goodbye, sweet home...

It's amazing what can happen in two weeks. A mere two weeks ago, I was pretty damn carefree, still on a high from my trip up the coast with the mister (photos to come soon!), but also preparing for the mister's departure for another long deployment. And then bam. Our landlords notified us without any warning that they were selling the house pretty much immediately, so could we please find somewhere else to live? Holy crap.

Long story short, I found another place, and I'm moving there in a few days, but before I do, I wanted to pay a little homage to this cute little place I've called home for the past year and eight months.

Note: I took these photos as a paid gig for the realtor who was selling the house. Weird, but not so weird? I think maybe she could tell I was a photographer when she first walked through the house, from the random cameras and camera gear lying around? Or maybe the landlord told her? Who knows.

Goodbye, sweet living room. You were small, but I felt I cozied you up a bit. And so many windows! You got the best light. Perfect for plants in that corner (okay, so I killed a bunch of plants in that corner along the way, but still). And that wood and pipe shelving unit was perfectly measured for that wall! I am praying it will still work in the new place. But I love this room, and I will miss it.

I mean, c'mon, we had just put up those shelves like a month ago. Can't a girl just enjoy some shelves for more than a month? Alas, no, she cannot. Goodbye, sweet office. I will miss your little porthole window. This is where the magic happened. The photo editing, the blogging. The wondering why my husband needed to play four hours of Starcraft. And dang, I'm gonna miss that view of the front yard.

Goodbye, sweet kitchen. Sure, you didn't have fancy stainless steel appliances or some uber-granite countertops, but you were roomy, and bright, and had the perfect space for a breakfast nook. And again, more amazing light from all the windows. I'm such a sucker for good light. Also, I took this, this, and this in front of that chalkboard wall.

Goodbye, sweet bedroom. More windows everywhere. A wall heater that didn't work, which led to super amounts of freezing my arse in the mornings in the winter months ( I know, San Diego's "winter" is probably laughable to most, but hey, we acclimated). The Jesus painting that we found in the garage and couldn't not hang up. The creaky and slightly tilted floors.

Dammit, I have a feeling I'll never have a closet this size ever again. Sniff. And yes, this room was horribly insulated, so it went from raging hot in summer to cold as balls in winter, but who cares when it holds all your crap? I will even miss that wonky door and having to shift the locks every four months due to old-house-warping-and-shifting. Can I just take this closet to the new house? Can we make that happen?

And this. It was all about this. The place where we had friends over to eat, drink, play bocci ball, or just sit around the fire pit on chilly nights. And the fruit trees! Last summer, there were so many figs and lemons, I couldn't keep up. And no more free avocados. Sigh. I will miss the free fruit. Free fruit is a wonderful thing.

I took this photo back in February, with the welcome home banner behind us to celebrate the mister's homecoming from overseas, and I'm really glad I documented this. Not just for him coming home, but that it represents our short but memory-filled time at this little house. A house that we made into a home. I will miss its charm and quirks, but I look forward to the next place. A place we will make into a home as well :)

life lately...

Yep, been neglecting this space again. The weather was getting warmer, friends wanted to hang out, and when your husband (who seemingly just got home last month) only has a limited amount of time before he's back overseas, you tend to soak up as much time as possible together.

Here's what I've been up to lately...

Ahh, a proper cookout in our backyard. Up until this year, we didn't really entertain much outdoors, mostly because we had sold our old patio furniture and tiny little grill back in Spain. But we finally gave our outdoor space some attention. We hung some outdoor string lights, bought a beast of a picnic table, and found a used gas grill on Craigslist. Add food, friends, and a couple rounds of bocci ball, and it can't get any better.

Catching up with lovely ladies always makes for a good day. I've been really lucky to meet such a diverse group of women since I moved to San Diego, each talented and rad in their own ways. They inspire me in my own pursuits, to try and do bigger and more creative things. When I'm feeling like I'm in a funk, they remind me of all the beautiful possibilities out there, and that is a wonderful thing.

