Season's Greetings

Happy belated Christmas to those that celebrate. Its been an embarrassingly long time since I've written. I'm sure that anyone else who works in retail can understand how busy the week before the holidays can be. But, I had a great holiday. Its been wonderful to spend time with my family and Keith and to have lots of my friends come back into town.

I'm happy to announce that I was accepted in graduate school. I'll be obtaining a Masters in Psychological Services with a professional diploma in Marriage and Family Therapy. I'm so glad to hear about my acceptance! I feel so much less anxiety about the move now. I'm grateful to know that I'll have something to do! My own plans and activities, meeting new people, having some purpose other than hanging out with Keith. Frankly, its been a real turning point in my attitude toward the move.

We've also changed our moving plan. The plan was to rent a Town & Country and drive. However, with the recent snow storms throughout the Midwest and East Coast, we've decided that driving might not be the best idea. A family friend mentioned that you can rent pallets on freight trucks, which started the thinking process. We ended up renting a storage cube (like PODS, but these are smaller and the right price-point) and buying flights. I'm so glad that my mom and brother are still going to come out. Its important to me that my family sees the place that I'm living, where I'm going to school, and gets a feel for my new home.

I'd like to think that I'm getting the most out of the last couple of weeks that I have in Minnesota. While I'm far from completing everything on my Bucket List, in the end what matters is that I'm spending TONS of time with my friends and family.

Planning the Move

Can you believe that it is already December? I'm less than a month away from moving day, time is flying! In my post about Practical Concerns, I wrote that I was having trouble figuring out how to actually do the cross-country move. I'm lucky that my mom is so supportive and willing to help me move!

Initially, we were planning on using PODS to move my belongings, while my mom, brother, and I flew to New Jersey. On the surface, it seemed like a great idea! It appeared that I would have plenty of room to pack my belongings, in addition to some furniture (bookcase, easel, desk) and a couple bikes. However, after researching the cost, it would have been too expensive. A note of interest: the PODS website doesn't indicate cost AT ALL. After entering in your moving information, you're given a number then told to call for your quote. Its a frustrating system, especially because it feels like you're entering such a formula of information. I feel like after entering your information, they should be able to at least give a price range. After which, you'd still be able to call and get your specific quote. Anyways, it would have cost $2500 to use PODS, on top of which we would have to rent a car in New Jersey to move all of my belongings.

So, we've decided to drive from Minnesota to New Jersey. We plan to leave on January 5th, spend a night in Indiana, then another night in Pennsylvania, then arrive on January 8th. We are renting a Town & Country van and packing it up. While this does limit what I will be able to bring, I do believe it will work out. I will have to buy a bookcase and a desk after I arrive. Hopefully we will still be able to fit my easel and the bikes. I'll have to bring fewer things, but my mom has offered to send me things that I need after she comes back home.

I'm so relieved to have figured out this part of the process! Now that this has been figured out, its made packing much easier since I have a better idea of how many items I'll be able to bring.

One Month!

I'm officially one month away from moving day! In a month my mom, brother, and I will finish packing up my belongings and head east (more details about that to come).

 Today was fairly ordinary. I had the day off, so I got to work on my to-do list. I finished wrapping my Christmas presents (the earliest I've ever finished that by a landslide), started writing out Christmas cards, and packed four boxes of board games, office/desk/school supplies, and a few kitchen and bathroom tidbits.

I'm grateful to have started packing so early, because its stressful and time-consuming, but its still overwhelming to consider what I'll leave behind and what I'll bring. Its also hard to pack, knowing that items I box up will stay boxed up for the next month. I've discovered that making an updated packing list when I'm done with each packing session helps me feel more focused. On my still-to-pack list: rugs; wall art and decorations; household fabrics: towels, blankets, pillowcases; kitchen: pizza stone, coffee maker, tea kettle; games: Blokus and Bananagrams; art supplies: paints, easel, paper, drawing instruments, sketchbook; Ikea side tables; clothes; shoes; books; toiletries; bike. It feels like a lot is left, but I think I'm about halfway done packing overall!

As far as other practical-type updates go, I'm still waiting to hear whether or not I was accepted into grad school. I also bit the bullet and started looking into jobs and local businesses in New Jersey. I haven't started the application process anywhere yet, but plan to start making some phone calls within the next week or so.

