Packing is for the birds

I've been truly spoiled with the amazing corporate move the last two times I've shuttled my stuff from home to home.  I just pack a bag for myself, handle the kitty (not a small feat, I might add, but still...), and let them do their thing.  It's SO amazing.  And SO expensive it would make your eyeballs pop out of your head if you ever wanted to actually pay for it.  Yeeps.

And yes, that's right - it's finally time to move into that beautiful house we bought a few months ago.  Hooray!!

So this time around, with a whole houseload of stuff that needs to move from one house to another, we're doing a lot of the heavy lifting.  Not the REALLY heavy lifting - that's what movers are for.  But I have to pack my own boxes now.  Oh, poor spoiled Erin.  And the dear animals are so confused - I think they're afraid they're going to be forgotten unless they jump into boxes as well.  It's ok, fur babies, we've got you!

But at least as of this afternoon, we have bare cabinets and a whole kitchen's worth of stuff allllll boxed up...

...and aren't friends wonderful??  Major, major props to Kami and Carolyn for a Saturday afternoon kitchen packing extravaganza.  I mean, I have a lot of stuff.  And Craig has a lot of stuff.  And so there's a lot of stuff.  And we both love to cook, so there is a LOT lot lot of kitchen stuff.  Much of it breakable and frah-gee-lay.  And these gals papered and wrapped and taped and organized and make it happen.  Love them.  Can't thank them enough.

We have an army of book boxes lining the living room.  Scattered packed things here and there.  And still quite a bit to go, which Craig delights in informing me is mostly mine.  I can handle it.  I have until Friday morning to make it all happen.  Yeeps again...

Can't wait to make you our own, lovely new home.  See you soon.

Adventures in moving

"Adventures in moving" is just a little broad.  Let's also file this one under (1) the poor kitty who couldn't fly (Harrison was supposed to fly out Wednesday...and then Friday...and now MONDAY!  Poor little guy) and (2) what happens when a door seal is broken during Snowy Icy Disaster Times (bazillions of cold air molecules rush into your home, creating a thermostat reading of...freezing.  Not good to see your breath in your house.  Heat is now on and the door seal is now fixed, phew). 

Possibly also file under (3) North Texas goes Super Bowl crazy (but at least the Pittsburgh and Wisconsin fans know how to drive in ice and snow, right?) and (4) reacquiring your four-wheel drive vehicle in place of rental car on the day The Great Melt begins (although in its defense, the little Nissan Versa did just fine as long as I went slooooowly - driving on the frozen equivalent of a Slip 'n Slide isn't exactly my idea of a good time.  Glow sun glow!  Melt that snow!).

Who would have thought that I'd need to worry more about snow and ice blanketing North Texas than attacking D.C. this time of year?  After powering through Snowpocalypse 2009 and Snowmageddon 2010, I sent up little prayers to Mother Nature for her to please go easy on the East Coast during late January, early February this year.  Too bad I forgot to account for crazy Texas weather.  Dallas has been blanketed by ice ever since Tuesday...and another six inches of snow fell on Thursday night.  At least I was fortunate enough to be traveling on one of the few flights that actually made it from DC to Dallas on Wednesday.  Egads!

However...I'm remarkably impressed that both the movers with my giant truckload of stuff AND the car carrier got here TODAY.  Thanks for battling the elements, guys!  And thanks for unpacking my ridiculous amount of stuff while I spend the day tethered in, knocking out things like address changes.  And blogging.  And wondering how the heck to arrange the living room.

It's starting to actually feel like I'm back here now and not just on a short visit.  Phew.  Now, if we could just get poor little Harrison here...

You might be moving REALLY soon if...

...the only things in your fridge are Diet Coke, milk (for cereal in the morning, obviously), and half a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips.  Don't ask why the chocolate chips made the cut (have you met me?) OR why they're in the refrigerator.

...your walls no longer have anything on them.  They look so naked and sad with their gaping nail and anchor wounds.

...you think "whatever!" about random carpet stains rather than try to actually get them out.  That's what the deposit is for, right?

...the DVR is only 16% full because you've been cleaning it out, trying not to miss those INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT shows you've had recorded for the last six months.  Which obviously weren't that important.  Oh, wait - I disconnected everything an hour ago, those shows are now GONE.  I think I'll live.

...you WALKED home from work for the last time on Friday.  Time to go back to the land of plentiful highways and gaz-guzzling cars.

