Making progress

I have officially moved out of my apartment! It took a week to get everything done, but it's done! I had so much help from my mom and Heather...without them it would've taken forever! They helped me pack things, drive back and forth, and clean. Heather even helped me in the snow one day - that is what you call a good friend! I'll be paying her back later this month when she and her husband, Matt move into their first house!

Since I'm not taking furniture to Japan, I needed to find the best way to get rid of all of my stuff. I could've loaded everything into the truck and taken it to Goodwill, but then my mom told me about From The Heart Foundation. They work with families in town who are in need of the basics. We made some phone calls and were set up with a single mom of four kids who had just moved into a new apartment and didn't have anything. We set up a time on Saturday, and she brought some friends and their trucks and took everything! I'm so glad I was able to help her out...what a good feeling!

My poor parents now have me living back home in my brother's old room and all of my stuff stacked up against the wall in the front room. My mom and I went through all of my stuff and took a cue from Clean House. We created piles for Keep, Throw away, and Donate. I made a couple of trips to Goodwill and have gotten myself down to just the stuff I'm living off of right now and taking to Japan.

Corey has been pretty busy with class, but he's as patient as ever with me. Obviously neither of us has been married before, so we're learning everything together. There are still many phone calls and texts trying to understand what needs to be done and who has to be where for it to get done. There are a couple of things that require both of us be present, so soon I will be flying out to North Carolina for a week. It's a trip nicely planned, because he will have a long weekend and we will be able to spend some time together. Thank goodness Erik and Claire are willing to deal with a house guest for a week!


The intimidating pile of all of my belongings!


The new, more organized pile!

And they lived happily ever after...

Just not together yet! People keep asking if I feel different now that Corey and I are married. My answer? "Well since I dropped him off at the airport on Monday like I normally do, no, it doesn't feel different." It feels different to use Aubel as my last name, and to refer to Corey as my husband, but I don't think the "Oh my gosh, we're married" feeling will hit with full strength until we are living together.





Now that the rings have been exchanged and my last name has been changed, our focus changes to the big move to Okinawa. According to Corey, we should be in Japan around mid March...so we've gotta get moving! He still has a month left of his engineering school in Camp Lejeune, so he will be concetrating on that on top of getting ready for Japan, while I do what I can from here in Albuquerque. It's a lot of phone calls and texts trying to relay back and forth what needs to get done - we're practicing that communication! :)

I know it will be different living halfway around the world and being away from everyeone, and while we have phone calls, email, skype, and snail mail, nothing is like the face to face conversations we all take for granted each day. This blog will be my way of keeping everyone updated on the new adventures Corey and I will get to experience together.