Our Plans were Foiled!

Well, you know those big plans we had for the phone book? They were RUINED.

I went to the apartment on Monday to do some cleaning, and after I climbed the stairs I found myself with this:

Seriously. Maybe they read my blog? Anyhow, I was extremely disappointed in their sudden decision to clean up their act. Now Jeff and I will never have a chance to carry out our plans. Which looked something like this:

Jeff's plan: Prop the phone book against their door (again), with a sign that reads something to the effect of: "Hi, I'm your phone book. Why don't you love me? Why won't you bring me into your home?" Or something like that (right boo?).

My plan: Throw it away. Leave a sign on their doorstep that reads: "You're welcome."

But now...neither one of these will ever happen. Shame on you, belatedly responsible neighbor.

Packing Day, Lost Count

It's been roughly two weeks of slowly packing and moving everything out of our place. Yesterday we moved the essentials into the new place, and the only things left in the old place are a couple loads of clean laundry and Jeff's paintings. Not too shabby.

Here was my greatest moving accomplishment this week:

I mentioned before our obsession with moving things in one trip. And even though this was during the week, so I was moving stuff alone while Jeff was working, this was no exception. So, those two loaded carts up there? Yep, I packed up the truck with all of that, and somehow, precariously loaded them up to these two carts, pushed both of them onto the elevator, and into storage, IN ONE TRIP. Two golf club bags, two bikes, two dinning room chairs, a box, a sleeping bag, and some miscellaneous stuff. I won't say I didn't have technical difficulties in getting it done, but I did it.

This is what our storage unit currently looks like:

Crazy that our whole lives are packed into a 10 x 10 storage unit.

Finally, let me introduce you to our soon to be ex-neighbors phone book:

It's been there for over a month (dare I say more than two?). We pass by it everyday. She passes by it everyday. We even propped it up against her door one day, thinking she'd get the clue that she should pick it up, and nothing. So. We have some ideas. Stay tuned.

Packing, Day 2 and 1/2

Well, all in all I think we made some good progress. Took a load to storage yesterday before the BBQ, and I worked on the closet pretty much all day today (aside from going to say goodbye to Uli and Hank for a couple hours). I feel like there are still a TON of odds and ends around the apartment, but I think we'll be ok.

A couple things that made me really happy this weekend:

1) Jeff and I are great teammates. Nothing I didn't know before, but it's always nice to be working with someone you work so well with. No arguments about what is going where, how things should be done, pack this there, no over there, but I want it over here...we kind of work like a well oiled machine. We're one step ahead of each other...always in a good way. And I can always count on Jeff to come up with some pretty brilliant ideas (I actually had a "Jeff moment" myself today when I came up with a pretty MacGyver move for packing my earrings...suffice it to say it was pure genius), like this one:

You might ask yourself...what is that? Well, Jeff was in charge of wrapping up our dinning room chairs so they sustain minor damage during transport and storage...and after the second one he was getting a little dizzy going around them with plastic wrap. So he asked me, "do we have anything like a Lazy Susan?" Thankfully, in the last five years, someone had explained to me what this was, so I was able to confidently tell him we didn't. It didn't matter...he found a plastic-organizer-drawer I had just emptied out that had wheels on it. So, while I turned the chair, he plastic wrapped it. No dizziness. Just some good teamwork :)

2) Second, we're amazing at packing stuff onto moving carts! The last time we went to storage, there were no carts available, so we carried stuff on our desk chair and just on our own...then a second trip with random stuff, and by the third trip we had finally obtained ownership of a moving cart. So...three trips up and down the elevator. On our way home, Jeff mentioned that we could have made it in one trip if we had the moving cart the whole time...I was incredulous...but then today, we carried a truck FULL of stuff in one trip. It was pretty amazing. Two carts, plus the purple rolly cart thingy pictured above, which we filled and stacked with other stuff. Not gonna lie...it was pretty amazing stacking!

Not so amazing: coming home and realizing the smell of your apartment is gone (you know what I'm talking about...every house has it's own unique smell...and I miss mine), it now smells like cardboard boxes. Le sigh.

One week from tomorrow will be our last TVN, and a week from Wednesday, we'll be turning in our keys...

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!

And so it begins...

The first boxes into our storage unit.

Mostly books.

I feel like a bad mother leaving them in there.

I rationalize it by telling myself that they'll be unpacked into a better home someday.

Until then, at least they've got climate control!