Moving to Cali: Reno (Biggest Little City)

Like I said last Monday, Reno deserves it's own post. Erik and I are not big gamblers so we weren't looking to go to any casinos in Reno.  We picked it mostly because it was a convenient stopping point before the final haul to Santa Clara. Plus, I was curious about Reno. Well, Reno delivered. We definitely got quite the experience.  Turns out we were there for the "Street Vibrations" fall rally. For bikers. It shut down the entire main drag, which made for some cool photos.  Needless to say, we stuck out like sore thumbs! We were seriously the only yuppies there.  I found myself wishing I was wearing more leather.

Also, we found out that the day we left (the night of) there was a gang fight involving the Hell's Angels and someone was shot! And THEN the drama followed us to San Jose and there was another gang shooting in retaliation for the shooting in Sparks, NV. Fast forward to a week after that: Erik and I got stuck at a traffic light when hundreds of bikers in a funeral procession for their gang member blocked traffic for minutes. My thought? Where the hell did we move to?! I thought we were moving to Silicon Valley not gangland+graffiti-covered underpasses. Obviously, I'm feeling less afraid of where I live, but initially I was seriously concerned. I do feel less safe here than I did in NY, but that's mostly because there aren't as many people around and I've watched one too many episodes of Criminal Minds.

At any rate, the photos:

Reno was much smaller than expected.

If only we weren't married...

Look how abandoned the street is! It reminds me of one of the final scenes from The Stand in Las Vegas. That may be because it came out when I was 11 and may be one of my favorite movies. I know that's weird. Also among the top, The Ten Commandments...

Posted without comment.

Too bad this place is closed. A climbing wall up the side of a building? Coolness.

One of the only photos we felt comfortable taking at the bike show. We didn't want to seem like we were being disrespectful/ cause a confrontation.

"Welcome Street Vibrations"

Photo with a bike.

I'm not sure what the connection is between a storm trooper, Wall St. and Reno or why is was on a trash can.

We gambled 15 minutes with $4. We (okay, Erik. I lost my $2 within 30 seconds) were up $16 for a few minutes and then lost it all. We also got approached by creepy guys asking for money. I just told them I didn't have any cash. It was so awkward and further solidified our opinions about casinos. I just find them depressing. Maybe I'll change my mind when I eventually make it to Vegas.

Looks like a normal town.

Major General Jesse Lee Reno
Reno was named for him in 1868 when "Lake's Crossing, a growing community along the Truckee River in Northern Nevada, was parceled into a proper town site by the Central Pacific Railroad." (from the plaque at the site) He was a civil war hero for the Union and defended the nation's capitol against Confederates.

Requisite courthouse photo.

Sweatshirt for a Rib Cook Off with a Pig... so wrong yet so hilarious.
I'm still sad I left it in the rental car when I returned it! I kept forgetting to call. :( At least it was only $10 because it was from a previous year and at least I have a photo.

Nothing Says Date Night Like Executing Some Wills

So, my new friend J asked me if I knew anyone who could help her set up her and her husband's wills because they have a baby on the way and want to provide for guardianship should they pass.  Of course, I said I would check out my firm's resources. Unfortunately, with bar study, I hadn't had a chance to log into my firm's intranet and was feeling pretty bad about not following through with something I said I would do. During my lecture on wills, I was enlightened about this wonderful thing call a "statutory will" here in California.  I'm going to say right now that this is no way is meant to be legal advice. I'm merely describing my own personal experience with California's statutory will. Yes, that's in bold.  I'm dead serious. At any rate, after looking into the statutory will, it looked perfect for my friend and looked perfect for Erik and me.  I told J about it and put the offer out there that I would still look for someone for her, but this document had what she was looking for and would save her some money.  Apparently, her husband's aunt had given her the same advice. The way it works is that California provides a pre-printed form that you fill out in your handwriting. It was very simple.  If you look at the picture, I tabbed it for Erik so he knew where to fill things out. We decided to do it over a glass of wine because we're romantic like that.

