Relocations Are Hard

Relocating is difficult. You pack up everything you own (which is always more than you thought you had) and you move somewhere where you don't know where things are and you don't know anybody. 

Leaving Maryland was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. I came to love the area and made lots of awesome friends. Unfortunately, life is about changes and this newest change is going to be awesome career wise. Not to mention the knowledge I'm gaining working at Argonne. 

I have now officially relocated to a small Chicago suburb named Lisle and I'm loving it so far. Argonne is super awesome, in case you were wondering! Guys! Food is super cheap in the Midwest! My first grocery bill made me cry tears of joy. I'm also loving my new apartment even though it is considerably smaller than my last one.

So as is the tradition with every new apartment, I'm going to post pictures so you can share in the amazingness too. That and several people have made several inquiries about when I was going to stop neglecting my blog. Matt and Grandma, I'm looking at you.

So remember when I said you don't realize how much stuff you own until you have to pack it up and move it? That seems to be my experience every time I move except this time was so much worse since owning furniture compounds the issue.

See. I own a lot of stuff. Good thing I love all of my crap. A huge thanks goes out to Mom and Ryan for helping me unload the moving truck. Mom and I are pretty sure that Ryan unloaded more than 50% of the truck by himself since he could take two boxes at a time and still be able to see over the top of them.

Now comes the fun part where you see a huge pile of boxes transform into a habitable living space.

Quite the transformation, right?

I'll be honest, I'm super proud about the current decor of my living room.

Is it sad that 65% of the boxes were books and movies? I REGRET NOTHING!

Apparently, there is a rogue picture frame without a real picture in it. I'll have to fix that.

The kitchen is super small like my last one. At least, I know how to deal with this, right? Right?

I'm so proud that I put those shelves up by myself.

The bathroom is super nice even though it could use more counter space and power outlets.

My bedroom! And the thrice-blasted curtains that took forever to hang and resulted in several bruises from falling off the step stool during the hanging process.

And what's a bedroom without a bookshelf? I know. I have a book problem. As I said before, I REGRET NOTHING!

My awesome balcony deck with my newest purchase...

A new grill!!!! This has oddly become a must have item for me and I use it all the time.

Well, there you have it. My new place in pictures. Have I mentioned that I'm not moving again until I'm forced to? Well, I'm not. Here's to several happy years of living in one spot and to this newest life adventure!