Let's Adapt!

Stomp stomp stomp

Bump bump bump

Knock knock knock 

These are the sounds we hear in the night. 

The first night in our new apartment was a bit of a rude awakening. The walls seem as though they were made of 8x10 sheets of paper all stapled together in the early 1960's. Our bedroom appears to be located within the bathroom of our upstairs neighbor's apartment. 

It was not a pleasant night. 

REALITY CHECK

Old scenario:  we are coming from our own tiny house where we had no direct neighbors atop a quiet hill on a dead end street. 

New scenario: we are living in an apartment complex with direct neighbors on three sides just off a busy street. 

Hmmmm......

LET'S ADAPT!

This adaptation business should really be old hat by now. I mean c'mon people! This team has traveled all over the globe, lived and visited various and sometimes questionable places and we can't even hang in our own city of San Francisco! 

WE NEED TO GET OUR ADAPT ON AND FAST!

How do we do this? Well our approach is as follows: 

1. As keenly pointed out by Brian we need to recall the time we lived with roommates. Yes, it's true we lived with other people after we were married. Sure it may have appeared weird and awkward at times but we were in transition until we found our own place. Check.

2. Play radio louder to drown out noise. Check.

3. Buy earplugs. Check.

4. Download peaceful noises/music to listen to at night. Check.

5. Bang on ceiling with a broom. Wait don't do that.

6. Buy a broom. I need one anyway. 

7. Stay out late and only come home when have to. Hmmm.. not so sure about that one.

8. Adapt. Check.

So adapting is going to take some time but we've been down this path before. 

And I'm sure there are a lot of good things that can come out of this like take for instance when looking for our next apartment, request top floor only. 

Here's a little inspiration to keep us going.

When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us.
Helen Keller

Even if that door of happiness keeps on opening and closing, opening and closing, opening and closing and opening and closing........ 

North Beach We Bid You Adieu

So long 

Farewell 

Something something something

Dancing - singing - dancing - singing

Repeat

Ok - you get the drift. 

This past weekend it was farewell to North Beach and hello Inner Richmond!

Funny that it's called Inner Richmond. Wonder why. 

Let's see what Wikipedia tells us: 

'The district was given its name by Australian immigrant and Japanese fine art dealer George Turner Marsh, one of the neighborhood's earliest residents, who called his home "the Richmond House" after Richmond, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia.^[2] The district was originally an expanse of rolling sand dunes. It was developed initially in the late 19th century'

Hmmmm....not that interesting really. Very well. 

Something more interesting that I learned recently is that my left arm is significantly weaker than my right. 

That cannot be. How did you learn such a thing you ask? 

Well I shall tell you. 

So Team Feth relocated to a new apartment in a new neighborhood within this same fine city of ours. As always we vowed to hire a company to move our things for us but never made any effort to make that a reality. Our conversation on the matter went a little something like this: 

Before the move:

'Maybe we should hire someone to move our stuff out of storage'

'Nah......we can do it there's not that much and we'll save money'

During the move: 

'What were we thinking - this sucks!?'

'I can't feel my arm...' (this is my quote of course)

After the move:

'Well we are never doing that again!'

'That's for sure, we're definitely hiring someone next time!'

My poor little left arm realized its maximum potential yesterday after lifting and carrying a large Crate and Barrel couch up a flight of stairs and down a long hallway (this is after moving boxes and other large items for 4 hours). 

Sure I tried to coach her on, motivate her to keep fighting. I even considered popping open a can of spinach (I was desperate). Brian even attempted to give her a good talking to but little lefty just couldn't muster enough strength to carry on. She officially deflated at 1:30pm yesterday afternoon.....

Fortunately through the miraculous healing powers of pizza, a beer and a good night's rest little left arm is back in action today - a bit sore but working nonetheless - whew!

So long

Farewell

Something something something 

All in all North Beach has been a fun part of town to live in, full of Italian eateries, supremo espresso cafes and crazy people that like to party here on the weekends. It's been interesting to say the least. 

Now we're off to a new neighborhood where we have more space, parking, equally amazing eateries and cafes to explore, parking and parking! 

Looking forward to the next adventure and here are a few moving tips to keep in mind for next time (if for some strange reason we don't hire anyone....)

This Hiatus Must Come To An End

I believe it was a fall day in September when you last heard from a member of Team Feth. It was as if we had closed all the doors, shut up the windows, pulled the blinds down and hung a sign that said 'out to lunch' but never came back. 

Well take that sign down silly because this hiatus has ended! 

The hiatus was unintentional to be honest. Sometimes life just happens and we get off schedule, mix up our routine and go with the flow. And this time around the flow took us back to the Midwest for a lovely spell. Much of October was spent stomping around at the old homestead of my parent's house in Indiana. B. Feth joined and then we skipped over to Ohio for more family fun. 

By the way a friend recently made the comment that Ohio is round on both sides and high in the middle.

What kind of a statement is that you ask????

 Just the same, the Team was bewildered by such a remark. Upon hearing this the husband and I looked at each other stumped. I couldn't recall learning that in school so I looked at B. with questioning eyes, 'Hey you're from Ohio what is our friend talking about here?'

Well....

O - HI - O

Moving along, after a delightful trip to the Midwest we ventured back to our favorite city, San Francisco. Before we knew it November was upon us and more family time ensued, accompanied with lots of food intake and football viewing.

Hello San Francisco!

That pretty much catches us up to today (without all the details and important stuff - think high level here people) a chilly rainy day in December. 

This morning I sit drinking my coffee, warmed by the flip-of-a-switch fireplace in our living room, listening to the fly by chatter of a flock of parrots, thinking about what's next. 

The hiatus is over. It's time for the next phase. 

Now which phase are we entering again?

It's interesting that we think of life as a series of phases, isn't it? 

Phase 1 = born. 

Phase 2 = childhood/paste eating.

 Phase 3 = teenage angst/pimples. 

Phase 4 = college/thinking you're an adult. 

Phase 5 = 20's (which were fun). 

Phase 6 = turning 30 (I'm still adjusting....).

Phase 6.1 = early 30's (I'm not really sure what happens here....). 

But I'm pretty certain we're in Phase 6.1, yeah that sounds about right. 

I think this is the phase where you have to really think and act like a grown up and consider doing grown up things like all the time. 

Wish us luck! 

Looking very adult, aren't we?!