Moving is not for the faint of heart.

I can't quite recall just how much I'd mentioned our impending move here on the blog, but in case I didn't... we moved this weekend.

It was... intense.

We kicked off the event by picking up our UHaul at 8am, then started to pack it up. We had to book it because both our sectional and cable were due to be delivered/set-up between 11 and 1, and we still needed to sign our lease and make it to an appointment for Brian by 2pm.

I've never moved so fast. Truly. And that was going UP a flight of stairs with everything. We managed to get everything moved in and made all of the necessary stops, then headed back to try to start unpacking a bit. We rewarded ourselves with Bertucci's pizza and rolls on the floor of the living room and promptly collapsed into bed around 11.

While one would think that the day after a move should be reserved for unpacking and settling in... you haven't had the pleasure of meeting my own rationale. A few weeks ago I had registered to run a 5-miler Saturday morning, thinking that all of the walking and moving the day before would prep me for the race. Minus the exhaustion that morning, I was pretty pumped and felt prepared for the Cliff Challenge. Yes, my friends, you read that correctly-- not only did I sign up to run 5 miles, I signed up to run 5 miles of CLIFFS! And INCLINES! And ROLLING "HILLS."

I was still totally all smiles when I passed my photographer after the first two miles (and big cliff #1!):
But by the end, I was DONE. The last two cliffs just about did me in, and when I hit mile four (downhill) I had the worst cramp of my life. Having never really had bad cramps while running, I had no idea how to remedy it, plus I was running downhill, so time my feet struck the pavement it felt like I was being stabbed in my right side. AWFUL.

When I finally made it to the finish line I realized something: apparently this specific 5 miler was for the big runners, as in those who average 8 minute miles. This 10 minute miler was one of the last to finish-- talk about a blow to the ego. It was one of those really frustrating runs where I knew that mentally and physically I was prepared to run a great race, but between the cramps and the heat (we ran at 10, compared to my usual 5:30 or 6am) and the awareness that I was running alone and was one of the last 30 or so to finish... it wore me down. I was so happy to finally cross the finish line and wrapped it up with a time of 50:42. Annoying moment- desperately searching for water while the 8-minute milers were casually chowing down on their hotdogs at the post-race cookout. The BBQ smells? They were too much.

As if I wasn't already exhausted enough, we hopped in the car and headed to Ikea for a marathon shopping trip to find random odds and ends plus a TV stand and bedroom dresser. Two and a half hours and four (mediocre) Swedish meatballs later, we loaded the Jeep down and headed back to the apartment. Inspired by a lovely glass of chardonnay, I began to unpack the box containing the pieces of our dresser. And I unpacked, and unpacked, and unpacked. 972 pieces later, I was in the middle of the floor with more cheap "wood" and tiny screws than I knew what to do with.

After shoving a dresser support into the wrong spot and having Brian sternly correct it/me, I shed some tears while he ordered our Thai food and mixed up our cocktails (Apple Cider Bourbon, oh yes indeed). Full and slightly tipsy, we proceeded to put together the TV stand and pushed the dresser aside to finish at a time TBD.

We woke up Sunday and immediately acknowledged that should our furniture fall apart some day, we'd blame it on the bourbon, rather than the average American's inability to adequately interpret diagrams such as this:

We headed to BJs to stock up on essentials like Chobani, chicken breasts and Tide, then I dropped Brian off and headed out on my own to Trader Joe's, Target, and the grocery store. It is a rule I have for myself to never even consider the stores on a Sunday, but I had no choice. Three hours and half a bar of TJ's dark chocolate later, I made it home with my purchases. Did I stop to take a breath? NO WAY MAN. I went straight into the kitchen to start cooking dinner and unpacking and organizing. When I finally collapsed with my supper on the floor at 8:30, I was beyond exhausted... yet had that eerie feeling of "I can barely hold my head up but at least the kitchen's organized!"

Work was tough yesterday and I went non-stop, especially after being out on Friday for moving day, and when I walked in to the apartment after work, I might have lost it a little. All of the boxes and clutter and THINGS just lying EVERYWHERE had worn me down. After grilling Brian about why he was sitting down and not emptying boxes, he reminded me that he didn't sign up to date Hitler and kindly suggested that I head to the gym for a bit.

And so I did. Three miles and an Us Weekly later, I was a different gal. I went back, apologized, showered, made supper, and put our closet together.

AND DECORATED FOR HALLOWEEN!!

My stock of spookiness is pretty low, considering I've always been limited to decorating in my bedroom, but now that I have the space I am SO expanding... and it's lovely.

Tonight I'm for real going home to relax and take a breath and watch TV and lounge on the couch... because it's our apartment and I'll do what I want! :)