I knew our new place was pretty close to Richard's school, but I had a hard time visualizing exactly where the apartment was in relation to school. In part, this is because the place is so new, the street isn't even on a map! When you look at Google Maps Street View, all you see is a field. It was definitely not a field when we visited.

So, imagine my surprise when I figured out where the apartment actually is- less than a miles from school! And most of the distance is the school itself- Rich just has to get to the far side of campus. I'm officially the world's best unintentional planner. Maybe the universe isn't conspiring against me after all?

Plan for the next two days

1) Finish and turn in thesis revisions to all committee members. Give self a gold star for excellence.
2) Return all 200+ library books to Bridwell. Huff and puff when lugging the GIANT rolling suitcase up the library steps. Hope the head librarian is working the front desk of the library. Try not to smirk when the desk attendant sighs at all the work I've created.*
3) Finish packing all remaining household items. Hopefully just 2-3 boxes?
4) Go to the bank, and get a money order for the apartment deposit.
5) Start meticulously cleaning the entire house, top to bottom.
6) Revise the road plan. Print out said road plan (before packing the printer, please), and put it in the VERY IMPORTANT papers file.
7) Get a VERY IMPORTANT papers file. Just for kicks, make a copy of it, and put it somewhere you'll never find it.
8) Go through all the remaining papers on the desk (including no longer necessary apartment brochures).
9) Finish getting all the camping gear together.
10) Take apart beds, and lay the mattresses on their sides.
11) Saran wrap all doors/drawers shut on the furniture. Maybe wait on this one.
12) Give all the food that we cannot take with us to someone else. Anyone want about 100 half used jars of assorted condiments? Decide whether or not to incur the ire of Richard's Aunt Alma by giving away the half eaten jar of apple butter (with the jar and ring intact!).
13) Freak out only once about having no job lined up. Then get over it.
14) Try to avoid getting excited about the book club at the public library in CA. Stop searching the library's online catalog "just to see what they have."
15) Catch up with all our friends in the Dallas area.
16) Try and get a couple of hours of sleep, at least.

*It's not that I dislike the library workers- I like most of them a whole lot. But Bridwell has screwed me over one too many times for me to feel anything but glee at the prospect of causing THEM some discomfort. There is one specific policy, on which they refuse to budge, which has created SO MUCH unnecessary work in my life, so no mercy from me. Remind me to tell you about the time the head librarian told me I had racked up over $25,000 in library fines. With a straight face.

Southern California is currently under a Heat Advisory. Their high temperature basically matches Dallas'. Clearly, they know we're coming.

I can see the day we will actually arrive in CA on the 10 day weather forecast. Craziness.

Harry Potter at midnight was, um, an interesting experience. Thanks to Richard's cunning, we were able to walk right past a lot of the people in line and got to our theater remarkably early. Let's just say whoever thought showing the same movie, starting at the EXACT SAME TIME on FIFTEEN screen was a good idea is officially an idiot. Judging by the fact that every theater was sold out and the concession stand line took more than 30 minutes to get through, I think AMC is rolling in it, and probably thinks the night was a success. Let me just say, getting out of that theater, battling the crowd, was only slightly worse than the time we emerged from the theater to a SWAT team who were looking for a shooter (no kidding- ask me to tell you THAT story sometime). I was glad to get home and my agoraphobic self will probably never try that again. But it was fun!

It's been a few days, and even now I'm just popping in to mention what a lovely weekend we had.

Our friend, Kate, stayed with us for the weekend because our other friend, Rachel, was getting married. We had a great time with Kate, catching up, reminiscing, and making new memories. The wedding was beautiful and the reception was fabulous. For all of you freshman year Bible Study gals who couldn't make it- you missed the official BS dance to Dolly Parton... It was just the three of us hopping around on the dance floor, singing "He's Gonna Marry Me!" Debbie, Rachael, Tiffany, Lindsay, and Sarah- you would have all loved it!

Then on Sunday night, my brother, Andrew, stopped by on his way to Houston. We visited the Dallas Museum of Nature and Science, which was clearly targeted to a younger audience- I think it would have been perfect for a five year old. But we did learn a lot about spies and vomiting. Then we went to see "UP." I had seen it in Taos, but I loved seeing it again! Needless to say, Rich and Andrew liked it, too.

Tonight we are going to see Harry Potter at 12:01 because we are dorks. But we're not standing in line all day if that makes it any better- we plan on arriving around 11:00. Our theater is showing it on every single screen, and since we like sitting on the front row anyway, we figured it doesn't really matter when we get there. Famous last words, right?!

This whole moving thing is starting to feel very real.

For one thing, we're living surrounded on all sides by boxes. We have to make sure to keep a pathway clear to the door, just in case of fire.

For another thing, things are starting to wind down around here. Rich finished his last class at Perkins and is an official graduate (once he gets his official grade). I am starting to believe I might actually finish my thesis. Maybe in the near future, even.

And things are lining up in CA. We have a place to live. Things are looking up on the job front, and I have a plan if I don't have a job by the time we get there.

As sad as it is to leave Dallas, it is also exciting to have a new adventure so close at hand! We will miss our friends here, and we will miss being so close to family. But, really, I don't like Dallas very much (for a lot of complex and boring reasons). And looking at the weather report in our new home and comparing it to the weather in our future home is making me very, very happy.

So, so, so, so stinking close. The thesis gets done tonight. The first draft at least.

We're in H-town for the fourth of July, hanging out with my fam. Well, my parents. Ironically, Amanda (my sister) is in California (like 30 minutes from where we will be living in less than a month). Andrew (my brother) is somewhere in Montana, on his way to Yellowstone National Park. I asked him if he planned on stealing any picnic baskets. He is taking a cross-country motorcycle trip with two of his college buddies before heading back to Houston to start his new job. His life is so much more interesting than mine. Actually, our lives have a lot in common these days, I guess- big changes, new opportunities, and driving across the country. Except, he was able to pack all of his worldly belongings in his MOTORCYCLE SIDE CAR, whereas we will be renting a 16 foot truck and towing our car behind. As it turns out, though, packing all of your worldly belongings in a sidecar makes for a rather slow drive, so he shipped it all back home. Mom and Dad were thrilled to receive those six, rather heavy boxes- especially when they saw the bill! It would be nice to go back to those days when somebody else had to worry about how to pay for my failure to plan ahead. Any volunteers?

This is where our office used to live.