The Great Move

If I ever thought I was somehow shielded from the "real world" at any point, now I know I'm deep in it. You never feel so adult as when you pack up your things to move semi-cross country, dragging your worldly possessions (including a cantankerous old Sentra) across states to start, or re-start, your life back home. Granted, this is a new chapter for me, but in a way it almost feels like an old chapter. At least, it's a familiar one. That's why I'm back. I had a taste for Tulsa that wasn't squelched for long by the fine frenzy of Washington, DC. However, I think I'm getting a bit ahead of myself. Let's start at the beginning...

A few things have happened since you heard from me last. For one, Christmas 2010 happened, and Christmas 2010 changed everything. As many of you know, I chose to go home early to be with the family after my grandmother's passing. Due to this unexpected turn of events, I rearranged my social schedule for the week so I could meet with a couple former coworkers from the Arts & Humanities Council of Tulsa. We met for coffee the night I flew into Tulsa. Afterward I came home and said to my Mom, "How do you feel about me moving back to Tulsa in a month?" I wasn't just saying this for funzies. I was coming back in a month.

Ever since late October I had been feeling a pull from middle America. These twinges were no stranger to me, so I thought I could ignore it, see my family for Christmas, and get back to life in DC, no problem. Not so much. Okay, so in late November I decided that when I went back for Christmas I'd casually mention to my former co-workers that I was ready to move back and did they know of any jobs in the area? By the time I'd re-booked my ticket home in light of the family stuff, I was more than ready to come home, but I thought it might take a bit. I mean, I was secretly hoping it wouldn't take months, but I knew that my time table wasn't necessarily the right one, and I was willing to negotiate. Turns out I didn't need to. I came home that first night in town with plans to move back by the end of January.

WHAM! Okay, I know I said that I wanted it to happen quickly but how was I going to handle it happening so quickly??? First, I needed to get an official job offer so I could give notice at work. Check. I also really needed to find a house replacement so I wouldn't leave my roommates high and dry. Easy, turns out. I sent one email to a friend and within an hour that was settled. Then...I just needed to pack, get my brother a ticket to DC so he could drive back with me and reserve a U-Haul and tow dolly to transport all my stuff. Check, check, check, etc. Things happened so quickly and relatively effortlessly that there was no way I could attribute my success to anyone other than God.

Granted, in the mean time I had fun. I enjoyed "last rites" with my friends, coworkers and roommates, traveled to Austin for the christening of my goddaughter (picture!), and was showered with affection by the people I was leaving. Definitely didn't deserve all that.

So on my birthday, January 23rd, my roommates and I loaded up my U-Haul and the next day my brother and I drove back to Tulsa. Weird. You know how things can happen so quickly that they don't feel real? That's kinda how things were for me. Even now, 9 days into being home, I still feel a little like I'm just here visiting. I'm eating giant portions of food cause that's what I do when I come home for vacation. I'm reading lots of Harry Potter cause that's what I do when I come home for vacation. Except, I'm also calling friends and making plans for future engagements that still involve Tulsa. I get emails from my new work place to which I respond...cause I'm staying here. I'm looking into gym memberships. Just weird.

Weird, that is, but good. I am so excited to be back. I'm back within driving distance of so many people I love. I'm back to a pace of life and work that I love. I'm back where my friends are having kids - I get to be an "Auntie"! But of course, my departure from DC was bittersweet. There are many things about that city I'll miss. I'm going to list them here because this, my friends, shall be my homage to DC. It's going to be about things because the people I miss were told about it separately. But the city itself, it's unlike any other place I've lived.

I'm going to miss...

• walking into the Natural History Museum before it opens in the morning, strolling past the giant elephant as the cleaning crew washes the floor and the security guards check the doors before opening to the masses
• leaving the Castle and looking to my right - the Capitol - and to my left - the Washington Monument
• running around the Tidal Basin and waving hi to Jefferson's monument as I pass
• spending July 4th on the Mall or at the Iwo Jima memorial, watching the greatest fireworks display you've ever seen
• blueberry buckwheat pancakes at Eastern Market
• driving along the George Washington Memorial Parkway at night when the monuments are all lit up and glowing
• stepping on the Metro and hearing three different languages being spoken on one car
• Teaism
• touring the National Portrait Gallery and the National Gallery of Art, where some of my favorite paintings live
• watching movies set in DC and saying, "I know where that is! I live there!"

