Boxes and boxes

We are FINALLY moved in. The moving truck from Canada came first. That shipment was like a time capsule from three years ago. Our life back in Fairfax perfectly preserved. Even the flyers on the fridge were folded neatly in a box as if they were precious documents. We purged and filled a storage locker and sent loads of things off to charities. What we kept completely filled our little apartment here. It took a week to finally get everything put away.

The first moving truck arrived!

Then the Singapore shipment arrived with 99 more boxes and our Balinese four 4 poster bed, dining set and coffee table. Possibly the largest furniture our movers had ever carried into an apartment.

The Singapore stuff was held for nearly three weeks at customs for inspection. This is the first time we've ever had a delay and apparently this is the "new normal." Just out of curiosity I looked at the contents of all the boxes they had chosen to inspect at customs to see if there was some reason for their selection. Each one contained "liquids" in the description on the manifest (perfume, body wash, cleaning supplies etc). You are allowed to bring these things in to the states but it seems that it may be a red flag for customs. Had I known this I would have thrown out those four boxes that were probably worth very little compared to the hassle and expense of three extra weeks of being in a serviced suite.

Boxes examined by US Border Protection

So all of this stuff now lives in our tiny apartment. We've been selling things on Craigslist and have even rented a second storage locker. I'm pretty sure this place is only temporary (perhaps a year, maybe two) so we aren't quite ready to get rid of EVERYTHING.

So our new hood is pretty great. We are so close to the beach, shops, restaurants and farmers markets. We had a great time with Joel's parents checking out all the amenities and now my Dad is here continuing the settling in time with us. Austen has only had one week of his entire life where he didn't have a grandparent staying with him and that week he had his Auntie Nan. It's going to seem pretty dull when all his favourite relatives go home. We are so lucky to have had all this help with him right now.

If you want more photos of Austen I'm only posting them Facebook and  Flickr in a "friends and family only" album of baby photos. Drop me a line if you need help logging in to be able to see that set.

The trouble with moving

Whenever we move customs has to clear our container at the border and our relocation company spends a lot of hours preparing the manifest and paperwork for this. During the last two moves this was a breeze. This time they pulled our shipment for secondary inspection at the port of Los Angeles and then updated our container's status to "undergoing extensive search." For what? I have no idea. The folks who packed it were the best moving team we've ever had and each and every detail was taken care of. There's not a single thing in there that could possible be a problem. We have to assume it's a random selection.

Looking for a place to stay

The reason this really sucks is our temporary housing check out date is Tuesday (yes, THIS Tuesday) and this place is overbooked so they can't extend us. Our new apartment is empty save Austen's new crib in his bedroom and our enormous fridge. So all of a sudden here we are, four adults, a baby and a cat looking for a place to stay for another week while we wait to move in. It's high season for this area and I have ONE day to somehow find a place with that kind of space and availability. Everyone pray to the apartment gods, or call your long lost cousin at US customs. We're going to need all the help we can get.

Glimpses of California

California May-June, 2013, a set on Flickr.

Click on the images to go to Flickr and see what we've been doing. Log-in if you are a contact to reveal all the fun family shots that aren't public.

Settling in again

First of all, we found a place to live! We looked high and low (mostly high though... have you seen west side real estate lately?) and from Hermosa beach to the Palisades. We viewed tiny places in corporate plasticy condo buildings and some total dives. The process was pretty frustrating and unfortunately we had quite a list of must-haves to try to satisfy. In the end we got location and character and took a hit on in-suite laundry and 18 stairs. I know... as a new Mom I'm probably blissfully unaware of what a pain in the ass it's going to be to haul Austen upstairs and haul laundry downstairs but I'm pretty excited about the rest of the perks. We have a little ocean view, our windows let in fresh cool salt air and every room gets sunlight. We're a few blocks from the beach, Main St (Joel's office) and all the shops and restaurants of the shopping district in Santa Monica. We're also by a library and a short walk from Whole Foods. There's no reason to drive anywhere at all. Lots of things are going into storage as our place is a little smaller than the last two places we've had but there's something kinda fun about curating your collection of crap and putting some of it away for some other time.

At 11 weeks Austen's almost rolling over. Every day I'm packing away another outfit he's grown out of. That makes me sad but I'm equally happy to see the bright chirpy boy who appears a little more each day from this tiny infant.

We've had great company in our transition. My mother arrived with us and her departure was chased with the arrival of Auntie Nan and then there was a short overlap as she departed and Joel's parents arrived.

We have yet to actually move into our place as our stuff has not yet reached the port here and then we have customs to clear. I'm hoping we'll finally be in on the weekend of the 8th. After that move-on we can begin to plan a road trip up to SF and Marin. We are aching for that but it has to wait just a little longer. If anyone needs the new address, send me a message or fill on the contact form on this blog here.