...the thought of not sharing walls with ANYONE is consuming your every thought, given the noisy new neighbors who've moved in next door.  WHAT are you people DOING?!?

The movers are theoretically showing up at 8 AM tomorrow.  And I'm giving them a walkthrough, a rundown, a once-over, and then hustling Harrison over to the vet for a round of shots and a couple of days of boarding, which I'm sure he'll be THRILLED about.  So hopefully a lot of my stuff will magically disappear into a giant truck during that time.  Yipes.

One-way flight back to Dallas on Wednesday - a lot sure has happened in the last two years.

A tree grows in Brooklyn...and many, many trees grow all the way from Durham to Brooklyn

Last weekend I was in blessed, blessed Texas.  The weekend before the CR-V and I embarked on the longest road trip we've ever taken together - today's topic of discussion.  This weekend I'm looking forward to not traveling at all.  Homegirl needs some down time.

Back to that road trip I mentioned.  My little sissy (although she really is remarkably taller than me, so maybe I should go with the more accurate "younger sissy"...oh, Erin) wrapped up year two of legal studies at one Duke University and prepared to embark on the summer internship.  In...New York City!  Much apartment debating, sublet from random person in Brooklyn (subletting is an odd, odd concept to me...someone just moves into your space!  And you leave your stuff there!  I don't think I trust enough for that), housing situation is set.  Only thing...any sane person doesn't really want to deal with a car in New York City when an all-encompassing subway, coupled with your very own legs and occasional taxi or bus, can get you anywhere you need to go.  So...how does one get one's self and all one's self's stuff to the ci-tay?  Enter fellow East Coast sister who ambitiously offered to drive down to Durham, load up sissy and stuff, journey to Brooklyn and deposit sissy and stuff there, then drive back to D.C.  Yipes.  That's a lot of driving.  But sister adventures await!

I headed down on Thursday after work, encountering only the usual city delays getting out of D.C. instead of any epic traffic disasters, and proceeded to drive through hours and hours of dark, scary forest.  I've made the drive before, but I think I forgot just how boring and foresty it all is.  So, so many trees.  Nothing but trees.  And you have to just trust those roadside signs that tell you there's a Chick-fil-A waiting, just on the other side of those trees - because you can't see the darn thing for yourself.  Sometimes I do miss those wide open plains of West Texas.  But I made it!  A little last minute packing, as many sister-hugs as I could manage, and a little last minute clearing out of the fridge, where I was more than happy to take care of a couple of those Shiners...it's just too bad we forgot to eat the strawberries in the morning.  That's just going to be ugly come August.

We actually left at the time we said we would leave in the morning (go us!), and after waving goodbye to the apartment and the poor abandoned car and most of Durham, we grabbed some lovely (literally - just look at it!  They don't do that at Starbucks...) coffee at Joe Van Gogh and set off on our journey through six states, a district, and two boroughs.

It took a long time.  And many, many dollars worth of tolls.  But we made it!  And you know what greets you as you drive into Brooklyn?  An official sign declaring "Welcome to Brooklyn!  Not Just A Borough, An Experience!" - delightful.

After leaving sissy's worldly possessions sitting in the street (don't worry - they were still inside my car), we chilled at Blackbird Parlour for a little while, enjoying some tastiness and soaking up the Brooklyn vibes while waiting for the key drop-off from subletter's friend.  And of course I took pictures of our food!  We were in need of veggies and such after our speedy Arby's lunch.

Acquired keys, navigated to temporary home, found parking spot almost directly in front of said home (miracle of miracles!), unloaded, contemplated exploring neighborhood, decided we were tired and should probably do that in daylight instead, knocked back a couple of "Gilmore Girls" with a little celebratory "yay, you live here!" wine.  Proceed to sleep like rocks.

Hellooooo, Brooklyn!  After confirming that the car survived the night as well, we set out to explore.  And on our short walk to breakfast (where I felt obligated to eat a ginormous bagel and took great pleasure in doing so) at Brooklyn Standard Deli, we saw delightful Polish pastries...

...and witnessed a guy learning how to drive a bus (yipes!) and giggled at some confused produce signage at a local store...

...and discovered a ton of grocery options in the space of just a few blocks that carried things like giant vats of pickles and sauerkraut and packages of pierogis and proteins labeled "misc." and tubs of jellied chicken and crazy mystery Polish jams (among many other products)...

