Tag Archives: home

Upgrading My House (or Feeling Lucky)

Posted on May 13, 2015 | 1 comment

Monday was a pretty exciting day at my house. It was the day that my house felt like it was completely refreshed!

First, a little back story.

My grandma switched apartments recently (since my grandpa passed away she didn’t need such a big space). Her old apartment had a guest bedroom with a really nice mattress (my mom picked it out based on what she would prefer to sleep on). Over the few years in that apartment the guest room was used pretty rarely, so the mattress was almost new.

With the move, my family had to think of what to do with the surplus furniture. The original idea was to donate the guest bedroom mattress because that was easiest. But my mom remembered that I had been saying for a while that I wanted a new mattress and was hoping to save up for one. So my mom called me and asked if I wanted the guest room mattress.

I said of course and tried to figure out how to get a mattress from San Diego to LA. In the end, my parents had to hire movers for some stuff for them so they hired movers for my mattress (they gave my parents a pretty great deal). So my parents told me that I should be getting a phone call sometime this week to schedule the mattress delivery.

I had found someone who needed a mattress and was going to take my old mattress and box spring from me, but they weren’t going to take it until my new mattress was here. So we were all just waiting on the delivery guys to call me.

Monday morning, I get a call from the movers. They were parked in front of my house and wanted to know if I needed them to carry the mattress for me! I had no call prior to that to arrange for delivery and they were lucky that I happened to be home when they called. There were a couple of moments of stress, but in the end I had the movers move my old mattress into my garage and then move the new mattress into my house. And since they arrived with no notice, I wasn’t able to tip them (didn’t have time to go to the bank). But they seemed to understand and my parents agreed that it was ok since no delivery time was told to me.

Even with the craziness and stress, I have to admit that having a wonderful new mattress in my room makes me so happy!

New Mattress

And I slept pretty well the first night on it. It’s a much nicer mattress than I can afford and it had a pillow topper mattress pad. So I pretty much feel like my bed is something you would find in a hotel now!

Besides the new mattress, I got another upgrade in my house on Monday. The day I moved into my house (over 5 years ago) there was a small chip in the laminate floor near where I ended up putting my desk. My landlord said that he would fix it but asked me if I wouldn’t mind waiting on the fix. I was fine with that until the hole continued to get bigger and bigger. I covered up the hole the best that I could and waited for it to be fixed.

I reminded my landlord about it a few times, but I was not dealing with annual rent raises so I kind of stayed quiet. But after my recent rent raise, I said something again to my landlord.

There were a couple of issues with fixing my floors. Mainly, the flooring that I have isn’t manufactured anymore so there was no way to match it. After some ideas, we finally came to the conclusion that the flooring could be removed from my closet and put in my living room. Then the mismatched floor could be inside my closet (where it doesn’t really matter how it looks).

The construction was pretty loud and took a few hours, but as you can see from the before and after it was worth it.

Floor Before and After

So in one day I got a new mattress and some new flooring! And my old mattress went to its new home so someone else got a new (used) mattress on Monday. I love win-win situations like that!

Sometimes when you are renting a place it can always feel like a rental and not like home, but I’ve worked really hard to make sure that my place feels like home. And the new mattress and perfect floors really helps!

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailFeeling Jet Lag Without A Time Zone Change (or Back To Home) Default ThumbnailAnother Leak In My House (or Testing My Patience) Default ThumbnailFeeling So Much Love (or Embarrassed By People Complimenting Me) Default ThumbnailUpgrading My Kitchen (or Time To Organize) Default ThumbnailUpgrading My Self-Tape Set Up (or 2 Auditions In 30 Minutes) Default ThumbnailMaking My House Look Fancy (or Doing Some Upgrades For The New Year)

1 Comment

Posted in Fun Stuff, Shopping

Tagged , ,

A Pure Moment Of Happiness (or Loving Life)

Posted on October 29, 2014 | Comments Off on A Pure Moment Of Happiness (or Loving Life)

Over the weekend, I was running around doing errands a lot (doesn’t every weekend just seem like an endless cycle of errands?). There was a lot of driving around from one part of town to another, and while waiting at a light during my driving, I had a little “aha” moment.