Well, my friend decided to do it too.  We had planned for a double date this past weekend so they came over to our apartment first, and we witnessed and signed each others wills. Hot Saturday night, huh? The wills needed to be witnessed and signed by two people not taking under the will so we thought it would be perfect. After that, we went out to dinner at San Pedro Square Market (new trendy cafeteria-type place in town) and then dessert at a wine bar. It was a pretty awesome night, and I truly am happy I made some friends here finally! Oh, and I'm happy that Erik and I have wills now.  I think the next plan is going to be to execute holographic codicils that provide for the situation if we die at the same time. The statutory wills didn't get that complicated, and we want to make sure that our estates don't fall into intestacy (if I'm remembering California survival statutes properly... hmm... note to self: go over my notes for wills). For Erik, it's fine because his parents would take his share of our assets, but I would rather my mom not get anything if I die.  I would rather it go to my brothers (not that I have anything to give right now, but you know). At any rate, that part is not going to be done until after the bar exam.  Until then, we'll just have to try not to die at the same time.  I know, happy Valentine's day to everyone. :P

Division of Household Chores

E and I have lived together a sum total of a little over 2.5 years (obviously this is subtracting the year we lived apart).  Before we lived long distance from each other and really before we moved to Boston (and I was a stay-at-home wife for a month and 1/2), Erik and I were in a really great groove.  Sundays were chore days and we each had our own tasks.  My preference would have been chores first thing Saturday morning so we could enjoy the clean apartment for the rest of the weekend but marriage is about compromising.  In contrast to my point of view, E's POV is that he has 2 days to do it so he'll stretch it out the entire weekend. This has been the subject of many fights and I assume it will continue to be.  He also does not like doing any chores on Fridays (but who can really blame him for that one).  Because I find cleaning cathartic (and honestly waaay better than bar study more recently), I end up with more chores and although this isn't completely equitable, I'm okay with that.

The biggest hurdle to overcome when dividing up housework is not getting into the nagging wife or "mother" role or, in the resister's case, the "petulant child" role.  It kills any romance. Seriously.  When we first moved in together, there was definitely an adjustment period.  I'm very organized and clean by nature—Erik is not necessary messy but more just doesn't see things or prefers to do other things with his time (in grad school, that was working in the lab).  The odd thing is that he prefers it to be clean but just needs help seeing the things that need to be straightened up.  At the beginning, before we sat down and divvied the chore list up, I would get angry at him and he would be, like, "it looks fine to me!" So, we talked about it and came up with a list of chores that we could each do every weekend (sometimes pushing things off if grad school was too insane).  Fortunately, a lot of the things I really disliked Erik would do and vice-versa.  Erik also told me that he really likes lists.  Rather than me tell him what I wanted to do, he would rather I put it in list form and just hand it to him.  Made him feel better about getting nagged, I guess. :) 

So, every weekend, I would make a list of everything that needed to get done that weekend with two columns for him and me.  Recently, and through some pinspiration (credit: keight, I totally stole this word from her because it's amazing) having to do with calendars and menus in frames, I came up with a similar idea for our chore list.  Our daily and weekend chores have little variation so I opened up Word, made these puppies and then put them into document frames we had lying around:

The font that I used was Zapfino.  I downloaded it ages ago from a free font website to make our honeymoon album.  Thought the font would bring some good vibes to the chores.

I put them up in the kitchen next to our cork board (used for coupons, apt. notices, etc.).  Also, this way they are in a visible place but aren't glaringly obvious for when we eventually make new friends and then invite them over. 
Side note: I've had that poster on the left since I was 11 years old.  I'm still impressed with my 11 year old self.

I know they are rather plain jane but I wanted to do something quick and dirty.  I kind of like the simplicity of them.  And besides, it makes the chores easier to read!  As you can tell from the photos, we color-coded them (pink and blue—how typical).  Since I'm the family "manager", I take care of assigning chores on a daily basis (usually the night before).  These have saved me a bunch of time so far and are more environmentally friendly that using a notepad every time!

