The Sunday Currently VI

I drafted tomorrow's post yesterday, dear readers, and it's all about my new apartment in DC.  I'm so excited to move; the whole process, from finding the apartment to preparing for my own space to working out the logistics of being in a new neighborhood, has been amazingly stress-free, and I'm really looking forward to rediscovering my hometown from a fresh perspective.  At the same time, though, I will miss living with my parents in suburbia!  The next few weeks before the move are a bit topsy turvy - my dad left yesterday morning on a business trip and my mom heads to London for a conference the day before he gets back and then Dad and I will fly over to join her in England for 5 days of wedding things - so I've already started getting homesick for the memories of the past nine months of living in the house I grew up in.  Let's color this edition of the Sunday Currently with some rosy nostalgia, shall we?

all photos taken in my parents' neighborhood; January-April 2013

currently...

reading A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle.  Someone else who links up with the Sunday Currently wrote about this book recently, and it inspired me to delve into the bookshelves we keep in the basement, heavy laden with my childhood favorites.  Of all the literary heroines I thought I could possibly be, Meg was always at the top of the list; this trilogy (plus A Ring of Endless Light, also by L'Engle and featuring some of the same characters) was the cornerstone of my teenage theology and still informs my understanding of love and family and faith.

writing lists in preparation for my move.  Mom and I went through the house last week armed with a pad and pen and jotted down a dozen pieces of furniture that I could take with me, chairs that have been stored in the basement and dressers that have been living in the attic and tables that have been doing double-duty on the porch for decades waiting for just this moment.  It means that I don't need to buy too much furniture on my own, though of course I still made lists for each of my trips to Ikea, Target, and Bed Bath & Beyond!  God forbid I move into my new apartment and discover, the next morning, that I forgot to buy a shower curtain...

listening to the beep of the coffee maker and the tinkle of glasses being put back in the cupboards as Mom putters around in the kitchen, the click of Charlie's toenails against the hardwood floors accompanying every movement.  I'm going to miss these weekend mornings together!

thinking about what it will be like to live in DC on my own.  Maybe I'm overanalyzing things, but the idea of staying in my hometown with my parents' house no longer my home - well, honestly, it's a little discombobulating.  It's been easy to have adventures in New York, Paris, and London because they were all mine and I could form them into whatever I imagined, but I've never really lived in DC independent of Mom and Dad.  It's time, certainly, but it will take some getting used to.

smelling freshly mulched flower beds - spring finally has come to the DC suburbs, and Charlie and I counted nearly 20 big brown bags, stuffed with garden waste from our neighbors' efforts in the sun yesterday, at the end of driveways on our walk this morning.

wishing that the actual process of moving weren't so expensive!  We do need to hire a man with a van, but I'd totally forgotten to factor the extra $500 into my budget when I planned for the move.  A friend recommended a great company that she used for her recent move, but if you see a Groupon or Living Social deal in the DC area that might help, please let me know!

hoping that Charlie isn't totally bereft without Mom and Dad!  I've explained to him that we're moving and that we won't be living with them anymore, but I don't think he understands.

wearing my Old Navy skinnies and my old disgusting Columbia sweatshirt: the perfect outfit for an outing to Costco.  Mom needs some things anyway, but she's also insisted on stocking up on non-perishables for my new apartment.  My pantry might be mostly bare for the first week or so, but it will be well-stocked with canned tuna, cereal, and Pam!  (Thanks, Mom.  You're the best.)

loving the excitement of these next few weeks!  Overanalysis of my changing identify aside, imagining my new life - creating a home in a new apartment and discovering the quirks of a new neighborhood - is so much fun.  Plus, in two weeks I'll be in London with Jon!

wanting to be in England with Jon.  This is the longest time we're spending on opposite sides of the Atlantic during our engagement, and I miss him!  Unlike my Christmas trip, when we did lots of normal relationship things, it's entirely booked up with wedding appointments and we'll mostly be in Suffolk with both sets of parents, so it won't feel like the reunions we've had before.  But I can't wait to wake up next to him next Sunday morning!

needing that first kiss at Heathrow.  The best thing about long distance relationships is that you get to have your first kiss over and over again, and it's just as magical and Love Actually every time.

feeling content, actually, which is really unusual for me during a transitionary time.  I may talk a good game, but I don't usually do well with change.  I mean, I do well once the change has started, but I'm bad at the period leading up to the change.  (Does that make sense?)  So the fact that I'm somehow feeling very settled right now means that moving is the right thing for me.

clicking on Apartment Therapy, Design*Sponge, and every Pinterest board of home ideas that I can find.  Even though all the inspiration out there can actually be detrimental to creativity - love this post about it by Elle -  I've gotten better about using it objectively rather than subjectively.  My apartment will be a work in progress for months, but that's okay!

linking up with siddathornton (now live!)