Playing Tourist, Part II

Our second set of visitors, James and Jessica, arrived last week and we were so thrilled to have them! 

We met James and Jessica when we were all working for a previous employer.  James and Shane (both software engineers) became good friends and even stayed close after James & Jessica moved away to NYC!  They came to experience all that the bay area has to offer, so they spent a few days in Napa, a few days with us exploring the South Bay area, and are doing their last few days even further south near Big Sur. 

Here's a few photos from their stay with us...

We went hiking at Sweeney Ridge in San Bruno (additional blogpost with A TON of photos coming soon!)

After the hike, we came home EXHAUSTED and watched the sunset on our roof!

Then the menfolk made us dinner!

Thanks to James & Jessica for providing the lobster! LOVED it!!

Archie loved making new friends, but he sure was exhausted by the time they left!

Life Lately

Dear Captive Audience,

I am so deeply apologetic for my recent blog absence.  As I mentioned in my last post, I am finally employed!  Therefore, things (like blogging) that I used to do during my idle homemaking days have unfortunately fallen by the wayside.  I have several post topics in mind, but I just haven't had time to sit and write or upload photos.  I'll save those topics for eventual blogging and in the meantime hopefully you'll be temporarily satisfied with a few photos from life lately...

New coffeemaker! It's a MoccaMaster and so far we're quite pleased :-)

Archie is still as cute as ever (smelling my Congrats-On-Your-New-Job flowers)

TransAmerica Pyramid -- San Fran's famous skyscraper that I get to walk by everyday on my way to work!

We've been having yucky, foggy, rainy weather A LOT lately

I just discovered this ice cream at Safeway. Haven't tried it yet, but I AM on my 8th box of Thin Mint cookies for the season (and it probably won't be my last)

Since we'll be at work 8 hours a day now, Archie has a new best friend named Kathy who will walk him Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons

The Golden Coast

One day last week while I was out running errands, I decided to make a quick pit stop to the beach (its about darn time, considering we live just 2 short miles away)! It was already 5:00'ish by the time I got there, so it was fairly dark, but there were still plenty of people around, most of whom had dogs with them (yay! a fun place to bring Archie!).  I only walked around for a few minutes to snap some photos, but I'm really excited to take Archie there the next time the sun decides to come out!

Little boxes on the hillside....

Little boxes on the hillside,

Little boxes made of ticky tacky,

Little boxes on the hillside,

Little boxes all the same.

There's a green one and a pink one

And a blue one and a yellow one,

And they're all made out of ticky tacky

And they all look just the same.

And the people in the houses

All went to the university,

Where they were put in boxes

And they came out all the same,

And there's doctors and lawyers,

And business executives,

And they're all made out of ticky tacky

And they all look just the same.

You may recognize this song as the opening theme to Showtime's hit show Weeds.  You may be interested to know that the city which inspired this song is none other than Daly City, CA.  Don't believe me? Click here!

My city is so much cooler than your city :-)

Good morning from Fog City!

It's 8:15 a.m., 47 degrees with very low visibility due to fog.

Typical sunny afternoon

Foggy morning in Fog City!

Lily the Landlord

Our landlord, Lily, is a wonderfully nice lady and has thus far been very attentive to our needs as tenants.  It has been a pleasure working with her not only because of this, but also because of the comedic value in our email and text message communications.  There's a bit of a language barrier...


ShaTay Question: "Does the gate open by remote? Or do we have to get out of the car and manually open it each time we come and go? We are very interested in renting from you!" (the house originally had a gate. it has since been removed)
Lily Answer: "This is remocontrod , u in house when u get of car , if u like it should tack it asa pasbol."

ShaTay Question: "What is the total square footage of our unit? Can you tell us the dimensions of each room? We're trying to decide what furniture to bring!"
Lily Answer: "I sorry I don't know size each room , all I know hold house is 4.128 sq ft. This is CA, most of house not big with out millimadallos house other wise all same normoer size , not big furnitures it San Francisco ever thin small "

After signing the lease...
Lily: "Hi Taylor , I so greed hear from u ,when u can move or when u r funicture will be here . Please let me know if u need help in here . Thanks !"