Anyway, I'm sure all of you are wondering what Erik thought of all this.  I, frankly, was really concerned that he would be offended and feel like I was treating him like a child with a "chore list" available for the world (okay, our guests) to see.  I broached the subject very carefully with the ominous, "I made something today, and I'm not sure what you are going to think about it..."  Yeah, I know how to bring things up well, right?  His immediate reaction was, "We need to pin this!"  Isn't that cute?!  I was so relieved.  I think this is better for both of us for many reasons, not the least of which is staying organized and seeing what the other person is doing.  These two chore lists also are helping us more effectively communicate and run our little household.  So, yeah, yay us! :)  I should also note that Erik has been awesome the last month while I've been studying for the bar.  I study during the weekends too and had been getting stressed about the chores (hence this craft project).  Last weekend, he ended up doing a lot of the chores on my list (which he could clearly see thanks to our new set up), which was a huge relief.  I guess I'll keep him around for awhile.

Why We Probably Shouldn't Have Kids Yet

Because we do things like this to our cats:

But so cute, right?!

Moving to Cali: Fort Collins --> Park City

So.... 2 months later I'm finally blogging about the rest of our road trip.  I count the first 2 days as done with this post (a little scant but why be redundant?).  I'll do it the cheating way and just post photos with descriptions.  Hey, I was at work until 9pm—cut me some slack! :)

Note: We really wish we could have taken some side trips while driving through Wyoming and Utah.  Unfortunately, the cats made our road trip less fun (and not just because of the constant crying).  It wouldn't be right to leave them in the car or do anything that would keep them in the car longer than the 8 hours of driving we had to do to make it to California in time to take possession of our apartment.

Colorado countryside

On the road again...
We were so grateful that the weather was fabulous and the sights were beautiful.

Wyoming - these ranch signs were everywhere.  Love!

They have drive-thru liquor stores here too!

We got bored and brought Pericles out to play.

The rock formations in Wyoming.

Cool countryside.  We seriously could see sci-fi films being shot here.

Wyoming.  Beef country.  Enough said.

Utah rock formations.

Park City!

Ski runs with fall colors.

Olympic Village.  All I could think about was Cool Runnings even though that was in Canada...

We decided to go here for dinner while in town.  We started with the roasted artichoke (Erik even tried it!) and I had the Elk Sirloin.  I really like elk because it's a very mild beefy taste but without the gaminess of venison.  We were really happy that we went here to eat even though it was on the outskirts of town.

 It's fun to look at these photos again.  I truly feel like Erik and I are very fortunate to have been able to take the time to drive across the country to our new home.  We've seen a lot of things that lots of folks will never see and have not taken it for granted!  These photos are only a small sampling of the photos we took (went a little photo crazy from the car), but I thought I would spare you the complete set of 134 photos from this leg of the trip.

Ridge Vineyards

So, I told a friend of mine that I would blog yesterday.  And... I didn't... Sorry!  It's funny how the weekend gets away from you when you are settling in, catching up from being out of town/ working during the previous weekend and cooking 3 meals for the week.  What can I say?  I got in a groove and couldn't break myself away from housework.  Yes, I know.  Feminist pioneers just died a little inside.  I'm sorry to the women of the 1970's and 1980's, but I do love to fold some laundry, cook some meals, and see the clean open expanse of a tidied house (okay, apartment).

Anyway, about a month ago during Erik's and my 3rd weekend in California, we went to Ridge Vineyards (as foreold here).  It's shockingly close to where we live, and it's just amazing wine.  Erik's been a fan and now I am too.  Besides, they have release parties for shipments (we haven't gone yet) and they are so close that we can get free wine tastings whenever we want (we're members now).  Anyway, before going to Ridge, we went to the Steve Jobs memorial at 1 Infinite Loop.  I had the honor of being at Buckingham Palace and witnessing (and contributing) to the Princess Diana memorial in August 1997 so I made Erik go to the Steve Jobs one in Cupertino.  Yes, it's morbid, but we can say that we were there and paid our respects to a great innovator and businessman of our time.  Side note:  I do hope that it comes out that Steve Jobs contributed to charity in some way because there are no public gifts of note and that bothers me.

