Monthly Archives: June 2011

Updates–Kevin’s new job, our new apartment, etc.!

Lots has been going on in the Delmar-Edmonds household that I thought it was worthy of a blog post!

Kevin:

In late May Kevin graduated from the College of Alameda’s Aviation Mechanics program!  And after two years of evening classes (Monday through Friday, 4:30-10:30) we’re finally able to spend time together on weeknights!

For months leading up to his graduation we weren’t sure where life would take us–would we stay in San Francisco?  Move to the East Bay?  Or even move back to Southern California?  We were open to any opportunity that life would throw at us, and we were lucky to get that opportunity so soon after Kevin’s graduation.  Just a week out of school Kevin’s professor let him know that Rolls Royce approached him and asked for the names of his top 5 students (Kevin being one of them).  The following day Kevin got a phone call and was asked to come in for a job interview that same afternoon.  He showed up and was basically handed the job offer right then and there!  So he put in his one week notice (thanks to the understanding administration at his previous job!) and started working on jet engines the week following our trip down to Long Beach!  He’s been there almost two weeks now and comes home everyday with a smile on his face, so he is exactly where he’s supposed to be.  I couldn’t be more proud of him or happier for him–he worked his rear off in the program and I am so happy that other people recognize how freakin’ smart that guy is.  🙂

Move to the East Bay:

After a few weeks of apartment hunting we finally decided on a place–a two bedroom apartment in Oakland!  We signed the lease yesterday and put our 30 days notice in and we’re getting more and more excited about the move across the bay!  Here’s a link to more-or-less where we are on Google Maps.  And here are some photos of the new place (they’re painting and putting in new carpet/flooring so it’s not completely done, but you get the picture)…

Kevin found a cool website that lets you create a floor plan for free, so here’s what the apartment basically looks like (click on photo to enlarge)!

The apartment building–it’s a 36 unit complex and we’re on the first floor in the back, right corner

We’re a block and a half from beautiful Lake Merritt!

A drive-by shot of the lake–you better believe I’ll be getting myself very acquainted with this lake for lots of long runs with Lola

Even before we signed the lease they already had our name on the intercom list!  So cute.

The front lobby with a really neat painting of Lake Merritt

The first bedroom (the one we think we’ll be staying in)

The window view from the bedroom–the yard area is basically private and we’re looking forward to putting in a garden!

The hallway from the first bedroom looking to the second bedroom (at the end of the hall) and the bathroom to the left/living room to the right

The bathroom–AKA Kevin’s favorite room of the apartment, haha

The second bedroom

The view out the window from the second bedroom, we see right into the patio of our neighbors

The kitchen–this is the one downside to the apartment and I’m not super happy about how stinkin’ small it is.  Plus it’s an electric stove. Bleh. But we’ll make do!

Our semi-private patio (where I’m standing taking the photo is the beginning of our neighbor’s patio, it’s a long shared walkway between all of the apartments)

The view from our patio down the walkway to all of our neighbor’s patios

We should be getting the keys in the next two weeks once it’s all painted and the floors are put in so a new update will be coming shortly!  🙂

Me:

The move across the bay means that my commute to work will change a bit, but luckily not too much.  We’re a 20 minute walk from the Lake Merritt BART station so I’ll most likely be making the walk every morning.  Then the BART ride to the Embarcadero station is about 15 minutes and the walk from Embarcadero to my work is another 20 minute walk.  I could take a bus to the BART then a bus from the BART to work but at least on the non-rainy days I think I’ll try my hand at a 40 minute walk to and from work.  Luckily the walk on both sides of the bay are beautiful–the lake is gorgeous and the walk along Embarcadero is pretty as well.

Other than the move, not much else is going on with me.  I’m going to be looking to connect with the Buddhist group that I’ve been pretty highly involved with in SF but I’m looking forward to making new connections.  Last week I got hit with an awful case of the stomach flu or food poisoning (not sure which)–I was out for three days and I had never been so sick in my whole life.  I’m just glad it’s all over!  🙂

Lola:

Now that Lola isn’t making her daily appearance on Pet Camp’s blog (because Kevin’s not working there anymore and he can’t take her to work like he used to) Lola’s got a new routine–I take her for a 15 minute walk before I leave for work, then she’s at home for 8 hours 🙁 , then Kevin comes home around 3pm and takes her out while they wait around for me to get home.  I’m hoping that once the move is over and we start to notice the bump in pay from Kevin’s new job we’ll be able to hire a dog walker for at least one of the days she’s home alone.  With the new place, though, she’ll have a lot more room to roam around so I think she’ll be a happy camper even being stuck at home.

Beka’s film screening: “Sick as a Dog”

Kevin and I, along with another Redlands alum Danielle, made the trip down to Palo Alto yesterday afternoon to see our friend Beka’s film screening!  She’s in her final year (more like final days) of the MFA program in documentary film and we had been anticipating seeing her film “Sick as a Dog” for months!  This was the same film that Lola helped out with (see blog post “Lola the movie star” here).

Stanford is such a gorgeous campus. We definitely need to make a visit here again soon.

The screening was at Annenberg Auditorium

When we arrived, just minutes before the event started, the theater was PACKED!  Danielle scores us three seats right in the middle of the theater and it turns out that who else was sitting right in front of us other than Beka herself!  It was meant to be.

Beka and her boyfriend Omar just a few minutes before the show

The films were incredible.  Danielle and I had attended Beka’s event last year when the students were all finishing their first year and it’s amazing to see how much they’ve grown in terms of their abilities and the film topics (therapy with horses, experiences of Korean-American deaf students in the Bay Area, a film about a Navajo punk rock band, and one about a Silicon Valley robot nerd who fell in love with a Nepalese woman over Skype and met her in Nepal a day before the wedding [all caught on film]).

The directors

Beka (with the mic)

They had a little reception outside afterwards where we were able to spend a few minutes with Beka and her family.

Beka and her mom, aunt and sister

Beka and Omar

Danielle, Beka, me and Kevin

Beka graduated today and we couldn’t be more proud of her!!!

Spring art show at Academy of Art

Carleigh invited me to the spring art show hosted by the university she works for which is an annual event that showcases the best of the best from their students.  The university offers degrees in just about everything so there was a lot to see.  I fell in love with a lot of the pieces shown and here are some of my favorites!

This is a painting. No joke.

Really neat advertisement

Carleigh thought I would really like this one. Turns out, I do! Hahah.

Brilliant 24 Hour Fitness ad

One of my favorite mixed media pieces

Favorite photograph

Animation

Carleigh and I LOVED this artist’s work.

The Urban Farmer (um, where can I get one of these?)

I want this.

Mia’s first birthday

Last weekend we were invited to the happy celebration of Mia’s first year on this planet!  Mika blew us away with the amazing decorations, it felt like we were stepping straight into a magazine spread!

The cutest “Happy Birthday” banner ever.

Orange and pink candies, cookies, and cake!

Mini milk bottles for the kiddos to have milk and cookies

The whole spread

Some cute family photos of the cutest family in Alameda…

This was taken just seconds before Mia snapped the elastic band on Matt’s party hat!  I wish we caught that on video. 😉

And lots of photos of little miss with her special birthday cake (made from scratch by Mika)…

Blowing out the candles with mom and dad

She’s thinking “I can get used to this!”

Grandmas and Daddy trying to get in on the birthday cake action…

I can’t get enough of that face!

An incredible neapolitan cake for the rest of us (made from scratch by Mika!)

The end result.

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