This is post #22 in the Blogging A to Z Challenge. Getting down to the wire now!
I’m cheating a bit for the letter V. 🙂 I just want to write about my day today, since it was a fun one! I went with a friend from the dragon boat team (plus her sister and her aunt) on a house tour in Piedmont. Piedmont is an urban enclave of Oakland. It’s a separate town but surrounded by Oakland on all sides. It’s a mostly residential community, quite affluent, with some ridiculously crazy mansions. I’m not even kidding. I’ve seen a mansion that look like a castle, complete with a simulated moat. Another one of my favorite homes in Piedmont looks just like a hobbit house. My neighbor and I have taken many walks around Piedmont just to look at the mansions from afar.
Anyway, I digress. The tour was part of a fund-raising event by the Children’s Support League, which donates all proceeds to a wide range of organizations that help at-risk kids. Such a great cause!
Homeowners open up their home to tour participants. Of course, the homes are cleaned, staged, and prepped up. Ever since moving into my apartment, I have been absolutely fascinated by all things home — interior design, decorating, floors, countertops, patios, furniture, you name it. I didn’t care at all about this stuff growing up. I felt bad for my Grandma when she’d get a box of shiny forks for Christmas. These days, if someone got me forks for Christmas I’d be overjoyed. 😀 Put me in any home & garden store and I’m in heaven. I especially like the cheaper places, like thrift shops, Ross, Marshall’s, and Burlington Coat Factory.
Another part of my passion for homes is seeing other people’s homes. I think that’s what I like the best. I want to see how other people organize their kitchens, how they decorate their rooms, everything. My friend said she was the same way. We were like, yeah, it’s nosy, but apparently we’re not alone, judging from the amount of people who showed up for the tour!
The tour was self-directed, and there were five houses to see. We drove from house to house. For each house, volunteers described the history of the home (when it was built, the type of people who owned it, and any other fun factoids). Out of respect for the homeowners, photos weren’t allowed. I was happy with that actually, since that removed the stress of feeling like you have to snap a picture of every damn thing. I actually just put my phone down for once and threw myself into the moment. It was so much fun to walk through each house and soaking everything in.
After the tour, we had lunch (it was part of the event) and headed home. I spent the rest of the day with Harmony. The two of us live in a studio apartment, and while I love it and am extremely lucky to have it, I admit that I did have a little house envy after walking through those affluent homes. But then I remember that by purchasing tickets for the tour, we are supporting at-risk kids, and that reminds me to be grateful for what I have.
So that’s all for now! This doesn’t have much to do with the letter V except that it was a Very Good Day. I can’t wait to attend the tour again next year.
