Our New Digs (Oakland, 2016)

So, I mentioned in my Christmas post that Josh and I moved. Quick recap, we were living in Pleasanton before.

Ah, the idyllic historical Main Street of an American suburban town. However, it was so so so so far from San Francisco.

What you see above is if we drove to SF. However  travelling there by train, it would take me about 90 mins each way. That wasn’t so bad when I was only going to Uni. But when I started work, the hours just became ridiculous. I would have to wake up at 6:00 am to catch the 6:40 am train to get to work at 8 am. I would work until 12 pm. Then I would go to uni for the afternoon/evening and get home around 7 pm. That’s a 12 hour day with about 3 hours of travelling. Since I was working and more importantly earning money, Josh and I decided to move to Oakland which is much much closer to the city. We moved… to Lake Merritt (Oakland).

This place is incredible. And this is the bridge I walk over every morning to get to the train station. We are now only 12 miles from SF, more importantly, only a $25 uber ride back home. Life is just so amazing! So how about a couple of pictures I’ve actually taken.

Josh and I live right next to a park which is practically on Lake Merritt, separated only by a road.

I had to take this picture looking over a fence. We live at the back of a little compound of townhouses. The great thing is we live looking at some wonderful trees so it makes us feel like we’re living on the edge of a forest.

A manageable forest, one that will not produce snakes, bears, mountain lions etc. The picture above is looking out from our front stoop. And the picture below is our front stoop.

I’d like to take a moment here to draw your attention to the glorious weather pictured. It is the middle of winter and we have to wear jackets and scarves BUT the sun always shines like this. I guess that’s why they call California the Sunshine State. Anyway, back to the house. Our kitchen is nothing special. Small but functional.

But the greatest thing about it is our spice rack…

Have you seen anything so amazing??? I am a little worried about what happens when we have an earthquake but I’ll cross that rubble when I come to it. I swear I’m going to make sure I have one these in every house I live in from now on. Our dining area has got some really lovely bookshelves.

Josh and I will be getting a new dining table. We’re looking out for something that catches our eye. Our lounge room is fantastic with its own little fireplace.

Ok, I know we’ve blocked off the fireplace with our couch. But California is so air conscious that you’re only allowed to burn wood a few days in the year. So really the fireplace is useless most of the year except when we’re hanging our Christmas stockings and putting up our Christmas cards. So blocked off it stays. We have the cutest little staircase.

I will bring your attention to the record player sitting out. I got that for Josh for Christmas. This section still needs some work. We need to get a table to go over the amp and for the record player to sit on. And that footstool shouldn’t be there but ignore all of that, concentrate on how cute the stairs are. And yes, both Josh and I have already fallen down them at least once. It turns out that new carpet is very very slippery. We now move up the stairs…

We have two bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs. No one needs pictures of the bathroom. The master bedroom is huge albeit quite bare.

We still haven’t figured out what to do with it but every morning, we wake up to this.

It is simply glorious. I never feel like I’m getting out of the wrong side of the bed. We have a spare bedroom as well.

This is the guest bedroom and although it doesn’t have as good a view, it would look so much better if one of you filled it up.

Anyway, that’s the new digs which Josh and I are loving. Moving into the New Year, I am very thankful for all the love and support you have all shown us. I know that we wouldn’t have accomplished everything this year without all of your help.

Happy New Year everyone and I cannot wait to share my adventures from 2017 with you.

Love Sim (& Josh)