New Life

I am starting a new chapter of my life: I have a new job and new living arrangements! Alan and I found a cute little one bedroom apartment in Mountain View, just 2 miles away from Google central. We are currently in the process of opening the last of the moving boxes and decorating. We finally hung the hammock that my mom gave to Alan in April of last year... And, to make our new place seem more like home, we hung the Mona Lisa in the bathroom. We have a small, framed, Mona Lisa poster that we hung in the bathroom of Alan old apartment. I purchased this poster from the Louvre in Paris a couple of years ago. It was strategically placed facing the toilet, so that it looked at you with a knowing smile no matter what you did. Unfortunately, we were not able to hang the Mona Lisa in the same location in our new home, but the overall "Mona-effect" is still quite charming.

I cannot count how many times Alan and I have been to Ikea in these past couple of weeks. Almost everything in our home is from Ikea, and we still have more things that we need to purchase. We will probably be going back next week to buy a dresser for me. In general I would have to say that Ikea stuff is cool and affordable, but then you have to build it. The durability of the items that we have purchased is also somewhat questionable. However, for the prices I am paying I will not complain. One major purchase that we still must make is that of a couch. Couches are expensive! and Ikea does not offer a couch that we would like to habitually sit on and/or look at. So, we are on the look-out for a comfortable, reasonably priced sofa. I am especially interested in sofa-beds, because we only have one bedroom in our place. (If you have a nice sofa that you need taken off of your hands, please contact me.)

My new job is, ahhemm: Human Resources Manager for the San Mateo Branch! Thats right, I'm officially a manager now. I can't wait to start. The branch I am going to is about 1/3 of the size of the one I am working in now, so I expect to see a slowing down of pace. I'm so happy. I'm sure I have a lot of work ahead of me. I start in my new position this week.