babble mix

Almost

I can’t believe it’s been exactly a month since we first arrived here in our new place, our apartment in Torrance, CA. Torrance is located in the southwest area of Los Angeles county.

Our Apartment (PICTURES!)
We’re now 80% settled! Thank God for Tito Ike’s pick-up truck which we used to haul our mangled, murdered boxes (lesson learned: never buy “shipping” boxes from Staples.) from Tita Eileen’s to our apartment, and to haul 2nd hand furniture we bought through craigslist (thank God for craigslisters!). Sa kama na kami natutulog, hindi na sa airbed.

We occupied 2 rooms out of the 3-bedroom apartment. One big room kay Tito Ike, the other room sa amin, and the 3rd room we made into Nino’s office (since he works from home) slash guest room.

I already bought utensils, a couple of pans, a pot and other cooking tools to furnish my kitchen. Oh my goodness, my kitchen. There’s so much space!!!! And there are cupboards and drawers and cabinets! Woohoo!!!

It’s all coming together. Happiness! Isa na lang ang kulang – dining table and chairs. For now, we make do with the kitchen counter. We bought a couple of stools para pag kakain kami, Nino stays put (he used to walk around while eating nung nakatayo pa kami habang kumakain, so don’t blame me kung bat sya payat ha).

Our Area
On our first few weeks, Nino and I went exploring around our apartment. We soon discovered that all our favorite stores were just 5 to 10 minutes away! Lahat ng dinadayo pa namin noon from Manhattan (Queens, New Jersey, etc). at schine-schedule para puntahan, nandito lang. Everything is so accessible – groceries, drug stores, fast food, real food, even Filipino food!

A few minutes away from our apartment is Carson, a city with probably more Filipinos than any other race (or so it looks that way). So expectedly, there is a Jollibee, a Chow King, a Red Ribbon, and a huge, horrible-smelling Pinoy grocery store called Seafood City. Syempre seafood city nga eh, di amoy RAW seafood (in other words, malansa) – so wag na magreklamo diba?

The best part about this place is the BEACH!!!! Redondo Beach and Torrance Beach are just 10 minutes away from our place, with traffic. This is such a welcome change for us because we felt so deprived of the beach last year in New York. As much as Nino and I wanted to go to one of the best beaches in NJ, we couldn't because we had no beach gear (chairs and stuff), not to mention a PLACE in our apartment or the car in which to put beach gear, so we settled with friends’ pool parties over the summer.

Also, because of the beach breeze, it’s a bit cooler over at our place, compared to inland LA weather, especially over the summer. It's like our place is Tagaytay, inland LA is Metro Manila.
Kaya eto ngayon, papakasawa kami sa beach (in our own one-of-a-kind, pinagtitinginang beach chair)!
---------------

Everything is just almost perfect right now - spacious apartment, breezy, sunny weather, everything accessible – with ALMOST being the operative word.

Katabi kasi namin ay equipment rental ng mga CAT and all those huge trucks, kaya when you look out the window, parang construction ang view, maingay pa pag umaga. Sabi nga nung isang bisita namin, “Ay may new construction sa katabi niyo?”

Sabi ko lang, “Hindi po, equipment rental yan.”

Di bale, maganda naman ang view beyond that – you just have to look a bit further for a nicer view of the Palos Verdes mountains at night.

So, it’s all good. I can settle for close-to-perfect. Oh happy day!

posted by meL @ 4:39 PM