Moved In!

I'm back!  And we're moved in!!! :)

I'm really loving spending quality time with Joe putting together the house.  Today was one of my favorite days together ever :)

The move went really well.  Movers showed up at 8am on the dot, packed everything up by noon, weighed in, moved, and put everything in our new place by 5!  

Joe and I started putting everything away the minute boxes started coming in.  We got the kitchen done first, followed by the living room.  Our goal was to have zero boxes in the downstairs, and we accomplished that, minus one box that is full of frames/decorative items that we're not dealing with just yet.

Then we had to do the guest room, because we have to sleep in there until our mattress comes tomorrow.  We passed out right away and all I remember is waking up to a trumpet at 6am- welcome to living on base- I'm going to hear that and taps every single day!

Today we cleaned up the old place- patched up picture holes, etc.  I'm going to miss it, but we had such a good opportunity here.  I'm glad we moved.  

We also finished our new master closet and most of the master bedroom and bathroom.  When I finally unpack my real photo equipment, I'll have to take a picture of it with my wide angle lens.  It's insanely huge- we have plenty of room in there even with a dresser (in the closet!), and me hanging up way more of my clothes than I did in the condo.  Crazy awesome :)

We also put the bed together which I looooove.  Joe loves it too.  He calls it a "big kid bed."  And yeah, he's right, it's awesome.  We also built the night stands and Joe is currently putting together the lights for them  :) 

We also picked up all the animals today.  Gordon likes the new place, I think.  Frankie is meowing for no good reason, like "when are we going home?!"  It's funny.  

I made some spaghetti tonight with a salad... I love the new kitchen because I can make food and still watch March Madness :)  It's really feeling like home!

We're both exhausted, but are going to power through tomorrow!  We both have to work on Sunday and have busy weeks ahead, so we gotta get a lot done tomorrow.  The mattress gets delivered, I'm going to finish the upstairs closet (it's so darn big that we just threw all the boxes that we didn't want to deal with in there), and *maybe* start on my office.  

Moving Day and Moving Cards!

I bought these about three weeks ago on Etsy, and they are so stinkin' cute!  They are cardboard postcards announcing our move to friends and family.  The studio is vol25, and I love her! :)

This photo doesn't do them justice, but I am too lazy to get the 5D out, so the iPhone will do.

MOVING TODAY!!!

Also, I LOVE CRAIGSLIST!  I got rid of some furniture I didn't want to bring to the new place... so now we have cash in our hands and less to bring to the new house!  Woo hoo!

Tomorrow!

Tomorrow we'll be in our new place! Woo-hoo!

Today is a bit hectic around here, but knowing that tomorrow we'll be in our new place, with wood floors,  new washer & dryer, new sofa & loveseat, a king sized-bed (the mattress doesn't come till Saturday, though!), my new big office, a guest bedroom, and two patios!  We're getting our cable installed tomorrow, too, so I can still be working and so Joe can watch basketball.  

We have a few things still being shipped to us- the side table for the living room, our big canvas wrap of one of our photos (I'm so excited about this!), and lots of other little things... hopefully they all come this next week! :)

I didn't schedule any work stuff until Sunday so that I can spend Friday and Saturday with Joe getting the place in order... but come Sunday I am full steam ahead with photo stuff- head shots, family shoots, and meetings with brides.  It's finally photo season and I'm going to be busy from here on out!

Time to finish sorting stuff, and making a list for tomorrow- wish us luck!

Ready to Go!

Joe and I have ordered or bought all the big things for our new place that we needed ... bed, mattress, night stands, bar stools, washer & dryer, and the sofa and loveseat. We've made appointments for things to be delivered, done the change of address forms, called the cable company, and we're even finishing off our the food that we don't want to bring to the new place.

It's all done... now we want to move!  

We're just a week away, and we are so darn anxious.  It feels like moving is the only thing we talk about anymore.  The thought of being settled in, able to have friends over, and enjoying our new house sounds so nice.  We already have a few overnight guests penciled in for April and May, and that is so exciting!

