Moving Out and Moving On

Well, we've officially moved out of our old apartment. The overlap between the house and the apartment is over, and we now (finally) have just one place of residence!

I thought leaving the apartment was going to be tough for me (emotionally, you know, with it being our first home together and such), but honestly, after the move-out cleaning and re-painting and all, I was just ready to be done with that place forever!

Remember our cute little guest room?

Now it looks like this:

And remember our pretty Master Bedroom?

Now it looks like this:

Repainting was exhausting... emotionally exhausting because we were basically erasing all evidence of our time spent in the apartment, and physically exhausting because we spent about four hours a day after work painting for an entire week. 

When the painting was done, it still wasn't over. Then came the cleaning. I scrubbed the oven and the fridge and the baseboards and the toilets. I Magic-erasered the walls and the doors and the crown moulding. I wiped the mirrors and windows and showers and tubs and counters until they shined. I dusted the blinds and windowsills and light fixtures and ceiling corners. Jeff filled in holes left from screws and nails. He swept the patio until it looked brand new. 

Shiny, clean, empty kitchen!

Our apartment had never been so clean. The whole thing smelled like bleach and lemon. BUT it was worth it because Jeff received a phone call from the manager the other day, and apparently we're getting our entire $400 security deposit back! Yay!

We thought there was hardly anything left in the apartment, but it still took quite a while to pack up all the cleaning supplies, painting supplies, and assorted left-behind items. 

We loaded up the car, went back in for a quick look around, and then walked out of our front door for the last time. We took the keys and remotes off our key rings, said a quick goodbye, and sealed them in an envelope with a note informing the apartment of our new address:

We confidently walked into the office (or... Jeff did while I photographically documented the whole thing... haha):

And then, we slid our keys into the dropbox. Goodbye, apartment.

It was at this point that I teared up a little. Once it was really all done and we were walking out of the office, it hit me that we would most likely never be back. It was so final. We'd never again see the first place we made into a home together. Jeff looked at me and said, "Come on, let's go home," and I remembered that we have a beautiful new house waiting to be filled with lovely memories. It was time to go home. 

We got into the car, and we quite literally drove off into the sunset....

We'll always remember the time we spent in that apartment. In my head, it will forever be associated with our first year of marriage and the time we spent just figuring out how to be a married couple. It was the first place we ever took pride in, and I'll always remember how we loved to show it off to friends and family. I'll always remember that apartment as the place where I worked through my first year of law school... studying, reading, writing, questioning everything, and then finishing successfully in the end with good grades and a huge sense of accomplishment.

I'll remember how happy we were when we found the perfect apartment and moved in.

I'll remember how cute it looked decorated for Christmas.

I'll remember all the times Jeff surprised me by bringing home flowers, and I put them proudly on the table by the piano.

I'll remember when I learned to use a power drill so I could make that apartment a home we loved.

I'll remember the great times we had with friends and family, and how I loved seeing the table all set for company.

It was a good apartment, but we're moving on to bigger and better things! Now that we're finished with the painting and cleaning and moving, we can really start to make progress on the house!

Farewell apartment, we'll remember you fondly!