I was lucky enough to be invited to the beautiful wedding of a dear friend, at the Twin Oaks Garden Estate in San Marcos. Such a fun time, from the school bus that took us there, to the dancing, hoola-hooping, photobooth with crazy props, and the open bar.

 

Today is Memorial Day, and I'm nursing an awful cold/flu thing as I'm writing this. So much for big Memorial Day plans. BUT! Next week will surely make up for it, because the Mister and I will embark on a week-long roadtrip up the California coast, all the way up to San Francisco, then back down to Vegas to visit some family. We'll be stopping at Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Solvang/Santa Ynez, and Los Angeles as well. I'm crazy excited for this trip!

Not to mention a rad fashion photoshoot I've got in the works for next month...the month of June is looking pretty good right now :)

desert getaway part III // pioneertown

Our final day in the desert brought us to Pioneertown, a former movie set for old westerns in the 40's and 50's. We came for the food at Pappy & Harriet's, and stayed to check out the ghost town-like grounds and front yard oddities of the people who live there. One of those places where you feel transported to a different time.

 Equally as charming as the shops and buildings were the front yard decor of Pioneertown's residents. We saw a rusted car with a cacti garden growing out of the trunk, and a shrine-like collection of broken bits of pottery and dishes laid out in a circle on the ground. Anywhere else, this would seem slightly mad or out of place, but in this desert town it just seemed to fit.

With our bellies full of food and our desert adventuring sated, we said goodbye to this quaint little bit of California history, and made our way back down south to San Diego. A perfect end to the best two-day getaway I've had in a long time :)

desert getaway part II // hicksville trailer palace

Oh man. You guys ( and by 'guys' I mean the three people who actually read this thing), there's this place near Joshua Tree called Hicksville Trailer Palace, and you need to go immediately. It was like camping without the sucky parts of camping. It was like hanging out in your friend's awesome garage and never wanting to leave. It was like going to a small but chill party where you don't know anyone else at first but soon you're all sitting around a bonfire in a giant teepee making s'mores and talking about the universe. Oh, and themed trailers. Gotta have the themed trailers.

The Mister and I stayed in The Fifi, and just like Hicksville's website says, it really was like sleeping inside a genie bottle. A purple and gold, shag-carpeted, Louisiana wig shop-themed genie bottle. It was glorious.

You wanna shoot BB guns? They have BB guns. You wanna try your hand at some archery? They have archery. I quickly learned that I suck at archery, but I'm pretty okay at shooting beer cans on an extremely windy day. They also have a ping pong table that we used heavily (and where we met two other fellow San Diegans), and the world's tiniest library.

 Our friends stayed in The Sweet, and I was so dang jealous of their trailer! They had a record player, 8-track, electric fireplace, TV, and even their own private gas grill. Oh, we used the heck out of that record player. And we gave the 8-track a whirl, but the tapes were pretty much shot. Still fun though, in all its kooky, 70's glory.

We met some pretty interesting people while we were there. Besides the aforementioned San Diego locals, we met a high school physics teacher, a bio-engineer, and a couple of Aussie musicians that were there to use Hicksville's recording studio. It's one of those places where you just naturally talk to the other people staying there because the place is so small and there's not a lot of privacy (besides your trailer). Besides, if I hadn't struck up a chat with the bio-engineer, I never would've gotten a peek inside the Cramps-themed trailer he and his partner were staying in.

Of course I had to get some photos of us standing next to the weirdest trees ever. It was our first time seeing a Joshua tree up close. And so much desert. Everywhere. I remember saying to myself as we were walking toward these trees, "Ok, keep an eye out for snakes. And scorpions." And thinking how odd that felt, being a mere three hours away from a place where that isn't a general concern. Oh California, you're so crazy.

Hicksville, you were a pleasure and a treat. One night was not enough. I am so coming back to you.