New House Tour Part 2: Less Chaos

So...this is way overdue. Better super late than never? I hope so! Here is what our house is looking like these days. We've lived here a little over a month now and have managed to get a few little things done.

Our individual work areas are coming along. I think they say a lot about us. Here's mine:

Believe it or not, I find all that color and chaos comforting. I love having somewhere designated for all of my school stuff. When piles of binders are toppled over and my backpack's contents have spilled across the floor, I can shut the door and walk downstairs.

Boyfriend though, has a very professional dusty blue and dark wood office. It's sophisticated- even the Rage Against the Machine poster. He's got a menacing bookshelf, heavy with academic miscellany, baseball bobble heads and empty space. Something about not getting distracted, I guess. Huh.

Our guest bedroom is pretty bare, but the bed is made!

The dining room has taken on a multipurpose life much like it had at our old house. The dining room is where more bookshelves go (so many, so many) and where game nights happen, where Boyfriend works when his office won't do, where projects get laid out, and where dinner rarely happens. Here it is:

Our backyard, you ask? We haven't done a single thing...because it has looked like this since mid-January. I know, I know, it's pretty, right? Nope. Three weeks ago it was pretty. Now it's just
a sick joke. Melt.

And because I am that pet owner, here's a cute picture of Arley enjoying our new digs.

New House Tour Part 1: Chaos

We're officially moved! During finals week last semester we finished (...pretty much started) packing and moved everything to the new house across town. Moving+ finals week= we've had better ideas. Anyway, we survived the moving process with the help of some great friends and a lot of caffeine. We then fled town for the refuge of Kansas City and our families. Who knew that arriving home in an ice storm would be the least of our weather problems this holiday season?

Chapter 2: The Polar Vortex sabotaged our return to Bloomington!
Our original plan was to head back on Sunday but when we found out that I-70 was all snow-covered car accidents, we decided to wait. Tuesday morning we left Kansas City and made it as far as Vandalia, IL before the highway was so icy that we thought better of continuing. Boyfriend, Arley, and I spent the night at the Days Inn in Vandalia. Wednesday we took a little over 6 hours to get from the middle of Illinois to Bloomington. Along the way we saw dozens of cars off the road, overturned semis (one blocking our access back on to I-70 after a coffee stop), a train stopped in an intersection, and beautiful snowy southern Indiana.

But we made it! In the last few days we've made pretty decent progress but it's still pretty crazy around here. Have some evidence of the madness:

There are books on the floor in every room.

Yes, that's a box spring in the living room? Why?

Stay tuned for a more moved-in tour of our progress!

How's the New Place?

As I mentioned some time ago, we've moved...again.

Having grown up in Kansas City, Missouri, Boyfriend and I got adventurous and moved to Charlotte, North Carolina in 2010 (not before taking a month-long backpacking trip after only one year of dating, but I digress). We lived in Charlotte for two years packed with "firsts", the most significant of which was moving in together. Of course, that was as turbulent as you'd expect- gripes about cleaning, schedules, generally getting annoyed with each others presence. I am a total control freak so I actually got upset, not that Boyfriend wouldn't load the dishwasher but, that when he did, he did it wrong. I know, I know. But we've established that I'm crazy, right? Anyway, Charlotte was great, beautiful autumnal weather that lasts months, little to no winter weather whatsoever (!!!) and all the sweet tea I never cared to drink. Boyfriend got his Master's degree and I worked at a job I felt lukewarm about but with awesome coworkers I'm too lucky to have own.

Enter grad school application season. Boyfriend got accepted to three excellent Ph.D programs (because he's brilliant...when he's not obnoxious). At the same time I was shopping around for a Master's in Education program. Indiana fit the bill for both of us and after spending the summer in Kansas City with family and friends, we packed up and set out to become Hoosiers.

Do you know that feeling when everything's going so well that you're sure there must be disaster looming? Just me? In any case, I still feel that way about our most recent move. Boyfriend had a connection that found us an adorable house to rent, I got the first and best job I applied for and this town has exceeded our expectations on nearly every front. We're walking distance from a great little cocktail bar, make a weekly trip to the farmer's market and may never run out of international restaurants to try. I know I haven't even lived here two months but I think I may never want to leave. 

When will I learn?

Frazzled thoughts ahead. Proceed with caution.

I shouldn't be surprised but, all of a sudden we have just over two weeks until we move! See, I told myself not to worry too much about getting things done until I came back from Brother's college graduation. After that, I told myself, that's when you'll buckle down and become a productivity machine. Or, you know, I could sit around doing nothing in a state of blissful denial. I chose poorly. I am no stranger to moving and yet, the process overwhelms me each time. Moving raises so many questions. What should I leave out? Do I actually need this anymore? Did we really move all this crap out here just two years ago? What does a bulldozer rental cost?

This move is particularly overwhelming as it's just Boyfriend and I doing the grunt work while I'm working full-time and he's finishing his Master's thesis. Oh, and we're going away for Memorial Day weekend and apparently, we're still only two human beings. Super powers would be great right now, if you know a guy who could hook us up.

Until then, we have called in reinforcements. Brother is currently basking in an unscheduled, post-grad summer. I put a stop to that! He gets here a few days before we head out. In exchange for dinner at our favorite Charlotte restaurant and a little road-trip adventure, he has agreed to fly out, help close down the apartment and drive back with us. His main duties will be as a sanity-saver/assistant dog-wrangler. Not that being alone in the car with a clingy terrier for two days wasn't going to be awesome...thank you, Brother!

Someday, mark my words, I will perfect the moving process. There will be lists and charts and step-by-step directions! I maaaaay be a bit attached to the idea of being in charge, all the time, always. Back to the wild world of cardboard boxes and sharpies- wish me luck!