A List

I'm making a list. A list of things I like here. Here it is:
•Our House.
I'm not spooked out anymore... the first couple of nights here I had trouble falling asleep because I kept thinking about the TWO doors that were so accessible to ANYone. I was positive that someone was just gonna bust in and murder us in our sleep. That's not bothering me so much anymore. Now that almost all the boxes have disappeared (thanks to Mike), the place is feeling GOOD.
*The Farmer's Market.
Shut UP. Okay, so tomorrow is only the second time we'll be going, but I'm really looking forward to it.
•Michael's Frozen Custard.
Apparently, it's legendary. We just tried it for the first time tonight. I had the Caramel Cashew sundae - vanilla Frozen Custard, caramel and roasted, salted Cashews. The whole salty/sweet thing was INCREDIBLE.
•Decorating Our House.
Having a BLAST making what we've got work and figuring out what else we need, and then figuring out where and how to get it.
•UnEarthed.
Groovy little store specializing in rescued/refurbished architectural finds. I picked up a set of 3 tin ceiling tile plaques (2'x2') that I'm putting on either side of the fireplace and just inside the front door. Also a rescued and refurbished catholic elementary school desk that had been painted red with a chalkboard finished top. GRU-VEEE!!!
•Rediscovering a sense of adventure.
Haven't felt like this since moving back to New York from Dallas... don't know anyone (except Our Only Friend in Madison, Matt), new job with new responsibilities, New House, new everything. I haven't gotten into my car not knowing where I was going in a long time - the best part about that is not caring. The whole point of the excercise is to get lost and find my way home again.
•I'm enjoying the new sense of freedom.
What I'm NOT enjoying is the "missing" feeling. I can't dwell on it... I don't name what I'm missing because it's too hard. It's just too hard.

One week later..

Week one of the new job is done. Check it out. Here's what my commute looks like:


all farms, cornfields, and - apparently - soy bean fields. Rock Me Edamame!

This week at work was easy enough... went in on Monday and had my "orientation". Same old stuff... learn about the email system (completely useless as I was the only person in the group on a mac), benefits info, discount policy, blah, blah, blah.
The boss lady gave me Tuesday and Wednesday off to help with the arrival of our stuff. THAT's a whole different post...
Went in again on Thursday and had a meeting with one of the other two Directors in the department. Scary. He was supposed to go over the systems and processes in his group. Just he and I for 2 hours and then we were scheduled to have lunch together. Well, after making me wait in his office for 10 minutes, he showed up with his Sr. Manager and she did all the talking. Then he took a "rain check" on lunch with me. Nice. Two hours later his Sr. Manager "stopped by" my office and spilled her guts. "He doesn't get it", "He has no clue", "His whole team is over worked", "You seem to really gettit... HELP", etc. Charming. THIS oughta' be interesting.
Later that day, I met one of the 6 people who are going to be reporting in to me. (Interestingly enough, everyone else on my team was travelling - I guess that's why it was easy enough for my boss to give me Tuesday and Wednesday off) Great girl. Hard workin' WI stock, etc., and cute enough. Friday was a half day for me...
Seems like things are going to be manageable... The rest of the team is in next week and I'm really looking forward to meeting them.
Today is Saturday which can mean only one thing. FARMER'S MARKET!!! Woohoo. I sent V-Mo's 'right hand gal' an e-mail last night begging her for a corn salad recipe that she had made for our going away party. Got it this morning and added all the ingredients to our FARMER'S MARKET list.
Geez.. I'm jonesin' for a shopping trip somewhere OTHER THAN TARGET.
This is gonna work... no, really, it is. Don't worry.

Our First Visitors!!!

Auntie Linda and Uncle Jeff win for first visitors to Madison!!! We:
-showed them the new digs
-shopped
-had lunch on State Street
-shopped
-wandered up to the WU Student Union Terrace
-laughed
-shopped
-had iced coffee drinks at a cute little coffee bar around the corner from our house
-laughed some more as I retold the Susanna Pichay story ('member "Ebergren"??? okay... here's a reminder: You and I will make eets night a purse. Abree day a baygeening. Spirisss ply and our dans is unrehearse...)
-had an all around great time
I can't thank AL and UJeff enough for coming out and making us feel so welcome in this far away land.
And now, a picture on the shores of Lake Mendotta (or is it Menona???) just off of the UW Student Union Terrace:

Madison, Day Two

Don't know how long I'm gonna keep up the day count...
anyhow, it's 7:20am in lovely Madison (okay, we're actually staying in Midleton, which is about 5 minutes away from Madison), and we're just starting our day. As mentioned before, we're planning on meeting up with Auntie Linda and Uncle Jeff, show them the new house and then exploring downtown Madison a bit more.
In the meantime, I'm furiously googling Filipino Food - specifically Sinigang in Madison Wisconsin. Not much luck yet, although I have found 3 Asian food markets (oddly enough, all of them on the same street). If any of you, my loyal readers, are wondering what you might need to send to us, it's SINIGANG mix.. Mamacita's, Knoors, whatever - we'll take it.
Rumor has it our cars may be arriving today... that should be interesting as I've only seen about 3 Minis out here so far.
Really looking forward to AL and UJ's visit. Can't figure out what to wear. I guess I'll just go with something comfortable - it's hot and HUMID out here. It's been a while since I've had to deal with humidity like this (it's just like NYC in the summer), and I'm trying hard not to run from it.
Eww... we went up into the attic of the new house. I guess, "eww" is a bit strong... there's really nothing "eww-y" about it except the fact that it was oppressively hot up there. We were pleased to see that the door leading up to it had weather stripping all around it. I guess that's to keep the heat/cold from seeping into the living quarters.
Sorry for the stream of consciousness blogging... just got a lot on my mind and I want to get it out there...
more to come from the AL and UJ visit.

