The end of the beginning

Mom Murdock sent us these flowers (as well as a care package full of Minnesota goodies) to help detract from the debris.

Our stack of packing paper is going to be taller than R soon. I should have asked her to stand next to it for a comparison.

R left this message for me on the wall of the office. Isn't she sweet? I didn't want to paint over it.

It takes roughly 2 years for me to forget how much I dislike relocating. That’s part of the reason I was willing to leave Wilmington: I had forgotten what it's like to be unsettled, to have to clear a path in the boxes to go from one room to another, and to make decisions about what to put where (that is, if there is even space for everything). The last week has been sort of like that. The excitement of being in a new home is mixed with a dirty floor that’s too cluttered to clean and walls that need paint before electronics can be hung on them. It is at this point in the process when I say, “I’m never moving again.” But then a few years pass and I get excited about living somewhere new and the process repeats.

Our transition to this town was actually pretty smooth. It was nice to rent a furnished place for the first four months as it allowed us to put the physical work of moving on hold and to focus on learning our way around and getting used to new/changed jobs. Aside from the job part, being here without our own home felt a little like a vacation. It didn't feel permanent. Eventually we had to put some roots down and stop living out of a suitcase or, more accurately, out of somebody else’s dresser.

The condo could haved needed a lot more work than it does. The fact that we might be disorganized for only two or three weeks is quite a relief. There's still a lot to do, but we're settling in fast. I'm hoping the photos above show some of the beauty amid the chaos of the last week.

We really like the place. I like how the big windows in our living room let a lot of light into the place during the mornings. I like how we can open our sliding patio door to a little courtyard and hear the fountain running out there… and how this place is cozy by lamp light after night sets… and how each room seems to have its own personality... and the how the kitchen stove heats a pan evenly. We’re going to enjoy making a home here. I get the impression the hassle of moving is worth it when you move to Santa Barbara.

Closed

We are now the proud owners of a condo in Santa Barbara! The movers are bringing our stuff over next Monday, so we have one last weekend of apartment living. We're anxious to get out, but in some ways I think I'll miss this place. There's something carefree about renting. We didn't have to clean (a cleaning service was included in the rent), worry about any maintenance, or pay any separate utility bills. But we're definitely willing to give up those conveniences for more space, our own furniture (including our TV!), and the freedom to customize. I'm also looking forward to having a refrigerator big enough to hold beer again.

Gotta run. Tonight we're having a picnic on our new living room floor (pictured above). A "camp in" was also considered, but we're not that desperate to start living there.

The house post I've been promising you

Each place we buy is smaller and more expensive than the last. The condo we will be moving into in about a month (pending contingencies) has one less bedroom than our townhouse in Wilmington and is costing us roughly three times as much. And before that there was the house in Mobile, which seems now like a flat out amazing deal. We're used to living below our means, so it will be interesting to see how stretching to pay a mortgage out here will impact our lifestyle.

We looked at places that were less expensive, places that were closer to the beach, and places that had more space and better views of the mountains. But the best feature of the one we settled on is its location in the town of Santa Barbara (see point A on the map). It's three blocks from our favorite coffee shop, about the same distance from the best tacos I've ever had, and still only 20 blocks from the beach. There's a trolley stop close by that will take us down State Street to the ocean and pass through an area filled with restaurants, bars, and shops along the way. And I'll bet we could walk to that awesome movie theater I've told you about in less than 10 minutes.

The inside of the condo looks great: hardwood floors, nicely updated kitchen, fresh paint. (I'll post more photos after we move in.) We considered getting a fixer-upper this time but decided to save that for next time instead. Who wants to spend their time in California working on a house? As you probably know, I'm not terribly handy anyway.

This place reminds us of the house we owned in Mobile in that it's older but in good shape, stylish, and move-in ready. We loved that house, especially in the way it had more character than the cookie-cutter townhouse of ours in Wilmington (which we still really liked for other reasons), so let's hope this new place works out just as well. Being that it's in a fourplex, it's a little more like apartment living, but I think we can handle it. If we can't, we'll just spend more time at the coffee shop.