Anyway, some photos from the Steve Jobs memorial.

Flags at half mast

Erik looking appropriately somber

The memorial.
I didn't get much closer because people left a ton of
apples with a bite out of them (get it!?) and those apples attracted bees . . .

Even though there isn't a large crowd here, you can see that a bunch of
people have come to the site because of the wear on the grass.

Even the gas station near the Apple Campus had signs.

So after that rather morbid excursion, we went up into the Santa Cruz Mountains to drown our sorrows in some tasty vino (after having lunch in a tasty brewpub nearby).

Panoramic view towards where we live (Santa Clara)

This winery is unique in that they don't trellis all their vines.

In theory, you are looking at San Francisco.  If you click on the large version,
you may be able to make out the skyscrapers on the lefthand side of the photo.

Family shot

After Ridge, we went for a hike in the Russian Ridge Open Space Preserve but that will have to wait for another blog post. :)

Housekeeping items:
I bought two new books for my Scavenger Hunt posts: one for nearby cities and one for nearby hikes.  Expect to see some posts from those (already able to check off 2 hikes and 3 cities!).  AND, my biggest accomplishment.  I finished all the scavenger hunts from my Inside the Apple book before I left NYC!! Yes, I know! I'm very proud.  But I'm also VERY behind in posting.  Don't worry, I have a goal to post more often now that we are more settled and work is starting to get in a flow.

Gearing Up

Today we begin our journey westward.  We will be driving 3,009 miles and arrive in California on Thursday, September 22.  I will be taking photos and will blog about our road trip  We'll be stopping in Chicago for a few days, but here's our itinerary:

Sunday: Lincoln, Nebraska
Monday: Fort Collins, Colorado
Tuesday: Park City, Utah
Wednesday: Reno, Nevada
Thursday: New home --> Santa Clara, California!

Working on #5 (Part III)

Note: You may want to read starting at Part I also posted today.

So, the trip to California went really really well.  I flew back this morning on a red eye (ouch!!!) after doing a double-header interview (2 firms, 10 people, one day.... again ouch!!).  The good news is that even before I left Cali, I had 2/3 offers!  The third came today.  Ultimately, there's one firm that stuck out in my mind.  Of course, I have to see the official offer but I will be negotiating certain compensation items.  I can't wait to tell you all about it when I officially accept!  I think that it will be sooo different than my experience now (in terms of social etiquette stuff) but will also be very similar in terms of actual work!  Best of both worlds?!!

Anyway, because I've gotten offers, I decided that I shouldn't wait to give notice.  I will say that the people I told were pretty surprised.  It's very early in my career to make a move.  And, frankly, last week notwithstanding, I'm actually pretty bummed about not getting more out of my experience.

At any rate, I did it.  Today, I quit my first legal job.  It's so hard to believe.  My last day will either be the 9th or the 16th or somewhere in between.  Only 3 weekends left!  Expect lots of Scavenger Hunt updates. :)  My past stresses with telling partners at the firm stuff were no indication of how easy it was to give notice.  I'm leaving for good reasons not bad so there were no hard feelings.  I was able to tell them with a straight face that this was not part of the plan and that I'm a little disappointed to be leaving so soon.  But I also told them that I'm so happy to be reunited with my husband.  That they can totally relate to!  SO, as of September 1, 2011 (a full TWO YEARS ahead of schedule btw), I will accomplish my #5 on the 30 Before 30 list.  YAY us!

As for now, I'm taking a mental health break and not planning any logistics.  Between the back to back interviews, stress of my deal before I left, the red eye, a busy day at work and the earthquake (really strange on the 47th floor), I need to relax!  Expect more updates as we finalize plans.

