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03
Apr, 2010

Moving Stuff & Other Stuff

It is finished!!! And this is NOT an Easter reference. I’m talking about an annual (dreaded) tradition of packing up all my earthly belongings and moving them to a different part of the city. This time, let’s hope I get to stay in one place for longer than a year. MUCH longer. I’ve had it! Read on…

Man oh man oh man do I NEVER want to move again. I have moved almost every year (or more) since college and I’ve had it! There were only a couple years in there, since 1994, that I stayed in one place for over a year. Every year, I have more stuff too because my career gets a little busier and now I have a kid. Kids require stuff.

Yesterday, I was reminiscing with my friend about the old days when life was simpler. She remembered the time she and one other person unpacked all her belongings in her new, one bedroom apartment in 90 minutes. I was recalling when everything I owned fit into a Ford Festiva. Yes, I was only 17, but there is so much freedom in not having things.

I’ve never really been a “stuff” person and if it were just me, I’d be pretty happy in a studio or small one bedroom. Internet connection, somewhere to cook and bake a little, my own bathroom and a small bed are all it takes for me to feel content. I don’t collect anything, I’m not a clothes or shoe hound, I don’t even like to keep books when I’m done reading them. I LOVE getting rid of stuff and the older I get, the harder a task this has become. Motherhood has certainly taken a toll on my simple living and I yearn for the day when my living room isn’t a parking garage for various plastic toys, a midget sized kitchenette and a play tent (aka as “The Circus”).

I know I should just relax and enjoy having a circus in my living room, because it won’t last long. The toddler years really are magical and I’m loving the humor and communication between my almost three year old and me, but I just can’t stand the stuff.

I’ve always known I didn’t want any more kids, so every few months or so, I purge my daughter’s closet and room of things she’s outgrown, both physically and intellectually. I have a few friends who have younger girls so it has always been easy to hand them down. I feel great making more space and it feels nice to be able to share with good friends too.

But back to simplicity. Is it possible to live simply when you have a young child? I haven’t indulged my child beyond reason. She doesn’t have a ton of toys and is not obsessed with her belongings. In fact, she is just starting to understand that we can buy the things we see at the store. I’ve always told her that things on the shelves were just for looking at and she never questioned it. SUCKER!

But now that she’s figuring out how retail works, will she go nuts not having “things”? Will the peer pressure be harder on her once she starts school? Am I setting up my daughter to be the subject on a future episode of Hoarders? I doubt it. But if she does end up on that show, I hope I at least get a consultant credit.

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30
Mar, 2010

Moooove Bitch! I moved! 2010 Census!

Quick note to announce the move is finally DONE! Well, just the moving part. Last week, I packed my toddler, my chihuahua, my boyfriend and all our crap and we moved 10 miles down the road. We found a more affordable, nicer home in a great neighborhood with awesome schools, closer to boyfriend’s office and child’s father so… duh. We moved. Loving the new place so far, but as with any change there are pluses and minuses. Here’s what I’ll really miss:


– Futher away from Vietnamese and Korean food and my favorite grocery store, Fresh and Easy. Sigh
– We are in a town home community so it’s a little harder to deal with parking. No private driveway
– Little further away from a park with a playground, but still within walking distance (hey, I have to be lazy sometimes)
– Most of all – my friends. I had 4 really wonderful friends just within a mile or two of my old house. The kind of friends you could call on last minute either for a favor or for a lunch get together. The kind you leave a spare house key with. I’m only 10 miles away now, but it does make a difference having good friends really close by.

I’ll just have to keep the Girl Scout song in mind. That one about making new friends but keeping the old. I was never a Girl Scout (my mom wouldn’t let me) but the song is a good one. I’ll have to make some new friends over here, deeper in the Valley and in the meantime, I’ll work really hard on convincing my old friends to move out here.

Oh – ASIAN AMERICANS! The 2010 census form! If you haven’t filled it out and sent it back in yet, get on the damn ball people! An accurate count can help us receive our share of over $400 billion in annual federal funds for services our community needs. Unfortunately, past decades have shown that Asian Americans are among the groups most likely to discard their Census forms. Please do your part and fill it out, send it in. Still freaked out? Here…

Fill In Our Future is a campaign created by AAPI Action to promote and encourage the participation of the Asian American community in the 2010 Census. Their website, fillinourfuture.org, features frequently asked Census questions, in-language resources (in over 24 Asian languages), informational brochures, sample Census forms, in-language assistance guides, celebrity and community leader PSA’s (Public Service Announcements) and monthly contests and giveaways. The larger campaign also includes media and community outreach, workshops, a speaker’s bureau and training seminars. No excuses! Represent and do your duty! It only takes a few minutes.

PSA over. Anderson… OUT!

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10
Feb, 2010

Funk Funk In a FUNK!

Life is busy. Too busy. As I mentioned in my last post, I’m going to try to move at the end of this month and now that I’ve made up my mind to get the heck out of Dodge (well, Sherman Oaks) I can’t find a place. Searching for the right home is a lot like having another job. Lots of research, phone calls, meetings, discussions and decisions. Granted, I’ve only been looking a couple weeks, but I’m already super frustrated.

After viewing several places that just weren’t it, we found a great town home in the perfect neighborhood. We hustled to get our application in and then we sat and… waited. The next day the leasing agent told me the owner is considering moving back in!! WHAT?!!! She didn’t have the entire story yet and said she would get back to me as soon as she new the details. Ugh.
So… we wait some more. In the mean time, I’m finding there is almost no inventory in our price range, in the neighborhoods we want.
I’m the kind of person who likes to get on with the getting on once I make up my mind and now that I’ve decided I want out of this current house, I’m going nuts having to wait and having few other options to look at.
If anyone out there has a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom, 2 car garage house/town house/duplex in Woodland Hills/Warner Center area, that they would like to rent to my LOVELY family and me, please, for the love of God, let me know.

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