Ok, I promise I'll show you pictures of things other than food.  It's just that I find it SO fascinating!  I really, really do.  But you know this already.

Fortified by coffee, we did a little more neighborhood wandering and discovered some delightful restaurants and shops before making a quick stop in McCarren Park to finish off the coffee, observe all kinds of people and their four-legged companions, and give the parents a quick call to reassure them that all was well in 'da Brooklyn.  Just look at all that green!  We also found pretty much every paperback book you could want for sale along the sidewalks before dropping down into the Bedford subway stop to zip ourselves into Manhattan for the rest of the day.  Which I'll tell you about later - for now we're just going to focus on the other borough.  And apparently food.  But come on, did you expect anything different?

So after an exhausting day in the ci-tay, of course we woke up in need of coffee the next morning.  And the fascination with subletting continues.  In search of a hidden coffee maker (how does a kitchen even function without a coffee maker?!?), my detective skills unearthed some ground coffee hanging out in the freezer...meaning there MUST be a coffee maker somewhere...and this gal has an endless supply of coffee mugs (well, as endless a supply as one can support in a dishwasher-less Brooklyn apartment)...but the contraption she uses to make coffee ends up looking something like this:

You do NOT make coffee by plopping some plastic contraption on top of a mug and then filling it with a filter and grounds and hoping for the best.  Fortunately, we were quite capable of boiling water for tea, which along with a couple of muffins made for a delightful pre-breakfast since we had brunch plans at The Habitat (discovered courtesy of the Serious Eats New York Brooklyn: Greenpoint neighborhood guide - I knew excessive food blog habits would pay off at some point).  They had coffee, thank goodness, with plenty of refills, and they also had bloody marys and mimosas and huevos rancheros and a buttermilk biscuit benedict that made me very, very happy.  They also weren't very well-lit, which doesn't lend itself to awesome pictures, which does lend itself to leaving a camera in a bag and just enjoying the delciousness.

Our relatively short walk to and from brunch also allowed us to discover: (1) a full-sized normal-like grocery store with a parking lot and everything, (2) more beautiful Polish pastries (I'm thinking maybe just go in and point at what you want...it should work, right?), (3) a street after my own heart:

(4) supposedly delicious food from an establishment by the name of "Yummy Taco," (5) hipsters, (6) a Starbucks with frappuccino offerings displayed on nothing less than a movie marquee, (7) many adorable puppies waiting on their owners outside various stores, (8) a flyer and enthusiastic sales pitch from a young man who really, really wanted us to check out the rummage sale for the Polish Dance Something Something, and (9) a very Amanda-like grocery store that made her very happy with its amazing selection of healthy (and familiar) products...save for that aisle of "Polish only" food that I think is unavoidable in her area.

We made our way back to the apartment, where I did a photo session for the parents to assure them of her living space and safety, and then I hit the road to drive that final 232 miles back home.  Tolls to get myself from Brooklyn back to the D of C: $11 at the Verrazano Bridge, $5.95 to get through the state of New Jersey, $3 to get into Delaware and another $4 to get out (so many dollars for such a tiny state!), and a final $2 for the tunnel in Baltimore.  I don't think those tolls will ever cease to amaze me...and neither will grocery stores.

Erin & The Kerries/Carys/Karrys

I'm fond of using the phrase "forever people" to refer to those friends I have (family members, you're automatically included as "forever people" - because of your general amazingness, not through any bloodline obligations or anything) that I know I'll have...well, forever. I had a fortuitous meeting with two of these forever people (although we certainly didn't know it at the time) circa August 1993, fluorescent-lit classroom, middle school across the street from a cattle pasture. Yes, you read that last part correctly. Bonds were formed, many sleepovers were had, and Kerry, Carrie and I have been fantastic friends, sharing in all of those life experiences along the way, for the last...oh, holy smack...sixteen years or so. Oh, and blog post title? I think at one of the aforementioned sleepovers we had the brilliant idea to form a girl band and take the world by storm - I mean, that's the perfect name for our group, which was always much easier to work with orally than to spell out.

