The road trip starts tomorrow!

We are turning it into a vacation as well as a practical way to get my car from location a to location b.  We will be stopping at a couple of places I've always meant to visit...Taos and Santa Fe, NM, I'm very excited about that! 

Tonight was a frenzy of last minute details:
-booking hotels for the trip
-road trip grocery shopping
-purchasing a GPS
-getting a very disappointing pedicure
-packing my luggage
-last minute packing of the very important items that are traveling with me (see prior list, add Kitchen Aid mixer and Cuisinart ice cream maker and some of my fave handbags and there you have it)
-making sure everything at this house is good to go for the period of time I will be away

I am so excited and so nervous for the next few days.  Here's hoping the various hotels have working wi fi and I can keep you posted on our progress!
Katie, thanks for joining the fun :) It's great to have you here with some of my other favorite friends!!

Off they go...

my possessions are currently making their way cross country.  The time line shifted dramatically a few days back and I had to find a way to pack everything so it could leave today and be delivered next Monday.  It's done, but so am I :)  I am left with some clothes and shoes (okay, quite a few, I decided I would ship what wouldn't fit in my suitcases, but I needed to have some options!), a pillow, 2 blankets, toiletries + towels, my traveling photos, laptop and not a whole lot else...

My bff is flying home today, after I pick her up she is going to do laundry and repack so we can begin our journey tomorrow.  I still need to pack myself for this trip, grocery shop for road food and submit my articles...that seems like a pretty short/workabl list considering all of the things that have been accomplished in the last week!

For now though, I think a nap is in order! There won't be much sleep while we're traveling so I think it best to rest up now.  Wishing you all the best for the short work week!

Short and sweet...

Another long day, but everything that I intended to pack for the big trek is packed.  The back of the truck is full of items making the full trip and the trailer is about half full of items making the trip as far as my parents home.  I decided to move what I know I need, what I absolutely want and put the rest in to storage temporarily so that I won't be overwhelmed on the other end of the road.  I'll go through the storage items at Thanksgiving after I have a better grasp on my new living space.

Speaking of my new home...I have been corresponding with my new board regarding furniture selection for my new apartment, we are dialing in the specifics quickly now.  It will be ordered next week so it should easily be in place before my arrival in August, very exciting!  Even more exciting is the fact that I am only five days away from visiting my new chapter, meeting the board, the advisers and some of the women!!!!!  I can't wait.

Anyhow, I'm exhausted and a bit overwhelmed being here in what has been my home for the last three years...it looks so different without all of my things, but it still feels like home.  I'm sure my new chapter will feel like home in no time too :) I'm ever so grateful for the wonderful experiences I've had here and eager to see what the future holds, it's a strange mix of emotions.

Welcome Carol :) Thanks to everyone who is coming along on the ride with me!

Procrastination wins, big!

Let's just say without someone here to keep me focused on the task at hand (packing, in case that was unclear) I found it very easy to lose a number of hours to various other pursuits:
~facebook, guilty
~youtube (found a channel of my fave musician I hadn't seen before), yep
~online shop for super cute apparel for my new university (I need to be prepared), perhaps
~watching various episodes of Housewives of fill in the blank (this is pretty much a first for me since the inaugural season of HWONY when I realized I could never watch that big of a train wreck...until today), One Tree Hill (I never knew until today that Peyton was Nathan's girlfriend first, super productive day!) and Gilmore Girls (I already knew everything about the show, but it's the Jason Styles season and I love to yell at his horrible character so I had to watch...had to!), done, done and done, a lot
~laundry, actually necessary to the packing process, so that's good, right?

So tomorrow I need to get back on track:
~finish packing so we can load the truck
~get an oil change and check my spare before we head out
~road trip grocery shopping
~pack luggage for the trip
~complete my article submissions for a volunteer position I hold
~time permitting (please, please let there be time!) a pedicure

I did get the rest of my books packed today and took care of some business that I volunteered to help with at my current chapter so the day wasn't a total loss.  I really needed some down time, here's hoping it pays off big with a huge energy burst tomorrow.  Until then...

PS: Welcome my little "Cheerios", so glad to have you here!

