On Moving Cross Country

Sell sell sell!

Full report coming soon... but the short and sweet version is: sell/give away everything you own, grab your loved ones and irreplaceable items, fly to next destination, start over.

The opposite of what we did, basically. Do that.

All the Single Ladies

The weekend before the big move, Josh and I attended his cousin's wedding in Mobile, Alabama. I was a bit apprehensive about this trip--adding additional travel so close to when we needed to have everything ready at home--but it turned out to be a great opportunity to visit with family, and a fun afternoon.

After the ceremony and right before the cake cutting, wedding-goers started rounding up the single ladies and I got ready to employ a polite but firm "oh hell no" reserved for being asked to leap for wedding bouquets in ones 30s. Then I was told that cake was involved and I was like where do you want me?

A cake pull is a southern wedding tradition where charms are built into the base of the cake, and the bridesmaids and single female guests gather round before the cutting and each pull out a charm. It was a lovely moment where we went around and shared our charms, with the bride sharing the symbolism of each. I drew the crawfish (and called it a sea monster: go home Yankee), and was told that it symbolizes a life of culture. And then I lost it in the craziness of the move. But, a nice memory.

So, yay cake pulls! I think Beyonce would approve. Some other highlights:

• A month ago, I lost my elite status on the local airline and have experienced the long hard fall back into coach flying. To add fuel to the fire, Josh did NOT lose his status, and they keep trying to upgrade him whenever we fly together. #FIRSTWORLDPROBLEMS, I know. This has caused a lot of tension between us and one very unhappy four hour stint in the air, after which I declared "I always want to sit next to you on airplanes." So on the flight to New Orleans (which was delayed 2 hours and got in at 3am), they were able to upgrade both of us to first class seats. We rode out the short and turbulent journey in luxury. 

• Before we left New Orleans, Josh ate crawfish for the first time, and I had gulf oysters. 

Becca posing with the handmade flowers

All smiles

Siblings

Avenue of the Giants

Pro Tip: Always take the scenic alternative



And remember to take photos when you get there:









I love how my "I have conquered this tree" pose gets slowly eclipsed by the magnitude of the redwoods.



Thanks, Josh!

Rainy Days and Roadtrips

Well, that was quite a whirlwind.

On Monday, a week ago, the moving van came and loaded up our house and took it off to Colorado (or somewhere). I watched the movers loading up boxes and grew less and less confident about my packing ability. Whether or not anything makes it in one piece -- and whether they can navigate the narrow alleys and steep hills upon which we now live -- we'll find out this weekend.

While the movers were loading up, I got a call from the job I'd been waiting to hear from offering me a full-time position in Seattle. The whole process moved at light speed: it took about two and a half weeks from the time I applied to the time I accepted the offer, including a phone interview, an in-person panel meeting (for which I flew to Seattle the week before we moved), and Skyping with the Dean. I am really excited for this opportunity. More to come on that, but first, back to the move...

On Tuesday, Josh and I had one final lunch in Houston before loading up the cats and what we could fit in the car and setting out on a five day adventure that took us through West Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, San Francisco, and up the California coast to Oregon and finally Seattle. For anyone who would like to replicate this harrowing adventure, here's the breakdown:

Day 1: Houston --> Marfa, TX

Day 2: Marfa --> Phoenix, AZ

Day 3: Phoenix --> Los Banos, CA (*we skipped LA due to fear of traffic)

Day 4: Los Banos --> Grants Pass, OR

Day 5: Grants Pass --> Seattle, WA

Maybe you should take a shorter route, but we wanted to drive some of the California coast as a way of honoring and marking the transition between our former homes and our new one. And it was super fun to drive through San Francisco with the cats and be able to say "dad lived there!"

Speaking of the cats, some notes:

1. Zuleika freaked the eff out on Day 1 and basically exploded in her crate within the first few hours on the road. Josh cleaned her up (ruining all his clothes in the process) and after that it was smooth sailing. She didn't even meow in the car, unlike the other two blabbermouths who would not shut up the whole time.

2. We kept the cats crated in the car, and took turns letting one out to sit (supervised) on the passenger's lap. I've heard from other people who let their cats roam around, but our car was packed full, the cats don't get along, and I live in fear of a furry one under the brake pedal. So, crates.

3. It was surprisingly easy to find cat-friendly hotels, and beyond the first day's explosion the cats basically ate and used the cat box when and where we wanted them to. Kudos to La Quinta where we stayed twice and does not charge a pet fee. But, if you do this, remember to leave a nice tip!  

On Saturday, we arrived in Seattle, met our landlord to pick up the key, and sank into an exhausted puddle of sleeping bag and cats. 

On Sunday, we met up with some Houston friends who happened to be vacationing here at the same time as our move.

On Monday, we made a massive Target run and got the Internet up and running.

On Tuesday, Josh went back to work and I resumed position in the cat/sleeping bag puddle.

We're eating well and meeting up with friends and exploring the neighborhood. But, I'm trying to take it slow--and not feel any guilt about it--so I can be as rested as possible to start work next week.

It's really pretty here -- it's like a real, legit city, where the shopping carts at Target get their own escalators and everything. It's rained basically every day, with some hours of sun peeking through. My goal is to eat a disproportionate amount of oysters, and walk everywhere.

I'm tired. But, I'm happy, and excited for this next chapter.

Love to yous.