It was definitely time for an Erin & The Kerries (for my sanity, we're going to stick with that spelling for now) reunion, so Kerry made a trip into DC last Thursday night for a little quality time here in my city before we made the trip up to NYC to check in with Carrie and her boys. So, so good to spend time with Kerry and catch up over Thai food, wine, amazing chocolate dessert goodness, and RFD's overwhelming beer selection. We stayed up late talking and slept in, which is definitely in tune with my body's natural schedule, then did a little DC exploring over on the national mall with some time in the Natural History museum (shiny things! outer space stuff! rocks! ocean craziness!) and then lunch at the National Museum of the American Indian (which I've already raved about before - they really do have an amazing selection of food) before grabbing dinner provisions from Chop't and making our way to our bus to NYC.

Yup, the bus. Texas certainly doesn't have competitive bus service between Dallas and Austin and Houston and San Antonio, so this is a little bit of a foreign concept to my new-ish East Coast self, but up here it's a perfectly common thing to find yourself on BoltBus or Megabus or one of the many other service providers who run regular routes between DC, NYC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and plenty more of these East Coast destinations that are really not all that far from one another. We opted for BoltBus on this trip, and while we did initially have some concerns about the potential smelliness of the gentleman seated directly in front of us, the ride was perfectly pleasant...albeit a little lengthy given the rush hour traffic getting out of DC. I'll take the traffic, though - it's hard to argue with the bus when it costs about 1/4 as much as the train.

So we made it to New York! Quality time and several tasty takeout meals were shared with Carrie, Jason, and the latest addition to the family, this extremely cute little guy who is all worn out from the big move over the weekend:

It was so great to see these girls (and guys! used to be "guy," but the little one up there moves them into plural territory) and catch up on life and spend some quality time together, even if it did involve squashing a few new apartment bugs.

Kerry, I hope that you've figured out how to follow my blog so you can actually see the glowing review I've given you in the preceding paragraphs. Oh, and there is precisely one picture of the three of us from last weekend...I'm counting on your camera to come through for us.

The old & the new

I think I knew I would miss most of the following things (we're keeping people off this list - you know I miss you, and if I have to type it all out I might just cry), but now that I'm settling into life without them, it surprises me a little bit what I actually miss. I realize quite a few of them are related to food, which I just can't help. I'm not as emotionally attached to my laundry detergent as I am to my breakfast items.

1. Bluebell ice cream. There's plenty of other tasty ice creams out there, but nothing's quite the same as Bluebell. Is it bad if I've already looked into having it shipped to me? Don't worry, I won't spend that much on ice cream.
2. Mrs. Baird's bread products. Apparently I'm very supportive of my Texas food suppliers.
3. Smucker's red plum jam - do they not believe in red plums here? Perhaps this is just the bunk grocery stores I've tried - I can't believe you let me down, Harris Teeter in Columbia Heights. I even went to the Smucker's website, typed in my 20001 zip code, and found that Harris Teeter's shelves are supposed to stock this item. Please don't make me go to Virginia for red plum jam.
4. Parking lots that don't require you to pay for them. I've never had to pay to park at Target in my life...but I do now! Well, if I go to the one actually in DC and not in suburbia. Yes, the Target in the neighborhood currently undergoing a gentrification project with glaringly obvious warnings to the druggies in the area.

Ok, it's not all about missing food and vast, free parking lots. There are some new discoveries that I'm really enjoying, too (and I promise they're not all food-related):

1. Pedestrian signs that actually count down the time you have to dash across the intersection. No guessing on whether blinking yellow means you'll live or die, and yes, I'm referring to you, stinky light at the corner of Pearl and Flora. I know my Dallas Pdubbers understand that one all too well.
2. Walking. To the grocery store, to work, to dinner. It's awesome. Even when it's freakin' cold. Although I am ready for spring weather to stick around.
3. Cool new experiences - trying new restaurants, making new friends, seeing things I've never seen before. Breaking out of my shell a little bit.
4. Working 50 hours a week instead of 80. Sorry, my fellow P-dubbers, I know that many of you are in the deep depths of busy season - you know I know your pain. And you're almost there!! Except for...fiscal year ends. And odd quarterly things. Ok, it's a vicious cycle.

I tried to keep the lists small. You can be certain I'll reevaluate in the future and come to realize a few more things. I'll even try to steer away from the food a little bit.

Oh, who am I kidding, queso flows through my veins!