One Month. It doesn't seem real.

Donations: on Parting with Belongings

Since beginning to pack, most of my belongings have physically or mindfully been categorized as Pack, Sell, or Donate. Some fall into other categories, such as Give to Brother or Save for Later, but most are put in the first three. I've written about this before, but its so difficult to decide what to part ways with.

Books are items of sentiment to me. I love devouring them, holding them reminds me of the experience of reading them, and I love looking at the titles on my bookcase. However, its impractical to keep them all. Books are heavy, expensive to ship, and will take up more room to pack than what I can afford. Thus, I've decided to part ways with all but my very very favorite. But, still, how do I part with sentiment? I found a new teacher that is looking for donated supplies, including books to build a classroom library. While browsing my bookshelf, I realized that I have so many books that I love that would fit perfectly into a high school classroom library. It feels easier to part with books I love knowing that they will be read (and hopefully love!) by students.

Ideally, I'd love to give away more items to people and causes that will really value these things. While I ADORE Goodwill (I donate and shop there frequently), it feels so purposeful and meaningful to satisfy a mutual need. I'm thinking about using Freecycle to help pair up things that I don't need with someone that does. Does anyone have experience using a site like that?

Packing: on Preparing to Leave

This week I packed my first box. Its full of kitchen things: pots, pans, cutting boards, kitchen knives, etc. I'm about a month and a half away from moving day, and it is time to start packing. Some things, like kitchen supplies, pack up easily. My "save for spring" clothing goes into a labeled box and is ready for my mom to mail to me later. Easy.

However, other things are more difficult. Do I really need all of my art supplies? All of my clothes? All of my blankets (seriously, why do I have so many?) Inevitably, I feel, whatever I leave behind will be the things that I most want, that will most quench the forthcoming homesickness. It seems overwhelming to think about saying good-bye to everything I know and love while simultaneously ridding my life of everything except the necessities. Its. Too. Much.

Since deciding to move, I've been tunnel-visioned looking forward. I've been dreaming about the exciting things that I would do in the East Coast, about finally closing the gap in my long-distance relationship, and about really being on my own and all of the growth that would come with that. Last night as I lay in bed, I started thinking about my day at work. I had a really wonderful day and I was given some new responsibilities. It was so odd to realize that I only had a month an a half left to work someplace that I love with such wonderful people. And, it hit me.

While logically I knew that I would be leaving, that I wouldn't see my mom all of the time, that I wouldn't be able to go out for girl's night with my pals, that I wouldn't have my favorite restaurants to visit.... it didn't really connect with me until last night. While none of that depletes all of the good things about moving, it is heartbreaking to think about leaving such a beautiful, wonderful life.

Practical Concerns

There are lots of practical considerations that one has to make about moving across the country. I'm lucky in that Keith is already living there, so I don't have to worry about finding a place to live!

One of the biggest is decisions is figuring out how to move. Do we rent a moving truck or a SUV and drive? Should we ship what I'll need? Rent a mobile storage unit that I can fill up here then unload there? Its hard to decide.

That decision will be hugely impacted by how much stuff I bring! Its difficult to decide what I'll bring, what I'll save to have shipped to me later, and what I'll sell then possibly replace in NJ. Should I bring a desk, bookcase, and my easel or buy those items out east? What about my bike? Even though I visited Keith in September and I know the space that we'll be living in, its hard to know how much space there will be for my things. I feel that I've accumulated so many things and it seems overwhelming to sort through it all.

Additionally, I'm worried about money. I'm putting 10% of each paycheck into savings while being intentionally frugal. However, since I'm moving right after the holiday season, I'm worried that there won't be much availability of part-time jobs. I've been brainstorming some back up plans, just in case. Maybe being a dog walker or trying to do some babysitting. I ran an etsy for a brief time, but couldn't keep up with it while I was in school and working part-time; I would definitely be interested in restarting it.

I'm sure as moving day comes closer some of these things will be clarified, while other new concerns are introduced. There's a lot to consider when it comes to starting life somewhere new... this is just the tip of the iceberg!

[edit to add]: My last post was about Hurricane Sandy while Keith was largely out of contact. Just want to add that he is safe and sound, back in his apartment, with power and flood-free.