Holy fucking shit, you guys.
The last 3 months have been a whirlwind. I've had a baby, moved 900 miles across the country, and gone through some seriously trying experiences in the meantime.
This move from my hometown in Maryland (that I loved and was very happy in) wasn't by choice. It made it very hard on my marriage. My ex husband essentially demanded in our divorce/custody battle over my oldest son that we agree to move here so he could live with his parents and have an easy life with little responsibility. His wealthy family funded his lawyer who insisted on fighting me tooth and nail on every tiny issue during the divorce in order to drive the price up for me. After $17,000 I finally was out of money and had to agree to relocate my family. The time finally came for the move this past July. My husband had to pass up more than one promotional opportunities and big career moves. We had to give up our very comfortable lifestyle. We had to leave our friends. We had to give up everything and spend most of our savings to move here. It was so stressful on my marriage, but we have survived the worst of it, I believe. And coming through stronger.
The whole move was a nightmare too. Our moving company cancelled on us about 2 weeks before the move. We scrambled to find another company last minute, and found one, but it ended up doubling our initial estimate. Then the day they arrived they said they misquoted our estimate and tacked on another $1000. We didn't have much of a choice but to just pay what they wanted and be done with it. They loaded up our things and then off they went. We roughed it for a couple of days in an empty townhouse with just the things we planned to load in the cars; our TV, our clothes and suitcases, the baby's bassinet and stroller, and a few other essentials. We spent our last night in town by buying a couple bushels of crabs and having a handful of our nearest and dearest for a good ole fashioned Maryland Crab Feast. It was a great way to spend our last night in town, a few tears were shed and all too many giggles were had. My best friend from Las Vegas even flew out to see us off. It was wonderful. I tried to go out with the girls afterwards to have a few drinks at our bar and say goodbye to my town properly. I had a single drink and could hardly keep my eyes open passed 10 PM. I forgot how hard it is to hang with the cool kids once you have a newborn.
my best girlfriends from high school. we are still thick as thieves. I love them like sisters.
The next day my husband and mother in law and I all loaded up our cars and drove to DC and hopped on the Auto Train. It was SO much fun! The best way I have ever traveled! It was a little pricey ($600 for our cabin and cars) and a bit lengthy (17 hours--most of which was overnight), but it was delightful. We boarded the train to our little sleeper car and were greeted by our cabin attendant who helped turn down the beds, notify us of meal times, etc. We hung out in our cabin for a bit, my mother in law joined us for a pre-dinner glass of wine, and then we went to eat. The food was fairly decent! I was expecting hospital food, this was quite a few steps above. We were sat at a table with a really nice lady who was also doing a move to Florida, and she was even a Harry Potter fan, so I got to nerd out a bit with her. After dinner we went to the lounge and caught up on emails, had a glass of wine, and watched Despicable Me 2. Then around 10 we returned to our cart and I finished my tiny bottle of wine and got snuggled up into our beds (which were roomy and comfortable!) and went to sleep.
We woke up and we were in Orlando. We headed to Port St. Lucie and checked out our new apartment, which was a total disaster. We couldn't bear the idea of living in this dump. It was in Port St. Lucie West, by the PGA resorts, it was supposed to be nice. It was horrible. So we didn't sign the lease and were homeless. We stayed in a hotel for a few days and headed up to find a new place. We ended up finding a great apartment in a downtown arts district right near the beach (3 miles!). We love the apartment but it is just too small. It's a 2 bedroom and we are used to a 4. But we are making do. Our landlord offered us a pretty sizable storage closet underneath the stairs in the building to keep our extra things, bikes, stroller, etc. It's incredibly helpful. And it's a short lease and the location is just wonderful...so it will be just fine for awhile we house hunt for something more permanent.
I want to post more photos but the attach button isn't working anymore, Weird. Oh well :)
Don't forget I still have a couple of sets in Member Review that I am hoping might still get picked up. Fingers crossed! I have new sets coming your way this fall, too!
Stay real, kids. heart your faces.
xoxoxo ryker
