Our First "Big" Move

Ben and I are moving two weeks from tomorrow. This is our first big move. Actually, it's semi-big but compared to our past moves, it's huge. In the past Ben and I have only moved as single people with only enough stuff to fit into our cars with one trip, and once as newlyweds only 2 months after our wedding so we didn't have enough stuff accumulated to define it as a big (or semi-big) move.

Now that we have been married 2 years and lived in the same place for almost 2 years, we have filled our condo and now have to move it all. Those of you with homes filled with a LOT of stuff and who have moved on several occassions are probably laughing at me right now...but you can't take away the fact that this is an exciting "first" for us.

Let me tell you, I did not think this move was going to be classified as anything major. But, when you add up the sofas, buffet, dinner table, breakfast table, kitchen appliances, dishes, bedroom furniture...and Ben's books... it is more than I expected.

Ben was in Seattle all week and I had many opportunities to start packing without him. Our nice new neighbor, Larry, gave us his boxes and packing material so I had what I needed to begin. Unfortunately, each night I busied myself with something else to do rather than packing and thought "this move will be a piece of cake, I can wait until last minute to pack." Well... I'm glad I kicked myself in the butt and started a little tonight, because spending 3 hours just to pack up the things in my buffet table made me realize that this packing process is going to take a lot longer than I anticipated! Good thing Ben flies home tonight and can help! Needless to say, it made me stressed. :)

So what do I do to relieve the stress? I blog about it.

Thanks for listening.

Looking Back and Ahead

A lot has been going on, yet not much time to blog about it. We finished our vacation in Michigan where it was nice to spend time with friends and family. Now we're back in the good ol' routine of work and school.

One twist coming up is that we are moving! Now do not get too excited and start thinking we are moving because Ben got a job early so we are relocating to where his job is. Nope.. that's not it. We are moving because our landlord got a new job and he is relocating to Arizona with his family and therefore has sold the condo. Here's the fun part. We have to be out by June 28, which is a Thursday. Unfortunately, Ben will be in Indiana that entire week (along with the week before and the week after) for his 3-week summer class at Notre Dame. Since he will be home on the weekends, we are going to move all of our big stuff the Saturday before, to our new place that we're renting. Then, my mattress and I (and some toiletries, clothes, etc) will stay in the condo until June 28. That day I will move in to our new place and will live with our current landlord's family who lives there right now but will be moving out July 5. Our landlord and family are very cool and fun...so this is not a problem at all. I just hope they do not mind putting up with me! :)

Let's back up to our vacation in Michigan. I last posted about my mom and little sister visiting Chicago and then we drove to Rockford, MI to hang with my dad too. Ben flew into Detroit that Tuesday so we could spend the next three nights with Chris and Vicki. Their baby, Genna, is adorable! She has the most contagious smile!

While spending time with Chris and Vicki, we also went to one of our favorite restaurants (that we do not have in Chicago) called Pei Wei's. It's like PF Changs, but a faster version.. It's actually owned by PF Changs. We also went to a Tiger's game with them and Kara and Josh Graves. It was SO hot! Because of this, Vicki and I took Genesis out to the picnic table area where she could be shaded and sleep. This gave me and Vicki a good time to talk and catch up.

Friday (a little over a week ago) we headed back to Rockford to spend two more nights with my parents. Then we headed back home Sunday morning. On that way back to Chicago, we stopped by a diner, The Frosted Mug, that was featured on "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives" which is a show on the Food Network. We ordered Char Burgers and an Oreo Shake. Yum yum!

So all last week we were working and studying until Thursday night when our friends, Dave and Debbie, came into town for a conference. They stayed with us so we could hang out Friday and Saturday evenings. It was really good to see them and spend some time with them before they took off this morning. We stayed up pretty late both nights, so today...I hate to admit...I took a really really really long much-needed nap! I won't tell you exactly how long, but I bet Tiana Quinn can give it an accurate guess. :)

This week we have another end of the year PhD party to attend, but I think our weekend is pretty free for once. We'll definitely be using the free time to pack and organize for our move. Oh! But...wait! Sunday we get to see our good friends Emily and Aaron at their "We're in Chicago so come see us" party! Yay!! I can't wait!

Have a great week!