Going Home Again - Irvine, California 1985-1987

I loved this little condo in Irvine, and I would be living there right now if I could. It was funny, I think it was the first place I ever saw, as I wanted it to be and not how it was, when the realtor took me by the first time. After living in houses or apartments most of my life, the idea of having a condo seemed so neat to me.

I had this idea in my head exactly how I wanted it and I soon as the ink was dry on the purchase contract I started the big make over. My niece called it my gray period, not as in depressing but as in hue. Gray carpet, white walls with a tinge of gray, gray grout between my 12" floor tiles and of course gray pots and pans in the kitchen.

I loved my new wide-stripped mauve and white canvas couch and mauve chair. Oh, and the art deco master bedroom in (you guessed it) grey and black. The unit was on the third floor, but nicely situated where it was just one flight up, the second floor was actually on the ground level and the first floor unit was one flight down. If memory serves me correctly The Irvine Company actually won a design award for this project.

It was nicely situated, my tennis club was located just a couple of blocks away, as was a convenient neighborhood shopping center, but we didn't think so much about walking in those days. Today I would love to have everything so close and within walking distance.

One day I was packing up Christmas decorations and watching TV when there was a knock at my door. It was a real estate agent wanting to know if I was interested in selling, as she had a client interested in this floor plan. Her client saw it within the week and a deal was made. Those were the days when properties actually had negative "days on the market".

So the next couple of months were spent packing -- I mean really packing, getting ready to ship all my stuff to Hawaii. First I was going to go to Molokai, then Maui and finally at the last minute found the perfect location on Oahu, but that's next week's story.