We’re not quite unpacked yet …

… but I wanted to share some photos of our new apartment with you guys!

We finally took the time this weekend to reorganize a little bit so I thought it would be a good opportunity to sneak in a few pictures before the work week hits and it turns back into a disaster area …

Now that we’ve gone through a full week of cooking dinners in it and have started to put out a few decorative things, it’s finally starting to feel like home.

Savannah

We spent the second evening on our trip to Florida in Savannah, GA.  We had to, because literally e v e r y o n e we mentioned Savannah to before we left gushed over how much they loved it and where we had to go when we were there.

We only had an afternoon to poke around and explore the town, so Jim and I grabbed lunch at Zunzi’s (yum – highly recommended) then went for a walk down by the waterfront (which felt good after being cooped up in the car for 2 days).  The stairs leading down to the river were tall and frightening and craggy cobblestones were everywhere you went.  We enjoyed watching the fat pigeons hop around the train tracks and picked up some Savannah Bee honey.  That evening we had dinner at Alligator Soul (tasty but a bit overpriced) and ice cream at Leopold’s.

Here are a few photos of our brief, but very much enjoyable stay:

I definitely see a long weekend spent here in the future!

Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends!

I’m baaacckkk!!

Well, tentatively anyway. Internet is up and running fine and the bulk of our unpacking has been achieved – Hurrah!

Over the past few weeks I mentioned Jim’s accident and other little things that were making this move tedious and tough.  Haha, well, little did I know what life had in store for us once we were finally packed up and on the road.

The following is a pretty good recap of packing adventures and unforeseen events that have happened over the past couple of weeks making them some of the most stressful I’ve experienced in a long time. You may want to grab a coffee or something, this will take a while:

• July 13 – Jim broke arm while mountain biking. Parents came through in the clutch and rescheduled their lives so they could meet me, Jim and our stuff in Florida on August 3rd to help me carry our crap up the stairs since my moving buddy was now crippled. They also planned on leaving Florida to go home on August 5th and purchased a plane ticket accordingly (this is relevant, I promise).
• July 16 – Drive down to Rehoboth Beach for a couple days.
• July 18 – Drive home for Jim’s pre-surgery elbow appointment. Find out that surgery can’t be done until later in the week. (Really? You couldn’t have told us this via phone call!?) Returned to Rehoboth Beach for lack of anything better to do.
• July 22 – Went home again for Jim’s elbow surgery.
• July 23 to July 24 – Packed up our life like a mad woman and moved all boxes, furniture, etc into the POD (the WORST moving and storage idea ever.)
• July 25 – POD supposed to be picked up.
• July 26 – POD actually picked up.
• July 28 – Jim’s post-surgery follow-up appointment.
• August 1 – Hopped into my trusty Corolla and began the journey to Florida. Stopped at a friend’s house near Wake Forest to sleep. I miss her.
• August 2 – Second leg of “the great migration”. PODS called in the afternoon to inform me that my stuff would not in fact be dropped off August 3rd as we agreed upon weeks ago, but the drop-off was rescheduled for August 6th … a full day after my parents were scheduled to fly back home. Bitched to PODS about their complete inability to effectively communicate with their customers and their lack of accepting responsibility for anything ever. Was met with insincere apologies and the suggestion to file a claim, which they may or may not accept. Wonderful. Parents saved my ass AGAIN and extended their stay to August 6. Spent the night in Savannah, GA. (Great little town by the way, mental note to go back for a long weekend sometime.)
• August 3 – Last leg … arrived at our new Aventura apartment in the afternoon. Met my parents. Got set to sign lease and realized that we never brought certified funds with us for the first month’s rent (sorry, I was a little preoccupied caring for a broken arm and lots of POD crapola). After a few panic attacks we finally scraped together enough cash to cover it. Signed lease. Sat in empty apartment.
• August 4 – Dude from Comcast arrives late for his appointment. Internet was set up.
• August 5 – POD arrived and we moved all our stuff into the apartment. No other way to slice it, moving big objects and heavy boxes up a flight of stairs is never fun.
• August 6 – Began unpacking boxes and putting stuff away. Familial tensions presented themselves. (Just one more thing I had to confront and deal with amidst everything else.)
• August 7 to August 8 – More unpacking and whatnot.
• August 9 – Travelled to IKEA to purchase some unassembled wares. After packing the car with our new goodies at the “loading deck”, the entire front part of my car was literally ripped off by some jerk-off who doesn’t understand the fact that you have to give a 16-foot UHaul lots of room when making turns!!! Luckily it’s only cosmetic damage … but still. Now my front bumper is being held on with twine until we hear from the insurance company about what to do next …

After all this, grad school should be a breeze.

O, and a little message to whatever higher power is dicking around with my life: As payment for all this mayhem, it would be nice to graduate with my PhD in 3-4 years.  Okay?  Thanks.

Anyway, despite all of this – Jim and I are doing a pretty good job of keeping smiles on our faces and pushing through it.  I don’t know if this is because we are actually learning and getting stronger in the face of adversity or because we are too beaten down to care any more.  Either way, it can only get better from here right?

I promise future posts will be more upbeat (the craziness of this move was just too ridiculous not to share) and I hope to actually have photos of a semi-finished apartment to show you soon!! Thanks for sticking with me!

Goodbye Lambertville …

These pictures really don’t capture the uniqueness, personality and somewhat decrepit nature of our little 200+ year-old Lambertville apartment – But I wanted to give you an unretouched glimpse of the home we’re leaving behind …

I’ll admit, I won’t miss our wonky walls and floors and will be looking forward to a bathroom with a real door and a vent, but this place will always be special to us – And we’re going to miss it a whole heck of a lot when we leave.

Miami Adventure Update!

There seems to be a direct relationship between the number of boxes packed and my level of happiness.

I’m feeling infinitely more relaxed than I was a week ago – Largely due to the amount of packing achieved and the fact that Jim’s elbow surgery is over and his arm is healing nicely (like, he can get dressed by himself now!).

Also, it’s nice to have my adventure buddy awake, ambulatory and conversational instead of the sleepy, drugged and in pain alternative (You were wondering where I would post this Jim – Well here it is!):

Anyway, we still have a few loose ends to tie up before we ship out (if you reside in the Trenton, NJ area and want a sleeper sofa or TV for free, let me know in the comments … the guy who was going to take ours flaked out at the last minute … so we need to get rid of them pronto!) but I’m starting to see a glimpse of light at the end of the tunnel!

Hope you all are staying cool!!