I’m currently living the life that I dreamed of.

Now, not everything is exactly what I dreamed of. I’m having trouble making ends meet and I’m working various day jobs instead of working in my dream career. But I’m living in LA and making it work.

I have always dreamed of living in LA, and I’ve been able to do so for the past 13 years. And while I’ve had some not so great apartments, when I lived at my last apartment I told several people that all I wanted was to live in a little bungalow. Maybe something that used to be a part of one of the major studios.

And when I found out my old roommates were moving out almost 5 years ago, I went on a frantic apartment search. And I found my house that I live in now. And it is a little bungalow that used to be a part of a major studios (the stars would live here while they were off filming something nearby).

This is pretty much everything that I’ve ever wanted. Again, the job situation might not be great, but I’m working on that. I can’t control when my acting career will take off, but I can control that I will be ready for when that happens.

I have my next few plans in my head for what I would like next. I know that my next move will be into a place that I buy and not rent. I got a great deal on my house when I signed my lease almost 5 years ago and everything else in my neighborhood is at least $300 more than what I pay for a similar place. So moving to another rental will most likely not be an option for me.

I’ve been looking at what places cost around where I want to be, and I’ve made a list of things that my next place will need (I don’t require a lot but I would like a parking space and the ability to have my own washer/dryer).

Hopefully one day in the near future I’ll find the perfect place for me to buy and I’ll have the ability to buy it. But for now, I’m just going to continue realizing that I really do have almost everything that I dreamed of when I was younger.

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailA House Anniversary (or A Decade In One Place) Default ThumbnailAnother LA Anniversary (or What Will Year 15 Bring?) Default Thumbnail15 Years Later (or Reflections On LA) Default ThumbnailMy Strength In Real Life (or Helping A Friend Gave Me Some New Confidence) Default ThumbnailOne More San Diego Day (or I Don’t Know When I’ll Be Doing This Again) Default ThumbnailAnother LA Anniversary (or Almost Half My Life Here)

Comments Off on A Pure Moment Of Happiness (or Loving Life)

Posted in Fun Stuff

Tagged , ,

Challenge Winners (or OK Being A Loser)

Posted on October 2, 2014 | Comments Off on Challenge Winners (or OK Being A Loser)

This past weekend was the party for the Orangetheory weight-loss challenge. I knew how much I had lost because the weigh-in was the week before, and I was pretty sure that I didn’t win.

There was going to be a men’s and women’s winner and while I had no clue who the winner for the women would be, I had a good idea who the winner for the men would be.

There is one guy who I talk with from time to time. Sometimes we are in the same workout class, but more often he’s in the class after mine. We would check in with each other throughout the challenge and made sure that neither of us were slacking off. It also turns out that we have a mutual friend.

The day of the final weigh-in, he shared with me that he had lost over 30 pounds in the 6 weeks. In my opinion, there was no way that someone else could win.

And I was right. He was the winner for the men.

On the women’s side, until I showed up for the party, I couldn’t guess the winner. But while we were all waiting for the party to start, one of the trainers and I were talking and she brought another woman into the conversation. They were discussing her weight loss and it turned out that she had lost 17 pounds (which was 10% of her original weight).

As soon as I heard that, I knew that she would end up being the winner for the women.

There were also second and third place prizes for both men and women, but I didn’t rank in the top 3.

And you know what? I’m totally cool with that. In the 6 weeks, I had lost 9 pounds. I might have been able to lose more if I hadn’t had any setbacks (including food setbacks and health setbacks), but 9 pounds in 6 weeks is great! It’s a good pace for weight loss.

As much as I want to lose it all quickly, I’ve done that twice before. And it hasn’t ended well for me. So this time instead of the quick fix, I’m going for the happy ending.