I'm also excited to paint (nothing crazy! just a few walls in a few rooms) and Kate has graciously offered her services...  Thanks, Kate! :)  Joe wants to paint our bedroom, so we'll probably get to that first.  After that, I want to paint a wall or two in my office, and maybe the guest bedroom... we'll see how adventurous I feel!

I guess what makes us even more anxious than anything is that we don't have to pack.  Yes, it's the coolest thing ever, but it also keeps us from really moving forward... you know?  If we packed, we'd feel less anxious, I think, like we were doing something.  But soon enough, the 19th will be here and we'll be in our new place.  Yay!

For now, I've been doing silly little things when I feel really anxious... I've taken all the frames and artwork down, put all of my things from my travels in a central box, and started to put all the linens together... makes me feel better!

Any advice to keep me sane, other than a xanex? :)

IKEA Trip!

Joe and I finally had enough free time (at the same time!  We have such opposite schedules!) to go to IKEA.  There's a few things we wanted to grab before the move, and I'm  glad we went.  Not only did we get everything we needed (and some was on sale!) but we stayed under budget, too!  :)

Night stands, lights, a bathroom rug, some storage bins, and chair covers (which sadly are too small- gotta return 'em) were all packed up into Joe's car... but neither of us had enough energy after the trip to actually bring the stuff upstairs... it could very well sit in his car for the next 12 days :)

Not that I'm keeping track or anything...

Joe and I are *so* ready to move!  

We love the condo we're in right now, but waiting around to move stinks.  We're ready to go.  I'm excited to have a garage, for Gordon to have a yard, to have a huge office, to bring groceries in the house and not have to climb three flights of stairs, and to not have neighbors below us. (so I can use my Wii Fit and not feel like I'm annoying everyone!)  

We are pumped to live on base and just be settled in.  

I know it's only two weeks away, but can't it be today?!

The House!

We got to see the house today!  We were very excited and I think I can easily say we weren't disappointed.  We are so lucky to have such nice Army housing on base... for free.  We are incredibly blessed.

These photos aren't in order, but here we go!

The living room

My office!  Yay!  It's huge!

guest bathroom

The guestroom

This is so cool- our balcony next to our master bedroom!

master bedroom- HUGE!

Master bath- his and her sinks (Joe's fave thing!)

master bath- toilet is its own little room

The biggest master closet I've ever seen!  

I should have moved over to the left a bit, because there's more!

The kitchen, dining room, and living room from the stairs

The garage!!! (a garage, people!)

Pantry closet- it's huuuuuge.  The lady showing us around said some people take out the shelves and use it as a computer room- it's that big!

The laundry room/mudroom.  

Kitchen nook- I think a lot of bills will be paid here :)

Kitchen out to the living room

more kitchen

living room from the dining room

The back yard- extra storage on the left- it's huge!

So after today- we are even more excited!  And now I just want to MOVE and get it over with!  And get comfortable in our new place!  March 19th is soon, but not soon enough... 23 days.

It Gets Better!

We had to go into the "Transportation Office" today to fill out the last of the paperwork for the few place- this time for the actual move.  As if them packing up all our stuff and moving it for us wasn't great enough...

they UNPACK for us *AND* take all the boxes and paper with them!

Holy Cow.

I like the Army now :)

Floor plans

We signed the papers today for the new place- ahh!  Crazy!

We get to actually see inside on the 26th, but until then, we have floor plans... better than nothing, right?!

downstairs

upstairs

So there it is!  I am still in denial that:

1) I am moving... again! 

2) That I don't have to pack a single thing!

I have quite the urge to get boxes and start packing, and it's crazy that I don't have to!

That's all that's going on in the Battles-McKenna household.  Looking forward to getting settled in there March 19th!  In the meantime, Joe has a board for the Army, has to pass his range test, and I have my few weddings- crazy!