Madison, Day One

So... didn't sleep much last night - too annoyed. Was relieved when the sun came up and I could look forward to having the whole accomodations thing solved. We had breakfast in the hotel dining room. Not bad... and it was free, so what the hell?
After breakfast, we ran up to the room, packed up our stuff, checked out and headed over to the house to get the keys from Relo Lady. She was late. sheesh. But when she finally got there, all went well.
Here's the crazy part; so i'm wandering around the place, just kinda' getting re-familiarized and I head up stairs. When I get up there, I see a door that I didn't remember from our last visit. So, I open it. IT'S ANOTHER BEDROOM. What the hell am I supposed to do with ANOTHER BEDROOM???? Hysterical. The new bedroom aside, the place is bigger than I remembered. We're really looking forward to getting our stuff in there. It should be arriving on Monday or Tuesday. Lots and lots ahead of us.
OH!!! While we're hanging out at the house, my cell phone rings and it's my Auntie Linda from Chicago (Palatine, to be exact). She's calling to "check in" and make sure we arrived alright. THEN she tells me that she and Uncle Jeff are coming to Madison to visit us TOMORROW! Well, thrilled doesn't describe how I was feeling. I think I was at the point in my day that I was REALLY missing my peoples, then she calls and all of a sudden, I GOTS PEOPLES!!! I called to tell dad and burst into tears while I was telling him. The stress finally just got to me... Sigh.
Well, whatever... at least I'm going to get to see my long lost Auntie Linda and Uncle Jeff!!! I'll post pics tomorrow!

Endings and new beginnings

We were packed on Monday and loaded on Tuesday. We spent Tuesday night at the Embassy Suites in Burlingame (I know. We're fancy). We had dinner with all of my favorite girls (V-mo and crew) Tuesday night. I needed to see them last before leaving for Madison... dunno why, but I just had to. I'm glad I did.
We flew out Wednesday morning and the trip was relatively uneventful except for a delayed flight from Chicago to Madison - just an hour delay, no biggie. The real excitement started when we showed up at the Residence Inn and had no reservation. Yeah... the travel office at LE managed to book our flights and a rental car but neglected to make any sort of hotel reservations. This has not been the easiest of transitions, what with the lack of communication from the relo lady and moving people and now this. Not only did they neglect to make a reservation, but the place that they assured me they HAD made a reservaton at is non-smoking. Yeah. I know. It's bad for me. But I'm not about to quit smoking during a stressful time like this. So, back off. Can you tell I'm annoyed?
I called one of the LE relo people on her cell phone last night at 10:00pm while standing in the lobby of the Residence Inn and let her know, "I AM NOT HAPPY". I mean, really, how hard is it to make sure all of our travel arrangements are taken care of???? I mean, it's her fucking JOB. She pushed the blame off on some underling then assured me that everything would be taken care of tomorrow. I sent her the following e-mail last night as I sat fuming (and not smoking) in our room (we ended up checking in - we had no choice):
L,
We will be checking out of this hotel first thing in the morning. We're meeting our realtor at the new house at 9:00am.
Please have A make arrangements for a different hotel that has smoking rooms. I made it very clear that both myself and my partner smoke.
Have A call me on my cell phone and let me know where we will be staying.
Thank You,
Mike

Short, sweet and pissed. I really hope this is not a sign of things to come...
Fingers crossed, positive thoughts please.

"August 6th, 2007 4:35AM" or "Super Freak"

Note the date and time of this post... I've been up for 22.5 hours. The movers are coming at some point today (I have absolutely no idea exactly WHEN) and I've been putzing around putting things that I don't want them to touch in boxes, sealing them up and writing "Attic" on them. One would think that anything I didn't want them touching would be worthy of prime real estate in the new house, but for some reason, I want these things to be stored in the attic. Go figure. They're things like old magazines, videos and shoes. I think the stress of the move has finally gotten to me.
Oh. Here's another REDICULOUS thing I'm freakin' out about; We leave San Francisco on the 8th, but our stuff will not arrive in Madison until the 13th or 14th. We'll be staying at a Residence Inn in the interim. So... all I really need to pack is enough outfits to last me until our stuff gets there, Seeing as how I don't start working until the 13th, I have no idea why i'm so stressed over this. If everything goes as planned, I will not be needing anything more than one or two work outfits, some shorts, t-shirts and shoes to last 5 or 6 days (two of them being work days). As of this moment, I've compiled and packed 12 outfits of varying degrees of difficulty. They are each complete with accessories that include but are not limited to: a watch, a bracelet, coordinating shoes with coordinating socks, a jacket, a bag, a pair of glasses and one chapstick.
It's official. I'm insane.
And now, I'm sleepy.