Working on #5 (Part I)

Note: This blog post was written on August 12, 2011.  Warning.  It's really long, but it's worth it.  Well, if you want to find out about #5, then it is. :)

This has been a crazy, crazy week.  In fact, it's made that much crazier by the fact that I CAN'T TELL ANYONE what's going on.  I mean, sure, there are people that know what's going on.  (I think I could count them on both hands.)    There are lots of reason why I can't tell anyone.  Most of all because things may not work out as planned and then I'll look like a failure and also I haven't given notice at work.  Erik's already held up his end of the bargain with his (awesome!!!) job offer.  But now it's my turn...

K, I should reset.  Background.  Back in April/May, Erik dropped a bombshell on me.  What if we moved to California?  Umm...... WHAT?!!?  For the 6 months leading up to that point, he had alternated between moving to NYC, looking for professorships around the country (most likely Atlanta) and doing consulting in Chicago.  He was trying to make his own way and figure out what he truly wanted, and I was TOTALLY supportive of that especially because I can practice law anywhere.  For real.  But California?! Really?!!  Let's just say that that weekend was not our best weekend visit.  I freaked out and it was tabled.  By the way, for those that don't know me very well, I don't like life-changing surprises.  God help us if we accidentally get pregnant before we (okay, I) prepare.

Fast forward to June.  The third week of June, Erik mentions California to me again.  Only this time, I'm receptive.  Another lesson learned: Tell me something, I freak out.  Then mention it a few months later, and I'm totally game.  Ah, to be a woman...  Anyway, I was on board this time.  Erik and I began work on his resume and cover letter.  He actually wanted to take advantage of my editing skills! Yay for Team Nelson!  All joking aside, he's an excellent writer and presenter and just an overall rockstar so he doesn't really need my help... well, except for those italicized commas and small typos in the resume...  The life of an attorney.

We waited and we waited for places to get back to him.  He followed up after 3 weeks (and after Simon and Annemarie's wedding!).  Then, during my vacation from work during the last 2 weeks of July, he had a phone interview.  AND it went well!!  So, during vacation, we decided that I would contact a recruiter that had already placed 2 people in my class (the "Lost Generation" of lawyers) at my firm to other firms (both in Texas, oddly enough).  I heard he had good contacts on the West Coast as well so I figured it was worth a shot.  Initially our search included Portland but that was quickly thrown by the wayside after the recruiter confirmed it was a career-killer for me.

Anyway, fast forward again to this week.  Erik flew out to California this past Tuesday to interview at two amazing and well known companies (which will not be mentioned on the blog for obvious reasons).  I have half a mind to call them I'm-So-Smart, Inc. and We're Badass Corp.  Only because Erik's so amazing to have these opportunities, especially in such a bad economy.  Anyway, also during this week:  One of the deals that had died, come back, died, and now is back in a very complicated form has completely destroyed my week. I only went to bed before 3:30am once this week.  ONCE.  It was Monday night and it was 1:30am.  Although, in hindsight, Monday night's late night was totally worth it.  I met my Bmaid Jess (yes, I still consider her my bmaid 2 years later) for drinks and it was fab to just catch up!  Despite that otherwise bright spot, this week (for me) has been very stressful.  Erik was out of pocket with interviews and work was stressful and then to boot, on Wednesday I got an interview at my top choice firm!  I'm not a deceitful person by nature.  I think that's why this has been such a stressful week.  I don't like not telling people what's going on with me.  I'm an open book and being a closed one is just killing me.
Anyway, back to Wednesday.  Erik's interview on Wednesday went amazing and he got a really fabulous job offer at his top choice.  OMG YAY!!  As of right now, he's still "thinking" about it, which is, honestly, driving me coo-coo.  Like, didn't you think of this before you went out there??!  Anyway, we're 99% sure we are going to California after his interview.  Umm.... HOLY COW!!  Also on Wednesday, I received interest from THE top firm in the Silicon Valley.  Even though I've been working insane hours, I decided to pull the trigger and make it happen.

On Thursday at 5:30pm, I had an interview with a partner from the firm.  Thankfully, I was able to sneak out for an hour.  Within 10 minutes he said "When we fly you out...".  I was, like, "Oh, thank you for saying that.  I really look forward to it."  The practice in his group is basically exactly what I do now.  A mixture of corporate governance and mergers & acquisitions.  I love the importance of client relationships with this firm.  So, I come back to work on Thursday at around 7pm with the knowledge that I have an interview next week in Palo Alto, California.  Well, actually two interviews.

