California here we come

The first few months that Leo and I knew each other were a whirlwind.  We lived rockstar lives, working evenings, partying all night, and sleeping until noon everyday.  We were constantly surround by people and thrived on being the life of the party.  We would skip out of work early to go shopping for new outifts to wear for the nights activities which usually included dancing at the Gay 90's or The Saloon.  There were very few nights that we didn't invite people back to my place to have an after party.  We spent so much time together that pretty soon Leo was basically living at my place.

This was a weird point in both mine and Leo's lives.  We both dyed our hair black, we dressed punkesque/ghetto and somehow convinced ourselves that we were invincible when it came to running out of money.  Shortly after Leo moved in he met Trey, a self proclaimed Native American shamen.  Trey was a nomad of sorts and would end up staying at our place a lot.  Pretty soon he was living there too.  The three of us lived a pretty free life when all of a sudden reality set in and we realized we were broke.

In an effort to keep our rockstart lifestyle we decided it would be a good idea to move to San Diego.  Leo had a few possessions from his one bedroom apartment, Trey a large box of odds and ends, and I had a townhouse full of "things".  We decided to sell everything except for what could fit in my car.  We posted an ad on Craigslist for a moving sale, set up shelving and tables in my large living room, priced everything, and turned my townhouse into a used goods store for a couple days.

SIDE NOTE:  Have you ever been at a point in your life when you believe that all of your "things" are SO important and they make you who you are?  I was that way until I sold everything.  I will admit, I was (and still kind of am) a pack rat.  Since selling a townhouse full of "things" I have found that I enjoy a more minimalistic lifestyle.  There's something so freeing about letting it all go.  OK, back to the story.

At the end of our two day sale the shelves were fairly empty, but we still had a lot to get rid of.  That's when we invited out friends to come in and basically take whatever they wanted.  I still had a bed and a couch to get rid of but we decided to keep them and rent a Uhaul to get to California so at least we had some furniture when we got there.  We had a box full of cash, a full gas tank, and nothing holding us back.  We had a going away party with all of our close friends and decided that the following week would be when we would take of the California.  Or so we thought.

It happened is if one morning we woke up and became logical adults and California didn't seem like such a good idea.  We were only a few days away from our schedule departure from Minnesota when we decided it was best if we stayed.  Even though it was the best decision, we now had a lot of things to consider.  Where were we going to live?  We wanted to live close to downtown Minneapolis, could we afford it?  What was I going to do with my dog?  How were we going to move the furniture that was left from our sale?

It's a good thing that Leo and I work well under pressure.  Within days we had found a VERY small one bedroom studio apartment in the uptown area of Minneapolis that we could afford, found a wonderful adoptive family for Edgar, and we rented a Uhaul to move the tattered bed and couch that was left over from the sale.

I would like to admit that this experience taught us that we couldn't continue to live the rockstar lifestyle but it didn't.  We continued to spend outside of our means, but we lived life as if it were our last day every day and I wouldn't trade that for the world.