Moving Day...

We made it. We might be surrounded by boxes on every side, but the actual moving part of our move is now complete. All that's left is to unpack, though saying it that way makes it sound like unpacking will be quick and painless. I have no illusions that it will be either, but I do hope to be mostly finished by the 12th of next month, when we leave for a Valentine's trip to New Orleans. A girl can dream, right?

Some of the boxes piled up in my parents' garage.

I had Justin choose the moving company (he's good at aggregating reviews from various places and taking into account a wide variety of opinions before making a decision on things, whereas I tend to be more impetus in my decision-making), and I couldn't be more pleased with his choice. He chose M&M Movers, and I'd highly recommend them to anyone moving in the Chicagoland area. They showed up around 7:40, and had all the boxes and furniture packed up in just about an hour, despite the fact that we'd gotten snow and a coating of ice on the driveway the night before. 

Loading up the moving truck.

They hauled all of our stuff up to our third-floor walk-up (the entire reason I wanted to hire movers in the first place), and were finished by about 10:30. Factoring in their travel time, the job came in at four hours, which was less than their original estimate, and therefore cheaper than what we had budgeted for, which was fantastic. They paid attention to how we had the boxes marked, so nearly everything ended up in the correct room, and they even took off their shoes when they were walking around in our apartment to protect the floors. I kind of wondered about that, since I'd imagine they'd want their steel-toed boots on if they happened to drop any of those boxes on their feet, but I guess they're adept at not dropping things...

There are so many boxes, you can barely see the couch. Almost everything in that pile is for the kitchen -- this is what happens when your hobby is cooking.

Overall, I was really pleased with how the move went, and I was genuinely shocked how fast it was accomplished. This is why you pay a professional, people. I'm trying, with varying levels of success, to not let the unpacking job ahead of us overwhelm me. I just need to keep sight of the fact that the worst is behind us, and it's all downhill from here. Soon we'll be settled into our new home, and it will be worth all the work it has taken, and will continue to take to get there.

Our bedroom, finally made functional by the arrival of our bed. Tonight will be our first night in our new place!