T minus 4 days and counting....

Loan should fund today, we should close tomorrow. We hit one last minute snag about 2hours ago, but hopefully it's all figured out. I'm keeping everything crossed -- eyes, fingers, legs, you name it.

The long weekend felt soooo long. We were busy little bees, but it was still nice to have 3 days off.

Thursday:
Since we had our final walk-through in the morning, we carpooled into work (fun!) and when we finally left for the evening around 5pm, we quickly drove home and made a last minute reservation at Mr. Marcel for one last steak dinner before the big move. On our walk over, we figured that we've shared at least a dozen or so dinners, celebrating various occasions, entertaining friends or just because. We're really gonna miss this place.

While Jim ventured out and ordered the NY steak, I stuck to my tried and true filet mignon and gratin potatoes. In fact, I don't think I've ever ordered anything else there. Ha! So good, as always. After polishing off a bottle of wine, we made it back to the apartment and watched the results show for SYTYCD. The right couples were in the bottom three this week. I'm sorta sad to see Kourtini and Matt go, but they weren't going to win in the long run.

Friday:
Our 4th of July started off pretty well. We both woke up early-ish and walked over to The Farm for breakfast outside. The huevos rancheros totally hit the spot, even if it was about a billion degrees outside already.

After breakfast, I managed to convince Jim that driving to an even hotter city was a good idea. Our destination - Restoration Hardware Outlet in Camarillo. I had read online that their outlet stores are full of good stuff and everything in the store was an additional 20% off in honor of the holiday, so I thought it was a good time to check it out.

An hour later we arrived at the outlet sprawl and made our way to RH. Not a huge store, but it was jam-packed with all sorts of furniture, linens, lighting, hardware, etc. Right there in the front of the store was the outdoor chaise lounges I had been drooling over online. Granted, they were a different color, but they were heavily discounted and had no discernible flaws. We weighed the pros and cons of the color change, but ultimately decided that it would work out well in the backyard, so we snatched them up. They were delivered that afternoon and are now sitting all wrapped in plastic in our apartment living room. We can only imagine what the delivery guys were thinking dropping off outdoor lounge furniture to a place devoid of any outdoor living space. ;)

I also found the coverlet that matches the bedding set I have my eye on in the correct color/size for more than 60% off. I can't recommend this place highly enough. Sure, some stuff has flaws, but there is a whole lot there that is in beautiful condition for a pretty decent discount.

The rest of the day was spent packing. So exciting, I know. We opted for good 'ol Baja Fresh for dinner washed down with Framboise for me and Stella for him. By the time dinner was done, neither one of us had enough energy to walk outside and watch the fireworks across the street. Ah well, we heard them, which was plenty.

Saturday/Sunday:
Frankly, these 2 days blurred together for me. Jim had to go into the office and I spent the time at home deep-cleaning the second bathroom and the kitchen -- we really want to recoup as much of the security deposit as possible -- doing miscellaneous packing/organizing to break up the cleaning and several loads of laundry. Fun. I also managed to fit a 3 mile walk on Sunday and downloaded some new music to my ipod throughout the weekend. A marathon of Law and Order: CI and SVU episodes on USA as well as Center Stage (I love this movie!) kept me company as I puttered around the apartment.

Hope everyone had a great holiday weekend!