Physical feats

You know the potential feline/human crushing piece of furniture I mentioned? After a trip to the hardware aisle at Lowe's and some very determined screwdriver work by yours truly, it is now firmly anchored to the wall. Hopefully Harry and I are good to go with our daily activities that involve walking past the 134 pound behemoth. Actually, I suppose it weighs quite a bit more now that it's loaded down with glassware. Thank you, helpful Ikea boxes, for telling me exactly how much you weigh as I heave you into my vehicle and proceed to figure out the most practical way to get you up to the apartment without damage to self and/or surroundings. Oh, and if you're curious, 18-pound glass doors came up one at a time in their own boxes. Cardboard containing 88-pound shelving unit was ripped apart in vehicle, and pieces were carried up (thank you, elevator!) in varying weight loads. I think that took three trips. Possibly four. The sides are extraordinarily tall and awkward to handle.

Take that, little kitchen! I will assemble furniture and create my own shelving space!

Assembling that thing and shifting it into place did take a little muscle power. I wouldn't say that I've been working out in the sense of logging miles on the treadmill or busting out triceps curls, but I have been dealing with moving. My beast of a couch didn't end up quite where I wanted it, so I decided I could scoot it down about two feet or so. Ha. Scoot. Scoot mammoth couch on carpet. It doesn't appear that menacing, but this thing is hiding a sofa-bed. Are you aware that sofa-beds add a rather immense amount of weight to an otherwise innocent-looking couch? After some ineffective shoves and expletives, an infomercial from years past happened to pop into my head. Moving men furniture sliders!! Since better judgment had a good hold on me whenever I'd channel-flipped past this one, I didn't actually have any of these little doo-dads on hand. However, a couple of large pieces of cardboard will do in a pinch, provided you have the strength and foot dexterity to lift the couch while kicking the cardboard into place under said sofa's wooden feet. The couch is now where it belongs...phew.

There have been a few other physically demanding tasks over the last week or so. Due to my remarkable indeciciveness and inability to decide where to put things, I move the same heavy box/object over and over and over again. Just make up your mind, Erin. A laptop also gets a little heavy when carried to and from work on a 0.8 mile journey. That one's not terrible, mind you, but I'm afraid I might need to become a backpacker in order to prevent the right side of my body from developing a slight droop. Several Metro stops have deceptively long escalator/stair trips. You find yourself at the top of one...only to go up another. And possibly another. I'm trying to engage my heart in some healthy activity by taking the stairs or actually walking up the escalators (stand to the right, people!) instead of placidly standing, but in one instance I had to pull myself over and take a breather. Dang. Oh, I walked to the grocery store the other night! Didn't buy too much, really, and did put one of those cute Central Market bags to use, and it's only about a ten minute walk, but again...worried about the right side of my body. Must learn to put things on left shoulder. Did I mention the size of my cat? Actually, he may have slimmed down a little bit in the past couple of weeks, but he's still a bit of a chunk to pick up.

I'm aware that I could ask for help with some of these things. There's something prideful and somewhat foolish in doing it all myself, though. I can do this, I know I can! Obviously I can carry my laptop and groceries and make my legs take the stairs, but this furniture business...sometimes I wish Harrison was a slightly more helpful roommate. Hey, at least I'm engaging my body in something physical! Better than sitting like a blob in front of the TV! Which I'm also quite capable of, I should mention...there's this DVR business going on...yeah, more to come on that. Maybe I should get to know the treadmill a little bit better.

And so it continues

Let me just start with the fact that the vast majority of my possessions made the journey from Dallas to DC without suffering any major damage. The couch barely fit on the elevator and through the front door, but it's in and in one piece. I feel terrible having people hoist that sofa-bed beast around, but that's what they're paid to do, right? There was the incident involving the base to the LCD TV being left in a box, loaded back on the truck, and driven away to a warehouse. Fortunately, otherwise-extremely-conscientious moving man discovered said base after a somewhat frantic phone call from me, and it was promptly wrapped to within an inch of its inanimate "life" and shipped right back to me. This has delayed the installation of cable since I don't actually have a functional television (I'm getting DVR!! Finally, Erin!) and consequently internet service, but I've managed to survive thus far. In fact, when I go home at night and have nothing mindless to entertain me, I've tried to do actual productive things with my time. You know, organize the apartment and...build stuff. Stuff that could crush Harry and/or me at a moment's notice until I manage to get it anchored to the wall. It all looks so innocent crammed into my car, though, doesn't it?

Oh, Ikea, how you suck me in with your bargains and vast, vast selection of merchandise. I could spend an obscene amount of time in there. And you've provided me with a storage solution that happily reconciles the combination of smallish kitchen and largish amounts of kitchen paraphernalia! Massive shelving unit with glass-front doors! And I only had to switch the hinges on one door due to my lack of engineering skills! If I can put together anything wooden while only taking out six screws I've already muscled in and switch them around, it's pretty much a success in my book. I know, it's shameful.

