Tuesday, August 30, 2016

SactoMoFo

"SactoMo...whaaa?"  I'm sure you're thinking.  It stands for Sacramento Mobile Food.  They're a food truck event planning company and they organize all kinds of food truck events around the Sacramento area.

So naturally, we had to go check out the food truck-a-thon that was at the park around the corner from our house last weekend.  You really can't go wrong with food trucks, a beer tent, live music and lawn chairs.  Am I right?


We strolled up to a fleet of food trucks specializing in everything from Filipino, to Mexican, to BBQ, to straight up burgers and fries, among others.  Diversity at its finest.

There was one burger truck called The Squeeze Inn that I recognized from Guy Fieri's Food Network show Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives.  Maybe next time I'll check that one out!


I ended up going for some shrimp tacos, which were pretty tasty.  Gotta love a good fish taco.


The musical styling was festive and lively, courtesy of an acoustic guitar dude belting out everything from Johnny Cash to Zac Brown.

And of course, he was appropriately Northern California'd up with his long goatee and flat brimmed baseball cap.  I'm sure he drove up in a hot muscle car.  Or possibly a Prius.

I joke, but seriously - the NorCal stereotypes are in full effect up here.

I've seen multiple people running around with knit caps on when it's 95 degrees out.  It's real.  And ridiculous.

But again, I digress.

One thing I can say I'm loving with a capital L about California is the fact that we see blue skies and sunshine every single day.

Every day!  It's an enormous and welcome departure from the climate in Kodiak, I tell ya. I already knew this, but daily sunshine most certainly agrees with me.

Look at that!  Sunglasses! 

Now, I can't wrap up this post without mentioning the pièce de résistance of the evening.  That would be the dessert food truck we chose to cap off our night.  Oh, my Lord.


 Two words:  mini pies.

That's right. Individual mini pies small enough that you get that sweet kick you're looking for, but not big enough to feel guilty about indulging.

Personal pies?  Where, oh where have you been my whole life??  And what a selection!

I can't even tell you how scrumptious the scent was that wafted from this truck.  Just pure loooove in the form of baked goods.  They had apple, blueberry, peach, cherry, buttermilk, and even savory pies with meat.


We opted for a peach and a buttermilk.  And that buttermilk was ooey-gooey fabulous.  I'd never had a buttermilk pie before.  I'm officially a convert.

I'll eat buttermilk pie any day-o-the-week.  I'd eat it with a fox in a box or in a house AND with a mouse.  It was heavenly.

So, there ya have it.  One of our first forays into checking out our local scene here in northern California.  Where knit caps and ninety degrees go hand in hand.

And the mini pies are to die for.

Ta-ta for now.



Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Got Stuff? Cause We Sure Do.

Well, I got my wish.  We got our couch back.  Our couch, our bed, our coffee table...and all manner of stuff that had nice little places to tuck themselves in our last house.

This house?  Not so much.  Let's just say that we've made more than a few donations to the Goodwill over the last few weeks.  We just don't have the space.

The movers converged on our tiny, empty house and filled it right the hell on up!


Giant crates upon crates of all our worldly possessions, soon to be unloaded...


This house was built in 1951, so it's a little sparse on closets and storage.  Plus, a legit pare down of non-essentials is always good.  I feel lighter already with fewer things clogging up our space.

It really is incredible how much crap we have the ability to collect as the years go by.  Knick-knacks, chachkies, trinkets, brick-a-brack - what do you call it?

I call it time to go.  But it's not just the trinkets.  It's the accumulation of items over time that adds up to unnecessary STUFF.  And it's time to say goodbye to a chunk of it.

I think it's easier to adopt this mindset when things don't necessarily have their spot to live carved out yet.  Well that, and the fact that some of our belongings are looking a little shabby these days.

Move number 4 has taken its toll. We even took a run to the dump last week to get rid of bulky, lived their life items that needed to be replaced with less trashy looking equivalents.

We tossed broken, beat to shit metal filing cabinets, our T.V. stand that had gone through enough moves that it had war wounds and inexplicable water damage, and our dining room table that couldn't possibly be donated in the condition it was in.  And others!

The start of the pile boxes everywhere party.  And Cheety?  Not impressed.

We're getting there.  It's slow, but bit by bit we're making our way to a functional household again.

I've said it before, but I think I blocked out how draining and drawn out the whole move process is.  I'm pretty sure I've purged it from my memory because I don't recall feeling this...over it.

I must have been, though.  I just don't remember the numbing details. And. All. The. Stuff.

Once we unpacked all the boxes, we were left with this lovely yard art as evidence.  On the up side, the moving company came back to pick up all the cardboard - so I only had to gaze out at le sculpture du box for about a week.


And now the unspoken challenge.  No new chachkies allowed!

Ta-ta for now.



Monday, August 1, 2016

PCS-a-Palooza


I'm not sure what it is about this PCS (Permanent Change of Station for you non-military folks).  Somehow it feels...prolonged.

In reality, it isn't.  But for whatever reasons, it still feels that way.

Boarding the ferry in Kodiak, AK seems like a lifetime ago.  Okay fine, maybe not a lifetime.  Perhaps I'm exaggerating.

We left Alaska on June 11th.  As I'm writing this, it's about 7 weeks, and 4,000-ish miles later.

I guess it makes sense that I'd be feeling tired.

We spent about 3 weeks in an extended stay Marriott while we house hunted. It was exactly what we needed and wasn't a bad spot to park ourselves while we started the process of finding a new place to live.


Our temporary digs

While we scoured the area for Pugbull friendly housing, we managed to clock our first California hike.  It was...hot.

We thought the trail would lead us down to the river where Cheety could take a dip to cool off, but it wasn't quite close enough for him to take a swim.

We'll just say that this family isn't quite acclimated from Alaska weather just yet!  We didn't almost kill the dog.  I swear.



We finally secured a rental property after an unexpectedly competitive 3 week search for a house. Who knew Sacramento rentals were such a hot commodity?? We sure didn't.

So, I'm thankful we found the place we're in.  It's a cute neighborhood & it's walk able and bike able to restaurants, pubs, live music, and Trader Joe's.  I can't tell ya how happy I am to be back in the land of Boar's Head.  That's one of those items you don't know you'll miss until you can't have it!  It's the little things.

Our cute, little house in East Sacramento
 
We've been living as temporary minimalists while we wait for our household goods to be delivered. It's the old house camping scenario, with camping cookware, fold-up camp furniture and an air mattress to tide us over.

Which brings me back to my original point.  The short of it is - I'm ready for this PCS to be done now.  I'd like to get my life back together.  I'd like to get our stuff back.  I'm tired of living out of a duffle bag. 

I want my couch.  A bed would be nice.  Maybe a normal-sized chair or two.  I know...wah, wah.


When this whole 'rip up my existence and relocate' party starts to get old, I remind myself of something very simple.

It's all temporary. 

And this unfamiliar place that's supposed to be home will slowly start to feel like home.  And this sense of prolonged transition will end.

And most importantly, I'll get my couch back.

Ta-ta for now.