Moving House

It all started with an ominous phone call a couple months ago from the real estate agents.  The owners wanted to get the the property appraised.  A few weeks later my fears were confirmed when I got another call saying that my apartment was being put up for private sale.  Despite my hopes that an investor would buy it, I got my notice to vacate around the start of April.  I spent a couple weeks looking at properties, including one Saturday where I went to five different inspections.  There were a lot of people at many of the inspections, but thankfully I have found a decent place to live that is very close to my current apartment.

I spent the Easter holiday packing and picked up my keys today.  I've already made a few walking trips to the new place bringing stuff over I don't really want to pack such as picture frames and food.  Tomorrow is the big moving day and I have been finishing my packing tonight while watching a little thing called the royal wedding.  I'm sad to be leaving my current place.  I think it would be different if I had actually chose to move.  This is the downside to renting- sometimes you don't have control over things.

Kalorama

Today I helped Peter and Mark move some boxes to their new house in Kalorama, which is located in the Dandenong Mountain Ranges. It was only about a 50 minute drive from Prahran, and the place is gorgeous. It was built in the 1920s and was a boarding house before it became a private residence. The photo above was taken around 1940. The grounds are beautiful and lush, with lots of birds flying around- including parrots! The inside of the house is huge. The top level will be their residence and the bottom level the office. They will officially be living there as of Tuesday when the movers come to take all the artwork and furniture out of Greville Street in Prahran. I hope to be able to visit them and relax on the veranda.

All Moved In

I am officially at my new residence now. Last night Michelle and I brought over all my luggage, and today I unpacked while waiting for deliveries. I got my bed, fridge, washer/dryer combo, microwave, tv, and recordable dvd/vcr. I was quite proud of myself for the prices I was able to get for these items. Now if only I had some furniture to sit on.... that stuff doesn't come for another couple weeks. I didn't make it to IKEA today to order the rest of my furniture to get delivered, so I will be doing that tomorrow. However, the cupboards are now stocked with food. At least I can eat!

Moving

Thomas Wolfe said that you can't go home again... but I have! The past weeks have been spent packing up my belongings, deciding what to keep and what to get rid of, and putting things into boxes. Yesterday the movers came to put my stuff into a container that will be taking the "slow boat" to Australia. The good news is that everything fit (and there was extra room)! Unfortunately, I was not able to bring any furniture, but everything else will be coming with me to Melbourne. This gives me a good excuse to have fun buying furniture and decorating my new place- when I find it.

Now I am back in my old room at my parents' house. It's not that bad being home again. My dad and I did some cleaning at the apartment today, and took care of financial stuff. Trying to tie up all those loose ends before I leave. I only have one week left in the USA. It's all a bit scary.

The start of the end

After much pressure from my blogging friends, I have finally decided to start a blog of my own. Why now, you might ask? Well, life will soon be taking a major turn. After months of waiting, I received word in August that my permanent residence visa to Australia had finally come through. At the end of September I will be leaving the USA and migrating to Melbourne. It is an exciting and stressful time as I try to figure out how to move my life half way around the world. This blog is here to capture the adventures and keep all my family and friends updated on current events in my life. Let the journey begin.