Quick digression about Palo Alto.  It's 2.5 hours from my family in Sacramento.  It's 1.5 hours from where we honeymooned!  Talk about crazy.  When I fly to Palo Alto next week, I will be flying to the same area exactly 2 years from our honeymoon.  And this deal at work is INSANE.  Obviously, I can't talk about it now and won't even when it signs.  But, let's just say I'm really looking forward to Monday when it is supposedly signing.  I was told tonight, Friday, that I should go home in a few hours (this was at 7pm) and "rest up" and "get as much sleep as possible".  This does not bode well for the rest of my weekend, which also happens to be Erik's and my anniversary weekend.

Obviously, there are more pressing things on our mind right now.  I think the sacrifices we are making now (i.e., not celebrating our anniversary together) are going to pay off so well in less than a month.

Scavenger Hunt: McSorley's Old Ale House

This place has been on my list since I first read about it several months ago.  If you follow this blog, you know that my MiL and I went while she was in town for vacation.  This is a more detailed description of that adventure. The saloon was opened in 1854 by John McSorley and is the oldest pub still operating in NY (note that this is a correction to my earlier post about the nation.... got a little carried away there....).  (Ch. 57).  When it first opened, it did not allow women (and in fact didn't until 1970) and had a motto of "Good Ale, Raw Onions, and No Ladies". (Ch. 57)  That's good because between the ale and raw onions, ladies wouldn't want to be near that anyway.  Am I right?!  To get into the saloon you walk through the original wood doors (think old-timey western movie type doors -- describing them as "saloon" doors seemed a bit circular).  As your eyes adjust to the darkness, you are immediately overwhelmed by the sheer amount of stuff on the walls and ceiling.  Not to mention you have the strange sensation of walking on large sawdust shavings.

In the book, I read about how there was an original wanted poster for John Wilkes Booth that was hung after Lincoln was assassinated (Lincoln supposed went for a drink at McSorley's after he spoke at Cooper Union).  I couldn't find it right away because it was hidden in plain sight right above the bar! Go figure.  At least the bartender didn't make too much fun of me.  Side note: It was actually not that touristy of a place (as I feared).  My MiL and I ended up chatting with some regulars and if you look in the background of our photo below, you can see them (albeit blurry).

Wanted poster amongst the other collection items.  This place was absolutely covered in memorabilia.

Teddy Roosevelt for VP!
He is the only U.S. president to be born and raised in NYC.

Had to add this photo again so you could see our little beer mugs.  The rule at McSorley's is that you have to buy your beer in rounds.  We ordered 2 light beers thinking that it was one round.  Wrong.  We got two beers a piece! Good thing they were in small mugs.  Another quirky thing is that you only have two choices - light beer and dark beer.  We chose light.

McSorley's had been the subject of much NY news/ blog attention in April because of Dept. of Health crackdowns.  Apparently, they didn't think that Minnie the Second was comporting with good health guidelines because McSorley's also serves food in addition to its two types of beer.  Another health crackdown was the dust on a chandelier.  First the photos and then the explanation.

Pre- April 2011.
Photo courtesy of the NY Times.

During our visit
July 2011

According to the NY Times, these bones had been placed on the chandelier (and not touched!) by soldiers going off to the Great War:

Joseph Mitchell, the inimitable chronicler of old New York, once wrote that the founder, John McSorley, simply liked to save things, including the wishbones of holiday turkeys. But Mr. Maher, who has worked at McSorley’s since 1964 — he predates some of the memorabilia — insists that the bones were hung by doughboys as wishful symbols of a safe return from the Great War. The bones left dangling came to represent those who never came back.

The chandelier supposedly now has wishbones hung from soldiers that went to Iraq and Afghanistan.  Mr. Maher was sad about the dust but he said that he was at least happy the bones could stay.  And, I have to say, that I am too.