Okay so we got moved in on Friday, but then we spent the complete rest of the weekend trying to find furniture. We went everywhere from Pinellas Park to Tampa, to Madeira Beach, and we even got completely turned around in Bradenton/Sarasota in search of furniture. And we still don't have anything...but it's coming!
For those who don't know my awesome boyfriend has a very unforgiving eye for perfection (Lauren, I think it's an engineer thing). At times this is very useful, but at other times (read, when selecting furniture) it's an absolute pain. Chris got his heart absolutely set on the Tommy Bahama Rumba Del Sol living room collection a couple of months ago. I admit, the furniture is stunningly gorgeous with intricate carvings, spiraled legs, and an almost captivating mahogany finish, but dear God it is hard to find since it was phased out about a year ago. In Chris' opinion the coffee table and media center need to match. Well how do you match a reddish colored mahogany? You match it with the same collection. Too bad, we scoured the internet and called every Tommy Bahama dealer in Florida and N.C., and even one in Oregon, without being able to locate the media center in the Rumba collection. That was until we met Adrian.
Adrian is a wonderful man who works at a furniture chain named Hudson's down the street from us in Clearwater. We had given up all hope of getting the Tommy Bahama collection and had gone to his store to see what else was available. We happened to mention the collection to him, and he noticed he had one media center in stock, but he couldn't locate the store it was in. I gave him my cell phone number, and he said he'd look for us. We laughed assuming that it was still a very lost cause and that we'd get our hearts broken again if we even thought about it. I had put it out of my mind until yesterday afternoon when Adrian called me at work. I called him back on break, and somehow he had found it. I paid for it over the phone, and when I got home, Chris bought the cocktail table and the end table. We're still looking for the bookcase, which we hope to use as a bar, and the bistro table. Everything should arrive next Saturday, and we cannot wait!
Before we knew that we were getting the Rumba stuff we bought a leather sofa on Saturday that would match all of the other furniture we were looking at. The sofa was set to be delivered tomorrow until Adrian called. Last night we realized that the sofa will not match the furniture at all, and I had to spend almost an hour this afternoon canceling the order and the delivery. We ran out tonight to begin looking for another sofa, but it's looking like it's going to be at least an 8 week process if we want to get exactly what we want. And so we're going to have someone move our old sofa back to the new apartment for the time being. We have a lovely Welsh woman working with us to find a sample of the Rumba wood and a leather sofa to match. If I can happen across a lady from Wales in Clearwater, then surely we can find a sofa somewhere. And so the saga continues.
In other moving news, the apartment is beautiful and humongous compared to what we used to live in. We have two ceiling fans, one in the bedroom, and one in the sun room. We have one huge window in the living room and another large window on the other wall next to the big window. We have a huge window in the bedroom, and we even have valet trash pickup outside our door Sunday-Thursday. The parking is great, the dog park is small but comes with a bench for the people and complimentary toys for the pooch, and the landscaping is great with a lot of palm trees. The best part is that Bogart has yet to find any cat business, and I haven't even seen a cat since we moved in!!!! Across the street is a super target, a pizza place, our bank, Petsmart, and 2 Starbucks not that I drink coffee. To top it all off I bought a sunpass mini that is about as big as a credit card and sticks to my windshield. To go through tolls without freaking out about change is awesome. I drive over the bay every day to get to work and home, and the drive is quick with hardly any stops. I left at 6:50 this morning, and I clocked in at 7:15! We do have snowbirds and spring breakers right now, plus the Phillies spring training in Clearwater and the Yankees in Tampa, but it's a little cool for the beach right now at 66 degrees, so I just avoid going anywhere other than across the street on the weekend and it works out okay. Besides everybody will be gone in a couple of weeks, and then it will just be us and a beach town.
As for Bogart, he's adjusting nicely. He still gets weird when he hears people, and he wants to walk everywhere and sniff everything, but he seems happy. Living here is like living in a proper neighborhood. We have old couples, and kids, and newly weds, a couple of recent graduates, and people like me and Chris. Bogart's getting used to all the different people, but he's been friendly so far.
Alright, well I need to jump in the shower and head to bed. We're still both exhausted, and it's looking like this moving thing is going to be in the works for another couple of months. Over all though we're happy to be here. Chris gets home at a sane time now, and I don't have to leave any earlier than usual to get work on time. And then there's the fact that we're nine miles from the beach and about one mile from the bay. We do live on Gulf to Bay after all. Sorry the post was so long, but a lot has been happening. Below is our furniture and above is our apartment complex. I love where I live - not many people can say that. Goodnight.
No comments:
Post a Comment