I realize this post is a bit disjointed and I apologize. I don't really know how to express myself honestly when it comes to this Great Move. I've been living in Adult Land and continuously riding its Roller Coaster of Emotions this last month and a half. I have no idea what this chapter will bring. I don't know how long it will last or what event will catapult me into the next one. I do know that I'm glad to be home. I'm excited to rebuild relationships that I've neglected for the past four and a half years. I look forward to reacquainting myself with my city. And I'd thought I'd be done with this blog when I moved. My life in the big city is done, so what do I have to write about? We'll see. Vamos a ver. All I know is I'm still in the real world and that's not ending any time soon. Why wouldn't I chronicle my wacky, amusing (I hope) and sometimes painful adjustments to life in T-town. I'm still an adult, right? Ugh, right.

Oh yes, it's happening

My new house. Booyah! Though the essence of the 925 Girls lives on, three of us will now be known as the 107 Girls. I'm excited about it. I mean, how cute is this house?! Plus, it has a front porch swing and...my favorite feature...a doorbell that you crank to ring. That's right! You turn the key-like apparatus and it literally rings a bell. No electricity needed. Ah, sweet charm and quaint-ness. Well, it's all cute now when it's empty and I haven't had to lift anything heavy. Just wait till tomorrow when I'm practically dead from the exhaustion of moving. Or maybe wait until tonight when I'm cleaning the place and all its crevices before the big move. Okay, don't wait till tonight. Tonight's going to be awesome. I'm going to be sliding on the hard wood floors in my socks, jamming out to my favorite tunes and cleaning, fun-style. Call me weird (not out loud, thankyouverymuch), but I'm looking forward to it a wee bit. As for the move and life in the new digs...I'll let you know. Mmmkay bye!

The Sweet 925

Welcome to my humble abode. Cozy, huh? This delightful residence is known to all privileged enough to live there as 925. See it there on the right pillar? I have lived in this house for almost three months now, but it feels like I've been here for years. In fact, the moment I saw this view from the street I knew I wanted to live in this house.

Throughout May and June I searched for reasonable places to live in the DC area. Not easy! I thought about living by myself for a while. Yeah, good luck with that, self. Sure I could live by myself if I wanted to pay out the nose for the tiniest place ever. (Pay out the nose? Really?! That's just unappetizing.) Or I could go with something a little more cockroach infested for a little less money. No, thank you. There is no shortage of available rooms/apartments in the DC metropolis, so I had no fear of finding a place to settle, but I did have a fear of finding a place that wasn't supremely awesome. Luckily, a friend of a friend who'd been in this area for a while sent me a couple links to church classifieds. I found a couple places to investigate through those sites, and one Sunday afternoon I walked up to 925 and fell head over heels in love with it.

Bekka met me at the front door, ushered me into the living room, and I was sold. I didn't even need to see the rest of the house. Don't worry, I saw the rest of it. The kitchen, the sitting room, the dining room, the back porch, the back yard, other people's rooms, the staircase, my future bathroom, my future room. Everything pleased me. The location was ideal. The house is located in the Clarendon neighborhood of Arlington, just 10 minutes away from the Orange line metro that takes me right into work every morning. Within a 7-10 minutes walk is a variety of shops and restaurants to please the pickiest of yuppies. I loved it! Oh, have I mentioned that the backyard is glorious? 'Cause it is. Glorious, I tell you. Plenty of space for BBQ parties and grilling with friends. And we roommates take full advantage of it, too. In fact, after meeting all the girls who lived in 925 they invited me to a BBQ they were having that weekend as a little get-to-know-you house party thing. I took my good-sport brother with me and we spent a lovely summer's eve dining with Arlington's finest. If I had any doubts to that point about moving in (which I didn't) they were gone. I knew this was the house for me.