Broken Obelisk

Broken Obelisk in front of Rothko Chapel in Houston, TX

Broken Obelisk in Red Square on the University of Washington Campus in Seattle, WA

I can't seem to get an exact number, but the Internet agrees that there are only a few of this Barrnett Newman statue in the world. One is a few blocks from my house. (Love those de Menils.) The one in Houston originally came from the Corcoran Museum in DC (like me!). Another is in Seattle, on the UW campus--I got to see it this week, prompting a double take. A third is in New York and possibly a fourth is in Berlin (unless it's not). Like the fragile peace they represent, they all need repairing, all the time. 

Actually, this whole "are there three or four?" is kind of interesting in its own right.

Let's go to Berlin and find out!

We Have a Lease!

Make sure to adequately pad your cat before boxing

Remember those index cards I made to prepare for evacuating for home showings? Y'all: my house went on the market on Monday, I had a full-priced application on Tuesday, and a signed lease by Friday. The check is literally in the mail with the realtor on his way to the property management company. Which means: tear up the index cards; break out the boxes; screw tidiness, we have a move to prepare for folks!

Between the lightning quick rental and the many networking calls I've been having with kind people in and around Seattle (including a surprise in-person interview next Wednesday), I am feeling very optimistic about the journey ahead. I'm confident that I'll find work with an organization that inspires me, that all five of us love cats will survive the long road trip, and that none of us will starve or become homeless.

In three short years this house has taken me through the end of one job, the beginning of the next, the end of that job, and the entire lifecycle of the next (wherein it got to serve as a home office). It saw the end of one relationship, and then a long pause. It was patient while I ditched it time after time to go west for new beginnings. And it's been a solid, if awkward, home base for Josh and I while we slowly plotted our way forward. It's collectively housed one dog and three cats, in various combinations.

And now it gets to be someone else's fresh start. So break out the boxes!

Packing Tips

Packing, packing, packing.

1. You've got a bunch of old linens, and you want to donate them to a women's shelter so they aren't taking up your valuable closet space. Good instinct, but hold on grasshopper, don't donate them yet: use them to pad pictures and other fragile items, or just to pad a box filled with books with that one annoying empty space that nothing fits in. Donate on the other end! Accumulate more linens.

2. Need newsprint to wrap kitchen items? Grab some weekly freebies or better yet, raid the local coffee shop's newpaper recycle pile. Get a medium iced jumper cable and try not to think about how much cream is in it because you are gonna need the caffeine for all that late night packing.

3. Yeah yeah yeah you can buy boxes on Craigslist but also U-Haul sells them for like $1 and they'll buy back whatever you can't use. Allocate resources accordingly.

Packing, packing...

50/50

When I first started processing the move, I had a grandiose idea to blog individually about 50 things I'd miss about Houston, and 50 things to look forward to in Seattle: one of each for 50 days. I quickly lost steam on that idea and saved in it a file called "whatever.txt." The next couple weeks are shaping up to be pretty crazy, so I'll present what I have here in full and perhaps go into more detail in future posts. A goal was to experience each of these things in Houston before I left. Maybe I'll get to a few, and I'll have memories (and the future) to sustain me in the rest.

Without further ado:

50 Things to Miss about Houston

1. Alabama Ice House

2. Ninfas

3. The Orange Show

4. President Heads

5. TX Junk Store

6. Discovery Green

7. Aurora Picture Show

8. Menil

9. Rothko Chapel

10. Dirks/Diedrich

11. 100% Taquito | Tacos a Go Go

12. Art Car Parade

13. Big Bag of Books Day

14. Allen Parkway

15. Main Street Theater

16. Bombay Sweets

17. Brasil

18. Half Price Books

19. Bombay Pizza

20. Alley Theater

21. Inprint Reading Series

22. YES / KIPP

23. Fitzgeralds

24. PPG

25. House of Pies

26. Central Market

27. Rice University

28. MFA 

29. Houston Center for Photography

30. Blue Bird Thift Center

31. Chuy's

32. cost of living

33. Yar!

34. Domy | Brazos

35. Rodeo

36. Bluebonnets

37. My House

38. H Mart

39. Galveston

40. Sam Houston statue (driving to Dallas)

41. Saint Arnolds

42. Galleria

43. Heights

44. Moody Towers

45. Jackson Middle School

46. Numbers

47. Proletariat

48. Grand Prize

49. Blue Mambo

50. Miller Outdoor Theater

50 Things to look forward to in Seattle

(I only got through 36...)

1. That place where they throw fish at you

2. Hills

3. Asian food!

4. Duck tour

5. Game night

6. Go on a boat

7. Lightrail

8. Japanese garden

9. Bookstores!

10. Coffee!

11. Big warm coats

12. Co-working

13. Take your girlfriend to work day

14. Being outside in the summer

15. Cool umbrellas and rainboots

16. Visitors

17. Islands

18. Theater

19. Chihuly Garden and Glass

20. huge nerds

21. Old friends wut

22. something called "Seafair"? Maybe there are airplanes?

23. You can see Alaska from my house!

24. Bumbershoot music festival

25. That place where you can watch the salmon swimming upstream (Ballard Locks)

26. It's where the apples come from, right?

27. How did I get this far without mentioning the Space Needle?

28. Find and visit someone who lives on a houseboat

29. Sasquatch & Decibel 

30. Being in a city where both Josh and I can work

31. Hiking

32. Roses

33. Go local

34. Mt Rainier

35. fremont soltice day parade

36. whales