Well, to catch things up a bit: We have less than a week now before we head out to Arizona. I have had a few phone interviews and have some face to face interviews coming up when we get there. Ian's been pretty much guaranteed a job at the restaurant he used to work at.

Packing is most certainly not my favorite past time. We have way more meaningless belongings than I thought we had, not to mention the amount of clothing that people have given to me that i just never say no to--even though it doesn't fit! But this is why i love moving. I love to purge. (not to mention my nomadic tendencies) We never really realize how much useless stuff we keep around until we have to fit it all neatly into boxes.

So next on the agenda is a goodwill run. Which brings me to a little rant. Thrift stores. Around Seattle we have two main options in thrift stores: Good Will and Value Village. There are a few others but more or less these are the two that the masses frequent. I will be taking our no-longer-needed belongings to Good Will because Value Village, though marketed like a non-profit is just the opposite. You take your clothes there, they sell them for their own profit. You take your clothes to Good Will, and they are sold so the company can offer education, occupation and training to people who are: welfare dependant, homeless, and who lack the education or work experience needed to find a job, as well as those with physical, mental and emotional disabilities (directly quoted from goodwill.org). So friends, take a second, wherever you are, and look up the info on your local thrift store. If it's not a non-profit please find one that is. It's really an easy way to help out the community.

-Christine

Ch-ch-ch-changes: The beginning of the beginning.

Ian and I have slightly less than one month before we throw all of our belongings into a gas guzzler of a truck and move to sunny, not to mention sweaty, Arizona. Seattle has been all winter in preperation for our big change and I have to ask myself if this is the universe, or god/God?, telling us to soak up the chill while we have the chance. But as Ian remarked, "this higher power is a bit melodramatic, 42 degrees in june is over-kill."

I set up this blog about 6 months ago in hopes of documenting our journey from here to there, present to future. This move feels like the kick off to the rest of whatever. Seattle is where our hearts lie; it's just a little too comfortable to get us moving. So we are moving. From family and friends to family and friends and school.

The plan
is to move to Arizona from Seattle, get our first apartment, a place for just the two of us--and the cats, of course. Ian will go to school to get a small business degree and will continue to work as a server in hopes of moving up to bartending. I will (hopefully) be spending my first year in the desert working with Americorps and then using that education stipend that they give you in the end to fund nursing school. Once we're both done with our degrees it's off to Peace Corps. Then after we travel a bit back to Seattle for Aqua Vitae and The Grill Next Door, and maybe some traveling nursing in between.

But for now Ian is finishing up work at PF Changs and will be done on the 3rd of July. I'll be done with the mailroom at Deloitte on July 2nd. July will be spent saying goodbye to our city and the loved ones we will miss so much, if we're lucky we'll get another http://www.myspace.com/thetailenders (tailenders) show before we leave. I have lived here for 7 years. and Ian's heart has been here for 6. It'll be a bittersweet farewell.

As Far as Logistics Go:
I've packed 3 boxes to date which i count as totally ahead of the game seeing as i've got a month to go. We have 2 hotels reserved for the drive which i got rockin deals on through priceline! And a truck reserved with Budget for the drive. We are trying to diligently save our pennies and nickles (along with green monies) for the ever skyrocketing gas prices. We pretty much have the kittens decked out for the drive. (not looking forward to driving 28 hours with 2 cats in the small cab of a great big truck!) Our lovely roomate (vet-tech) Kelly suggested using Benadryl to sedate them; we got them a large crate to hang out in and some treats and good food for the road. Hopefully they won't be in hell the whole time. Still trying to find creative ways to make this move as cheap and easy as at all possible. Have any ideas? drop us an email or a comment. It will be most appreciated.

I'm hoping to update every other monday, and maybe I can gouge Ian into updating every other monday. Until next time...

-Christine