Saturday, June 28th, Barron and I moved my stuff via U-Haul to 925. That day was a dark day, my friends. After throwing 'bows with the U-Haul people for a while in an attempt to get the van they'd promised me, Barron and I loaded up all my things from the Eisley's house and the storage unit. We drove to 925 and got out my mattress. We wanted to move the big stuff first, you see. What better piece of furniture to have in my room than my luxurious queen bed with pillow top mattress? HA! We brought up the bed frame with no trouble. Then we went back downstairs for the box springs. Evil, evil day. We tried for a full 45 minutes to get those stupid box springs up the stairs. There are scars on the wall and ceilings to prove it! We took off the banister, we changed positions, we readjusted. We theorized, we took the springs back to the first floor and tried again. We were famished, weak from all the lifting, and a bit testy (on my end, mostly). Plus, we'd gotten the mattress up the stairs cause it's all bendy and whatnot, but no box springs. There was just no feasible way to get those box springs up the stairs. I just about flipped my lid. What??? How is this possible? What am I going to do with my bed? I love my bed, what am I supposed to do, just forget it and get another bed? I don't want to spend money on a bed when I have the perfect bed right here, this is ridiculous, I will not cry I will not cry I will not cry. Barron, in his patience and wisdom, suggested that we take a look at the windows.
"Maybe the frame can fit through the window if we take off the screen."
"Um, yeah, okay Barron. That will never work."
"Well, let's take a break and eat some dinner and we'll tackle it after that."
Wise words. We ate, we watched some TV, and then we took up the box springs again to reattempt this impossible feat. Nope, still not working. Barron and I put down the springs and started measuring the windows. I knew that there was a master bedroom upstairs, and even though my other upstairs roomies had twins in their rooms, if there was a master bedroom upstairs there HAD to be a way to get a queen bed up there. Bingo!
"Barron! Barron! There's a door in the master bedroom that leads out to the roof!"

So what do you think happened next? You think all was easy from there, now that we knew how to get the bed to the second story? Oh, my naive friend, you couldn't be more wrong. The next problem was getting the springs on the roof. Plan A - Barron stands on lawn chair at side of house and he and I raise the mattress as far as we can to roof, he holds while I gallop upstairs to roof and pull mattress up, then he gallops to roof and helps me get it inside. We attempted Plan A and got as far as the me galloping part. Mid-gallop I hear Barron yell my name, then I hear a crash.
Plan B - ask neighbor for ladder and pretend not to be embarrassed by my disgustingness, put ladder at back of house where deck is, reattempt the raising bit and the galloping bit. So, we lifted, I galloped, I pulled, I held, he galloped, we pulled, and we got it inside. Oh, and then we had to finish carrying in all the rest of my junk because only big pieces go first. blah blah blah.

So that was moving day. After that I was in no rush to unpack my things and make my room presentable. I'd done enough work for about the next month, I reasoned. Well, eventually I did get my room in working order (in perfect time to welcome my first visitors, but more on that in another post). I am now happily settled in 925, enjoying life and loving my room.

I have 4 other roommates, two upstairs with me, and two downstairs. We have the usual shared common areas, and we coexist pretty well. Everyone is nice and respectful, so that's always a plus. We have flowers outside, our lawn is mowed regularly, I even cook my own meals for crying out loud. I have a cookbook and a box of recipes I've copied from my mom over the years, and I cook up a storm. Okay, I exaggerate. Not a storm. I cook up a windy day. Maybe 20mph. I'm learning, and that's the point. I've never been so domestic in my life, sheesh. But it's fun. This is a great place to come visit, friends. You'll love this house as much as I do. I have three testimonials from friends who've come to see me already. Wait, four testimonials, because Barron knows this place inside and out now. :)

Yesterday my roommate, Kristen, planted mums around the place so 925 is ready for fall. I'm going to break out the citrus tea soon and keep us stocked on that through the next two seasons. In fact, I think after I finish this I'll go sit out on the front porch and read my book.

Life in the 925 is great. I recommend it.