"Is it just madness keeping us afloat?"

We survived moving. I think maybe yesterday or the day before was the first day we woke up and did not feel agonizing pain. Look, no one likes moving, so we all know I've nothing new to say on the matter and can let that go. However. I would like to say, I never truly hated moving before this last one. Let's start with this idea:

If you have not moved with only one other person helping, you have no idea what I'm talking about. You can say, oh yes, moving is awful, it's so hard and it's terrible. No. If you've even had one extra set of hands helping you move, it is nothing like what we did. Nothing. Three people is heaven compared to two people. More than one person helping you? Moving suddenly becomes as awesome as Ron Swanson. It was certainly a lesson in how far you can push your body. It took us 6 1/2 hours to load the truck. Short break for lunch. Another almost 7 hours to unpack the truck. Ed was the true work horse, carrying dressers, bookshelves, massive boxes, all on his own. On the pack up, my job was to just keep moving stuff out of the house. On the unpack, my job was to get it up the stairs to our apartment. You know your body is telling you it has had enough when it doesn't hurt to carry the massive box up the stairs, but it hurts like hell when you're walking back down the steps for the next box.

Bye evil squirrels who napped in this tree

Bye lovely patio and courtyard

I'll miss all the space...

Seeya Solano!

Biggest blisters I have ever seen. Bruises and cuts everywhere. Lower limbs completely frozen stiff. My face maintained it's reddish, sunburn-like flush for 3 days after. I was grumpypants. It's a miracle I did not lose my mind on Ed, but boy was I close. Especially when we started moving in and our downstairs neighbor came out to smoke a total of 10 cigarettes during the whole process. Honestly, I say this all the time to Ed, but who smokes anymore?! And this guy has a toddler and a baby on the way! I'm always shocked when I see people smoke now. I was really surprised when Will McAvoy smoked in an episode of Newsroom. I'm aware a huge part of the world still smokes and I've never smoked myself so I know that's why I don't understand. Two things always surprise me: 1. People who consistently drink Soda (with every meal, or even one can daily - instead of having soda as an occasional dessert or a random craving) and 2. People who smoke. I'm no saint. I drink. I eat poorly. I don't exercise. But for whatever reason those two listed habits always surprise me when I encounter them. Anyways, I was on the brink of losing my mind when this man came out to smoke because our apartment has no air conditioning so we have to keep our windows open. In my broken down state I was imagining a year spent with all of our things smelling of smoke and it wafting in the window all day and night. Awful. Tears were shed. Everything seemed to be the worst. We had clearly made a terrible, horrible life choice. The world was ending. But then we finished moving and we put ourselves to bed after taking what can only be called the greatest shower I have ever had in the history of time, and things started to seem a little bit better.

Le Sigh

This was after some serious clearing. It was much worse.

It's been a couple days and it has been just fine. The cats adjusted within minutes - although Leo did break out of the window and prance around the courtyard at 11:30pm. They also enjoy the ridiculous number of cats living here that are chatty and friendly. See below. Almost everything is unpacked and in it's rightful place. The study is the last bastion of the boxed things. I think I'll be leaving that for post-wedding/honeymoon activity.

We had a nice conversation, until Rosie showed up and scared him off.

The area is really nice. We had an amazing Turkish dinner the other day and tonight we'll be taking advantage of the Whole Foods that is 3 minutes from us. Downtown Campbell is an historic area, and they seem to try hard to provide it's residents with activities. In October we're flying back to Blacksburg, VA for an Oktoberfest at Mountain Lake Hotel (where Dirty Dancing was filmed) and the weekend after that we'll be having an Oktoberfest celebration here in Campbell with a 5k fun run. They have lots of community recreational activities (Why, hello sewing class and mountain survival hike...), big Christmas celebrations.... I'm looking forward to all of it. All in all, it's not so bad being back in an apartment, and we couldn't have found a better area.

In terms of everything else? We fly back tomorrow!!!! I cannot believe a year of planning and living out here in California has flown by so quickly. The wedding is in one week, and it looks like everything might work out! It does not appear to be a disaster! :) I'm as shocked as you are, believe me. Once again, I can only say thank you, thank you, thank you, to the bridal party, to my family, to Ed's family, and everyone that has worked so hard to make this happen and will work so hard to see it go off without a hitch next weekend. I'm eternally grateful and I will never be able to repay you. Well, maybe Ck and Kate when it comes to their weddings :) See you guys soon!

"WeeeEEEeee are never ever ever..."

