Holidays in Newnan, Georgia

Newnan sits just about 40 minutes south of Atlanta. We've been fortunate to stay with Kim & Ken for the past month there, making the transition from California to Georgia comfortable and a lot of fun.

I've dressed up more in the past two weeks than in the past six months. Christmas parties with lots of new people with varying degrees of southern accents. Really, everyone here is incredibly friendly.
Mort drove the 7.5 hours from St. Pete FL to Newnan GA the Saturday before Christmas. All of us attended the Canongate Golf Club Christmas party at Flat Creek (one of 24 courses the company now runs). It was a beautiful party with great food and it was wonderful to all be together. That dapper man - that's Mort, looking spiffier than all of us put together.






















So Kim and Ken really know how to get a move done. Within three weeks they found the new house they wanted, met with the builder to arrange modifications in the second house, hosted Christmas dinner for 15 people in the first house, packed and as of today sealed the deal and closed on the new property.

Behold House #1 - Christmas (December 25)










And House #1 - Boxing Day (December 26)










Photos of their new house coming soon...

Early Days in Georgia

The latest on our stuff - finally received word from Bekins that our belongings will be leaving Santa Barbara right after Christmas and should be here before New Year's Eve. We have been mentally decorating our loft downtown and are eager to get started planning the roller skating rink in the huge main living space.
Kim & Ken have been so great to us while we are staying in their home in Newnan. As of January they are becoming real estate moguls with the purchase of their second home. It appears to be a little stressful to take on another mortgage but they are handling all the details together and we're excited for them. Signing the papers for house #2...










They are moving into their new house at the end of the month and will be renting out their first house to (drum roll...) Pete and Adi! That's right, we don't know how it happened - bribery, whining, affordable rent, but our dear friends are heading across country in the new year to try Georgia on for size. We cannot wait to see them and never thought we would get to so soon.

Rob and I spent a night at The Georgian Terrace Hotel a few weekends ago. We wanted to start taking in the city and this historic hotel was centrally located for walking around Midtown.










We visited Virginia Highlands (just north of Midtown) which would have been my second choice of neighborhoods to live in. Very cute. Ate dinner at a cool tapas bar Noche. Among our snacks were grilled asparagus with bleu cheese, crispy panchetta and balsamic drizzle and of course Rob's favorite - fried chicken. We will definitely go back. Yum.










There are so many good restaurants to try. I love food.

Goodbye California, Hello Georgia

Rob and I have talked about moving to Georgia before. My sister and her husband left Venice Beach CA for Newnan GA about four years ago. We've missed them ever since. Then along came my niece Ava in April of 2005. One look at this kid and you're a goner.
In our spontaneous nature Rob and I decided now was the time to make the move and within the month of November we sold everything we could on craigslist.org, had a quick and very successful yard sale (did you know people still buy VCRs?) and found new renters for our little cottage.
Again, our landlord Renato was understanding and gave us no problems about cutting our lease short by six months.
I scared myself silly by reading the entirety of movingscam.com, a site dedicated to helping others not get ripped off or severely overcharged for moving across country. In the end we went with Bekins, a reputable moving company. So far we have one unreturned call as to the status of where are belonging are...

So we spent our last few days in CA with Pete & Adi (she arranged a little going away soiree) then our final night in L.A. with James and a very sick Ginger, Marcia and Adi.

We flew into Atlanta the last weekend in November, found our own way (thank you rental GPS) to Kim's house in Newnan and as soon as we got out of the car Ava came running at me with a smile and hugs. That made all the work to get here worth it.
I mean seriously, look at this kid -













It's been a busy few weeks for Rob and I.
I continue to work full time remotely and miss my team in Santa Barbara. Rob worked hard every day to see as many downtown Atlanta lofts/apartments as possible.
He also scoured craigslist.org for a vehicle that would suit us, to replace the Honda we sold in CA.
Once we met the owner of this car I knew we were going to buy it. I'm not kidding, a redheaded youth pastor sold it to us. I mean, how can you feel more confident about buying from a private owner than that? He's morally obligated to tell us when the brakes were last replaced etc.
So, we're the proud owners of a 2001 Nissan Xterra.










One of the biggest differences between California and Georgia that I have seen so far is people being helpful. We've had tips about traffic given to us while in an elevator, entertainment advice from a server at a restaurant and so much help in finding a home. Real estate agents that only make a profit when they sell a house took the time to drive us around various parts of the city showing us rental units we might like. That would be unheard of in California.
Thanks to all that help we found a pretty fabulous two bedroom loft right off Piedmont Park (Atlanta's version of NYC's Central Park). We signed a year lease last week. If all goes well we'll have a good grasp on where we want to buy a year from now.










Um, this is just for Adi but by all means enjoy my first taste of the south courtesy of Lil' Jon's energy drink - Crunk Juice...













Next entry - will we ever see our Temper-Pedic again?

Cabo

Rob and I went to Mexico in October right after Pete & Adi's wedding. The week's rest was spent in what I consider the best kept secret there - Los Milagros. The owner Sandra pointed us every evening to good local restaurants and referred to us as her 'backgammon refugees'. We didn't tour the area too much opting to lounge and play game after game, read informative and trashy magazines and carefully choose between Pacifico or pina colada at regular intervals. After this year's events it was exactly what we needed.











































Water taxis to the beach, hanging out at The Office. Rob did his best James Bond impression on a jet ski.































He looked pretty cool out there. Daniel Craig doesn't have anything on this tall red head...













Next stop Georgia. That's right, we're moving southeast.
More soon. Later ya'll!