The greatest friends a person could ask for...

helped me pull off a very nice surprise birthday party for my dad in the midst of all of the packing and chaos that is my life at the moment.  They helped set and decorate the dining room, they completely prepared the food, they entertained guests and they reminded me yet again why it is that leaving them will be by far the most difficult adjustment in this move.  The upside?  Of the five that were here tonight, 3 of them are already planning trips to visit me in my new home...as soon as I have a chapter calendar we will start looking at options.  I also know exactly when my first trip "home" (for my sisters masters commencement/hooding) will be which I think is helping all of us adjust to this new situation.

I hope that each one of you has friends that are as interesting, funny, smart, beautiful, loyal, decent, loving and generally amazing as this group is to me...if you do, you know, as I do, that we are rich beyond measure!

PS-Dad had a great time too...he loved the party once he got over hating being the center of attention.  I also think he was pretty impressed with my last minute tool bouquet centerpieces :) 

Packing and reminscing...

I have a huge list of things I hope to accomplish at my current house before the end of June...the biggest one is now checked off my list, that is a huge relief.  There are two other major things I would like to do, one of which is planned for Sunday night and the other will have to wait until I get back from the coast. 

Speaking of which, in just 4 days I will be on my way to my new home for a brief, but exciting visit.  My possessions will follow me by just a couple of days and I will be living exclusively out of suitcases for the better part of June and all of July.  As I've mentioned, I'm a planner, so the chaos of suitcase living will likely be charming for a very short period of time and then grate heavily on my nerves.  Fingers crossed that I'm wrong about this.

I'm very excited for the trip to my new home for a variety of reasons...
-to get there I am taking a road trip with one of my best friends and we are going to visit some places we have always wanted to see, plus we always have the best time traveling together!
-I get to meet my new family...Corporation Board members, advisers and some women from the chapter!!! I could not be more excited to finally put faces with names and start building a foundation for what I hope and expect will be a wonderful relationship.
-I get to see my life long best friend who happens to live near my new home.
-I get to see the house, apartment, neighborhood where I will be living...very exciting :) 
-I get to have a delicious In 'N Out burger.  What? It's a big deal, they're so delish!

My amazing parents and my wonderful little sister have contributed boxes to the cause, so I have finally started packing.  What I have realized is that despite paring down significantly just a few years ago, I have an enormous amount of "stuff" (mostly books and clothes) to move.  I kept telling everyone that this would be an easy move because I live in approximately 500 square feet so how much stuff could I have???  The answer is A LOT!  4 out of 15 bookshelves have been packed and I already have 8 huge boxes of books.  I have one entire lawn and garden trash bag (classy, I know! but flexible and easy to pack clothes in) full of cardigans and those are just the ones I don't plan on wearing in the next two months.  I'm pretty sure I have enough post it notes to last a lifetime.  Pictures, blankets, dvd's, cookbooks, shoes...lots of all of 'em.

One thing I/we did was make a one minute run through my apartment grabbing a small box full of items that would make my new place feel like home immediately.  So what's in the box?  A beautiful framed photograph of Prague (my favorite city), a framed signed cd and liner notes from my favorite musician, pictures of all of my nearest and dearest, some snowflake Christmas ornaments, a set of paper mache stars that I've had for maybe 20 years, an autographed copy of Richard Nixon's "Six Crises" and a selection of other books...a few of my favorite things.  In addition to the "home" box I also selected 4 photographs to carry with me through my summer to keep me grounded wherever I might be.  Home can be just about anywhere for me, so long as there is love, laughter and good friends/family, but since this is a time of transition, I want to be sure I have some physical touchstones along for the adventure.

After hours of packing I went to have dinner with three of the most amazing women I've met through my experiences as a house mom.  What a pleasure it was to walk down memory lane  with these wonderful people and have the opportunity to see them before I move.  There was talk of a visit sometime soon and I do hope they follow through on it, I love seeing them anytime! 

So back to the boxes I go...wishing you all a safe and happy Memorial Day weekend!

I need a plan

I'm a list maker, a planner, I am flexible with other people, not so much with myself.  I need to move myself and my possessions half way across the country in 8 weeks, no problem, right?  Problems, lots of problems!

