Our little apartment that was so endearing to us at the beginning has become a nightmare. There were SO many problems with it when we moved in. To name a few:
- the bathroom sink was totally clogged. Water would sit there for hours before draining, plus this black water gunk kept gurgling up from the pipes when not draining.
- the heater would not turn on. And it was REALLY cold when we got back - in the 30's at night.
- in fact, the pilot lights in our entire house go out several times a day (in the heater, oven, and stovetop). When this happens, the entire house ends up smelling like gas.
- the previous tenants had the brilliant idea to, as the bedroom gets lots of sun in the morning, to PAINT the bedroom window - solid black. It looked super ghetto. We mentioned it to the manager, who didn't do anything for several days, so we went to Home Depot, spent $25 on things to try and take it off ourselves, then spent 2 and a half hours trying to scrape it off. Just in time for the manager to tell us that he had called a window cleaner to come do it for us the next week.
- oh, and another little problem I like to call the "Cricket Infestation from Hell." Our apartment is infested with big, brown, hairy crickets. We find them everywhere - in the bedroom, in the bathroom, in the living room (bouncing across the couch and coffee table), and in the kitchen - crawling around on our dishware. It. Is. DISGUSTING.
, (Near actual size)
We've found over 20 of those little dreams around the house over the past few weeks. I repeat: dis-gusting. On a happier note, I am finally putting up photos from the wedding/honeymoon! First, some shots from the week before and pre-wedding behind-the-scenes shots.
I spent the week in Torrance, while Clay visited his family in Porterville. Of course, I got in some quality time with my family, which includes the dogs, Roxy and Chloe.
(Chloe got to wear a veil for a night since she never had a real wedding of her own.)
My dad, grandma and I got to go to the Los Angeles Temple to do an endowment session together, which was very enjoyable.
I gave Courtney and Emily their presents to thank them for being my bridesmaid and junior bridesmaid.
Eventually, the day before the wedding rolled around. Mom, Courtney, Emily and I had a "girls day" going out to dinner and getting our nails done.
We spent the night before in a beautiful hotel in Newport Beach. I woke up at 7 a.m., definitely unable to go back to sleep. It was time to start getting ready anyway. We had a makeup artist come and glamorize us before the photos started.
Courtney helped me with my hair, and Emily helped me get my dress buttoned up.
We took a few photos in the hotel room and around outside before heading over to the temple.
(For all the photos of the wedding and reception, check out my facebook albums).
Clay and I had a wonderful couple of days in Long Beach, California after our reception.We spent Saturday exploring our hotel, the Hotel Maya, and the afternoon at the Long Beach Aquarium, then had a really nice dinner at a cool place on the marina called Parker's Lighthouse.
The Maya was beautiful, and very modern. Maybe a tad too modern at times (as evidenced by this firepit of orange glass chips). But very pretty, and very clean. We had an awesome view from our balcony window.
And made sure to take superhero shots next to our building. Because we could.
They even left us newlyweds a gift consisting of a disposable camera and sparkling wine. Which didn't do much for us, seeing as how we don't drink. But a nice gesture nonetheless.
We hit up the Aquarium, and it was so fun. AND we made sure to take lots of pictures.
The next day, we went to church, and hung out for the most part.
Monday, we hit up the Queen Mary. It was interesting to learn all the history behind the ship. We even did the audio tour.
Clay with his history face on.
Us being gross. :)
Tuesday, we went to the L.A. Temple and did a session together.
That night we went to Mulligans to play mini golf. I stomped Clay in the go-karts... but he stomped me in everything else. We took a short trip to the beach to enjoy the sunset and read a book together.
We went to Benihana for dinner, which was SO GOOD. Definitely one of our favorite dinner locations.
Wednesday, the last day of our honeymoon, was spent at Disneyland.
Thursday was our reception in Porterville. Putting on my dress was a little bit more difficult after a week of eating out at delicious restaurants. :)
We've been back here for about a month now. We'll be moving again soon to Wymount. We're hoping it all works out soon! And I'm going to try to be more regular with the blog to keep everyone updated on our goings-on. :)
