Things I'm *trying* to do these days...

(After one week into my new life)

1. Get settled in our new apartment. We made a lot of progress at the beginning and now seem to have hit a wall. Hopefully this weekend we can tackle some of the more annoying things that have yet to be done. The Craigslist in this town has proven to be much less useful than the one I used before I moved. Or maybe our stuff is less interesting. We still need to get rid of stuff, though!

2. Get settled in this city. This one is tough. I miss my friends, and while I am certainly excited to be here, I'm kinda lonely. So much of my work is solitary, TMH works so much, and I hate to be just waiting for him to get home at night. I mean, I am used to living alone, and being alone, but somehow this is different. I know I will get used to it. It doesn't help that it has been cold and cloudy all week (not June weather at all). I spent about 4 hours at the DMV yesterday (I refuse to call it the RMV); it was quite the big city experience. Finally got the promise of a new license, after 2 trips and $90. Insane. Stuff like that does not a good attitude promote. And I wonder how I'll make friends. The summer job doesn't help much (see #3). I've been running every day, though, which is awesome, and a great way to explore our fun new neighborhood. This city is great for runners.

3. Get ready to teach summer school. I think there is a year in between each program so that teachers have enough time to forget how ridiculous it is and decide to come back. Really. The required reading list for teacher orientation this summer has grown exponentially. Four books and countless articles before we even start work? I try to remind myself that I have to take this whole program with a grain of salt, and stay above the fray (which is way easier said than done, but I've been mostly successful for the past 2 years) but it seems to me the already insane director is crazier than ever. "She's gone over the edge," or so says my dramatic teacher friend who works there all year. She's the only one I have befriended in 2 years because of how crazy/dramatic/ ESL teachery everyone is. I have to keep myself at a distance or I'll go down. If I didn't need this job so much I would consider telling the crazy director where to go. But I won't. Too many important bridges for me exist BECAUSE of this position.

4. Figure out wtf is going on with my dissertation. This task is stressing me out. I have about half the data (and there is the pesky matter of ALL of those interview transcriptions), I need to work on getting the other half, I keep telling myself I need to put myself on a schedule. It's so daunting in that there is so much to do it's hard to figure out what to do on any given day. I am also a bit intimidated by the work, which doesn't help. It is slowly taking shape, however. Everyday, a new, small step. That's the current goal.

5. Do wedding things. Our wedding planning completely fell off the table with everything else going on recently, but I realized that we had better check in with it. Luckily, I realized that in time to notice that we had to order our invitations or it would be TOO LATE (because of how long they take to ship). So we ordered the invitations! Let me just make sure there are not any other major tasks that need to be done promptly...

6. Enjoy the break I have before I start working again. I am failing miserably here. I know once summer school starts I will be kicking myself, but as you can see with items #1-5, I have so much on my mind I can't really just relax. I need to figure out a way, though, in the next week. I do try to do one fun or new thing every day. I think if it warms up a bit (or even if the sun were to come out), that would help. Then I might be inspired to take a day off and go to the beach, or something fun! "Free" time is rare in my life and I need to take advantage, especially with how crazy the past few months have been. I deserve it.

A whole new world....

So here I am sitting at my new desk (TMH's old desk) in our new apartment!

Yep, I made it! A couple of very big days in my life, but everything went amazingly well. On Friday I said goodbye to my car (sold it to a very excited young Texan), packed up my apartment and said goodbye to my apartment, got Gemi settled at a hotel, and had a wonderful dinner with friends. Thanks again, so much, to those friends for making that big day go so smoothly. Whew! Then on Saturday I drove in a very loud truck with a cat who hates noise. We had a bit of a harried trip but we survived. I was quite proud of my instincts; I drove right to our place with no issues, though I had never been here before, and true to form for this city, the directions weren't quite right. A couple of hours later all my belongings were in our new place and TMH and I were trucking the big truck to the drop-off location. After we dropped off the truck I breathed a huge sigh of relief (being responsible for a big moving truck in a big city is STRESSFUL, as you know. ANY driving is stressful!). Then, pizza and beer at our neighborhood wood-fired pizza place, right around the corner! Woo-hoo. After dinner I joked with TMH about how we are now going to be living together for THE REST OF OUR LIVES. And he was like, oh no, don't tell me that. Just kidding! He carried me over the threshold of our elevator (yes, we have an elevator that opens right up into our place!) to do the moment justice (and yes, it was just a moment, because as my mother said, that couldn't have been easy for him). I can't believe we are finally all under one roof after all of this time. Three years of a distance relationship, over in a snap. (And proof that you can make distance work. Who knew?)