Hey, you know that crated TV I mentioned? Check it out:

That thing is SOLID! Oh, and allow me to demonstrate what "unpack" means in a corporate move sense - they bust that stuff out of boxes and place it on any available flat surface, then I get the pleasure of figuring out where the heck to put it all.

The bottom of the bathtub would qualify as a flat surface, I suppose. Disaster!! I do have a functional home right now, but there are still plenty of piles everywhere driving me bonkers.

Oh, and just so you know, the following items have the ability to freeze while in transit from Dallas to DC during winter months: olive oil (solid as a rock!), Swiffer Wet cleaning pads, and Dawn dish soap (not totally solid, just odd frozen bubbles drifting through it...it looked really nasty). And everything coming off that truck was COLD. It felt like my apartment would never be warm again with waves of cold emanating from every object inside it. Not to worry, though - it's actually warmer in DC than it is in Dallas right now! Crazy weather! I'm going to enjoy it while I can.

Write, right, rite

I haven't posted anything in a week, and I feel a little disconnected. I am getting a chance to write oodles and oodles of exciting tax words at the new work gig, which is maybe taking some of the writing out of me. I've also been composing email after email (albeit brief emails) to keep up with my scattered friends and Texas home base members. More writing. Writing with liberal use of hyphens and disjointed sentences. There's also this magical instant messenger known as 'sametime' that enables me to keep in touch with my work friends when I should really be applying my brain to things like the intricacies of Stewart Title v. State Tax Assessor of Maine (sorry, Bluebook, I probably didn't cite that correctly - apparently law school would be a big boost for the eight months I'll be spending in tax knowledge management). Hope I come to the right conclusion in my write-up of that case that will constitute at least a portion of my rite of passage through this senior associate tour business I've decided to embark on (there, I used the write/right/rite combo in one sentence!).

Needless to say, I'm a little drained after the moving-across-the-country-starting-a-new-job-living-in-a-hotel-for-ten-days adventure. Rather than writing anything remotely profound tonight, I spent a couple of hours on the phone with some quality friend time. It was much needed. I'll be more descriptive here soon, I promise. For the moment, a small collection of random thoughts/observations:

1. My stuff AND my car get here tomorrow!! I CAN'T WAIT to be at least somewhat settled in my home here in D.C....and see my stuff again. I hope nothing exploded/shattered/crumbled on the way from Dallas.
2. I miss my dear friends in Dallas tremendously. Making some new buddies in D.C., which does help quite a bit, but you know it's just not the same until you've known someone a little bit longer.
3. There are so many things that PwC does that I never knew about. I want to share resources with my Dallas peeps to hopefully make their lives easier. As long as they inter-office me pens. The pen supply in D.C. is inferior to the pen supply in Dallas.
4. I'm afraid that certain national landmarks will lose significance to me when I see them a million times. Last Sunday I probably drove by the U.S. Capitol five times. "Oh, hi Capitol, nice to see you again" vs. "WOW, THAT'S SO COOL!!"
5. My brilliant "walk to work" plan may seem less brilliant when the wind cuts through me like a knife and demands that I surrender my soul when hopelessly stuck at an intersection that happens to simulate the wind power of an F-3 tornado. Ok, ok, it's really not that bad. My 180s help quite a bit. I might invest in the ones that come with built-in headphones - awesome! Geez, what do I do when the stifling summer temperatures hit??

More to come soon...adventures in organizing (probably only fascinating to me and possibly Kami), my Saturday night plans to be a spy, and loads more headed your way from our nation's capital. Oh, I had an awesome dinner tonight! Tapas at Jaleo, only a few blocks from my new digs. A tad overpriced for small plates of food, but delicous enough that I'll probably forgive them and go back many times in the future. Oh, food, I love you, and I can't wait to enjoy more of you in your many D.C. variations.

And so it begins

Ok, so it's not technically "beginning"...this thing has been in the works for the better part of nine months or so, but when a small army of men show up at your home to do things like crate your TV, pack everything you own into 140-some-odd containers, and drive away with your car tacked onto a flatbed truck, all within the space of about six hours, you really feel like events have been set into motion. I'm exhausted, even though my physical labor for the day was pretty minimal compared to the feats displayed by these magical men known as "movers." To get things off to a rousing start, I got up at 5:45 this morning!! Please see past post relating to my deep love of sleep and general disdain for AM hours to know how this pains me.

