What we've been up to...

I apologize for the delay in posting! Our internet was just set up today, so we're finally wired again! :) I know there are so many things I need to do and people I need to write to, but I wanted to post a quick update on what we've been up to since we arrived in California.

On Monday we arrived at our new townhouse around 11:00 and shortly after two of the basketball players from Saint Mary's came by to help us unload our truck. It was such a huge help and very much appreciated! I really doubt Karl and I would have been able to get some of the heavy things up to the third floor without their help...especially the couch, which proved to be difficult even for Karl and one of the basketball players. So...thanks to Ian and Wayne for their help!

Ever since then we've been unpacking boxes, setting up our new place, etc. One of the best things we've discovered so far is how WONDERFUL it is to have storage space!!!! We went from a 650 square foot apartment with one measly closet to a 1,400 square foot townhome with a garage, storage room, and tons of closets, cabinets, etc. It's so great to finally have the space to put all of our things. Karl and I were both commenting today on how amazing it is that all of this stuff actually fit in our old apartment! We are almost done unpacking everything and our next project will be hanging pictures, making a few more purchases for items such as curtains, a new shredder (our old one blew out just before we left Bloomington...probably because of the massive stack of papers I decided to shred all at once), etc.

Aside from setting up our new home, we've had a little time to explore the neighborhood and nearby businesses. Yesterday we decided to venture out in search of the Berkeley Bowl, a grocery store that we had both heard a great deal about. We went there on a Tuesday around 11:00 a.m. Now, as a former grocery store employee (two summers at Schnucks in high school and college!) I know that this is definitely not a "peak hour" for grocery stores. The Berkeley Bowl, however, was PACKED! We had a tough time finding a parking spot but finally found one nestled among several other Priuses, as well as compact Hondas, Toyotas, and other hybrids. SUVs seem to be very rare around here... Anyways, we went into the grocery store and couldn't believe how busy it was. We also couldn't believe the amount of produce available there! There must have been at least six or seven different kinds of peaches for sale, and I personally looked through at least five different bins of avocados! It is definitely the best place for fresh produce in this area. The best part is that it's just about two blocks from our place. They also had a variety of fresh bread, cheeses, and TONS of organic foods. We decided it would probably be too expensive to do our everyday grocery shopping there, but it's definitely a great option for specialty foods!

Our next great exploration took place this morning after we woke up. Last night we decided that we were both going crazy from not working out for the past week, so our next priority was finding a gym. We looked at several online and Karl read reviews of many of them on Yelp.com. We both decided that the Downtown Berkeley YMCA was the best choice for us. It is just 1.2 miles from our place and it has three different swimming pools, two basketball courts, a great weight room, two cardio rooms, and plenty of stretching rooms. In addition to all of that, I get an added bonus from working out there - they also have a "women's only" weight room, cardio room, and stretching room! We took a tour of the facility and immediately signed up for memberships. We would have stayed to get in our first workout, but we had to be home in time for the Comcast guy to come.

So....since we weren't able to work out at the Berkeley YMCA, Karl decided to take me through one of his "crossfit" workouts instead in the yard here at our place. WOW, it was TOUGH! I haven't done that type of exercise since my days as a competitive gymnast. For 36 minutes straight we did circuits of push ups, box jumps, double-jump jump ropes, sit-ups, squats, and dips. I could feel my legs turning to jelly by the end of it and now that it's a few hours later I can feel that all of my muscles are sore from the workout. It's a great feeling though and I'm excited to do a similar workout again later in the week. Although I usually log workouts of at least an hour and a half a day, I'm not used to the circuit exercises that we did today! It was definitely reminiscent of gymnastics conditioning, and made me remember what great shape I was in back then.

Well, I'm ready to go to bed! Next up for the Eaglemans will be going to the YMCA for our first workout tomorrow, checking out a movie theater in Berkeley tomorrow to catch "The Dark Knight", going to an A's game this weekend (we can ride the BART from our place and get there in 20 minutes!), and hopefully making a quick day trip up to Napa or Sonoma next week. I'll keep everyone posted! :)