Nat and Allison's Wedding

At the beginning og October we flew back to Portland for Nat and Allison's wedding. Below are a couple of pictures. What a weekend it was!

Week 6 - is that all?

Sometimes you may notice I mention some of our new friends - mostly fellow grad students of course. Well here is a picture of Shelley and baby Alden. He just turned 6 weeks old this week and is so huge compared to when we met him 5 weeks ago. She is holding him in a Mobi wrap and says it is very comfortable. When her husband wears it we like to call it the man womb, although Shelley says it is more awkward than when she was pregnant.

We were just commenting tonight on how close Thanksgiving is and how it seems we haven't really moved because we are so fortunate to be coming home for the Holidays and we were just home for a wedding. I don't think we'll feel like we've really moved until January. I was also talking about how I feel trapped in Davis and Woodland and I think it is because those are the only areas I am comfortable getting around in. It certainly isn't the fact we are surrounded by corn and wheat fields, so hopefully this weekend I'll go exploring while Bob studies!

Right now Bob is working in the study with another grad student for a project tomorrow. He does seem busier working for his PhD than his masters, but I think he has one more course than normal right now. He has class 3 days a week but is on campus pretty much every day.

I am still working independently and have my hopes on getting a different position at the university. It would mean a regular schedule, but also regular benefits and some other perks that go with a campus job.

Unique to Davis

Round-abouts may be common in larger European cities, or small, vacation communities, but what about for bicycles? This is just one of many bike-round-abouts in Davis. The bleachers you see behind it belong to the current athletic field (a new stadium is under construction this fall).

The Pets

Some of you have asked how the animals are adjusting. Well here is a picture of where Izzy likes to sleep, a picture of Lulu playing with her new friend Blackberry ,and one of Bob and Lulu taking a nap.

My Drive

Right now my drive to work is pretty easy. There are 4 stop signs and 5 stop lights, and the only traffic I really have to deal with is farm equipment! The view out my window is either fields of vegetables, or fields getting ready to have vegetables in them. Of course I could take a highway, but when the country road looks like this, why mess with the commute? On this day there were a few welcomed rain drops that hit my windshield.

The place we call home right now

Here are pictures of our place/condo/duplex. It has two bedrooms and two baths and a sunroom along with the normal kitchen, living room etc. It is one story and there are four of them hooked together so we share a side wall with one neighbor and a back wall with another. They were built in the '80s as the lovely teal carpet will show. We have a side and front yard as well as a shaded patio and yes that is a solar water heater on the roof. Of course we miss our little bungalow in Salem with its hardwood floors, but this isn't too shabby!

Week three

Maybe it is just because I started work this week, but it seems longer. On Saturday I made my first bike ride into the downtown. Bob has been making it to get to the University, but I had not had a chance yet. I think I did ok and we made it to the Saturday Market and back. Also this weekend we headed towards Santa Cruz to visit some friends from Bob's time at U of O. It was great. We had a wonderful meal where we talked about how unbelievably difficult it was to find housing and move to California. It turns out Bob and I probably had the easiest time of all (out of three couples), boy were we surprised to hear that. The next day we had a great breakfast together before heading to the boardwalk. Although it was pretty cool, we couldn't take Lulu so we left there hoping to go back soon. We then started our drive north and continued to look for beaches to stop at, but it turns out they also don't allow dogs!! So we stopped for lunch in Half Moon Bay before heading east for home. Next time we'll take our dog friendly places book with us.
Last night we had dinner with Bob's cohort. It was interesting to look around the table and be able to point out who we'd like to hang out with more and who we hope to not be seeing very often. One of the guys looks like "Jim" on the office!
My work is going ok although between working at home 2 days a week and not going in until 10am others, means I really have to work at getting 40 hours in. Plus we still don't know if she can keep me longer than 10 weeks.
In other news our streets and carports are being repaved and it is a bit of a pain! Friday we can park our car next to our place again, thank goodness.

Week Two in Davis

I applied to a University position, I dropped off a resume at a firm, I called another firm, but nothing. Then out of the blue I get a phone call and have an interview and then a job! We make another trip to Ikea, we eat out some more, we make it to the dog park and we are all unpacked. We miss home still but are trying to make this as best as possible. We had friends over for a BBQ. It still feels weird like everyone we know is missing. Bob asks if I am tired of him yet. And sadly, we took the California test for changing our driver's licenses. We both passed, but it takes like 2 weeks to send them to us. Just another strange thing about this state.

Week One in Davis

Week one was interesting. First it included us unpacking a truck - just the two of us - trying to get unpacked and settled before I had to begin work two days later. Then when I arrive at work, I find out I no longer have a job and must start the search process over. So I spent my time unpacking and using someone else's internet to job search. We made a trip to Ikea and tried to venture through Sacramento and got very turned around. We ate out a lot. We have take out menus now for all of the places within 1/2 a mile. We went to the Davis Ace Hardware so often I thought they'd know us by now. We met up with Shelley and Joshua and their new baby Alden as well as their dog Blackberry. And of course we missed home.