But what I’m most proud of is that I was part of such an amazing group of people for this weight-loss challenge. I have really found my community and workout home. I thought that I had found it before, and maybe one day it will become more of a workout home for me. But this time I really feel completely comfortable with the staff and everyone who works out at Orangetheory and I feel no judgement at all.

That’s a prize that no contest can award me and I’m lucky that I got it.

IMG_3815

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailDoing Some Challenges (or Mondays Are Going To Be Tough) Default ThumbnailA Welcome Distraction At The Film Festival (or Loving Second Place) Default ThumbnailGetting Weighed In (or A New Orangetheory Challenge) Default ThumbnailWeight Loss Challenge Time (or Not Worrying About Winning) Default ThumbnailEnding My Challenge Early (or I Guess I Made A Mistake) Default ThumbnailAnother Weight Loss Challenge (or Getting Back On Track)

Comments Off on Challenge Winners (or OK Being A Loser)

Posted in Celebrations, Fitness, Fun Stuff, Health, Weight Loss

Tagged , , , , ,

Another Leak In My House (or Testing My Patience)

Posted on September 12, 2014 | 1 comment

I’ve had a lot of issues with my house lately. In the past few months, I’ve had 2 different gas leaks and one water leak. Although I will say, the gas leak must have been going on for years because I just got my gas bill for last month, and it’s less than half of the cheapest it has ever been. So at least I’m saving some money now.

I will say, having issues with a rental should be expected when the place you are renting is almost 100 years old. But on Wednesday night, this problem made me go a little crazy.

The evening was going normally. Got home from my workout and took a quick shower. Then I headed into the kitchen to make some dinner. I had to grab something out of my utility room behind my kitchen (that’s where my pantry storage is) and when I stepped into the room, my foot went into a puddle.

I turned on the light in my utility room and noticed water pouring out of the bottom of my water heater. There was at least half an inch of water on the ground (thankfully it turns out that my utility room is the low point in my house and most of the water was contained in that area).

First thing I did was grab some towels, I tried to stop up the leak and that seemed to help a bit. Then I started trying to clean up the floor and move everything that was in the utility room. My suitcases are in there and they are fine (but they were soaked). My vacuum was also there and when I lifted it out, water poured from the bottom. I think that might now be garbage.

Thankfully, the water stopped leaking so I could take a minute to evaluate the situation. I tried to shut off the water to the water heater, but the instructions weren’t clear on which pipe that was. So I called my dad.

My dad was able to FaceTime with me and I had the camera pointed out so he could see what I was looking at. He was able to find the pipe that I needed to shut off, so I tried that. It was stuck, but since my dad stocked my tool kit with everything, I was able to use some WD40 on it and stop the water from filling up the tank again.

My next call was my landlord. I figured this was an emergency and I needed to leave a message for him right away. And of course, when I called, the voicemail wasn’t working so I couldn’t leave a message. I found his email address from an old email that I sent to him regarding a rent issue and sent an email with the subject “Leaking Water Heater”. That got his attention and he emailed me back within a few hours letting me know that the plumbers would be at my house in the morning.

The plumbers showed up (and we laughed about how often they’ve been sent to my house lately), and they immediately saw that my water heater was not salvageable and that they would need to go out and buy me a new one then.

All in all, it took a little over 2 hours to get the old water heater out and put the new one in. And about another 2 hours to clean up all the mess (when they moved the old water heater a flood of rusted water came out of the bottom and all over my floors).

Even though this situation was not idea, I tried to practice gratitude again. At least I noticed the flood at the beginning and it didn’t flood overnight. At least I rent so I didn’t have to pay for the repair. At least my landlord saw my email that night and sent the plumbers right away. And at least I had already taken my post-workout shower.

My dad added one as well. With all the issues that I’ve seen in my house lately, I’m getting more and more prepared to eventually be a homeowner. And I’m seeing what these emergencies can cost and why renting is the best situation for me right now.

In the 4 1/2 years I’ve lived in my house, I’ve rarely had a problem. But having these three back to back has really tested my patience and my ability to stay positive and grateful. But fortunately, I am able to stay on the positive side and not freak out about these things like I would have years ago.

