This is the 18th time I’ve moved in 28 years.
[Thanks to my mom and Kristi for counting our moves last night!]
Among those 18 moves, I lived New Brunswick, Florida, North Carolina, Georgia, and Ontario. We moved a lot when I was growing up because of my dad’s various sales jobs, so moving really isn’t that big of a deal to me. Don’t get me wrong, the actual moving part is super stressful (especially when staging and selling a house for 6 months), but once I’m finally unpacking in the new place, it’s a big sigh of relief. I love a fresh start and a new city to explore. It also helps that we moved less than an hour away because we still have friends and family nearby (and most are closer now which is nice). Moving across country is a whole other ball game, so I won’t even pretend that this is comparable.
Before Eric and I met, he moved just 1 time! He was born in Calgary, Alberta and he moved into our old house shortly after birth. When we first met, I couldn’t believe that he lived in the same house for 18 years. It’s a foreign concept for me to be in a place for that long. Since we met, he’s moved 5 times, however, 3 out of 5 moves were university related so surely I can’t be the one to blame. ;)
I thought this move was going to be tough on him, but it hasn’t seemed to phase him in the least. Instead it was me getting teary-eyed yesterday (especially when I said goodbye to my two garden beds with tiny sprouts coming up), but Eric quickly reminded me this wasn’t the final goodbye…
“You know we’re coming back Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday night to clean and move things for donation, right?”
I guess I will have another chance for my goodbyes a few more times!
In the meantime, here are more pictures from the weekend. Remember when I said that things were moving along quickly and going faster than I expected? Well, scratch that. Moving day, quickly turned into moving day #1 and #2 and I don’t think the boxes will be unpacked for at least a week or two. All in due time, though.
On Thursday and Friday, I went to the new place to clean and move boxes in. The cable/internet guy also came and hooked us up. Our internet is about 10 times faster in the new place…a nice bonus of living in a city.
I had a cleaning + TLC wedding marathon until about 11pm Friday night. Good times!
This kitchen is where most of my cookbook will be created! It’s a tight space for cupboard storage (I’m going to need your help with storage ideas at some point!), but so far I like the work space. There is a lot less walking back and forth compared to my old kitchen. I also enjoy the floors. We had slate floors in the old place and they gave me a ton of heel pain standing on them for hours a day, not to mention they were horrible to keep clean.
I packed up the old fridge and unloaded it into the new one.
and cleaned all the baseboards, bathrooms, and floors.
This is what it looked like on Saturday:
and this is what it looked like over 24 hours later:
I surely hope you weren’t expecting it to be organized and set up! We’re waiting on a few pieces of furniture to arrive on Friday, so it’s a bit hard to unpack until those are set up.
We’re turning the second bedroom into a shared office. I’m using this fold up table for a desk until we purchase new ones.
Our bed got assembled…
and we all resisted the urge to face plant into the bed and sleep for the next 543 hours.
After a second day of moving, Eric, Sketchie, and I cuddled up with a cereal and some Frozen Planet on Discovery Channel last night.
Anyone catch Frozen Planet last night? Incredible! We love the Planet Earth series and this one is great too. We couldn’t keep our eyes open past 10pm, so I recorded it for later.
By the way, many of you asked about all the DELL boxes! Both Eric and my brother-in-law Dave work in the IT field, so they have access to computer boxes that would’ve otherwise been recycled. They make pretty sweet moving boxes, I must say!
I must also say that this reader email gave me a bit of a chuckle last night…
C wrote, “Thanks for sharing, I love all the Dell boxes…after all the Apple hype…I had a good laugh.”
heheh…
{ 96 comments… read them below or add one }
Congrats on the move! Hope you settle in soon. I feel your pain; I’ve had 10 homes in the past 10 years and am likely moving again in a couple months. I love the purge it forces and the feeling of a fresh start but it’s still such a pain. Especially packing up the kitchen!
I saw Frozen Planet! We all loved it
When and where did you live in Georgia?! That’s where I live! :)
Unpacking is the worst… I always get to a certain point ad then lose motivation for the last few boxes or trinkets. Good luck!
Can’t wait for some new creations in your gorgeous kitchen .:)
We lived in Woodstock :)
Moving is hard but you both will be soo much happier without that long commute! I commute about 3 hours every day and it really does take a toll on you. Good luck getting settled!
Wow, I can’t believe you’ve moved 18 times, that’s a lot! But it’s good that you’re a pro by now :) Moving is so much work, but it sounds like you’re making great progress already! Good luck with all of the unpacking. Even though it takes awhile, I do like finding new homes for things, haha.
