This update is long overdue, but two weeks ago, we moved from our small one bedroom apartment in Berkeley to a two bedroom duplex in El Cerrito. We’re still renting and it will likely be a while before we’re able to buy (let alone afford) our own house, but for now, we’re just grateful to have a little more space.

The move went pretty smoothly — before the big moving day, we slowly took a bunch of boxes over to the new place everyday, and then on moving day we moved the rest of our belongings as well as all heavy furniture in a moving truck within half a day. We went back to the Berkeley apartment last weekend to scrub and sweep to make sure everything was in good shape to turn back over to our previous landlord.

Berkeley had been fun to live in for a while — there’s definitely a lot to do and so many good places to eat, and it was fun to be in a college town again. I’m going to miss having three movie theaters within walking distance and all the delicious ethnic restaurants that were in the neighborhood. Unfortunately, since we were on a main road and very close to Berkeley High School, it was always pretty loud and over the course of the year, we outgrew the place and decided that we needed a more spacious living space.

El Cerrito is only the next town over from Berkeley, so we didn’t move very far. It’s definitely a more residential area compared to the rowdy semi-urban college town of Berkeley, and so it’s a lot quieter. We live right by a huge shopping center that has a Bed, Bath and Beyond, Lucky’s, Barnes & Noble, JoAnn Fabrics, CVS Pharmacy, a handful of restaurants, and… ::drumroll please:: Trader Joe’s! I love grocery shopping at Trader Joe’s, so it’s exciting that we have one only two blocks away now. Dan, being Mr. Fix-It, loves that there is a big Ace Hardware and TAP Plastics nearby. haha* We are also lucky enough to have the El Cerrito Plaza BART station within less than two blocks — so much closer than we were to Downtown Berkeley BART when we lived at our previous apartment. The post office, UPS, and bank are also within walking distance — I walk everywhere because I gave up my car last year, so it makes life so much easier to have those so close by. 99 Ranch and the small Japanese grocery store we shop at (Yaoya-san) is also very close, so we can always be fully stocked with our Asian food.

Although there are still a few boxes lying around, we’ve pretty much settled in to our new place and we are really enjoying it so far. Here are some photos!

There’s still a lot of things I’d like to do to help prettify the place, but right now I’m just happy to be moved in. It’s difficult to invest a lot of time and effort when you know that the place you’re living is temporary and I keep dreaming of the day I’ll be able to decorate and furnish my very own forever home. I am happy with the way we are set up for now, though, and now that we have more space, we will also be able to comfortably host visiting friends and family. For our local friends, please feel free to visit us, and for those who are farther way, it may just be time to start planning those vacations out to the Bay Area… 😉