ShaTay Question: "Hi Lily, the hot water in the master bathroom isn't working and our toilet keeps running.  Could we get a plumber to come take a look at it?"
Lily Answer: "I wait for plomer call me back u be home today? I call u befor I schadul. "

Mi Casa es Winning

We just have the third floor

Things that rule about our new house:

1. Proximity to the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) Station -- Shane takes it to and from work each day!

 2. Backyard for Archiepants

3. Gas stovetop

4. View of the Pacific Ocean

5. Supercool landlord (additional blogpost about Lily coming soon...)


Thing that less-than-rules about our new house:

1. Godawful monkey shower doors

These are in BOTH bathrooms!

Close-up of monkey detail

Roadtrip Catchup - Part II

Since my previous roadtrip catchup was written pre-engagement I'd like to modify the Day 5 summary and add our last 2 days...

Day 5: Albuquerque to Kingman, AZ (via Grand Canyon)
We got an early start since the drive is a far one and we wanted to arrive in time to see the Grand Canyon in daylight.  Grand Canyon was stunningly beautiful (yet pales in comparison to my bling). Upon our departure from the Grand Canyon, it began raining and since we were at such a high altitude (8,000 ft) the rain quickly became hail, and then eventually snow. Dislike. We had fun making up theoretical newspaper headlines about the Idiot Florida couple reported missing after driving rear-wheel drive, SnowTire-less vehicle down snow-covered mountain, but in all seriousness it was not cool. Luckily we made it safely back to Flagstaff, and since the storm looked like it would be hitting that city moreso than cities further west, we trucked on to Kingman, AZ and stayed the night at a Marriott.
Highlight: Waking up to the news that Rachael went into labor and HELLO, I'M ENGAGED!!!!! (November 4th was an AMAZING day for the Harter family).
Lowlight: Dust storm and hail storm and snow storm.

Day 6: Kingman, AZ to Salinas, CA
Long long long drive. So very long. However, the gorgeous mountainous scenery definitely made it better. California is a beautiful state and we are so glad to finally be here!!!
Highlight: Staring at my bling the entire drive :-)
Lowlight: Hotel troubles. The Quality Inn that we booked had zero parking so we had to call and fight with Priceline for a refund. Ugh.

Day 7: Salinas, CA to Daly City, CA
Luckily it was a short drive, but we were making phone calls during most of it to try to find a boarding facility for Archie for the night (we wanted some peace & quiet for our first night in our new home). We finally found one that would take him without his vaccine documentation (it's all on the freakin moving truck!) and was highly rated on Yelp. Then, we got the keys from our landlord, went to the grocery store to stock our fridge, and fiiiiiiiiiinally came home to relax with Mad Men and a bottle of wine. Ahhhhhh....
Highlight: Finally arriving!
Lowlight: Stressful San Francisco traffic :-/

I can't believe we're finally here!!!

The Daly City Crime Bulletin

Amidst the house-hunting and then lease-signing process, I decided I should be better informed about the area.  One of our biggest concerns in finding our new residence was obviously safety.  At some time during my research, I became subscribed to the Daly City Crime Bulletin.  A few excertps...

Celia’s Restaurant parking lot—bag with a trumpet, flute and clarinet taken from a 2005 Ford Ranger. Occurred between 6:00 PM and 6:45 PM on 10-20-11.

Serramonte Shopping Center (north lot)—bag containing three bowling balls taken from a 2006 Honda Accord. Occurred between 11:30 AM and 12:30 PM on 10-22-11.

I think we'll be fine....

Countdown to the big move: 6 days!

We got the house!

We did it! We really did it! We got the house we wanted! It's a beautiful BRAND NEW (read: never been lived in) 3-bedroom house in Daly City, which is basically a suburb of San Francisco proper.  All wood floors, granite kitchen countertops, and all new stainless-steel appliances. We'll have WAY more to say about it once we actually move in, but here's just a few teaser photos to leave you wanting more...

Kitchen

Living room, dining room (and balcony just out that door!)

More living room + hallway

Bedroom