We just moved the first of this month! I took 2 weeks off work to paint and unpack I can tell you that even after 14 straight days of working, we’re still not done!
It seems we have the opposite problem you’re having: we went from a tiny 2bdr townhouse into a spacious 3bdr house! I’ll be happy to share my ninja-storage skills when you need ‘em!
Congrats!
thanks, sounds good!
Hope everything is going well for you. :)
it’s so beautiful Angela. your new place will bless you :) are those cereal bowls ikea? crate and barrel? so cute!
ps. stainless steel truly is a pain to keep clean! but you’ll be ok :D
I agree, we had SS in our condo a few years back.
The bowls are from Crate and Barrel :)
:) all the best with the move Angela! you’re a trooper
I love the new house already Ange!! And I’d probably shed a tear at the thought of leaving those flower boxes too. Your new kitchen however, looks great (and freakishly very similar to the one in my mum’s house!! How odd!!) Can’t wait to see what amazing recipes come out of there. Good luck with the rest of the unpacking. Just think, it’ll all be done soon and you can snooze for hours in that gorgeous bed!
Check out http://www.organizinghomelife.com. I’m on this blog daily as I’m about to move too!
great, thanks!
I watched Frozen Planet too! Loved it!!! The cinematography was amazing!!!
Wow congrats! Beautiful house :)
Haha I lived in the same house 21 years! Poor student me lol but I can’t imagine not having a house I can say was a the family home. My parents will stay in that house unless they will the lottery too lol.
The new place looks great! Hopefully you’ll get all unpacked soon and be able to catch some sleep!
Thank you for yet another wonderful post, Angela.
I hope your new place will be filled with love and happiness.
I loved your comment on being tempted to face plant into the bed and sleep for the next 543 hours, hee hee, i can totally relate!
I can’t wait to see the house all set up and how you like it. I’m sure you’ll be perusing Pinterest for some storage ideas. I swear the things people come up with that are so easy make me think “um yeah, I REALLY should’ve thought of that!”
Oh the wonderful things that will come out of that kitchen!
We just started Frozen Planet, love it!
Hope you get some rest soon! I know how stressful moving can be. I’ve moved four times since October between two different states. I know how much you like nature, are you close to parks or mountains or anything where you are now?
yes, thankfully! I don’t think I would move somewhere if it wasn’t.
Good luck with the rest of the move! I wish you guys lots of fun and adventure in your new place. There’s something amazing about a fresh start… tons of potential around every corner. :)
Enjoy Oakville!! We lived in Port Credit for 7 years until we moved a couple of years ago, and used to skip over to Oakville to go to Organic Garage (so great!!!) and Whole Foods – love it!
I love Organic Garage too and I’ve only been there once. :) The prices are also cheaper than Whole Foods from what I saw.
Yes, definitely cheaper. And though it’s not as ‘beautifully dressed’ as WF, the quality and selection are very good. Makes me think that a visit to the store is in order…
Organic Garage is fanastic. Go on weekends for free product demo/tastings – lately there have been a ton of them. Prices are AT LEAST 15% less than Whole Foods (otherwise known as Whole Paycheque in our house), although they really don’t have prepared foods like Whole Foods does outside of cooked chicken and chicken breasts. Organic Garage’s paprika seasoned chicken is my favourite.
Frozen Planet was so cool!! I love the baby polar bears! :)
Oh wow, after all those renovations! Well I’m sure they helped increase the value! Moving is hard but this will be better for Eric and both of you in the long run! Perhaps it was meant to be. Take a blogging break if it gets too stressful, we’re not goin’ anywhere! :)
Happy unpacking!! I have to admit that moving is one of my most hated things to do but unfortunately, a necessary evil. Oakville is super nice. Very family oriented (not my cup of tea since I don’t want kids and enjoy the city life) and lovely though.
Just saw you were moving – how exciting!
I love planet earth! Such a neat show. And I can definitely relate more to Eric than to you on the moving front–EIGHTEEN times!? That’s crazy! I lived in the same house (incidentally, the house I was born in) until I was 14 and we moved to Texas. I’ve only moved one time since then, to go to school here in South Carolina!
Good luck on the unpacking and getting settled in. Keep that TLC handy for organizing ;)
I can’t imagaine moving so often. I only moved away for colege and after that was done immediately moved back for several years before moving in with Eric before we got married. Still in the same area too. Eric, on the other hand, has moved numerous times and he says it doesn’t bother him at all.
