i have. an announcement.

dramatic enough?  i may have stolen my own thunder by posting on facebook a few days ago, but if you hadn't read, i'm moving!

my new 'landlord' :D

the truth is, i'm not moving that far, so let me explain why it's a big deal.

my current roommate and i have been living together since april of 2009.  it's had it's ups and downs as we've discovered that we are not ideal roommates (though i think a friendship is possible once we are no longer living together), so there have been some challenges and some confrontations.  but, it was the first place i 'settled' into in california that felt like home. i love our house and i have loved knowing that cordy (the canine apple of my eye) was safe and looked after during my frequent road warrior-ing.

truthfully, despite the challenges, i probably would have stayed until i ultimately leift the state of california. but, last summer my roommate got engaged, so i knew that i had to figure out what my next step was.

a little short on wall space, but i'm obsessed
with the natural light my new room will
be getting!

the challenge for me was that i really am ready to head back east.  i've had that 'feeling' that i get, that a big change was coming, but every time i took a step in that direction, i got another 'feeling' that i needed to cool my jets for awhile.

being the control freak that i am, i have been filled with fear and trepidation. and it was amplified even further when the roomie and fiancee decided to get married in february so that he could reenlist in the military with the guardianship of his son already worked out.  and, because roomie is a teacher, the plan was (is) that she would stay in california until august, after their official reception, then join the hubs in las vegas.

i had a deadline, and it felt like it was coming fast. too fast. but every time i tried to move in one direction, i got stopped in my tracks. just kept getting that 'feeling' to hold my horse at the get and get ready to run.  and, as is so often the case, i get it now.

a couple of weeks ago, i got a text message from one of my favorite california friends -- you may recognize her from my many nerd forays (comic con, wonder con, haunted play, etc.).  she had been looking at houses to buy, on and off, for over a year. one week she might be looking here in california, and the next month in hawaii.

i'll admit that  i had fantasies that she would buy a place here, with two bedrooms and a fully fenced yard (for the dog), and that she would invite me to live with her. but as time passed, i chalked it up to a pipe dream.

living room, dining room, kitchen

according to her text, she had gone to look at a house in the long beach area (about twenty minutes north of where i am now), and she had kind of fallen for it.  a spark of hope was ignited, and later that night -- LATE that night -- i got a voicemail from her saying that she was going to put an offer on the place the following day.  even pipe dreams can come true!

after putting an offer down, and accepting the counter-offer, she officially invited me to come live with her in the 3 bedroom 2 bathroom bungalow with a fully fenced backyard.  i, of course, said yes. then got on my knees to say a prayer of gratitude.

it's everything i could have hoped for, and i am still in a state of awe that it all fell together so neatly.  while i am still hoping to get back east eventually, i am so thankful to have the burden of not knowing what was next, lifted from my shoulders. i don't know that i realized quite how heavy it was until it was gone. i feel lighter and ready to move tomorrow!

but partly in an effort not to leave my current roommate hanging for too long and partly because of my travel schedule, i will be a long beach resident come july 1st.  in a way, i'll be celebrating my own kind of freedom this july 4th. after spending the last couple of years feeling stagnant, i have lots of good reasons to hope that that chapter has finally closed.  let's see what the next one has in store!