And now, I have a fancy new water heater in my house!

IMG_3774

You Might Also Like

Default Thumbnail2 Floods in 11 Hours (or I’m Glad I Knew Where The Water Shut-Off Was) Default ThumbnailGetting Rid Of Extras (or Cleaning House) Default ThumbnailAnother Test Of Being Grateful (or Again I’m Glad I Rent) Default ThumbnailUpgrading My House (or Feeling Lucky) Default ThumbnailHaving My Patience Tested (or Taking Deep Breaths) Default ThumbnailTesting Some Water (or Continuing My No Soda Streak)

1 Comment

Posted in Tough Stuff

Tagged ,

Minor Remodeling (or Putting My Parents To Work On Their Vacation)

Posted on August 27, 2014 | Comments Off on Minor Remodeling (or Putting My Parents To Work On Their Vacation)

Whenever my parents (or just my dad by himself) come to visit, there is always a list of things that I’m hoping to get done at my house. A lot of times it’s minor things like help hanging things on the walls (I have weird walls in my house and my dad has a special drill bit that we need to use to put screws in). But this trip, we had bigger things in mind.

It started with my birthday couch. When the plan was to get something from IKEA, I knew that my dad and I would have to put it together. But since I got a different couch that came delivered all put together, that was one thing that we didn’t have to do.

But I knew that my mom would have some ideas about how to reorganize my house to make the couch fit in better. There aren’t a lot of ways to organize furniture in a 400 square foot house, but my mom has a way of figuring it out.

When she got to my house, we moved the lounge part of my couch to the other side right away. Then we looked at moving my TV around. Finally, my dad and I took the doors off of my entertainment center because I never close the doors. After lots of deliberation, I had an entirely new looking living room just by moving some furniture (and getting the new couch).

My living room went from this:

IMG_0414

To this:

IMG_3685

I know it’s a little tough to tell the difference from the pictures, but trust me, it’s made a huge difference! My living room looks much bigger now and the flow of the furniture makes more sense.

The next project that we thought would be a huge project involved my dining room chairs. My dining room set is from the late 1960’s or early 1970’s (there’s some debate on that). My aunt actually got it for herself and then she gave it to my dad. My parents had it in storage for a while until I got my first apartment in 2003. Then they gave it to me.

I absolutely love my dining room set. It’s simple and classic and it’s so well made that it doesn’t look as old as it is. The only thing that was bugging me was the cover that each chair had. It was made of black vinyl and all the padding that was there (if there ever was any) was gone. One chair had a little tear in it, but besides that they still looked decent. The chair covers were the original covers that they came with when my aunt bought the set. So my parents agreed with me that it was time for an update.

We headed to a fabric store near my house and found a wonderful fabric that matched my house really well. And it was in a clearance section so it was only $5/yard (compared to $38/yard for another fabric we loved). My dad brought his staple gun down so we were planning on figuring out how to cover the chairs ourselves.

While in the store, one of the employees asked my dad if we needed any help so my dad explained what we needed. Turns out, that employee does chair covers on the side! He would take the fabric we purchased, remove the old fabric, add new padding, and cover it all.

That was so much better of a plan than my dad and I winging it! I’m sure we would have done an ok job, but why not leave it up to the professionals!

We dropped the seats off on Saturday and they were done on Monday morning. While I was at the dentist my parents picked them up for me and came over to my house to put the chairs back together. When I returned home, my parents had done all the work!

The chairs look amazing.

IMG_3694

The fabric really goes with the style of the chair and they are so much more comfortable now! I have some of the scraps of fabric from the cushions and I really want to do some sort of project with them. There isn’t enough to make a table runner, but I’m thinking maybe figuring out if they could be turned into placemats (anyone know anything about doing that?).

Besides our decorating work, my dad also washed all the outsides of my windows and my screens so my windows are super clean now. We also did some work with the plants in the front of my house (my dad brought me another bark planter and we did some touch up work on the old one).

