Hoarding experiences

Well, we've started to make the rounds of all our favorite places (and people). My heart was filled with joy at a visit from my bestest friend Lauren. We had a few hours to visit some Austin institutions- Azul, Uncommon Objects, P&K grocery (pictured above, right before we devoured an amazing hot dog and lemonade feast), the Art Building at UT where we spent many a torturous hour. Visiting all these places with Lala, who's lived in Boston for several years now, makes me realize that 'you never step in the same river twice' as they say. All the places are changing, or maybe it's us that has changed, and while Uncommon Objects once felt like home to me, I now feel very much removed from it like it wasn't me at all that sold antiques there. Tim and Lauren have changed, too, traveling all over the world, influencing the architecture of China and Brazil, managing photo shoots in New York and beyond... We are becoming adults, making a mark. So far from the wide-eyed, caffeine-infused kids who sat in a New Orleans coffee shop trembling with excitement about taking on the world.

Kyle and I have also been making the rounds of eateries- The Omelettry shown here.

So the boxes are piling up, but not fast enough. 4 days left to get all the chaos shoehorned into cardboard. Still much left to do with the cat situation, but I'm trying to be Zen and hope that it all falls into place at the last minute.

We fly out of LA on the 13th. At least it's not a Friday. I'm praying for no worker strikes or terrorist-induced security snafus.

Bureaucratic snafus

The preparations have really kicked into high gear at this point. I keep finding myself in the situation of, "Oh, yeah, I forgot to figure out -----". Fill in the blank with a major, life-affecting situation. Setting up banking in the The New World (TNW). Transferring gobs of money to TNW. Getting our cats shipped to TNW. Which is, By doG, the most amazingly frustrating part of it right now! We can't book *our* flights until we get their flights secured, which means basically going back in time to get an Import Permit that takes 6 weeks. Hopefully I can bribe the Minister of Ag to expedite it.

We have exactly 13 days to pack up all our belongings (making sure they fit in a 20'container) and buy all necessary supplies, Ikea items and shoes ;). Then a few more days to ship a motorcycle, say goodbye to our loved ones, make preparations for paying our taxes for the year, blah, blah, blah. I'm sure it seems boring from the outside, but raw and harried from the inside.

On the upside we may get to stay in a friend's beach house north of Auckland over Christmas, assuming we make it there by then. I'm pretty sure we can still get Air New Zealand Premium Economy (like Business class, top floor of the plane, suede reclining seats and free champagne) tix, which is so preferable for that long of a journey. I almost can't bear thinking about going economy for 12 hours. That must sound ridiculously posh.

Off to sort out ... everything.

SOLD!

In less than 24 hours our house has a contract on it for $4K over asking price. Closing is set for Dec. 15th. Wow, it's really happening, and very close to the timeframe that we thought.

Now, how do we pack all our stuff into a 20' container?

So tired.

We've been burning the midnight oil, and it's finally showing. Both on the house and on our faces. We're *finally* listing the property, and the photographer said she thought it would be snapped up within the week. More later, out agent is on the way with the For Sale sign!!