I passed out before I could watch Frozen Earth and the darn DVR was already recording on full. :( I will have to find a way to catch up with it. I love the Earth series.
That’s a LOT of moves!! I thought my number was high… now I think it’s very, very low. 6 in 21 years.
I feel your pain. Were moving right now too. I hate living out of boxes and having everything everywhere! It drives me nuts! Were both lucky to have good friends and family to help us :)
Welcome to Oakville! It’s great and depending on where you are there are lots of great trails.
Thanks Meg :) I’m looking forward to checking them out! Are you from here? I’m hoping to find some sort of trail guide or maybe that’s wishful thinking.
I would love to move more, but with our last move (5 years ago) my husband said it was his last. Good thing I love our community and neighborhood, but I love seeing other people move and hearing about it and seeing their new places. I can live vicariously through you! Have a great time unpacking and getting settled.
I have also moved MANY times: 15 times in as many years. Crazy. I can thank college, law school, marriage, and job transfers for most of them! On another note, I’ve been loving your race recaps. I just ran my first half yesterday (NYC Half!!!) and I am running another half in four weeks. Do you have any training advice for running two races pretty close together? I am following a plan, but would love suggestions from other distance runners.
Hey Rachel, congrats on your half!! I’d love to run that race someday. :)
I ran two halves back to back (I think just over a month apart), but it’s a bit fuzzy right now. I took off some time for recovery after race #1 (as long as I need which was probably 1.5 weeks) and then I got back into my training as usual, getting in a long run about 1.5 weeks before the race, and then tapering from there. Of course, everyone will be different. I say, listen to your body and you can’t go wrong.
Thank you for the suggestions. I ran a quick recovery run (one lap around the Central Park Reservoir — yes, I know how spoiled I am : ) this morning, so I am hoping to get back into regular training by the end of this week. But it is good to know that it is safe to take a longer break. Also, you would love the NYC Half. It is such a great way to see the city!
Happy moving! It will be nice when all is organized and you’re settled in. Hurray for recycling boxes :)
Gorgeous interior!
I HATE moving so I was so excited to be moving into our house we bought last year. Love your headboard!
Moving is so much work! I’ve moved 15 times in the past 20 years so I feel your pain :) we watched some of the frozen planet series too and loved it! The snowflake pictures were gorgeous!
Yeah! I’m so excited for you and your new move! It has me looking forward to mine (in June! ahhhh)! I will be doing the cross country thing though! You said you lived in Florida? That’s where I’ll be. Did you love it there? (even if you didn’t, could you lie to me? ha)
I watched Frozen Planet too! Loved it! Love the little penguins. :)
I’m sure you’ll get comment on the Pampers box too :) Well, I guess this is me doing it! Borrowed as well I’m sure.
Love the new space. It’s so bright and airy!
TOTALLY watched frozen planet! best of luck moving, i feel ya. OUr stuff is in storage yet again.
I had no idea you lived in so many places. wow!
I think you still had such a dream kitchen in the place you are leaving. Hope the new place still is as open for you. I am so in need of more kithen SPACE!
Can’t wait to witness (taste?) the magic made in your new kitchen!
Angela: My husband is going into the Air Force, and we’ll soon be living the packing/moving lifestyle. I’m excited for the travel, but not so much for all the work involved (especially since I four young kids–you know how much stuff babies/kids have?!).
It is such a relief finally being in a new place. I remember the first night in our new home after months of turmoil and stress (the buying process for us was a nightmare–it was in the middle of the housing crash). Such a relief to have been done with it and finally in our own home.
Your kitchen is beautiful, it looks like it will be a perfect fit for you. I hope you enjoy your new home :)
Oh, man- moving is a pain! And you would be the expert! I’ve moved about 10 times, but only within the state of Maryland- mostly within the same county! I think we’ll be in our house for a few years, though I’m dying to move to Colorado (and would be there if we were able to sell at least one of our houses right now!)
Although all of the unpacking is a lot of work, it’s always cool to have that “fresh start.”
Hope unpacking goes smoothly! I just spent 9 hours helping my parents unpack yesterday, and am STILL exhausted!!! :)
I don’t know if I mentioned in my previous comment from before, but the house my parents just sold was the house they have lived in my entire life – 29 years!!! It was the house they brought my brother and me home to for the very first time. When we were cleaning it out last week, when the furniture was completely gone, I broke down and had a little sob fest. But happy sobs. Granted, I’ve lived in apartments near them for the past 6 years, but I still considered it “home”. However, home is where the heart is!!! :)