What a week it was last week! 5 days of apartment hunting in a fierce city, good thing my mom came with me!
(this is a little cafe called Piccino, just a few blocks away from where we stayed.)
We stayed at my friend Jane's (located in the Potrero Hill district) so that we could find a place to live. We learned how to get around town by bus and by train and by foot. We found some great restaurants and some not so great smelling street corners.
I had a pretty good idea of what to expect when we got there- I have been scouting craigslist ever since Danny's interview. I had a good place all picked out- a new building, built as condos, 2 bedroom, laundry in unit, a parking space, all for $2015/mo. But. It was located in Daly City, just on the outskirts of SF. It would have taken Danny 45 minutes by train to get to work. We saw the place last monday right after we dropped our suitcases off at Jane's. We got approved, and I wrote a deposit check. Awesome.
That night I looked again at craigslist, and found few more promising leads. The next day we hopped on a bus to the Mission district, where we saw an ok 2 bedroom, no laundry, but with parking place. The lady that showed it told us that of all the people that applied, none were being approved due to poor credit, no credit, too young, etc. So my mom and I booked it on over to their office, which was downtown- on a bus, that had to drive through a taxi strike as well as general traffic. By the time we got there, someone else had been approved. I was so mad. We were hot and sweaty, tired and annoyed. I even tried to play hardball and offer more money in an attempt to "steal" it from the other people. Rude hu? What can I say, I'm a hungry tiger when I'm overheated.
That night, I looked at craigslist when we got back to Jane's. I found a 2 bed, 2 bath, with washer/dryer hookups loft in Potrero Hill for $2200/mo. But. It wasn't available until July 15th, and Danny's first day of work is the 11th. I called and left a message. Then I emailed like 10 other people our applications and Danny's offer letter to try and get ahead of this nasty game.
On wednesday I got a call from the Potrero Hill place, and made an appt. to see the apartment for the next day. I also made an appt. to see another place after that. It was a really nice feeling that we had a viable backup- even though it was further away than we wanted, at least it was nice!
Then I got a call from my downstairs neighbors- the cops were there to impound our moving container. Awesome. I talked to the officer- apparently a neighbor (I still don't know who it was) had been calling them ALL day complaining about it. She said we were never home, and that it was blocking her driveway. Right. I don't have a job. I'm home all the time. Just conveniently not when you decide to call the cops on me.
Right as I got off the phone with him, the container guy calls me to tell me the same story. She had been calling them all day too. He personally came out to move it into our driveway- but it's too narrow. He felt really bad- he said that the initial delivery guy had done a terrible job and if he had done it right we probably wouldn't be in this mess. I had them just take it back to the warehouse. Since the neighbor lady made such a stink about the container, now I have to get a permit from the transportation office, and put plastic barricades all around it. Like that is less in the road, lady.
So my mom and I scrapped the rest of the day and went to Ghiradelli square. There is this little shop called Crown & Crumpet- they do tea parties. With cute little candies and tiny food. Like in Alice. So cute. I decided right then and there that I want a tea party for my birthday.
And I want to sit at this table.
And have this fabulous felt "cake" as the centerpiece.
Oh yes. That's exactly what it looks like. A cookies n cream hot fudge sundae in a chocolate dipped waffle cone. Ghiradelli hot fudge. OMG it was to die for.
We then stretched out our pale legs in the sand- and rested. And digested.
We had to hop on this crammed full vintage street car that's part of the bus line to get back "home". We were so crammed and squeezed that you didn't even have to hold on.
Taking the "T" line to Potrero Hill. It was crazy crowded too- there was a ballgame going on and everybody was dressed to the nines in orange and black Giants gear. We had to wait for 4 trains before we could fit on. Crazy!
Technically, the part of Daly City we'd be living in (if we took that apartment) would be Sunnydale. Anyone? Anyone? I'm a nerd.
This is Unagi, one of the 3 animals we were petsitting while staying at Jane's. This cat loved me. I was so allergic to her though!
We went to see the Potrero Hill loft- I handed in our application and we pretended that we didn't love it. We didn't want to get our hopes up. Then we went to see another one- that turned out was a total scam. So we went to Paper Source.
We found this amazing little section on Fillmore street- gorgeous flower shops, cute boutiques...
...the Fillmore Bakeshop. A father-daughter owned bakery. I got a handful or 2 of these delicious macaroons. My fav were the salted caramel. My mom loved these vanilla ones.
We saw this amazing church on our way back to the bus.
Then the streets got wider, and the houses got slightly bigger (but still so close together) and we realized that we were going the wrong direction. So we got off and found the right one.
On our way to the "T" train- I snapped this night shot of the Bay Bridge. The fog had rolled into the bay, and you can kinda see it in this photo.
The next day I got a call. A 9 a.m. wake up call. We got the Potrero Hill loft! YEA!!!!! So we went and signed the lease, plopped down a $3200 deposit. Then we went to Chinatown in search of Bubble Tea. I was convinced I'd love it. However, I didn't really.
I saw Jack's name on the sidewalk and pointed it out to my mom. She didn't know who he was. I didn't believe her- who doesn't know who Jack Kerouac is? My mom I guess!
Then we went to the Mission district and shopped around and had some delicious thai food. We headed back to Jane's early so we could watch Harry Potter 7.1
For our last day- we slept in, cleaned up, played with the animals and went out for ice cream. OMG. So delicious. Lime custard with burnt orange caramel sauce. I hope they have this all year round. And- how lucky are we that we get to be Jane's neighbor, and stay in the neighborhood that we grew to love? So lucky.
This is sweet little teeny tiny Coco. She adored my mom, and had the cutest little wiggle in her step. I didn't get a photo of Choco- a black Chihuahua. He loved me too- and he never made a peep. Seriously. Not one bark, not even a yip.
Since we know very well by now that airports are not Dr Pepper friendly- we brought our own. We sat in the cold metal seats, chugging our addiction, happy to finally be headed home.
Home. Utah will always be our home. But we are so excited to start our new life in sunny California...
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