Well. Talk about an epic fail of follow through. I know, I know, I said I would get pictures up... I'm just the worst at follow through in case you haven't noticed. It will happen.. but probably not for awhile. But! But! Don't leave me dear reader, because the next time I post it will be about our new apartment. And after that, (even more thrilling) I will be posting about my wedding! And then the honeymoon in the Grenadines. And I honestly could not show my face on this blog if I posted about any of those three events without pictures. That would be truly shameful.

The townhouse is currently in a state I would call warehouse chic. Boxes everything, shelving dismantled, Spackle on the walls, barren bookcases, everything in a state of disarray. I know it has to be this way, but man do I hate it. I'm not the cleanest, or most orderly person in the world, but I like for my home to have a lived in look. A well-loved look. Worn in rugs and furniture, flowers, lots of light, library books, sleeping cats, and produce on the counter. Chaos and cardboard do not evoke this feeling. I'm ready to get on with the move. I'm currently reading the book I won, Happier At Home by Gretchen Rubin, and I'm reminded of her statement that "the days are long but the years are short." I feel as if it was just yesterday we were packing up our things to make our cross country trip, saying goodbye to everyone for a bit. But these handful of days before the weekend feel interminable. Just have to keep it all in perspective...

I've started exploring the possibility of doing my own happiness project. The idea intrigued me when I read the book, but for whatever reason I didn't feel ready. Reading the second book I feel more prepared to take on a little life change. Particularly one that isn't revolving around my weight. I'm fed up with that battle - maybe that's just my recent success talking though. Who just bought her first pair of skinny jeans in a size 14? This gal! That may sound big to some, but that's a size smaller than I've been wearing for the past two, gosh, maybe even 3 years.

My first task is to come up with some resolutions... I've got a couple ideas so far to share with you guys:
-Have greater faith in my abilities and dreams
-Be a better friend
-Be a better daughter & granddaughter
-Be more adventurous
-Be more playful, less dire and critical
-Be more energetic
-Be more productive, waste less time
-Be more loving with Ed
-Be more fastidious with our home

Those are some of the big ones. Now I have to work on assigning tasks that fall under each resolution so I can make a chart and check off my progress. Rubin points out that it's much easier to track your progress when you have specific tasks instead of the general "be more playful." For instance, that could be broken up into:
1. Dance for 5 minutes
2. Play with the cats for 5 minutes every day
3. Tell Ed a cheesy joke every day
4. Do a somersault once a day. <--(Learn something new everyday, had no idea that's how you spell somersault. Always thought it was summersault...)

Any suggestions for tasks? I'm all ears. I'll share more of my happiness project as it develops.

In the meantime I'll be reading Happier At Home, and Feast for Crows (fiiiiiinally!) and putting the final touches on my warehouse chic home theme.


P.S.  I don't know what is wrong with me but I cannot stop listening to Taylor Swift's new song. It makes me feel like I'm 13 again! :)

"Oh my life is changing everyday in every possible way"

Well. I've been a busy bee! Finished the programs, finished putting together the gifts and notes for the bridesmaids, purchased all the linens for the reception, finished all the place cards and escort cards, the ceremony has been laid out, ordered the favors, and even picked out a cute honeymoon outfit! That's probably not high on the list of importance, but it made me feel pretty good. All that stuff has been sent on it's way to MD and I'm left here sorta wondering what to do with myself. Not that there's a lack of things to do. I've still got to pack up the house. I've started in on some things, the easy stuff, like DVD's and books. This upcoming weekend will probably be the big push for packing.

I have been in the biggest workout slump. I don't think I've run in... 2 weeks? And I haven't done any activity whatsoever for the past week. Thankfully, I've lots of time before the race I signed up for (Dec. 8th). Not so great is my rapidly decreasing strength and stamina. Oh well, I'll just start from the beginning again. I was eating very little up until this past weekend and then somehow Cheetos and pizza and brownies made their way into the house... Don't know how that could have happened... I blame the cats! Despite the cats sabotage I seem to still be holding the weight at bay.

I think one of the best things about living out here in California is the access to produce. It's nearly year round and on top of that, it's so cheap. It's easy to get back on track diet wise when meat and cheese cost make your wallet squeal, while produce makes your wallet sigh with relief as you're muscling out a pallet full of vegetables and fruit from your local store. The other day we had so much produce left over we decided to make a 'casserole' which I believe translates into, chop it up and toss it all in the oven. My current favorite thing to make is kale with loooooots of garlic and a whole onion. Not exactly the most pleasant experience for Ed, but boy do I feel healthy after eating that. Debbie gave us this awesome garlic roaster which we've been putting to good use as well.

