Turns out that the theme for July was settling-in, as we packed up our old house and moved coastal-close to a new home in beautiful South OC. After the first few crazy days of working to clear the mountains of cardboard boxes in our new home, we got to work and started venturing out into the surrounding communities in the hope of building a new life sooner rather than later. And increasingly had a lot of fun doing so, which I think is reflected in my sentences below.
- Did some yardwork at our new home, then changed clothes and drove up the coast a couple of amazingly short miles to Laguna Beach to attend a wine club event at the gorgeous ocean-adjacent home of one of our members.
- Attended services at our new Congregation, then returned to our 'old' home for a farewell pool party one of our neighbors threw for us.
- Finalized and recorded the sale of our prior home, big, loud hooray!
- Walked to the beach from our new home, enjoying the 4th of July crowds and general holiday craziness once we got there.
- Moving Day #1, meaning we pretty much sat around while three brawny guys moved through our home like ants wrapping and packing all of our stuff.
- Moving Day #2, meaning we again pretty much sat around waiting to clean while now four brawny guys loaded our aforementioned stuff into not one, but two moving vans(!).
- Unpacking, lots and lots and lots of unpacking.
- Unpacked all morning, then a very fun evening with our spiritual group enjoying Broadway singalongs and a Broadway-themed buffet.
- Attended services at our new spiritual congregation then, yeah, furniture shopping!
- After sleeping on it, returned to furniture store and bought this yummy sofa, plus two matching chairs, for our family room.
- While our home was being re-piped we enjoyed a super fun day walking down to the beach, having lunch at the casual, but wonderful, Pain du Monde, and riding the free Coastal Trolley into Laguna Beach. Cheat sentence: Can't believe we really live in such a wonderful place!!!
- Busy, productive day getting our re-piping inspected by city (it passed, yeah!), our sprinklers fixed, a new sprinkler timer installed, and our backyard trimmed up.
- First day working out at our new gym, then a return trip to Home Depot for bathroom fixtures.
- Our new family room furniture arrived, and it looks great in the room!
- Designated driver for hubby at a Scotch and Bourbon tasting event.
- Spiritual services in the morning, then trip #101 (or so it seems!) to Home Depot, this time to buy ceiling fans for our four bedrooms.
- Unpacked boxes all day, then made bangin' bacon cheeseburgers for dinner . . . so good in that I placed the bacon inside of the burgers before grilling, rather than on top.
- Finished unpacking the last cardboard box, hip hip hooray!
- First official training hike for our upcoming August backpack through Point Reyes National Seashore, meaning we each carried 15 pounds as starting loads.
- Got a bid to re-grout this rather revolting pinkish grout in our guest bedroom bath to a nice clean white instead, yes, please!
- Found a new walking route that afforded lots of opportunities to see the ocean, got interviewed and cleared to become volunteers at the Dana Point Ocean Institute, then finished out the day at our nearby regional park enjoying a U2 tribute band and eating OMG-good The Cut Hand Crafted Burgers.
- Joined a new local running club (I'm in the light blue tank and hat) and ran four miles pain free, fingers crossed in that I've been battling shin splints since last January 2016!!!
- A gal can only do so much furniture shopping before the brain shuts down!
- Lunch date with my girlfriend, Wendy, at, Javier's Cantina at the Irvine Spectrum, then this new color and cut by my wonderful stylist.
- Attended a crafters social event in my continued efforts to sink roots and make new connections post-relocation, plus took delivery of five of these fabulous woven chairs, two of which I ordered in counter height for my new kitchen island.
- Training hike #2 for our upcoming backpack, with my weight load boosted to 20 pounds, after which we shopped till we dropped for lighting fixtures at Home Depot.
- Friends came over to assist with hanging some of the new lighting fixtures, and brought us this absolutely gorgeous bounty of home grown produce, plus homemade jam, which I subsequently shared with some of our neighbors.
- An at-home day consisting of a four mile run, followed by hours of work in the garage getting it completely organized, a chore we had both been dreading, but were thrilled to complete.
- Another four mile run, this time around Dana Point Harbor with my new running club, (hubby joined us after for coffee, hence why he looks so clean :-)then home to make this Old Fashioned Banana Cake for a potluck we're attending tonight, plus a batch of Cookies 'n Cream Ice Cream for a BBQ we're hosting for family on Sunday.
- A great day consisting of an early morning fast walk with hubby, a visit from our oldest and dearest friends (who brought these pretty flowers :-), and a BBQ here with our family in the evening.
- Longest month ever in that tonight, the last Monday of the month, is when our HOA board meets to review architectural requests, finally giving us a thumbs up to proceed with ordering new double-paned replacement sliders and windows for the entire house, the necessary first step before new flooring can go down.
In comparison to both May and June, July turned out to be a whole lot of fun even as we worked like crazy people to settle in and start fixing up our new home. And already I can see that August is shaping up to be a great combination of home improvements, fun in the sun, and RV travel, so do be sure to check back on September 1 for my update.
