Two Weeks.

Two weeks, people. TWO WEEKS until we leave Washington.  Yesterday was my last day of work. It'll be nice not to have to worry about work with all that needs to be done over these last two weeks, but I was finally settling in and really becoming "part of the team."  I'll miss that place.  My team, especially my boss, have been AWESOME to work with and they sent me on my way with some thoughtful gifts and a delicious spread: brownies, chocolate covered strawberries, guac, hummus...the list goes on and on.  They gave me this canvas and "Oh, The Places You'll Go" by Dr. Seuss, accompanied by a Dr. Seuss card :) Such a sweet gesture...especially considering I've only been here 4 months.  I'm blessed.

 

We're also super happy to be packing this week full of quality time with friends.  We have breakfast, lunch, and dinner plans squeezed in between more purging, Goodwill runs, church, and cleaning like a mad woman before the surveyor comes out on Monday morning.  Neal's project has several people leaving soon, in addition to us, so we'll be going to a Going Away dinner for everyone on Friday night. It'll be great to get everyone together one last time.

On Monday my car gets shipped and the surveyor comes out to assess our apartment [to decide the amount of materials and truck space they will need to pack and ship all of our stuff], so it'll be a busy day.  We're in the process of selling a few pieces of furniture and donating a lot of stuff to Goodwill so we're not bringing unnecessary and unwanted items back to Virginia.  

When we moved the first time it was such short notice and on top of that we received so.many.gifts. right before we moved [that's what happens when ya get married...people give you A LOT of stuff].  Anyways, when we moved the first time, our philosophy was just to pack it all and we'd sort through it when we got to Washington.  Well, the first half of that worked out...it all got to Washington.  The problem is now that we never sorted through the crap we had from our college days/first apartments.  So..now...a year and a half later, we're finally sorting through things and donating and or selling things we just absolutely do not want or need in our next place.  It's refreshing to do that!  I love to purge.  When I was a kid, my Mom would tell me to go clean my room and I'd end up spending an entire day in there and I'd come out with like 3 trash bags full of stuff to donate or throw away.  Neal, on the other hand, well, he'd hold onto everything if he could...and not necessarily because he actually wants it all, but because he hates the process of sorting through everything to decide what to keep/trash/donate.  Thankfully he's been a trooper and has helped me purge SO MUCH STUFF.  We'll be moving back to Virginia with a lot less clothes, no couch, one less dresser, no desk, and a heck of a lot less knick-knacks and linens. I love it!

So, technically moving starts on Monday since my car will be shipped.  And thankfully Neal will be able to use a company car for those two weeks and I can drive his truck.  Then next week the actual packing and moving begins.  We're blessed to have friends who will let us put Coop [in his crate] at their house while the movers are there packing and moving everything.  We're also SUPER thankful that Neal's company pays for everything to be packed and moved.  Packing up an entire household of stuff is no fun, and only being responsible for supervising someone else doing it is so much less stressful [in my opinion]. 

Let the moving commence!  FOURTEEN days to go, folks.