the end of operation downsize, phase I

phew, we the hub and his folks finally got the thimble completely empty and cleaned out.  they did the majority of the work while i hung out with the bean at the new pad.  heh. 

so yesterday, i scheduled the final walk-through with the apartment manager, who's a super sweet lady, and decided to bring her a little treat. 

not to mention, we were missing a key, and i was hoping that cupcakes would help us avoid a replacement key fee.  heh.

i decided to take a quick look at the empty apartment before i called her up to do business, and as i walked through the sad, lonely rooms, i found myself getting a little sad over our departure.  silly, right?  but despite the close quarters and the noisy neighbors and everything else that comes with apartment living, we had a lot of really good times in here.  last time the place looked like this, operation downsize had just begun.

when she came up, i told her about my weird mixed feelings and she said that just about every tenant she'd ever done a final walk-thru with felt the same way.  i guess i'm not as sappy as i thought.  or i am, but everyone else is too.  haha!  and i was even more surprised to find that the hub had similar feelings - and he hated the thimble even more than i (thought i) did! 

oh!  and i finally got my haircut.  yay!  i'd had to reschedule it from last week, since it was really bad timing with all of the moving and stuff, and i was excited to chop some of my mane off.  when it's long enough to put into a ponytail, it's too long.

before:

and after:

wow, i look tired and old in the supposedly new-and-improved-me shot.  dang.  but my hair looks fabulous, thanks to my dear pal rochelle.  if you're in the san gabriel valley-ish area and need a good cut at a super reasonable price, i HIGHLY recommend her. 

heh.  i haven't plugged rochelle in ages.  but she really is wonderful, and i love her.  she's become a friend in the three years i've been going to her, and she's such a sweetheart as well as a fantastic stylist.  tell her i sent ya.

best part of my day (aside from my sweet new 'do)?  coming home and finding this:

the bean starfishes like no other (thanks to thatgirl for introducing me to that term).