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!

I'm Officially An Adult. I Own Furniture!

I've always associated adults with owning furniture. And not just a bed or a chair; I mean owning enough furniture to make an apartment or a house liveable. Well, according to my definition I'm an adult now. I own furniture and I don't have roommates anymore. I live by myself. AND. IT. IS. AWESOME!!!
I loved having roommates but I love living by myself more! It's been a little over a month since I moved to College Park from Baltimore and I've been completely unpacked for only about three weeks now. So here are the before and after pictures of my apartment (Grandma, these are for you and Amber since you don't have Facebook).
My apartment is 1200 square feet and is classified as a one bedroom. My new apartment is bigger than my apartment in Baltimore that I shared with two other people and it's only $20 more in the end! Please, come bask in the awesomeness of my new place with me. I love it and I hope you do too!
This is the outside of the house and the backyard.

So my apartment is in the basement of a house. The only downside is that I don't have my own entrance that locks from the outside. It's a pretty house though with a nice red door.

This gate leads to the backyard which is pretty awesome.

This is the back of the house. There is a sliding door that lets you into my apartment in the back.

The backyard is huge with lots of trees and a picnic table.

See! Lots of trees!

The best part about having lots of tree is that I was able to hang my hammock up!

The Before Pictures:

This is my kitchen before I was unpacked. The counter became a catch all for a few days.

This is part of the living room by the kitchen and you can kind of see the sliding door.

This is the living room. I bought most of my furniture from the previous tenant. She was getting married and didn't want it. She gave me a great deal and the furniture is really nice.

This is the dining room and the hallway to the bathroom.

The bathroom. The previous tenant was nice enough to leave the shower curtain which happened to match my bathroom stuff!

This is the bedroom with my beautifully huge bed. How can you not love a mattress that is 12 inches of memory foam?

Look at all the crap I accumulated in 2 years! I had a lot more stuff than I thought! Next time I move I'm not going to move food if I can help it.

My room was really empty before I unpacked.

The closet looks way empty!

Intermediate pictures:

Well, I was most of the way done with the packing. I think Nella grabbed my camera and took a picture of me putting my new bookshelf together. I look like I'm in a sandbox.

This is me putting together the entertainment center. We started the sucker face down. Whoops!

The After/ Finished Product Photos! Yay! Everything is put away!!!

My ginormous bed with its pretty bedding. I really like how it came together!

My room is huge!

A close up of the bed with my pretty shelves on the side!

This is going to be my reading corner. I love my new chair! And look Grandma, I still have the quilt you gave me when I moved to Maryland.

You can see my bedside table aka my dresser. Yes I put clothes in my bedside table. I didn't want to buy a dresser. Furnishing an apartment is expensive enough as it is.

The closet filled up quickly. I didn't realize I had so many clothes! My wardrobe has quadrupled since I moved from Idaho.

I kinda like my squiggly mirror.

I have a closet that is under the stairs so I made it into my pantry/storage room. It makes me happy seeing my food!

I also found a place for all of my shoes. The over the door storage things are quite handy.

Here's my bathroom in all of its green glory! I really like having my own bathroom!

One plus is that I don't have to feel guilty when I leave my stuff on the sink. My stuff tends to migrate into the territory of others when I share a bathroom.

Here's the hallway from the bathroom to the living room.

I love, love, LOVE my little coat rack!

My dining room! The chairs don't look like it but they were a pain to put together.

My living room! The couches are super comfy! The big couch is a hide-a-bed so people can come visit. I've actually have had a few friends stay on it since I've moved in.

My pretty entertainment center with my larger-than-I-thought movie collection.

The two brown chairs aren't comfy yet but I'll get them broken in!

I should find slipcovers for them. They aren't very pretty but they match everything.

My loveseat and the sliding door to the backyard.

The view when you come in the sliding door.

The kitchen! Looks different with stuff put away and not on the counters.

My message board and pan rack. Whoever thought of the pan rack was a genius! It saves so much room in an apartment.

I love the little spice racks on the walls. The only problem I have with the kitchen is that someone extremely tall designed it. I can barely reach the bottom shelf of the cupboards. Good thing my furniture purchase also included a step stool. The previous tenant was a short girl too.

Aside from the bed, this may be my most favorite thing about my new place. I love the grill! I've used it a ton since I got it.