A few observations on the corporate move that I'll manage to piece together before giving in to sleep:

Something I did not know/truly understand until today - men will come to your home and build a custom-sized crate to hold highly breakable objects. If you pay them enough, that is. And I don't even know how much that set P-dub back, but my LCD TV is definitely riding in style to D.C. I wish I had thought to snap some pictures of this process. When they said "crate my TV"....that's exactly what it meant. I don't know what I thought it meant, but it's pretty straightforward. CAVEAT: if TV shows up with a large crack gracing its screen, I will forever be a disbeliever in the power of crates.

I often feel that I should do things myself....no help needed, I've got it under control, thanks for checking but I'm fine...you know, those kinds of thoughts. This happens to apply to things like packing stemware - it's mine, let me do it, if I control what happens to it then it definitely won't break. I let go of my anal tendencies today and, fascinated and slightly in awe, witnessed the magic of three packing/loading men with a combined fifty years of experience (yes, we got to know each other a little bit today). They have boxes for everything. Different kinds of boxes for everything. Like...lamps. And mattresses. My massive pillow-top mattress is in a ginormous box with protective plastic snugly holding everything together. Paper wrapped everything remotely breakable...and everything already in a smaller box...and pretty much everything not even remotely breakable...and lined the top and bottom of every box. I think I single-handedly decimated a small forest today (sorry, environment - good thing I got those reusable grocery bags!). My kitchen guy was just as conscientious as I would have been - and about eight times faster. It can be great to just let people do things for you sometimes! CAVEAT: if everything shows up shattered, the above paragraph is retracted in its entirety. I'm a bit of a pessimist.

It takes a village to raise a child? No, no....it takes a village with citizens who specialize in precisely one area to coordinate a corporate move. Seriously. I have (1) relocation coordinator at PwC, (2) expense specialist at third-party reimbursement company + (3) her assistant + (4) additional specialist when above specialist is out of office, (5) HR contact at PwC D.C., (6) move coordinator with van line, (7) separate company contact for shipping car + (8) actual human who came to get the car, (9) pet carrier contact, through yet another company, + (10) person who physically deals with pet in Dallas + (11) person who physically deals with pet in D.C., (12) pre-move survey guy who determines poundage of my stuff, (13) contact for yet ANOTHER separate company that crates the TV + (14) & (15) two actual humans who crate TV, (16) driver of stuff across the country (who also happens to be a packer/loader - now HE has skill sets!), (17) magical packer/loader #2, and last in this list but certainly not least, (18) magical packer/loader #3. Please bear in mind that moving also entails interaction with apartment people on both ends. And plenty of others. Oh, and two of the above numbered people both happen to be named Lisa and have quite similar phone voices.

Never underestimate the power of lists and excessive organization. I have an inventory sheet that lists every single box (with a general description of contents), padded item, crated item, and speck of Dallas dirt (ok, stretching on that last one) that went onto that truck. Every box is numbered. Everything remotely cardboard has my last name prominently scribbled on it in fat permanent marker, along with the room it belongs in and at least an inkling of what's inside. CAVEAT (last one, I promise): if anything that went out the Dallas door doesn't come in the D.C. door, I might have to seriously reconsider my life views on the virtues of being organized.

I forgot how an empty apartment echoes.

Three weeks out...

...seems like as good a time as any to start the good-byes and rapidly disappearing evenings with my dear friends here in Dallas, so the wonderful Vaughns (you know, Diana and Trinity...and Duncan and Hazel, too) threw me a going-away bash last weekend, Texas-themed and all. I talked to Trinity earlier in the day, and he mentioned he was picking up my margarita machine - after the "seriously, really, a margarita machine?" comments from my end, I was pleasantly surprised that he wasn't joking. Double-barreled! Pomegranate AND traditional lime! I was quite impressed, and the fact that Diana fought traffic after a long day at work (yes, on a Saturday - such is the life of us crazy accountants) to deliver enormous quantities of Rosa's queso only makes me appreciate and love her that much more. Oh, and hats off to Mr. Vaughn for his adventures in baking, and to one LouAnne Kahlich for providing the pans that enabled him to make a Texas-shaped cake. Let me just say that the chunk of East Texas that I ate, along with a small circle of Amarillo (thanks to Mike for digging it out), were quite tasty.