Sunday we worked on getting organized. Putting two people's apartments into one is a bit of a challenge, but it is working out really well! I LOVE THIS PLACE. I already feel at home here, though it is a bit hard to believe that this is my life now. It's a fantastic apartment: elevator, wood floors, fireplace, cool windows, quiet street and amazing location. We've had some maintenance issues so far, though hopefully they are just part of getting settled in a place that hasn't been inhabited for a few months!

Gemi has done amazingly well (bounced back quickly from the loud truck and long drive) and is already right at home and not causing trouble (knock on wood!). I've realized how responsible I feel for her, and I am so relieved that she is doing so well. We have a stairway that goes up to one of the apartment exits; she can perch up there and see what's going on and definitely has found it to be a good play area. She can also sit in the windows... ah the life!

So here we are, getting settled in our new lives. This week I have been trying to unpack, organize, and put things in a pile that we have to get rid of. We have two of many things! We should be able to sell most stuff. And then I also have to get back to my dissertation, which has definitely fallen by the wayside in the past couple of weeks. I have a little time before I start teaching the crazy summer school here. In that time I need to take a break, but also work, and of course do house stuff. Contradictions are fun, right? It's just so hard to believe, after months of preparation and worrying and everything else.... we're here. And life is good.

Light the red lantern

My fake lesbian Target-loving friend and I had dinner last night. We always joke about how people at Target must think we are a lesbian couple because we shop there together and have kind of couple-like behavior (like we are always on the same page at Target and we buy everything from cute outfits and clearance jeans to cat food and toilet paper. See... lesbians, right?) That coupled with the town we live in makes it funny. (Her husband said that when I move the people at Target will think we've broken up). Anyway, she has a lantern we got on one of our shopping excursions last summer that we had never lit. So last night, post Target, we lit it, had some wine and dinner and sat out on her patio. We are determined to make the most of this time of year, and my last week in this town. My evenings with her (at Target or not) are definitely at the top of the list of things I am going to miss about living here!

It's that time that I have been writing about and thinking about for all these months. One more week here! TMH and I had a fantastic time at the all-important wedding #3, which was beautiful and amazing and such fun. My reading went off without a hitch and I was honored to be part of the day; a friend I have had for 23 years! It was great to see people who have known me for so long in this time of transition. And it was good to see my mother and have a bit of a break with TMH, though of course it went by all too quickly. TMH moves tomorrow (our new place is not even a mile from his current place), and I move next Saturday. I am still trying to tie up all the loose ends at work (they won't let me go!) do dissertation interviews, and get ready to move out. I am selling some of my belongings, which is weird. A very nice couple came by earlier to put down a deposit on my futon (who knew!), which they will pick up tomorrow. So my furniture will start to disappear. I am selling my car, too. Weird. It's all good, though. I am getting excited about the next chapter. It's going to be great for us. So I can look back fondly on my time here and look forward eagerly to the adventures to come. It's all good. But moving sucks no matter what, remember.

Today I went with two other friends (going to miss them so much, too!) to pick up my wedding dress, which now comes equipped with a lovely bustle that is going to be impossible for my girls to figure out. At least the two who were with me now sort of know how it works. I am happy to report that the dress itself fits perfectly. PERFECTLY. So much so that I was worried at my first fitting that I might need to lose a couple of pounds for the dress, and now I realize that because of the way it fits, I really shouldn't lose any. So there. My permission to stay exactly as I am!

In this time of transition and change, of nostalgia and looking forward, it's so nice to think about coming back here to get married.... for so many reasons. In addition to all the joy of the marriage, we'll get the chance to see everyone again and celebrate the specialness of this place.