I travel for extended amounts of time. But when does enough become enough? A friend of mine told me that at some point we would all have to "be responsible". He defined that as owning a house, having kids, having a steady job, settling down...

By his definition, I may never be "responsible". What if you have one or two or three of those things but not all four? Are you then only "partly responsible"? Why can't I just be partly responsible for the rest of my life?

I still want to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, to see the Amazon, to go to the Pyramids, to see if Iceland is really green and Greenland is really icy, to see the Northern Lights, to go to the South Pole, to go Salmon Fishing in Alaska, to hike the Pacific Crest Trail, to wrestle a Kimodo Dragon, to see a Rhino....The list goes on and on.

Having said that, I have made a few descisions:

1. My heart (and home) will always be in San Francisco.

2. I will always be only "partly responsible".

3. I am NOT done moving.