No U Turns

Well, I guess it's time to talk about our recent trip to California, and what it means. In a nutshell, my husband and his business partner bought another franchise to the company that they already own. His business partner will stay here and run this franchise, and we will be moving down there to run that one. The Oakland, CA franchise, to be exact. We went down there a few weeks ago to try and find a place to live. Preferably one that won't require we hand over our first born child. The area stretches all the way down to just north of San Jose, so we had quite a big area to cover in just a few short days. This is where my I made my fatal mistake ("Clue" anyone?). Cabe said he'd go through all the apartment websites, and craigslist, to find some places for us to visit. Which he did. What he failed to do, was get directions....or an address...phone number....to any of them. You can imagine the frustration and arguments that insued. We lost track of how many U-turns we made. When we finally found a place with a map, we were both already at the end of our short, short ropes. Not only had we wasted an entire DAY driving around, finding nothing, we had also finally accepted the fact that no, there was no possible way we would find a place to live that was both safe and in our price range. The one bright light that day, was our hotel room. :)

Too bad you can't see the floors very well, they were tiger-print. Also, yes, the Aveda products were fabulous. There was a phone mounted next to the toilet. In case you simply can't wait those extra three minutes. I couldn't resist.......

Another obstacle that we hadn't expected, was our dog. I swear, by the end I was ready to sell the mutt. We walked into SO many places that either didn't allow dogs, or didn't allow them over 25 lbs. Since we didn't think it wise to starve him, we had to move on. The second day was more successful, we found two places that we liked, despite the price tag. Plus, we only made 14 U-turns, which is a success in itself. It was interesting to drive around all the different towns, thinking that we'll soon be living in the area. Here we are, in our first California traffic jam -

And again, in our 999th.......

Our moving date is quickly approaching, and while we're excited for the new opportunity, and to see a different place, we're sad to leave behind his partner and his wife, one of my best friends, and all the other friends we've made here. I'm going to miss not having to pay sales tax, and all the wonderful fruit and produce available. I'm even going to miss the people I work with, and I didn't think that was going to be an issue. :) While it will be hard, I know that this is one step closer to bringing us back home to Utah. And if I get a great tan in the meantime? Well, so be it.