Well, friends…I’m writing this post from the kitchen island of my NEW HOME! This will be my eating and working station for a while until I get a dining table and a desk but I am just so happy to be here. This week has been a nonstop frenzy of last-minute packing and moving so I’ve been MIA on my blog. I also didn’t have internet for days so that was a challenge. I spent over five hours on the phone with ATT over the last week. Dealing with them was by far the most logistically difficult thing about moving, haha. I am so behind on work right now but it’s almost impossible to juggle work with how all-encompassing moving is.
Speaking of work, I had teacher training last weekend so I spent a lot of the weekend at the studio. (We have a small group meeting in person, with the option to Zoom if they choose/need to.)
This was the scene at my house the night before the movers arrived. The dogs did okay but they definitely had some anxiety over the boxes, mess and disruption.
On moving day, I took the dogs for an early walk on the trails before the movers arrived. I wanted to get them some exercise to help settle them. I also needed a little fresh air, nature and settling!
The movers arrived at 9a. I used Building Blocks Moving at the recommendation of a friend and I could not have been more pleased with the service and experience. Building Blocks is a small locally owned business and one of the owners was on my three-man team of movers. They arrived promptly at their scheduled time and brought everything needed to facilitate my move from truck to blankets to floor runners to tools and more. I appreciated some of the small protective things they did like padding the doorways and stair bannisters to protect them from getting beat up. One huge help was that the moving team disassembled and reassembled my furniture.
If you are in the Charlotte area and have moving needs, I cannot recommend Building Blocks Moving enough. Tell Brian and Matt that I sent you! 🙂 It was important for me to share this recommendation because it can be hard to find reliable, careful and reasonable movers.
I kept the dogs in the backyard of the old house while they were loading the truck. We all took a lunch break after loading and then met back at the new house to unload. I left the dogs inside at the old house while we were unloading so that they could have air conditioning and there was no chance of them getting out. I went to pick them up once the movers wrapped up.
So far they are loving the new house! I can’t wait to show you guys the new back yard!
My evening ended with a pizza pick up and my very first visitor! Dorie stopped by around 8:30 with a roll of toilet paper and some sage. Here is another recommendation for you…Dorie was my mortgage broker and she is freaking awesome at what she does. She is SO responsive, proactive and thorough and I felt so confident working with her and her team at Atlantic Bay Mortgage. She locked me in at an insanely low interest rate. If you’re looking to refinance or to buy, I can personally vouch for working with Dorie and Atlantic Bay on both!
One more FYI for my Charlotte readers, Hawthorne’s does $10 one-topping pizzas on Tuesdays. I ordered a pepperoni pizza last night and it hit the spot!
My coffee pot received concierge moving service in my car and was the first thing I set up in the new kitchen. I have my moving priorities straight!
I still have a ton of work to do in the next couple of days to get fully out of the old house and reasonably settled in the new. While I want to get my kitchen, bedroom and Finn’s room functional, I am taking my time with the overall moving in process. I have a lot of furniture buying and decorating to do but I want give myself some space to do it at a pace that feels right. I plan to be here for a long time so I want to make it something that is really special and personal to our lifestyle. <3
And if you’ve been wondering where Finn has been through all of this…he’s been on vacation with his dad. You guys, the timing of all of this could not have worked out more beautifully. While I was casually looking for houses, I didn’t know that I would find this one and it would move so quickly. We went under contract on July 10 and closed on August 3. We were originally set to close on August 11 but Dorie said that we could close as early as August 3 on the financing side because I had my ducks in a row over there. When I looked at the calendar and realized Finn would be gone that week, it felt serendipitous so we pushed hard to make it happen. The due diligence period was a little intense but we got it done!
Having the opportunity to move without a two-year old underfoot was a blessing. I honestly don’t know how I would have managed it because the last few days have been so insane. Moving was also a HUGE distraction from missing Finn. He’s had a great time on vacation with his dad and I can’t wait to see his sweet face tomorrow! I also can’t wait to see what he thinks about the new house. I’ve been talking it up a bunch! 🙂
One last recommendation, I worked with Steve Mueller and his team at Vantage Realty Professionals to buy my new home. I have known Steve since my days managing Metro Fitness and Metro CrossFit (he and his wife were clients) and he’s always been my go-to for real estate needs and questions in Charlotte. If you’re looking to list or purchase in Charlotte, I’m here to give a strong recommendation for Vantage. Working with them was great from start to finish!
Okay, I have about a billion things to do today for work and at the old and new house so I am signing off to get busy. I’ll have more new house updates coming soon!
QUESTIONS
If you can only pick one pizza topping, what’s it going to be?
What’s your favorite thing about moving? Least favorite?
