Ketchup

And by "ketchup" I mean catch up. Where did we leave off?

Ah. Yes. We did a lot of this our first few mornings in Fairfax (except, you know, not in the car). Mom is probably a 12 on the 1-to-10 scale of happiness that I posted this picture of her. We got into town last Saturday night, and my movers didn't come until this past Wednesday. The gap between arriving and moving was actually a blessing because it gave us a chance to relax every morning, run a few errands, and do some cleaning in the apartment while it was still empty. We even made it into DC one afternoon with Andrew!

Big surprise that my only picture from the afternoon and the American History Museum happens to be of Julia Child's stage kitchen. Never apologize!!


And now, for the sake of brevity, a list of other important updates between then and now:
1. Uncle Julio's proves to be an acceptable location for Tex-Mex out here, which is a nice surprise since I expected Tex-Mex to be completely out of the question.
2. The cool air feels AMAZING, and it's blowing my mind that "summer weather" doesn't actually start until late May.
3. My new Whole Foods is super great.
4. The new apartment is also super great - and big! (Pictures of the empty place to follow eventually! I took them on my real camera, and I'm not sure where I put my cord to upload the pictures)
5. I have infinite amounts of packing paper in my possession.

Even so, there were a few casualties from the move: a broken foot on one of my nightstands, broken hinges on my bookcase (which Andrew is going to try to fix), and a broken decorative plate I've had since my very first apartment sophomore year. Considering how many breakable kitchen items came in this move, I'd say that's not too bad. We've made good headway on some of the un-packing. THANK GOODNESS Mom and Kori are here, that's all I have to say. It's amazing how much more can get done with multiple sets of hands working. Kori single-handedly washed, dried, and put away every single pot, pan, and baking dish I own, and any of you who know me know how big of a feat that is!

Speaking of Kori, she arrived Wednesday with baby kitty in tow! Juno did great going through security and on the flight, and she has been in kitty heaven exploring all of the boxes and paper all over the new apartment. Not to mention she came home to some new items for herself:

We were happy to see each other - she has been extra snuggly ever since the car ride home from the airport!

Tonight we met Andrew at the Reston Town Center to go to Morton's for his (very belated) birthday dinner. I hadn't been to Morton's since senior prom (...with Andrew. Time flies), but the molten chocolate cake was as good tonight as it was back then. Nomnomnomnom.

Tomorrow morning Kori and I plan to take Mom to the airport (sad!), do some Target/World Market shopping, do some more unpacking, and then meet Andrew to go out in Georgetown tomorrow night. I can't believe Kori leaves Saturday! Or that Mom leaves tomorrow! I am getting nervous about living so far from my family, and that was always something that made the decision to move difficult back when I started thinking about it. On the whole this has been tough for me, and I haven't quite felt myself for the majority of the week. It's hard being so far away and not quite knowing where I fit in around here yet, but each day starts to feel more and more like home. Little things like the metro card Andrew bought me and discussions on how to fix my broken bookcase remind me of all the normal day-to-day things we've missed out on the past few years. I think we definitely will have some adjusting to do this summer as we both settle in to our new situation, but the normalcy most definitely feels good already. We need it.

And now: sleep. Juno kept me up nearly all night last night with her forceful cuddle sessions, and I can't wait to (hopefully) get some good sleep tonight.

I miss all of you guys very much, and rest assured that the Texas fight song and Eyes of Texas get played daily in my car thanks to the CD Sarah made me :)