Packing, Day 1

Well, we've been packing small stuff over the last week, but yesterday was the first day that we REALLY packed. I mean, all day. I guess technically we started a little late, since we both have to do our usual online reading (reddit for Jeff, google reader for me), but once we drank our coffee and got our reading done, we meant business.

I worked on the kitchen all day...Jeff took care of clearing the entertainment center and desk area.

Jeff moved the red couch out of the way to free up some space

If we hadn't had a desk, we both really like this set up. It opens up the living room so much!

After a full day of work, we ended up with a mostly empty kitchen (I left out the coffee pot, toaster, a pot, pan, a couple bowls, and utensils. And coffee mugs, duh), and a heartbreakingly empty living room.

It's been slightly emotional. We keep telling ourselves it's just an apartment, and we'll have a new place eventually that we'll grow to love as much as this one. But it's hard to process for now. This little apartment has been so great for us, beyond perfect, and we've shared so many moments with each other and our friends: it's seen three (or two?) annual Gingerbread House parties, the first Friendsgiving, countless TVN's, spa nights, pool days, not to mention our own movie nights and coffee and lunch's on the balcony.

We are definitely thankful that our first place provided us with so much happiness and so many great memories!

We're taking a break from packing today, so we can have a little Farewell BBQ for Uli and Hank (I keep denying that they're leaving in a day...I think denial works better than realizing...well, never mind, I'm already getting choked up), but Jeff is off on Monday, so hopefully we can pack up most of our room and get rid of that futon!

Random Updates...

I've been going to the gym! Well, to be honest last week I failed, but the two weeks before that I was a frequent visitor, and I went today. I do have a confession: today was the first time there was no one else there (it's the small gym from my apartment complex), so when the below song came on my Pandora...I actually did a little dancing on the elliptical. It was very niiiice.

(In asking Jeff for help in finding this video, he just shared with me how him and Pat used to cruise around bumping their Pure Funk CD. I love him.)

Anyhow, not sure if I mentioned that we put in our 30-day notice at our apartment complex. We did. Sigh. We're really gonna miss this place. I stopped by the leasing office today to pick up some move out paperwork, and they kindly informed me that no matter how clean we leave this place, they're still gonna rape us for all that our deposit is worth, and more. Uuuuuggghhhh.

So, in preparation for this monumental move, we started packing today. We decided to start with the stuff that's easy to pack: DVD's and books (I'm terrified of packing up the kitchen. Uuuuuggghhhh x2). In packing up the books I came across the one item I've ever stolen [from a store], in my life. I was about six or seven. I have a super clear picture of the parking lot, and the check out stand, but for the life of me I can't remember what store it was. What I do remember is that by the check out stand there was something I really wanted, and my mom said "No" when I asked her to buy it for me. It was like a buck fifty, and I was a little pissed she wouldn't spend a buck fifty on me (as in $1.50, not $150.00).

My mom and the register lady started chatting it up, which I took as a distraction mechanism. I'm not sure what I was thinking, but I grabbed what I wanted and hid it in my sweater. We then walked out of the store and into my mom's Mitsubishi, which was sweltering. "Why don't you take off your sweater? It's hot in here." I tried to make up some excuse, but the heat was undeniable, and mother knows best. It probably didn't help that I must've had the most guilty expression on my face ever.

So, she made me take off my sweater...and that thing I had just stolen slipped out. Needless to say, she wasn't happy. I started crying. She threatened to make me go inside and return it (we were still sitting in the car, in the parking lot), but I think she was a little embarrassed herself, and my tears were probably pretty convincing of my regret. So, we never returned it. It's actually floated around between my mother (yeah, she had the nerve to keep it for HERSELF!), then my grandmother, and when I found it again a few years back, I finally took possession of it.

What is it?

A BOOKMARK!

Hahhahaha, so lame.