It was fantastic to have so many of my friends in the same place at the same time - it just never happens! I'm starting to get hit with small waves of nostalgia, I'm afraid. I'm going to make the most of the next two-and-a-half-ish/three weeks, though, before I embark on my East Coast adventure! A big thank you to everyone who journeyed to Lewisville last weekend, and I'm going to miss all of you tremendously.

Some of my best work gals, plus one former work gal and her wonderful husband, who has the worst time keeping his eyes open in pictures

The Tech crowd, guns up and all! Stop tickling me, Trinity.


You know how I feel about baked goods, and now especially baked goods in the shape of my home state - thanks, Trin!

Diana, you're the best!! Trinity, you're the better half of the best, so you're also the best (and really the best on your own merit, not just because you happened to marry my friend)...but you missed your photo op here.

Life admin

Life admin...a phrase my dear friend Molly and I frequently use to refer to those items that you have to take care of in order to function but that you would infinitely prefer get taken care of by your own personal EA or a team of magical elves. Picking up dry cleaning, getting your driver's license renewed, waiting on hold with any customer service center, filing away semi-important papers that you know you'll need in the future, etc. Necessary but not necessarily fun.

Anyway, I'd just like to state for the record, even though I'm certain most of us know, that moving creates an inordinate amount of life admin. Finding new place to live with appropriate dimensions, minimal neighborhood crime, and less-than-astronomical-when-considering-cost-of-living-adjustment rent - check (thank goodness). Attempting to coordinate move dates with packing folks, shipping folks (different shipping folks for stuff and vehicle, of course), leasing office personnel, place of employment, hotel for temporary housing while stuff journeys across the country, all while dealing with airline travel of self and feline - only kinda checked. Harrison has some pretty serious thoughts to share with me about getting on a plane. To be checked: changing addresses absolutely everywhere, getting quotes for car insurance, transferring/cancelling/initiating utility service, getting new driver's license, finding person who can cut my hair the way Drew does...we haven't even started talking about the unpacking and reshuffling of the stuff. Don't get me wrong, I'm pretty excited about the new place and exploring the city and changing directions at work, but there's a lot of busy work that goes into all of that. Phew. Hey, at least I'm moving within the country!

That said, I'm accepting applications for the position of life admin assistant for the next six weeks or so. Hours are reasonable and pretty flexible (as long as you don't have other employment, a family, friends, or social obligations or any kind), and your pay, while not necessarily considered commonly accepted U.S. tender, will be delicious...baked goods! Responsibilities include but are not limited to:

1. accustoming cat to air travel receptacle and common travel noises;
2. coordinating weather from Dallas to Washington D.C. to ensure that moving truck's 1,331 mile journey is not impeded by acts of nature;
3. taking my place while on hold with any number of service providers while ensuring that they do not hang up on me;
4. convincing the PwC powers-that-be that a firm-provided happy hour is not an unnecessary expense during these cost-cutting, tough economic times (maybe scratch that one...most of my friends can afford to buy themselves a beverage or two if needed, and should try not to offend bosses);
5. pretty much everything, actually...that would be great!
   

Please include references and soonest date of availability...preferably yesterday.

New year, new start...

...new blog. Well, not "new" by implying that there was ever an old one, but brand-spanking new. That's right, my friends, I have officially entered the world of blogging! No specific agenda or theme here, just the goings-on of me and everything from the mundane to the insane. I'm moving to Washington, D.C. in about a month, so hopefully this will serve as a good mechanism for chronicling my adventures on the East Coast and sharing them with family and friends (and anyone else who cares to read them, actually - the power of the internet! Thanks, Al Gore). I'll do my best to explore more than just the Smithsonian museums, I promise.

A note on the title of said blog - I'm self-confessed sticky-note obsessed. My desk at work tends to be covered with them, I frequently stick them on the front door as reminders, and friends bring them back to me when they go on vacation. Nothing kitschy for me, thanks, just some highly practical sticky notes. They show up in my Christmas stocking every year, and if you open up any desk drawer of mine, your jaw might drop at the sheer number and variety. Anyway, I find them to be a practical and often amusing mechanism for everything from lists to reminders to bookmarks to smiley faces for friends. This blog will serve as my sort of (enlarged) sticky note to you, recording these random thoughts and moments in slightly more permanent format.

Happy new year to everyone!