On 30 Days Here…

Yesterday was 30 days in the new city.

In the first 30 days I:

• moved across country/rode in a car for 15 hours
• unpacked over 75 boxes
• installed, reinstalled and installed again my wireless internet connection
• had 2 out of 4 Sunday AJC newspapers delivered correctly
• did untold loads of laundry
• (ditto for dishwasher use)
• researched, test drove and bought a new car (Fiiiiiiiiiit!)
• worked on, went with the flow with (when plans majorly changed 2 times) and planned logistics for a 2 day festival in ATL (happens this weekend)
• entertained 5 visitors in one week
• researched, bought and put together 2 leather barstools and a wooden TV stand
• organized my new closet
• took 4 car loads of clothing and other things to Goodwill
• bought a sleeper loveseat
• bought a new outdoor plant for my balcony
• joined the gym downstairs and worked out 10 times (wish it was more)
• received countless emails and phone calls from family and friends asking me how I was doing
• cried myself to sleep 10 times
• found my mailbox after 8 days (was not told the mailbox #)
• spent 2 “fun” days of Comcast installation
• did hatha yoga 6 times
• received 5 cards and notes in the mail from friends
• watched TBO sleep for hours and hours and hours
• went to the Dialog in the Dark Exhibit in Atlantic Station
• had a lot of trouble sleeping the first 3 weeks. Still having some issues, but am starting to get a little more sleep.
• spent more time than one person should at Target and WalMart (surprisingly, more time at the WalMart which is farther down the road than Target)
• only been to Starbucks 2 times in 30 days (and one of them was the day after I got here) I think I have broken my addiction to hot chocolate
• was put on anti-anxiety medication
• learned my way to and from work both by Marta train and car
• found the closest JCPenney's
• learned the pros and cons of both Kroger and Publix (I think I like Publix better, but I am not sure yet)
• made brownies, homemade mac and cheese and homemade freezer burritos…mmm…comfort food

I am sure there is a lot more that I have done that I am missing, but this is all I can think of right now. It has not been the worst month of my life, but it certainly has not been the best.

While change is a good thing most of the time, I am allowing myself to be unhappy and homesick for a little while longer.

A lot of people have told me the sooner I “own” my unhappiness, stop pretending I love it to people who live here and just grieve for what I have lost, the sooner I will come to terms with everything.

I miss my friends. I miss picking up the 147 outside my house and waking up to frost on the windows. I miss my morning starbucks and walking to Walgreens at lunchtime. I miss hearing sirens every ten minutes on Sheridan and walking along the lake on the bike path. I miss I Go car sharing and pool monitoring. I miss seeing Chase banks on every corner and the crazy lady in the wheelchair that used to think she was a car. I miss seeing the Chicago skyline as I ride into work.

I still feel like I am on vacation.

I miss home.

A better picture of the new car

The rollover

My first visitors…

While my friend N was REALLY my first real visitor, my first visitors other than my drive down buddy were here Monday.

While they were supposed to be here earlier in the day, but mother nature decided to have some fun and have crazy 60 mile an hour winds, 300,000 people in ATL left without power, crappy storms in Chicago and major delays at both airports.

NM and HD got in at 9 and we were all hungry for the famous (and first) Chick Fil A – The Dwarf House.

 

We ordered WAAAY too much amazing food

 

and went home full.

It was so great to catch up with my 2 good friends—though we were tired, TBO was nice to them, and we stayed up a long time catching up and gossiping. I had a blast. It was so nice to have a taste of home.

I am still homesick.

HD was so nice to help me pick up my rental car at the Marietta dealership after I bought my car on Tuesday, so I could drive my new car home.

They were in town for work, and they left waaaay too soon. I miss them already! :-(

Lookie what I did!

Today was “work on all things festival day” at work.

For those of you that don’t know, my normal (and new) job has been put on hold to instead do all the logistics and implementation for a festival in Atlanta next week. In the last month, “we” (quotes meaning not me) have changed the plan of action about 4 times. 

I am working very hard to make sure the festival goes off without a hitch.

I spent the early morning running around town gathering items to use at the festivals. All of the stores I needed to go to opened at 10, so from about 8-9, I worked on my for the day “to do” list then remembered that today is a day I had been trying to remember for the week.

Today is “get something expensive for really cheap” day at IKEA.

IKEA is in my backyard, and last week I was reading my new favorite in-town blog, Atlanta on the Cheap, and they mentioned that IKEA was having “Seize the Day” sales over this weekend.

Let me back up.

When I first arrived in Atlanta in February to look for a place to live, the place I ended up living in was available either with or without furniture.

The island in the kitchen had 2 barstools that made a cute seating area. I decided to take the place unfurnished (since I had furniture already) and knew at some point I would need to buy a few new pieces to make my house feel like home.

I had priced barstools at Target and IKEA recently, and was blown away at how expensive they are. I figured I could wait to have an eating area until I had more cash.

And now, back to the story at hand…

I noticed on the Atlanta on the Cheap blog that they were going to have barstools that were usually $99-$109.00 on deep discount- $39.99 each (limit 2). The ad said they had 2 sizes and that they were chocolate leather with black wood. They we only available at that price on Friday morning.

I figured I would be working (IKEA opens at 10am) so I put it in the back of my head.

This morning I realized I was home and would have time to run over there before I ran to the Container Store, Home Depot, and Office Depot.

At 9:30am, I pulled into the parking lot at IKEA (IN MY BRAND NEW CAR!!!), thinking I should probably be at the store when they opened for breakfast so I could wait in line for the barstools.

When I walked in the front door, there were my barstools, and 2 people handing out wristbands (yes, wristbands). Purple for short, grey for tall. Guess which ones I went for?

I felt like I was buying tickets for a super popular concert. There were about 10 other people there also getting wristbands. The wristbands guaranteed I would get 2 short (25inch) leather barstools for the cheap price.

I went up the escalator to see if I could get an OJ while I was waiting for the actual store to open, and WOW – people galore!!!

I was amazed – there were about 150 people in line for breakfast. I didn’t know that IKEA was that popular for breakfast.

And I don’t know if it IS usually this busy, because I lucked out again, IKEA was giving away free breakfast today! And it was a great breakfast! Eggs, bacon and potatoes.

It only cost me $1.29—for the 100 percent OJ I found.

I ate, then went back downstairs waiting for the store to open.

I was one of the first people to get my 2 chairs, and was out the door by 10:03am. They fit well in the Fit (pun totally intended) with the 60 part of the 60/40 seat folded down flat.

Have I mentioned yet how much I love my new car??

I had a crazy day at work, came home and made a turkey burger and sweet potato fries for dinner, then put together my new chairs. It only took about 15 minutes per chair.

So,  TADA! Here they are!

different view…

How was your day?

Wordless Wednesday – One More New Car Edition Pic!

Wordless Wednesday – New Car Edition!!