IMG_3686

Considering I live in a rental house and I can’t do a ton of work to the inside, my parents have really helped me make the space my own. And after living here for 4 1/2 years, having things freshened up really makes it feel new again.

And I’m so lucky that my parents are both willing to help me fix up my house, each in their own ways. My mom is such a great decorator (so much of the artwork in my house was either originally my mom’s or she got them for me), and my dad is an awesome handyman (who only charges me in beer).

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailA Birthday Present For Me And My House (or Thank You Mom And Dad!) Default ThumbnailIt Doesn’t Take Much To Upgrade A Space (or A Multi-Day Furniture Build) Default ThumbnailThe Roadrunner (or More Memories In My House) Default ThumbnailDay One In Maui (or The Only Way To Start A Vacation Is In The Hot Tub) Default ThumbnailThe New Gig (or Going From Vacation Mode To Work Mode) Default ThumbnailAnother Night At The Bowl (or My Parents Got To Rock Out)

Comments Off on Minor Remodeling (or Putting My Parents To Work On Their Vacation)

Posted in Crafts, Family, Fun Stuff

Tagged ,

Spring Cleaning (or Feeling Pampered)

Posted on May 8, 2014 | Comments Off on Spring Cleaning (or Feeling Pampered)

I recently got a promo code for 2 hours of free house cleaning from Handybook. I’ve never had my house professionally cleaned, so I figured I should totally take advantage of this!

I scheduled my cleaning to be yesterday after I would be done making calls for my recruiting job. And the timing of it worked out really well.

Just as I was wrapping up my work, the cleaner was at my door! And to make this review a bit simpler to read, I’m going to section it out into the pros and cons of the cleaning.

Pros:

My house is super clean now! While I always have kept a clean house, I’ll admit that I could do better. All my floors were scrubbed and I’ll admit that my kitchen and bathroom have never looked better. Also, the woman who came to clean my house was really cool and I didn’t feel like I was in her way too often (more to come about that in the cons section). If I had to work while my house was cleaned, it totally would have been possible (except while she vacuumed). I thought that I would have to almost leave my house to get it cleaned, and I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to be on my computer or reading the entire time.

Cons:

While my house is super clean, there are a few things that were missed that I think should have been done. My desk, bookcase, and dresser were not dusted at all. Not that she missed sections, she missed the entire pieces of furniture. Maybe she ran out of time (although she was here for 3 hours when it was supposed to only be 2), or maybe she didn’t notice the dust on those pieces. I just felt that was kind of weird. Also, and this con is about me more than the service, I felt weird just sitting in my house while someone cleaned. I almost felt like I should be helping. But I tried to relax and get other work done while she was cleaning and that helped a bit.

Overall, I’m so glad that I had my house cleaned. I’m really considering doing this once or twice a year just to get my house to a baseline of being clean so my maintenance cleaning is easier. It’s not the cheapest thing to do, but if I don’t do this all the time, I’m sure I can fit it into my budget. This has also inspired me to do better on my own housekeeping. Everything looks so great and I want it to stay this way!

If you’d like to check out Handybook (they also have a handyman service you can use), I’ve got a promo code for all my blog readers to get $25 off either the housekeeping or handyman service! Just use promo code “jen9709” on the checkout page to get your $25 off!

Quick Update: After the cleaning yesterday I got a text from Handybook asking how I liked my service. I was honest and said that I felt some parts of my house were missed. I heard back today from Handybook that they are crediting my account 1 hour of free housecleaning because I wasn’t satisfied with the service. That makes Handybook an even better service in my mind now that I know how much they care about keeping their customers happy.

