Obligatory Moving Mess Photos

Everyday is a new day.  Little by little I'm unpacking and organizing.  

Putting things away and finding new homes for things I had forgotten I owned. 

Here is the Journey thus far.

 

Settling In

We found a nice apartment in a suburb of Portland. It's near enough to Alex's school that he can walk or bike.  Unpacking has been very slow since I started my new job the day after we finished unloading the U-Haul.  I'm hoping to have posts again about sewing and cooking as soon as I find all of my materials.  In the mean time here are some pictures of the new place.

Living room

 

Here we go again...

Back, back to the west coast. 

 Back to our home.  

Back to our friends and family.  

But first we must traverse this country.

Here are some packing photos, from yesterday.

Updated About Page!

Welcome!

I'm Dianna.

At the end of July 2012, my husband, Alex and I packed our car with as much of our possessions as we could fit and drove off into the sunrise.  We left behind books, plates, shoes, desks, wine glasses, and our beloved kitties.  Don't worry, the kitties and everything else are staying with Alex's parents.

After a long five day drive (which took us six days), we landed in our nation's capital, Washington, DC.

Read all about our Journey, Day One , Day Two , Day Three , Day Four , Day Five , and  Day Six .

We are now settling into our new home in the basement of a DC suburb house.  As we do this we await the arrival of our kitties, search for a job for Alex and I prepare myself for the year ahead of grad school.  On September fifth I begin a Masters of Montessori Education at Loyola University Maryland.  I am truly blessed to have this opportunity, if you had asked me last year where I would be right now I would have never guessed that I'd be this far away from California, let alone starting a graduate program.

For this year I'm unsure what direction this blog will go, but I hope you stick around.

This will be our journey together.

Thank you for visiting my blog, I hope you enjoy your stay.

The Players:

Dianna:

Blogger, Dancer, Reader, Sewer or Sewist, Photo taker, Maker of things edible and not so edible, Lover of things old.



Alex:

Husband, Video game player, Pasta Maker, Griller extraordinaire.



Mamasita:

Cat, Breaker of dishes, Player of cat toys, Catnip aficionado.



Zoey:

Baby Kitty, Snuggler, Nuzzler, Biter, Lover of laps and laptops. 

Settling In

A Blank Slate

We are all moved in.  

With all the things that our car could fit in it.  

We've borrowed a coffee table from Alex's cousin (whom was kind to let us stay with her family while we were on the look out for this place).  

Picked up some other necessities like hangers and plates.  

Now it's time to stop spending all of our money since it's almost gone and there are still no JOBs to be had.

Here is our new place.

The path to our door.

Our little gate!

Our door!

Kitchen 

Living room and kitchen from the door

Living room from the kitchen 

Where our refrigerator is currently (this is the laundry room).  We are going to move it into the kitchen area.

The stairs to the landlord's part of the house.  

Hallway to bathroom and bedroom

Bathroom complete with a bath.  I'm so very happy to have a bath tub again. 

Bedroom from doorway

Bedroom looking out into the hallway.

 

 It comes with a microwave.

   

And a full sized oven!

   

Our landlords even brought us a welcome platter and some wine. 

If only we drank wine. 

 Oh well, we'll make good use of it somehow.

 

If you haven't guessed it...

we live in a basement!

Then the Rains Came.

Am I in Tennessee yet?

Since today was our shortest drive we got to sleep in a little bit, up at 6:45 am (4:45 for my California friends!)  and Mel made us Cinnamon rolls and packed us a lunch.  I was so happy that we were able to visit with her.  I hope I get to see her again soon (in person!).

Good Morning Alex from Margo!

Oklahoma or Bust

We left New Mexico around 6:30 (local time, for you Californians that would be 5:30 am) in the morning.  The day was spectacular, but as per Alex's and I driving arrangements I always drive first so no good pictures of the glorious morning.

Breakfast in Tucumcari, NM

Respite

The rest of the day (7-27)

New Mexico

Welcome to Arizona

Day two began in Vegas.  Hot and heavy and not in a good way.

Vegas Baby!

We left a little later than planned.  It was so hard saying goodbye to the kitties.  I didn't think I'd cry so hard, but they would have hated driving for five days across the country.  That is little comfort when I think about not seeing them for a long time.

But, the long farewell was in our favor, there was a problem at the bank and if we'd left when planned the bank would not have been open to fix the problem.  Very fortuitous even if it was sad saying goodbye.

We traveled up highway 20 to highway 80 and had breakfast in Truckee at the Truckee Bagel Company.  If you are ever in the high Sierra's of California check them out.  We even picked up 6 more bagels for the road!

After that we left our beloved California behind.  I'm sad that it'll be a year before I see her beauty again.

The rest of the day we drove through Nevada.  If you have never done this, do it at least once.  It is an experience that will change your perspective on a lot of things.

Going Away

We are leaving... All too soon... But the great thing about leaving is people give you wonderful gifts to remember them by. Here is what we have received of late (of course they have to come with us on our journey)

 

Saturday

Today we are cleaning, organizing, packing, anything else that needs to be done,

And we are listening to

Joy the Baker Podcast.

Episode 55: Taco-fy

Episode 56: Why is your dog in a purse?

Episode 57: Dodged a Fairy Bullet. 

Today's Progress

Today

Today's mess is brought to from moving to the East Coast!

Because 3,000 miles is a long way to go.

Zoey helps sorting and packing.

Progress

From this

Addendum

This is the new last leg of the Journey!

 
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Trip planning

Today, this is my plan for our cross country trip.  Granted tomorrow I will probably change my mind or something else will come up that changes everything again.

I think the first leg of our journey will be from Grass Valley, California to Las Vegas, Nevada


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Next to Albuquerque, New Mexico

 
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Next we are heading to Broken Arrow, Oklahoma

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Then to Lexington, Kentucky



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 Then on to DC

 
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Sorting

I took a needed break from packing to have lunch and a shopping trip with my dearest Shannon.  

Then it was back to the grind stone.  

Here are some pictures of the progress.

Moving + Dianna =

Technicolor bruises.

Here is my newest one.