Manual labor -- received!

Remember when I wrote about need-wanting a desk, and needing help to lift it to my apartment?

Well raise your blogging spirit fingers if you received a desk for free, and the manual labor to go with it!

Annnnnnnd if you now have a big girl bed, and can slide into your 30th birthday without sleeping on a futon!

[Spirit fingers wagging]

It all started with a phone call on Friday afternoon; a friend of a friend was getting rid of a box spring.

Suggestion from friend: get the box spring and place futon mattress on top of box spring.

Hurdle: need to rent a truck or van to move said box spring across busy city with lots of traffic.

Positive: friend willing to help move box spring and ride through adventurous city traffic with me.

My sweet friend Laura is in town, and I got home from work on Friday and told her that, despite our plans to gorge on sushi for the evening's run, we may instead need to move a box spring.

Laura was all over this plan immediately. My focus was to crack open my "It's Friday after 5" Michelob Ultra, but Laura's shifty eyes starting ogling all of my personal belongings and she requested paper so she could start blueprinting our massive redecoration of my teeny tiny apartment.

We rearranged, making room for the bed. We took turns vacuuming. The cat took shelter.

At some point we got the word that a mattress and a desk would be thrown into the mix, so we reconvened around the blueprint on spiral notebook paper.

I put things on shelves.

Laura came behind me and rearranged them in a more feng shui manner. I trust her.

I got distracted by Facebook. Laura remained focused. When we left for sushi (we also learned that we wouldn't have to move anything until Sunday, so dinner plans were not cancelled), she insisted we grab my overflowing recycling and take it downstairs.

She'd be a great roommate. "Bailey, pay your bills! Bailey, do your taxes! Clean your room!" I'd be so on top of everything.

And she makes me laugh, which is a bonus.

I got hungry, and begged for a break, so we drove to sushi, which took a while, so we were extra hungry and extra excited for the food:

Then, in our zestful state, we over-ordered and ate way too much:

We slept it off and the next day we went to California Adventure, had a lovely time, and met Anna and Elsa!

Then, the next day (are you tired yet?), we rented a van and Bailey drove the giant hunk of metal on LA freeways and went over an unmentioned number of curbs, and Laura and I laughed. And I may have caused her to be frightened for her life.

But we made it!

And that's the story of how I acquired a new bed and desk (the former of which the cat meister is obsessed with). High up, cushy places, I tell ya. Cat heaven.

And finally, Laura, being her true go-getter self, completely arranged my apartment, made the bed, assembled the desk, etc. in the time it took me and another to return the van to the rental place.

And the place looks great. I essentially got a new apartment. But got to keep the cat, which was a huge bonus.

Needless to say, I thanked my moving helpers with a Thai dinner. Mmm.