yellow teapot press: New Apartment: Part I

So...

My life is like, way more totally different. Moving is a weird thing. My reference point for everything for the last 2.66 years has revolved around the same place. Now that place is 8.2 miles away from where it used to be, which reduces my commute down to 2.1 miles instead of 10.3, which is the equivalent of 4.5 minutes instead of 17.8.

That's a considerable distance.

The commute is now so short, in fact, that yesterday I actually arrived before I left.

Neither of us can quite wrap our heads around it. We don't know what's around here at all. I keep wanting to go to Than Thao but now it's much too inconvenient to eat there.

But I don't feel much like exploring yet, because so many bombs have gone off in this apartment I feel obligated to at least sort some of it out. And because I have no money. Helloooo, ACH at midnight tonight!

AND, I'm thinking all my fans (ha ha ha ... Ahh, I made myself laugh) would like an update and some photos of the place, anyhow.

So while my laundry is finishing: a little guided tour. (Yes, I have done four loads since our arrival. You do not know what it means to me to have laundry THAT IS NOT COIN-OP.)

This is how it starts. You know, typical move. Lots of boxes and whatnot. Basically a disaster, but that's to be expected.

Living room

And then when you start to unpack, everything explodes and becomes ever MORE of a disaster. Like, exponentially fast. Even when you BREAK DOWN the boxes, they still spawn more boxes and spew stuff just EVERYWHERE.

Living room on crack

Like, I've already done so much stuff and you wouldn't know it.

But what's important is the exponentially fast arrival of my long lost happiness. That's right, I said it. The other place was making me so miserable in so many ways... Nevermind the fact that when I went there yesterday to retrieve the rest of my clothing and my curtain rods, my chest started hurting immediately as I inhaled the musty, moldy, suffocating air.

I couldn't believe we lived there. Lived there and didn't realize how bad the dampness and mold was.

Then, on top of that anger and frustration, I got caught up in all this nostalgia and I was flooded with memories.

Too many feelings at once! Damn you, Ability to Feel Multiple Complicated Things All at the Same Time!

I don't really feel like getting into that right now. Later, perhaps.

What is also important here is the first morning coffee I enjoyed in my living room.

This is me in Heaven

My heart melts the fastest in diffused, crispy morning light. Ohhhh, siiiiigh . . . And, oh what's that? A grassy courtyard with lovely plants and flowers? A flock of children riding their bikes back and forth and back and forth over the same stretch of sidewalk, entertaining me way more than TV ever could? Beautiful sunlight pouring in my windows? A warm cup of coffee nestled between my paws?

Yep. I've died.

But the Teapot still lives, and told me she quite loves it here even though she remains skeptical of the flat black top stove. (Don't we all?)

And the coffee station was set up first-thing, adorned with the most PERFECT AND BEAUTIFUL table cloth my Mama sent me a few days before the move. (Thanks, Ma!!!!)