Cord Cows Say 'Moo'

On Wednesday Matt and I sign the lease for our new Santa Monica apartment. We are very excited and relieved and all things good. It took us longer than we thought to find exactly what we wanted, where we wanted it, in a place we also could afford. When we move in there on Saturday I will take pictures so you can see the gloriousness that is now OURS!!!

We looked at so many spaces to find one that was right and I have to tell you that even though I pride myself on being organized I have forgotten the exact number. Suffice it to say we visited and vetoed at least 15. Probably more that I am not remembering right now. Talk about depressing. Creepy property managers, disgruntled fellow renters, weird smells, old carpeting, barred windows, etc. Not to mention all the time stuck in traffic to get to each one. Yet if we had settled for anything we'd seen previously we wouldn't be moving into what is really good for us. And it was a close call there. We had a moment of desperation and actually called to say we wanted to rent a place in West Hollywood. We were supposed to go in the next day to sign the lease, but Matt had the brilliant idea to drive by it one more time the night before. It wasn't good. Did not look safe and seemed truly sad. He said no and I'm so glad because it freaked me out. And then 2 days later we found home!

In the meantime, while we weren't out hunting for a humble abode we've had to find ways to entertain ourselves. Here are a few things we've been up to:

1. Visiting Sprinkles Cupcakes. As you probably know, I don't eat an awful lot of things. However, Sprinkles is an institution with lines out their door at all hours. They even have a cupcake ATM! Tell me how I was supposed to resist trying the world's most perfect cupcake??? Clearly, I wasn't.

We tried their season special Salty Caramel and each had to have one of their most popular Red Velvet (which I now know they make a vegan version of). Our verdict: Flippin' delicious. Plus they looked like mini boobs - haha. The red velvet really took the cake :)

2. Changing the screen saver. With all the time Matt and I spend on here researching everything from jobs to apartments to cars I thought I needed to liven things up/occupy my time so I've been doing an animal series. This one makes me particularly happy:

3. Making dinner at the questionable apartment we're in now. I do the veggies and Matt handles the proteins. It's a good system. This is quinoa with crispy mushrooms, oven roasted Brussels sprouts, pan seared salmon and cheap red wine ($7.99 at wholefoods people!!).

4. Noticing things. With all this extra time on my hands as I sadly remain unemployed (those idiots don't know what they're missing) I've had the time to notice things I might otherwise have missed. For instance I am a morning person and am usually always awake before Matt. I get up, grab some juice or water or my phone and come back to lay down and this is what I see without fail:

He does love to take his half out of the middle. I'd be annoyed if it wasn't so darn cute. There is no bed big enough for that boy. I think we need to get a California king when we can afford it so maybe he can sleep with his toes on the bed for once. I still think he'll end up in the middle but that's ok.

I also noticed this the other day when I was sitting at the super classy glass kitchen table using the computer and happened to look down:

The computer cord totally looked like a cow!!! And you know how I love cows. This made my whole morning.

5. Develop a juice obsession. Being in LA we have access to some of the most fresh and health conscious things I've ever seen. I've read about so much stuff in Elle magazine or online, but now we live down the street from awesomeness. The Pressed Juicery is one of the many places you can get raw, unpasteurized, super fresh juices. Greens #1 is my favorite; kale, parsley, spinach, celery, romaine and cucumber. Matt likes Roots #4; carrot, apple and ginger. And we both love the vanilla almond milk. It tastes like dessert.

They offer cleanses for 3 to 5 days which Matt and I are thinking about doing when we have the funds. It sounds amazing to be getting only good fresh nutrients for a few days to reset your body.

6. Surf - finally! For the first time since we got here Matt was able to get out and surf today. It wasn't perfect, the wind had changed and the surf wasn't super high but he got out in the water for over an hour. Other days there hadn't been any waves, or we had appointments to keep so he couldn't go, but with the apartment stuff handled we had time to drive to Huntington Beach today. It was lovely. I wore a sweater and read a magazine on a park bench while he did his thing.

Have to say I don't see why any sane person/people would put oil rigs so close to shore on such a beautiful beach. Otherwise was so lovely. It's nice to be by the ocean.



Those are some of the things we've been up to.

Thanksgiving is coming up. We aren't planning anything much but it will be nice just to be together. We both are craving artichokes so they are on the menu for sure. Other than that I have no details which is rather amazing. A holiday with absolutely NO stress for the first time probably ever! Of course there are people I miss who I love and would like to see, but this is going to be great. I hope all of you have lovely holidays free of the evil stress monster as well :)

One last thing - Matt and I are going to get wireless internet at our new place and we've been debating what to name our network (I think that's what it's called). So far almost everything we've come up with is totally inappropriate but really funny. We might just go with it and our new neighbors can think we're weirdos. Or maybe not. If you have any fabulous ideas let us know. Food For Duckers is on the table, too.