If I’ve ever been excited for a Monday to arrive, it’s been this past weekend. You see, we’ve been in the process of moving for nearly two weeks now. Our new townhouse’s lease began on January 1, but since I had a wedding on the first weekend in January, we weren’t able to schedule our moving weekend until this past one. So we’ve been gradually moving things over, a few boxes at a time throughout the past two weeks. For the record, I don’t recommend this method. I used to love moving as a kid and could never understand why my parents loathed it so much, but now I get it :). I don’t mind packing things into organized boxes, separated out by category (i.e. “Abby’s shoes”), but it’s all those LITTLe things that don’t have a definitive place in any of the boxes. You all know what I’m talking about- like when you finish packing the clothes from your drawers and closet, and you still have the knick-knacks and perfume bottles left on your dresser? Or all those SUPER fragile things like lampshades and canvases that can’t be put into typical boxes that you end up hand-carrying in? All of those things drive me NUTS! We were so, so blessed to have church friends and family come over and help us out, and if it weren’t for them, we never would have made it out alive. We paid them in cinnamon rolls and pizza- standard moving day fare, right?

All lighthearted complaining aside, I am in LOVE with our new home! Firstly, it’s in RESTON! I grew up here, and over the past few years the town has grown so much. Reston Town Center, one of my FAVORITE places in the world, is now a mere 7 minutes away! My parents are super close, meaning I can help out with my mom when the Lyme is being especially awful to her, and Matt’s commute into Falls Church was cut in half. Our church is in Reston, our Bible study is in Reston, and it was just becoming increasingly clear that this was where we wanted and needed to be. The whole reason we’d moved out to Ashburn (about a 25 minute drive from where we are now) was because housing prices got more and more ridiculous the closer you got to DC, and we were convinced that we’d never find anything within our budget in Reston. Matt & I’ve really been feeling called to open our home more, to host friends and family, and our then-current living situation just wasn’t really going to work for those purposes.

So we started praying about it. A lot. And then a few months ago and were blessed to meet our amazing realtor Toni who helped us search out those hidden gems throughout Reston, and soon enough we found the place we’re in today! Matt & I had sort of lost hope before meeting Toni- we didn’t think it was possible to find a home that met our needs AND our budget. But God is so, SO faithful, and when he calls you to something (for us, opening our home), he equips you for the task. So while we still have a ton on unpacking to do and there are boxes scattered throughout both floors of our new townhouse, we’re walking on cloud nine. We got in the car to head home from church yesterday, what was previously a 25 minute drive, and I did a happy dance in my seat when it dawned on me that we only had a five minute drive home because we now live in RESTON!! We’re Restonians! I know it may seem ridiculous to be so excited about living in a particular town, but this is where I grew up, and this is where so many of the people we love live. To be a mere 5-10 minute drive from some of my favorite people, instead of a 30 minute commute, is such an unexpected blessing.

So! This brings us to our typical lessons learned from the past week:

• Pillsbury’s Cinnabon cinnamon rolls are EXCELLENT collateral in bribing people to help you move.
• Having a cute dog helps, too 🙂
• Matt is the perfect complement to me- when our friends had said their goodbyes on Saturday afternoon and we turned around to see our new home sprawling with cardboard boxes, I just wanted to shrivel up and cry at how overwhelming everything seemed. But Matt began unpacking at once, going box by box until we had the kitchen area mostly cleared. I’d gone upstairs to unpack a bit of my office, and by the time I came back downstairs he’d cleared space for and put together our new dining table, complete with centerpiece and a lit candle!
• Painting a room gives it so much LIFE. I’d wanted to paint my office in our last apartment, but because we’d have to paint back over it before we left, I never got around to it. Since we’ll be in this home for at least two years, we decided early on that painting WAS going to happen. My office is a pretty shade of blue/green that perfectly matches my brand!
• That huge pile of “giveaway stuff” you amass when moving? Don’t take it to Goodwill until AFTER your friends have come over to help you move. They may just find something awesome in the pile, and you can feel even better about using them to help transfer all of your belongings.
• Lily is thoroughly enjoying the fact that we now have a teeny little closed in backyard. She loves sitting at the sliding door in hopes that we’ll let her out, so that she can play her favorite game. It goes like this: “run around outside for a minute, sit at the door and bark so that they can let me in so that I can go BACK outside again!”

I’ll most likely be blogging a couple of rooms in our new abode, but here are just a few snippets from the weekend! That’s Matt, putting together my neeeeew desk!

My first morning tea for my first workday here! And how SWEET is that lamp? I’ve seen the kind with the acrylic spheres that go from small to large, but this one’s made of glass and I’m crazy about it.

Happy Monday!