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailFeeling Like A Fresh Start (or Spring Cleaning and New Toys) Default ThumbnailA Big Cleaning Week (or An Excuse to Organize) Default ThumbnailIs It Too Early To Be Spring Cleaning? (or Out With The Unused) Default ThumbnailSpring Cleaning (or Needing To Declutter Again) Default ThumbnailSlowly Spring Cleaning (or Tidying Up My Way) Default ThumbnailDoing A Lot Of Spring Cleaning (or Trying To Fill My Day)

Comments Off on Spring Cleaning (or Feeling Pampered)

Posted in Fun Stuff

Tagged ,

Feeling Jet Lag Without A Time Zone Change (or Back To Home)

Posted on November 21, 2013 | Comments Off on Feeling Jet Lag Without A Time Zone Change (or Back To Home)

After my 24 hour visit home, I was back to my usual routine in LA. But everything felt off.

It was weird that on Thursday night I was sleeping in my own bed (with no visitors), on Friday night I was sleeping in my own bed (with my dad sleeping in the living room on an air mattress), on Saturday night I was sleeping in the guest room at my parents’ house (my old room is now a gym), and on Sunday night I was back to sleeping alone in my own house.

I felt jet lagged like when I was in Hawaii earlier this year. When I woke up on Monday, I was really confused. I couldn’t figure out what day it was or what time I had to be at work (I’m lucky that Monday is a late shift day). And then when I got to work on Monday, my boss wanted to know how my visit with my dad went. So I ended up telling him about Dante and how my dad and I went home.

I tried to be totally normal at work, but just after my lunch break at 4:30, I checked in with my mom. I wanted to know how Dante was, and of course I ended up crying on the phone. I spent some time calming down after the phone call, but my boss and co-workers had noticed that my eyes were red and my mascara was underneath my eyes. While I’m still looking for a new job that is better for me, I’m very grateful that my boss is sympathetic to what’s going on right now and he’s told me if I need any random days off that I can take them off with no question.

I’ve also got the film festival that I’m running coming up this weekend so that’s been keeping me busy (and making the days seem to blend together and not helping with the jet lag feeling).

Today, my parents are taking Dante to the dog oncologist. The appointment is around noon, and I’ve asked them to call me as soon as the appointment is over. We will have a better idea of what the future will be like for Dante then. So while I’ve asked so many times for positive thoughts already for my mom, if you can send some positive thoughts to my dog as well today I’d really appreciate it.

You Might Also Like

Default Thumbnail24 Hour Visit Home (or Another Cancer Patient In The Family) Default ThumbnailWhat Will Happen In A Week (or Why I’m Excited And Scared To Go Home) Default ThumbnailTaking A Break To Be Sick (or Hitting A Road Bump) Default ThumbnailSo Grateful To Work From Home (or Just Getting Through The Day) Default ThumbnailNot Feeling Like I Belong (or Way Out Of My Comfort Zone) Default ThumbnailJet Setter (or My Weekend Away From LA)

Comments Off on Feeling Jet Lag Without A Time Zone Change (or Back To Home)

Posted in Family, Tough Stuff, Work

Tagged , , , , ,

Getting Rid Of Extras (or Cleaning House)

Posted on June 26, 2013 | Comments Off on Getting Rid Of Extras (or Cleaning House)

I live in a pretty small house (it’s about 400 square feet). When I moved into the house over 3 years ago, I was coming from a 2 bedroom apartment that I had shared with roommates that was about 3-4 times the size. So I did a lot of downsizing before I even moved in.

But as I think everyone does, as I’ve lived here, I’ve collected a lot of stuff. Some of it is amazing (like artwork and furniture that makes living in a small space feel more homey). But a lot of the stuff I’ve collected is just stuff. So this weekend, I spent some time getting rid of things that I didn’t need anymore.

I started with my shoes, since I have so many. With the exception of specialty shoes such as my hiking shoes, any shoes that I haven’t worn in 1 year are gone now. Most of the shoes that I got rid of were sandals that used to be comfortable and aren’t now or shoes that no longer fit. I managed to get rid of 4 pairs.

Next, I went to purses. I followed the same rule as my shoes. I took out 5 purses and still have a bunch that I’m debating about. I tend to use one purse all the time until it starts to fall apart. I have a couple of special occasion purses and one that my grandma gave to me that I will keep no matter what, but there are a couple of purses that I’ve used within a year but I question if I’ll use them again.