Week one: finish projects at current job (2 or more weeks worth of work in 1 week, plus find time to get boxes/pack, get oil change and tune up, spend time with friends and family)
Week two/two and half: drive to new home, lots of meetings, have some fun (essential), show one of my bff's around the new neighborhood (she's never been to visit before)
Week two and a half to week four: continue packing virtually everything I own so it can be picked up and delivered during week ten, get apartment ready for it's new occupant, spend time with friends and family
Weeks five and six: travel with friends
Week seven and eight: celebrate birthday of one of my besties, travel with family and friends
Week nine: fly to my new home because there is no way to get from where the trip is ending to my new job without aeronautical assistance.  My amazing parents will pick up my prioritized possessions and deliver them to me at the beginning of week ten.

There simply aren't enough hours in the day. Will it all come together? It usually does.  Will I drive myself and those that love me completely insane?  Quite possibly :) Is there anything to be done about it except get on with it and quit complaining?  Not really.

Today I spent a (partially) leisurely day with the girls from current chapter and house director friends from my current university.  I made some lists, I have to figure out what to pack for each of my three upcoming trips and I need to make sure I don't move anything that I will need, but at the same time make sure I pack things that will immediately make my new place feel like home.  What absolutely has to be there when I go back in August?  Pictures of friends and some the great places I have traveled, some books (that will be a difficult selection process), a few little political trinkets, maybe my hockey stick, some framed cd covers, reminders of my current chapter and university.  What would you pack if  you were me???????

I hope you have had a great weekend and wish you a wonderful upcoming week.  Wish me luck, it's going to get crazy!

Tonight is a reminder...

of things that will change.  There was severe weather in the area, so much so that at one point the tornado sirens were activated in the town where I live.  Being the native that I am I immediately grabbed my house keys, camera and phone to head outside and watch what was going on.  Strangely, one of my concerns about moving was losing the variation in weather...I like thunderstorms, I like snow, I like seasonal changes.  I have heard that it is odd that one of my concerns was how long it would take me to get to snow from what many people consider the ideal climate where I will be living.  I'll work it out and I'll very much look forward to opportunities to visit "home".

Soooo, how did this adventure begin?
It was really just a couple simple factors, ever since I visited the west coast for the first time I have thought it would be great to live there, throw in the much more desirable proximity to my family and there you have it.

Three years ago I had offers at four schools in the southwest or on the west coast, plus two here in the middle.  All of the offers had pros and cons, but I wasn't ready to make a big change so I went with the safe option, it was a great decision!  I have had the best time with my current chapter, the women are smart, funny, beautiful, interesting, diverse...you get the idea, they are simply the best.  I'm sure over time I will go back and share more about some of my great times here, but for now just know that leaving them and everything associated with them (and my friends too, of course) will be one of the hardest things I will ever do.

Where I am going has stellar weather, endless cultural possibilities, shopping, dining, all kinds of great things, but best of all, I will be able to see my wonderful parents and my life long best friend (plus her daughter and friends) much, much more often!  There is nothing I value more than the time I get to spend with my mom and dad.

In the end, when making the decision, my dad made the most sense.  He knows how long I've wanted to give the new city a try, he knows how much I love my job and had done my due diligence to be sure the new chapter would likely be a good fit (both for me and them) and ultimately he pointed out that it is a 10 month contract, so if I decide it's too hard to be that far away from where I have spent most of my life, it isn't forever.

That's all for today, we'll see what is on my mind next time :)  Thanks for reading...and Adriana, thanks for being my first follower!  Congratulations on your upcoming move too!


 

Join me on this adventrue...

What's an adventrue? A true adventure and I am about to embark on a great one.  I'll share with you, here, what led me to investigate this opportunity, the process to this point and the next few months of the move and transition.  I'll start at the beginning soon, but for know...

Finals are over, summer is here, now I panic :) What have I done? What was I thinking? When am I going to find the time to get boxes and pack? How am I going to go ahead with my original summer plans and still manage to be at my new home on time?

Of course the other extreme is so much excitement: about a great new opportunity, being closer to my family, the endless options for everything from volunteering to dining in my new city.  I'm already wondering where the nearest library is, what movie theater will I visit most often, will I be able to find Chinese food that is as good as my favorite here?  Who will I go shopping with? Who will go to concerts with me?  Excitement, trepidation and some good old fashioned fear.


It will all come together.  I know it will, it always does.