moving day

on saturday, j and i officially moved out of our apartment in oregon.

this past week has been so surreal. there was so much we needed to do - so much to pack and move and ship and wrap and give away and clean. we have been anxiously awaiting this day for so many months, that to actually have it be here was pretty hard to believe.

of course i'm more sentimental about things than he is so i couldn't help but think of everything that i was doing as being The Last. this is the last time we're going to eat pizza at 2am while living in this apartment! or, this is the last time i'm going to check the mail in this apartment on a tuesday afternoon at 3pm while it's raining!! things got more and more ridiculous as the week went on. this is the last time i'm going to cook eggs on the front burner of this stove!! or, we're never going to hang our coats in this closet again! in our entire lives!!! by the end of the week, j was ready to tape my mouth shut and ship me off to new york along with the rest of our boxes.

by the way, are you aware that moving is a giant pain in the ass? you probably are. somehow, every time i move i forget how terrible the whole experience is. i legitimately convince myself that it's going to be easy - and fast! i trick myself into thinking that i really don't have that much stuff, so why would packing be hard?

it took me about two seconds to remember that 'moving' is synonymous with 'hell' and that i was right in the middle of it. before living in this apartment i lived just down the street which is probably why i had this twisted idea of what moving would be like. the last time i did this, i practically walked my boxes down the street. moving across the country is a bit of a different story, i'm afraid. there was just so much stuff to deal with. for instance - what are you supposed to do with all your clothes hangers?! we had three closets full of hangers and no idea what to do with them. when it was finally time to leave, we were still panicked and undecided about the hangers so we just said, to hell with the hangers! and left them hanging there.

my biggest challenge was deciding what things to keep and what to let go of. i'm sure you remember the great de-cluttering adventure of 2013 in which i got rid of over half of my closet. after carefully selecting the shirts and sweaters that i just couldn't let go of, i essentially forced the rest of my clothes on different friends. take this! i beg you! i did the same thing with just about everything else i own (books, dishes, even shoes!). j and i were able to sell the big things - the couch, table and chairs, desk, bikes, etc. - but everything else we gave away. i'm proud to announce that i successfully packed one suitcase for new york. all the clothes i own fit into one (embarrassing, enormous) suitcase. i also have a backpack. and i shipped a few boxes of heavier things like coats and boots. but aren't you proud?! if you had seen my closet before i de-cluttered, you'd be proud. one suitcase - gigantic or not - is a pretty incredible feat for the secret hoarder in me.

it was strange to watch our apartment slowly go from a home to a big empty space. this really was a great first place for us. it was so big (1100 sq ft!) and the carpet was brand new and we had 12 beautiful windows and an elevator and basically, for two college kids, we were living a life of luxury. we had a lot of fun living here, but we're both excited enough about new york that it wasn't sad to leave. i mean, who wouldn't be excited to move from this place to a closet under someone's stairs and pay $2,000/month for it?