While I was on my cleaning streak, I also decided to clean my email. We all get emails all the time that we just trash immediately. So I went through the trash mailbox on my email, and I unsubscribed to a ton of things. I lost count after 20, but at least now I won’t have as many emails to deal with on a daily basis.

I didn’t get to my kitchen yet, but that is next on my list. I know I have at least 7 or 8 reusable water bottles. I should be able to survive with just 2 or 3. I also have other kitchen gadgets that I don’t use that often and I want to find a place to store them so I don’t have to take up room in my kitchen.

There are several more projects that I want to do with cleaning up my house. My closet is something I’d like to tackle but I know it will be hard. I have a lot of clothes, mainly because when I find something that fits and is cute, I don’t want to get rid of it. It’s not easy shopping for me. But I’d really like to try to get rid of some things (and use GwynnieBee to supplement my wardrobe).

This project will take several more weekends (mainly because of the sentimental value of the other things I’m trying to clean out). But hopefully in the end, my house will seem less cluttered (and easier to clean as well).

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailIs It Too Early To Be Spring Cleaning? (or Out With The Unused) Default ThumbnailCleaning Up And Giving Things Away (or Finding More Space In My House) Default ThumbnailMore Empty Space In My House (The Cleaning And Organizing Continues) Default ThumbnailMaking My House Look Fancy (or Doing Some Upgrades For The New Year) Default ThumbnailStill Doing More House Projects (or Just Trying To Find Busy Work) Default ThumbnailToo Much Stuff (or Some Things Are Easier To Get Rid Of Than Others)

Comments Off on Getting Rid Of Extras (or Cleaning House)

Posted in Fun Stuff, Shopping

Tagged , , , ,

Family Time (or A Culver City Type of Day)

Posted on February 12, 2013 | 1 comment

My mom and Aunt Cindy got here yesterday in the afternoon, so I spent the morning doing errands and cleaning up and the afternoon with them.

My mom and dad normally come to visit me together (my dad’s first solo visit was for the Pat Metheny show), but my mom has been here a few times alone. My aunt has never visited me while I’ve lived at my current house, but now that I think about it, I don’t know if she’s ever visited me in LA before.

The first stop when after they both had gotten in (my mom was driving from the Bay Area and my aunt was coming in from Sacramento), was my house. It was nice and clean (I hope), and my aunt finally got to see my cute little house. I gave her the grand tour, which took all of 2 minutes, and then we were off for an adventure.

My aunt grew up in Culver City (my mom and her siblings grew up in the LA area too, but in the valley), and had not been back in years. I was always telling her about different areas, but she couldn’t quite picture it. So we did a little driving tour of Culver City.

We went to check out my aunt’s old house. My aunt wasn’t sure she wanted to go inside, but my mom has an awesome track record of getting to see the inside of houses she grew up in, so she tried. And we did get to go inside and see my aunt’s old house.

I had never seen it before, but according to my aunt, a lot of the place was exactly the same as how it was when she lived there with her parents. Even the tiles in the kitchen were the exact same! She’s going to find some old photos so I could see what it looked like when she lived there.

After that, we drove around to see her old school, which is one of the schools that I used to substitute teach at!

Finally we had a nice early dinner at Ugo.

We ended the night early since both my mom and aunt had long drives earlier today. We have more adventures planned for today, and I’ll be writing about those tomorrow!

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailCulver City 5K (or 5K #2 For The Year) Default ThumbnailA Culver City Dinner (or Meeting Some Tone It Up Ladies) Default ThumbnailMore Family Time (or Seeing All My Immediate Family Last Week) Default ThumbnailWork Time Family Visit (or Already Preparing To Renew My Disneyland Pass) Default ThumbnailVentura Ranch KOA (or Maybe I Am The Camping Type) Default ThumbnailLong Layover Visit (or Celebrating With My Mom In Person)

1 Comment

Posted in Family, Fun Stuff

Tagged , , , ,