I'm getting really excited to get back to the east coast and play. And by play I mean help organize wedding stuff. I can't wait to help my Mom... ya'll should see the stuff she's putting together. It's amazing. And all the bitching I do about being swamped with stuff... I'm perpetually inundating her with information and purchases and she still has a full time job to manage. This wedding would not be happening without her and the rest of the east coast family manning this ship. Oh and just wait til you see her dress. Carolyne's response to it? "She looks like a movie star!" :)

Speaking of pictures. I apologize again for the lack of pictures on this blog. I just cannot get a computer other than Ed's Mac to process the pictures from my phone. I swear, maybe even this weekend, I will borrow Ed's computer and go through this and some older posts and attach some pictures. Because, I know, I read other people's blogs, and having pictures makes a WORLD of difference.

Last little random bit of news for the day, I won a book! Gretchen Rubin, the wonderful, inspiring woman who wrote The Happiness Project has completed a new book called Happier at Home. It is released in September, but she's giving away a few copies early. I cannot wait to read this. And I'm feeling very lucky today thanks to that little moment of excitement! Maybe I'll be lucky enough to magically appear in the gym and do some exercise! :)

"West bound and rolling taking refuge in the roads"

Boy, is moving the worst or what? About a week ago I was thinking, you know it'll be good to move. To get rid of some stuff, and explore a new area out here. But then I pulled down all of our cardboard boxes from storage. I taped up a couple boxes and started throwing things in. About 15 minutes in I remember oh yes, that's right, moving is the worst.

Thankfully, a cross country moves requires you to become more organized than you ever thought you would have to be, so I can count on my boxes being appropriately labeled for each room. We haven't accumulated too much "stuff" but we have acquired a new futon and a rocking chair (Thanks Dad and Debbie!). Oh and the outside table Ed built. And the potato plant frame. Hmm, maybe we have accumulated some stuff...

We live about a block from the Good Will and I anticipate dumping a huge amount of stuff over there. We've got some great quality things that we just never use. I'm even debating donating all my music books and DVDs... I love them dearly and do look at them every 6mo. or so... but does that make them worth lugging around? We've got at least two more moves ahead of us... possibly more. Moving just makes me want to shrug off all the stuff, pack a duffle bag and go. I never buy books anymore thanks to my Kindle and the library. I love books. I love the feel of books, but they just aren't practical to buy. There's no space for them. They are costly. They are damn heavy to move. Of course I'd be lost without a good library.

I would like to get a fancy version of Jane Eyre someday, and I already own Goodnight Opus and The Giving Tree for my future children... I don't need much more than that. And I'm not sure that the thinking of, 'maybe I'll hold onto it because I'll soon have a house to permanently store it in' will lead me to a non-cluttered, lean-home future. (This being the extreme ideal) ... (Or not quite as related, this woman. I'd quite like to be her and have that amazing garden - this particular blog post was hilarious)

Packing has also made me realize that I need to get wedding stuff done and shipped ASAP. Because, like so many other things, I decided to conveniently forget that the wedding is not on this coast. So alllllll this great stuff I've been working on needs to be packed and shipped by oh, let's say this week? *panic* I've been in full wedding mode for the past weekend and pretty much every day this week. I returned all my library books whether I had started them, was close to finishing or hadn't even cracked them, because let's be honest, I'm not getting any reading done from now until I take my first step off the plane onto Palm Island.

And working out? What's that? That doesn't happen around these parts anymore. On the bright side, I am hardly eating due to activities and stress. So it all balances out. Plus, I count watching the Olympics as mild exercise since I freak out when the competitions get tense - even when I have very little idea what's going on other than someone is close to glory or disaster.

Funny (and a little bit sad) story. In my exploring things to pack or toss, I found some at home waxing kits I had never been brave enough to try. Lord knows what overcame me but I decided I should test it out so I could hold onto them or trash them. So. I figured ok, let's try the leg. That skins gotta be pretty tough and simple to do. And it was simple. And honestly not all that painful. I think it's similar to the difference between the pain you feel when you brush out a knot in your hair. It is much more painful to have another person brush out the knot. So having myself rip off a waxed on strip wasn't too painful.

At first.

Because after that... it was immediately like Steve Carell in 40-Year-Old Virgin when he's walking home after the waxing incident. And that was pretty unnerving and very unsexy.

So. My verdict is that waxing anything is the worst and I'll just avoid that for the rest of my life. Don't think I'm missing out there.