Going Away Party

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Very early Saturday morning, I had my first garage sale. Let me just say: Without Lauren, I probably would have gone nuts. She came over briefly the night before with sustenance and preparations. I thought I would be ok - since Fugro first told me they would be potentially sending me away for two years, I had been mentally prepared - making plans for what I wanted to keep, store, take and toss. I even bought little colored stickers! But man, I was scrounging the night before. At 5:30 am I woke up to open the garage, and Lauren was there with coffee at 5:45. We pulled everything out and it soon began. My dresser, coffee table and a shelf were the first to go, giving me $60 to start. Lauren was able to flag down passing motorists and pushing sales. The big stuff went pretty quickly, thankfully, and some of the little things I never thought would interest people were gone. It was very productive. Between the sale and my friends taking my other furniture, I believe I made about $1,200.

I took Shelbi to my last Toki noodle meal - if you have not been to Toki and like ramen noodles, this is the place to be. It is located in the plaza at Johnson Theatre. My favorite is the volcano ramen - great as leftovers too! Then I came home and tried to some cleaning. Oh, I went grocery shopping to make tacos for the party, and as soon as I got home, people started to arrive.

It was a fun night, but I have to blame Reina here for making me cry! 😊 We were very nostalgic and she told me how much she'll miss me, and I guess that's when it was finally starting to hit home: I was leaving. I have never in my life lived anywhere for more than 5 years and I was in southern California for almost 10. When I was home with my mom for so long over the past 8 months, I realized when I flew back to California that THIS was my home. And finally, FINALLY, when I have a place to truly call home, I leave? Yeah, apparently, I cried like a baby and when I woke up the next morning, my eyes were swollen shut.

FYI: The best hangover cure ever is to take yourself to the first movie of the day ($5.75), buy a popcorn with no butter, and a big coke, and sit in the cool theatre to relax in the dark for a while. It gets you up and out and the salty and soda make you feel better. However, I also recommend not to see high action movies; The Avengers was great, but I was covering my ears for more than half the movie!

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Photos

Malibu Work peeps
Carl, Chris, Alexis, Andrew and Reina (who used to work at Bing Yen with us)