Charlie is In Heaven!

So, the movers have come and gone.  And, that leaves us with 4 suitcases, 2 carry on bags, 1 dog crate and some air mattresses.  Having the "pack out"complete is a HUGE relief!  We are camping out in our condo for the next few weeks and sleeping in the living room on borrowed air mattresses.  Charlie LOVES this new arrangement since we are now sleeping at his level.  This makes it super convenient for him to jump right into bed with us anytime he wants.  Even Tom, who has a bit hesitant about this, is enjoying the simplicity and fun of it....at least for now. Although. Tom is off to Europe again on Sunday for 11 days for work.

Do widzenia Party!

Tom and I had a going away get together over the weekend.  It was truly AMAZING to see all of our great Chicago friends.  We got to see a lot of people from all different parts of our lives...work, growing up, college, junior league, etc.  We feel so blessed to have such wonderful people in our lives supporting our big adventure! 

And, as Tom says, We weren't saying goodbye....we were just saying see you again sometime soon!  We had great intentions of taking lots of pictures but were so caught up in celebrating that we didn't take a single one.  Here are a couple photos from our friends...thanks Kelly and Susana!

Moving Day

It's moving day!  It's hard to believe that it is already here.  It means that we are only in Chicago for a few short weeks.

The movers are here and have been great.  I have to say, we didn't really know what to expect, but so far so good.  It has been pretty easy and they are being very thorough and careful.  Charlie is trying to be on his best behavior, although he is quite curious about everything going on.  Can you really blame him?  He saw his bed and toys get packed up right before his eyes.  Having the move in progress feels like a GIANT relief off of our shoulders.  From here on out its the little things that have to get wrapped up before we leave.  

Since a lot of people have asked, the movers put our things in a crate and send it on a boat oversees.  It will take approximately 4-8 weeks for our belongings to arrive.  In the interim, Tom and I will be living out of 4 suitcases of clothes and will be sleeping on air mattresses in our condo.  It could be worse...right?  Tom isn't all that jazzed about this sleeping arrangement, but he is off to Europe again on Sunday for two weeks.  When we get over to Warsaw we will temporarily be staying in a hotel while we look for an apartment and wait for our things to arrive.

Saturday is our going away get together with friends.  We are really looking forward to seeing folks and catching up!  Happy Moving!

Pretty much the exact same truck in front of our building right now

The Countdown is On

We have been prepping and packing and planning and purging all in preparation of the big move!  It's hard to believe that it is just about a month away.  It is getting very real and the range of emotions are running their course on a daily basis.  Things really sunk in when we set up our "pack out" where the movers come and pack up our stuff to send across the ocean or to put away into storage locally for a few years.  As you can see, we have been making a lot of progress.  Although it feels like there are a lot of little things (like making a written list of almost everything that we are moving) to wrap up before the movers arrive in a few short days.  Wish us luck!

My Kind of Town

We had the pleasure of having some great visitors over the weekend.  My Aunt Irene came in for the weekend from Miami and my dad came up for a night to drop a few things off before the movers come.  It was so great to have family in town and spend quality time together.  My Aunt helped me run some errands but we also got to fit in some fun Chicago time.  She was quite a trooper in the Chicago weather and didn't complain once about the cold.  We made a trip to Garrett's for some popcorn, explored the new Whole Foods in Lincoln Park (my Aunt works in the health food industry) and had a nice night out at Shaw's Crab House! Thanks for coming to visit Aunt Irene.  Love you.

Euro Learning #1

Tom has been in Europe this week on business.  He was in Amsterdam the first half of the week and Warsaw the latter half....it's a rough life!  : )     His trip has been going well and he seems to be having fun and learning a lot about his new role.  

The first day into his trip he called me with "Euro Learning #1" as he so affectionately called it.  He was headed into his hotel room in Amsterdam at night and could not find the light switch anywhere in the dark room.  He spent a solid 10 minutes feeling his way around the room looking for the switch without any luck.  He finally broke down and called the front desk to ask how to turn the lights on.  For Tom to give in and ask someone is quite a feat.  He quickly learned that in order to turn the lights on he needed to insert his room key into a switch that would activate the lights.  Apparently this is quite common and is done in order to conserve electricity.

I am sure that this will be one of many Euro Learnings that we will experience....some harder to learn than others.  Our goal is to take them all in stride and have some fun along the way!

Euro Learning #1:  Use your hotel room key to turn on lights.

Trying to Smell the Roses

We are doing our best to stop and smell the roses with all that we have going on.  Part of that involves a visit from my Aunt Irene later today for the weekend!  Thought that this was a good reminder.

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