sorry we're not too up to speed with updates, but things have honestly slowed down. we're pretty much done decorating (with the exception of a need for some large painting above the bed) and settled into the place.

but, my family did recently visit. my mom, brothers, and sister we're all in town for about 10 days to see me and tim and also explore the bay area. and when i say bay area, i mean the whole thing. i think they are the first group to visit that actually went to the north bay, east bay, san francsico, and south bay. it was definitely a long trip, but a good one. and we we're glad to have them come.

thankfully, all 4 of them did not stay with us...i don't think the little house could take that. but, we did have a few nights of sleepovers.

the first night katie stayed over was the night my mom purchased the house an a/c window unit. and thank god since it was over 100 degrees! we all slept in the living room that night, cuddling up with the new member of our family. even the pets knew that it was the coolest place to be. i think it was the first time zeke, boris, bandit, and grace we're all within 10 feet of each other.

the next night we had my brothers stay over, and i was outnumbered 3 to 1. well, 5 to 2 if you count the pets...but they're nutered/spayed, so i don't think it's the same.

anyway, the scene was vastly different. each boy had some form of technology on their lap and we're immersed in either "kill bill," installing a new computer game, or watching something on t.v. so i just baked them all cookies and got them glasses of milk. it seemed to keep them content until my youngest brother attempted to go to sleep. sadly, the amount of pet hair in the house led to shortness of breath and the inability for him to breath. so at midnight, he returned to the hotel.
that same night we all enjoyed a great dinner outside since the weather had cooled down tremendiously. tim made some great burgers with bacon in them (that's right...mixed in. with the meat. tastey.). here is our pre-dinner picture:

the next night brought only my sister and older brother back, and followed a great night out a bing crosby's - a local restaurant built and run in the honor of the legend. it was a great night...excellent food and a good bottle of wine (thanks mom!). and the next day was our trip to great america...which resulted in a challenge when it came to get my sister to fall asleep.










thankfully she wasn't too enthralled in "edward sissorhands" and got enough shuteye for the next day. here are a few pics from our adeventures at great america. keep checking back, we have yet another houseguest coming in next week.

last week erin and jeff came all the way from colorado and texas to visit. they arrived on monday the 3rd, after a small struggle with a rental car company and a nearly 24 hour car ride. and even though they we're uber-exhausted upon their arrival we enjoyed some good conversation before they passed out on our couch and floor.


the fourth of july came with beautiful weather and we all decided to make a trip to the top of mt. diablo. on the way up we picnicked in sunset picnic area and enjoyed yummy sandwiches from whole foods. once we got to the top we had some great views and took a ton of pictures.


we decided to drive down the other side of the mountain and stopped in "rock city" to climb some big rocks and play in the wind caves.

So after some yelling, some pleading, and lots of tears (and that was just me) we have finally completed the arduous process of unpacking and decorating.

There are a few things still to, but for the most part we are done. I can't tell you what its like to come home from work and not worry about unpacking a box, hanging a picture, or figuring out where the couch is going to go.

This weekend, with a trip to IKEA, we finished the living room. We did what we thought was impossible and filled up our enormous living room. We are so satisfied, in fact, that we went ahead and scheduled a housewarming part for a few weeks from now. We are ready to let people inside and look in awe at the wonder that is our decorating skills! I know many of you are out of state and are not able to attend, but are desperately wanting to send us a housewarming gift. Not a problem! You can either mail us something if you have our address, or you can send us an e-gift card to a store of your choosing to our e-mail address at the right.

While this is not my first house I've lived in, it is definitely the first that really feels like home. Where ever life takes us, we will always remember our first home together. Its a big step for us, and so far we seem to be handling it just fine.

Sometimes, as I'm going to sleep, I'm amazed at this person lying next to me. How do we get along so well? How is it, that after such a short time together, I can feel this comfortable? Being with her is not like being with other girlfriends I've had, its more like hanging out with a friend. Not just a friend, but the best friend I've ever had. What is it that makes me so comfortable?

I'm pretty sure its this living room!

So we hosted our first guest this weekend. Charles was out here for business and we decided to make a quick Saturday trip up to Sonoma. He's been out to visit me a few times, but has not yet seen the new house. He was very impressed with the definate lack of dog, as compared to my old old place, but didn't quite know how he felt about the proliferation of cat.

