the ghetto is not our home

After driving many miles and listening to many podcasts along the way, we arrived at our (temporary) new home on Wednesday. I'm so pleased to report that we only had one near-death experience on the way down. The combination of traffic, talking to Christopher on the phone so we didn't get separated in said traffic (he was in the other car), driving the standard AND attempting to switch lanes at the same time was not the most brilliant idea ever.

We stopped at the Virginia welcome center and stocked up on (and this is no exaggeration) 6.5'' worth of paperwork about the state and all the things we MUST see and do during our time here. Gardens! Museums! Historical sites! Restaurants! Golf courses! Forests! I don't foresee many laid-back weekends in our future. I kept telling Christopher that according to all the commercials, Virginia is for Lovers, so I was happy to see this very large sign outside the visitors' center. I used it as an "I told you so!" even though he had never disagreed with me. 

We spent the night in the town of Dumfries. I think that name is terribly disrespectful towards a delicious potato product. Mom and Christopher both told me that the proper pronunciation is Dumfrees, but I insist it must be pronounced Dumfries because that's how it's spelled.

We hadn't seen our apartment in person until we arrived, so naturally we hadn't seen the surrounding neighborhood either. Imagine our shock upon realizing our new home is IN THE GHETTO. That was a very unexpected development. It was a relief beyond measure to see our apartment and discover that it is a bright spot in the midst of a very unpleasant ghetto. Before unpacking we went out for lunch because first things first! When it came time to unload our cars, we had to carry everything through four doors and up two flights of stairs. I didn't do so well with the stairs part. Thank goodness for the landing.

Moving is not for the faint of heart. These pictures only show part of the chaos.

We quickly discovered that the last occupant of our apartment had not cleaned ANYTHING since New Years. Of 2008. It was disgusting. We went through four rolls of paper towels and some unpleasant thoughts during our three hours of cleaning. It was just a ball of fun. (Sarcasm alert!!) By the time we went to bed, everything was clean and almost all our boxes were unpacked. I think we should be given some sort of Fastest Move and Unpack of the Year award. Does the Army give those out?

The next day we went on an exploratory expedition through town. We stopped at the mall so Christopher could get a haircut and discovered a pottery painting store next to the hairdressers. Christopher asked if I wanted to go paint something WITH HIM and, after I picked my jaw up off the floor, I replied in the affirmative. I wanted to take a picture of him painting because it's not a something I see everyday, but I didn't want to push it. I did offer to take him to the Harley Davidson dealership since I know he likes it there. That's the sort of give and take that has kept us happily married for the last 347 days.

That and the fact that he buys me Oreos.