Packing Madness

I've been back in Phoenix for 2 days. While my vacations were awesome and it was great to see some family before I leave, I was definitely getting antsy to start preparing to move. Since I've been home, I've knocked out a majority of the things on my to do list. I cleaned my room (a much more daunting task that it sounds), set out all of my Peace Corps stuff, finished some paperwork, got insurance, in the process of finding a phone, loaded up my kindle with new books, and faxed my yellow fever vaccine info. I still have a lot to do, but the major things are taken care of.

Now that the departure date is getting closer, and I've booked my one-way plane ticket, I'm getting nervous. It's a stomach-killing mixture of excitement, anxiety, doubt, and more excitement. Leaving is constantly on my mind, but I still somehow manage to forget I'm moving in a couple weeks. Then I get all scared and excited all over again when something reminds me, like an ad for a movie that comes out after I leave (which is most movies at this point).

It definitely doesn't seem real yet and I'm not really sure when it will. I apologize in advance to whomever I am seated next to on my flight to D.C. I can guarantee I'll be a sobbing mess for a majority of that flight.

However, I may have managed to cure my rampant procrastination tendencies. I've accomplished more in the last two days than I usually do in a month. Now back to preparing.. I'll post some pictures of my packing pile soon since those are always interesting.

Last Day of Work

Yesterday was my last day at work. It really doesn't feel real yet. I've been totally consumed by this job for the last 5 months and now that it's over I kind of miss it. I grew really close to my coworkers and have made some amazing friends. I'm going to miss the kids, the stress, and the insanity of it all. This was by far the most difficult job I've ever had, but I learned more from it than I could have ever asked for.

Now begins the fun part of my summer. I have three vacations this month, as well as the frantic task of preparing to leave in July. I'm going to San Francisco this weekend with my mom, Florida after that, then Nebraska on my way back from Florida. Once I'm back in Phoenix, I have around 2 weeks to get everything ready to go. It doesn't seem like much time, but since I won't have work or any other obligations I should be able to get everything done.

Tonight I'm having friends come over and look through all of my Goodwill piles before I dump them off tomorrow. I also bought 4 large storage bins which is what I'm limiting myself to for things I'm keeping until I come back.

I successfully completed my first dry run on packing. I didn't pack carefully, basically just shoved stuff into my bags to see how much it weighs. I'm happy to say, that with everything I have so far I'm still 15 pounds underweight and I have plenty of room left. Hopefully I didn't forget anything major in my test-pack.

I'm hoping to have some staging information soon, since it's only a month away at this point. Now to relax and enjoy my vacations!