I Run Like A Girl

What a week! Life has been super busy around here centered around moving to my new studio apartment in the Haight. When apartment hunting, I really only considered the Haight because I really love the neighborhood and feel like it fits my soul (the haight is the origin of hippie culture in San Francisco).

It was a combination of stress and a lot of anticipation moving to my new place. Between packing, moving, unpacking, cleaning, buying furniture, and decorating – it’s been a super productive week. I went a little overboard and took 4 pages of notes to organize my decorating plan before even moving in. 😛 Can you tell I was excited?

Packing my old apartment in the Marina was quite the event. It basically took a full week to clean, organize, and pack everything. I’m really glad I started early in discarding things on Craigslist because it really made moving easier.

Basically the four categories of my life: 🙂

There were lots of errands last week including picking up keys to my new place. So much excitement seeing this blank slate and knowing it was all mine.

Moving day went very well. I’m SO glad I hired movers as they made my life so much easier. They were so fast and only took two hours to move everything. I’ve lived in my Marina apartment for the last 3.5 years – it was my first apartment in SF and made me fall in love with California. So many miles run + evenings alone watching the sunset on the Marina waterfront when I first moved here. It served its purpose in my life but I am SO excited to move onto this next chapter!

I moved on a Thursday which meant I had the whole weekend to settle in, buy furniture, and start decorating. Joe came over Thursday night and was so surprised how fast I unpacked everything! I’m the type of person that needs completely done in order to relax. I’m trying to learn to feel comfort even if things are not completely finished yet and just enjoy the process 🙂

Friday: Goodwill shopping + dinner with Rachel

After work on Friday, I hit up Goodwill on Haight Street to start looking for decorations. I bought a bunch of decorations from big stores like Etsy and Amazon, and wanted to balance it out with things from local stores. I scored these cute wooden bowls from Goodwill and also this sage bundle from an herbal shop down the street. They instantly added some color to my bathroom.

In the evening, Rachel came over to see the new place. We had some dinner and caught up over the last few weeks. This new place is SO much better for hosting friends compared to my old place, and I’m excited to start having friends over more often. 🙂

Saturday: Furniture shopping + wine night

Saturday morning started bright and early. I had some trouble sleeping last week because of all the excitement, and so I was up at 4am. I started the morning with some coffee + yoga in my living room while watching the sunrise through my huge windows. Hashtag blessed.

Joe was over by 9am and we set off for a full day of furniture shopping. We even rented a U-Haul van since I was trying to buy everything all at once.

We first hit up IKEA in Oakland. Even though we got there right at opening, there was a line and the store was super crowded! Between COVID anxiety and not seeing anything I liked, I ended up leaving empty handed. I realized I’ve officially outgrown IKEA and needed to find other sources for furniture.

We then went to Ashley’s Furniture next door, and boy was it a better experience! It was wide open and the quality of the pieces was SO much better. I found this couch that’s perfect for my studio – it’s getting delivered this week and I cannot wait!

Some Taco Bell for lunch in our U-Haul truck. Luckily Joe bought a few pieces of furniture so the truck didn’t go to waste.

After a full day of driving, shopping, and moving large furniture, we were pooped. Luckily we had something fun planned for the evening – Joe and I headed over to Mission Bay and met up with two of my girlfriends from work: Lily and Christen. We all see each other on work calls regularly but it was so nice to see each other in person for the first time in a year. We popped open some bottles of wine and caught up around the fire pit in Christen’s patio. Perfect way to unwind after a long day.

Sunday: Exploring Cole Valley + thrifting + decorating the apartment

Sunday started off with coffee and errands on my laptop. I basically bought the rest of my furniture online in one sitting so I could put that behind me. I can’t wait for everything to come in!

Later in the morning, Joe and I headed to Goodwill. I had such a great time on Friday I wanted to check it out again with Joe. I left with these two gorgeous vases, which will go perfectly with the fake cherry blossoms and jasmine flowers coming in this week. 🙂

I also found this cute rustic tea kettle to sit on my kitchen counter.

After thrifting, we set out to find some lunch. One thing I love about my apartment is it is super close to Cole Valley. The Haight is fun and lively, but it’s nice to also have this chiller neighborhood nearby. The restaurants and shops in Cole Valley seems more relaxed and not bougie which I love. Joe and I got an outdoor lunch at an Italian spot. SF just reopened after a two-month-long shutdown, and we were so happy to finally eat at a restaurant again. Who would have imagined these little things would mean so much?

The rest of the day was dedicated to putting up the decorations around my apartment. The vibe I’m going for is “minimalist hippie fairy meets all-powering witch“. It’s been so much fun picking things out and finally seeing the apartment come to life. I will share a video here after everything is done!

Thank god for Joe this weekend. He was so helpful in helping me get settled and also giving me some creative ideas!

After several days in a row of running around, I finally slept for 9 hours last night and woke up feeling relaxed for the first time in 2 weeks. I’m feeling myself again and am so excited for this new chapter. This change is just what I needed to feel renewed and excited for the year ahead. 🙂