“Voyage, travel, and change impart vigor.”
– Seneca

And, ducklings, I’m feeling vigorous!

Let no one tell you otherwise, it is impossible to do everything last minute and you need to give yourself a large bit of time to pack, sort, store, fret, freakout, regroup, and finalize travel plans.  Anyone who says differently doesn’t have your best interests at heart and should be shunned.

We’ve started the packing process for the house and although it’s turned our office into a right mess, it’s good to have a head start.  The original plan was to drive to my parents house and leave most of our things with them, but Her Majesty’s government sort of derailed our original plans and now my lovely in-laws have kindly agreed to put up some of our boxes instead.

I boxed up all of our books, and yes it pained me a bit, but why else did we invent libraries?  I have boxes of china that I’ve owned for years but never unpacked – out of fear of what my klutziness will do.  They’ll be put to use once we have a house with a dishwasher and cupboards without bending shelves and doors that don’t fall off, but need to be stored in the meantime.  We still have a few repeat wedding presents in our spare room closet that we need to get rid of (three grills!  We were given three grills!), and some odds and ends, but I think we’ll be able to condense everything down nicely.

J. is off in a month and a half and so we are also doing some last minute shopping to outfit him (which makes it sound like he’s going on safari).  A few new shirts for dressy occasions and interviews, another pair of khakis, and most importantly a new suit.  I’m a bit envious as all my favorite stores just came out with their fall styles and I’m craving, despite the heat, but I’m soldiering up.

Finally, and I can’t stress this enough, minions, start shopping for travel early!  We found an amazing deal to get to London as well (although now we’re going to have to buy me an unexpected return trip a week later, but thanks to early planning, the financial burden of it is going to be highly manageable).  We’re also looking for deals for Christmas as the plan is for J. and I to meet up halfway at my family’s house on the East Coast.

This could all be done last minute (if we were masochists) but by doing it all in advance, we’re saving time, money, space, and stress.