Sonoma is always a good time, but we found a few new favorite spots this weekend that will definitely be added to The Tim and Danielle Spectacular Sonoma Sojourn (not to be confused with The Danielle and Tim Gnarly Napa Knock-about). So make sure you call ahead for tickets, they are selling out fast.

We got up very early. I don't think I'm awake in this picture.

Of course, my favorite part of the weekend was Sunday. Sunday, we did nothing exciting. Well, I mean, we went to Target, Petco, and Safeway. But as compared to other things, not really that exciting.

It seems that majority of our relationship has revolved around vacations, or vacation like activities. We met at a wedding, saw each other for a second time on Spring Break in San Diego, and each trip out to see each other seemed more like a vacation, than everyday life. Even once she moved out here, there were new places for her to see, things for us to do. So we've always wondered how we would together deal with the humdrum of daily life.

Of course, now that we are living together, there's going to be a lot of downtime. A lot of time where life, no matter how hard you try, is just not a vacation. On Sunday we had planned on going to a free concert in the city, but were both so exhausted from Saturday, that we just sat it out. So we bought pet food and litter. We bought more storage boxes. And we got all of our groceries for the week. "Woo hoo, Tim. Why are you boring us with your boring life?!"

The boring things are as much a part of living as the exciting ones are. Due to our arriving guest we somehow got all the rest of the boxes unpacked and the house in pretty much good order. So Sunday was probably our first day of actually "living" together. We had nothing to do.

I got caught up on some more gardening, repotting a few things, potting a few others, and getting the back patio into a little better shape. I planted some peppers, so I could chase Danielle around with them (she hates any kind of spice except salt) and rearranged some things. Are you completely bored yet? Because Danielle wasn't! She was very helpful in the replanting process, she was great about providing refreshment for us both and didn't complain once about how I was spending my time, and once she became bored, happily went to find something else to do.

I'm performing my dirt magic taught to me by band of wandering hippies

We are having to learn how to deal with each other on a daily basis. We, of course, laugh a lot. She tells me I'm stupid a lot (like when I sing a song about Grace living in the utility room). I call her a Giggles McSillypuss (like when she dances with Bandit). We bicker every now and then, but more because we're bored than actually frustrated. Now that we have DVR and can record two TV shows at once, we don't even argue over what we watch.

So while it is still too early to figure out which one of us will actually kill the other, I think we are settling in quite nicely.

Bandit was happy to herd his chewbone while I made my plan of attack

last night tim and i got motivated to do a little...okay, a lot...of work on the house. we put more pictures up, decreased the number of boxes sitting around, put some stuff into the storage shed, and reorganized the kitchen a bit.

we also worked on the back porch. tim wanted a better layout for grilling, entertaining, and showing off his gardening skills so it turned out looking like this:

looking at these makes me realize that we still have a lot to do. and that the 6 weeks before and after moving are probably a person's messiest. please forgive the clutter, but enjoy the improvements!

i don't know if it's the fact that i actually have a house to come back to...or that i've lived in california long enough now, but for the first time since i left texas i truly felt like this was my home. i had the feeling of being somewhere familiar, warm, and comforting the minute my plane started to come in over the bay. i watched the sunset over san francisco while driving east, and i was unbelievably happy when i walked up my front porch and into my house. but regardless of why i felt at home...i was.

tim did some clutter-cleaning while i was still in texas - moving boxes around so that my legs could finally get a break from being bruised and allowing the living room to open up a bit more. he worked on the yard too...things are starting to grow and it looks really nice (with the exception of the yard of weeds we have growing out back). the animals missed me dearly, as they all rushed to greet me as i walked in the door...okay, just kidding.

but zeke did manage to find something to entertain himself with while i was gone: feminine hygiene products. that's right folks...my cat likes to play with pads. awesome, huh?


other than that, no uber-new developments in the world of "our house." we (read: tim) have plans to fix up a table and a dresser we got for free, so look for progress pictures on those some time in the next few weeks. and pictures are going up...slowly, and room by room. i'll try to capture the house in the state it is tonight and post some updated pics tomorrow.