slow and steady wins the race

It's amazing how long it takes to get big things done, isn't it?! I am thinking specifically about the process of moving out, moving in & trying to finish graduate school since those are the events that have been encompassing my time and energy over the last week.    Because I felt so organized and ready for my big move, I was incredibly caught off guard when life over this past week was far more stressful and WAY crazier than I ever could have planned for or anticipated, but we'll get to that later.   Currently, I am sitting on the incredibly comfortable love seat my Aunt Joy gave me, with my laptop warming my lap in my refreshingly air conditioned apartment.   Needless to say, I am pretty thankful to have my feet up, even if it is short-lived. 

The chaos of this past week made me question whether or not it was a good decision to move.  Yesterday afternoon, I picked my friend Shannon up from the airport and had the opportunity to show her my new digs for the first time.  She couldn't stop emoting about how much bigger and how much nicer it is than my old place.  I was both encouraged and reassured that despite the fact that it has been rough transitioning to a new place of residence, this move was a good decision.  

The details of how the week went down are kind of ugly because it's never easy to keep up on your life when everything you need is buried in a box, your internet isn't working and you have papers to write and group projects to facilitate (or at least actively participate in), plus an old apartment to deep clean.  I wish I could tell you that my boxes are gone, my homework is done and my old apartment is clean but I can't.  Even after a week of non-stop action and constant unpacking, my apartment still isn't put together, my homework isn't done but as of 8:45 this morning, I am no longer a resident at the Equniox.  So thankful! If you have never deep cleaned an apartment in a way that honors the cleanliness of when you moved in, then you can't really understand how many cleaning fumes I inhaled or how many finger nails I broke.   My roommate Jessica and I were literally cleaning up until the seconds before we had our final walk-through with the manager and although I don't yet know the outcome of my security deposit, I feel good about way I left things.  

It's important for you to know that not all parts of this move were ugly, some parts went really well.  I had amazing help loading and unloading all of my stuff, as well as a solid weekend of move-in time, which has been invaluable.   Here are some pictures of the early stages:

This was my heaviest box of all.  A bunch of my friends tried to lift it and said "Erica, all of your school binders in one box?! Why did you do that?" Well, my friends, this box represented the weight of grad school.  Jump in and stay awhile :) 

 

 

 

 

 

This is my amazing moving crew after they moved all of my stuff in less than 2 hours! My friend Kelli took the picture instead of being in it, but she totally deserves HUGE recognition for being a giant help to me through the whole process. 

Because my friends were SO fast at moving my stuff, I was able to start unpacking right away on Thursday.   Jessica and I started throwing the empty boxes in our entry way and as you can see, it got a little nuts!