New place/new perspective

Saturday we moved into our new apartment in the Alamo Square/NOPA neighborhood of San Francisco. It was actually a pretty leisurely move as we had already moved over a bunch of boxes last Saturday. We slept in, and didn't pick up the U-haul until 11:00am. Our friends Linnea and Brynda helped us out - yeah, we moved all the furniture with only one man, we're strong women. But I think Neil got more than his share of heavy boxes. We took two trips and were completely wrapped up by 5:00 and the truck wasn't even due back until 6:00. Of course, the apartment looks like a tornado hit. There was barely room to walk.

But we left it in that state and headed off to explore a new restaurant in our new hood. We treated Linnea and Brynda to dinner for their awesomeness in helping out and being in cheerful, chipper spirits all day long. They were the best. We went to a little pub and had delicious cold beer, and...um...cheeseburgers, emphasis on the cheese. It was so weird, it was like they had poured nacho cheese or cheez whiz on top of the burgers. It overpowered the entire burger and was leaking out all over the place. Plus, it acted like industrial strength glue! I think I still have little bits of napkin stuck to my fingers. Ah well, the beer was good and food is food. And the neighborhood is GREAT! Beautiful old victorian houses everywhere, good, cheap eateries on every corner and the PARK right across the street. Perfect.

Yesterday we had to go back to our old place and clean and I have to say, I'm not going to miss the Marina one iota. It's a fancy neighborhood that is pretty nice and quiet, with great views of the Bay and Golden Gate bridge, but the people. Oh geez, the people that populate that area are such total douchebags. I would try to describe them but you just have to experience it to understand. And there is no affordable places to eat at all. I did a yelp search once for restaurants in the Marina that were $ or $$ and all I got back were sandwich shops (not even open for dinner) or chinese restaurants. I did that same search in our new neighborhood and up popped 39 choices of indian food, chinese food, american pub food, mexican food - all shapes and sizes. YAY!

So cleaning sucks, of course. There's just no gratification at all. Atleast when you are moving, it's hard work but you know at the end of it you have a brand new place. Cleaning - what's the reward? I guess getting the security deposit back... I learned two very important things while cleaning our apartment -

#1: If you spill soy sauce down behind your vegetable bins in the fridge, don't wait until you move to clean it up.
#2: Never, ever, ever - even if you think it might be pretty- ever, ever install anything in your house that involves grout. Just don't do it. You will regret it later. Not that I had a choice here, but wow - what a pain in the ass.

So we unpacked some last night and then went out to Popeye's to bring home some yummy chicken dinner. On the way home, we found a wonderful coat rack out on the street waiting for us to take it home. It was like a welcome to the neighborhood present. :)

I have to say, moving to a new place now is definitely like a new, refreshing look at San Francisco - it's a whole new perspective. And I'm excited. We pick up the doggies this Saturday, and so thus begins year 2 in the City. I think it's off to a pretty good start.

I leave you with a picture of the view from the park that our apartment is across the street from: