the last boxes

I'm officially moved out of my family's house in California. And for the first time in six years, all my worldly belongings are in one place. Amazing. And strange. Mostly amazing.

As it turned out, I was only in Davis for about 36 hours, and most of that was spent cleaning out my old room and packing the trailer. I moved most of my belongings to Minnesota three years ago, but this trip was for all the other miscellaneous furniture & boxes that are too fragile to be shipped, plus the stuff my brother is bringing out to Minnesota for college. Here are some highlights:

This is me, packing the red glassware that mom gave me. Take a wild guess as to where it's going.

A favorite find: a box of childhood momentos, including this charming nightgown (which now fits over my fist and that's about it) and some awesome photo frames, complete with lace and pearls. The sad thing is that stuff was THE BEST when I was five and living in Texas. I know. You should have seen me and Lissa (a good high school friend who happened to be in town visiting her parents, and helped me pack): doubled over in laughter as we perused the box and ruthlessly threw out all the junk. These gems made the cut, although they'll likely just sit in a box in the basement of the new place...

Here are my dad and brother (and Lissa peeking through the stairs) - they were moving my secretary desk from my bedroom upstairs to the trailer in the garage. Mom's parents bought the desk as an antique when she was a girl, and Nana painted it green for a while in the 70s. Thankfully my grandpa stripped it back to the original wood in the early 80s, just before my parents moved from Minneapolis to San Antonio. This desk (as well as the Civil War bed and a number of other random things I've inherited) has now traveled a complete circle around the country: Minneapolis to San Antonio to Davis, CA and now back to Minneapolis, just a few miles from where my mom grew up. Scary? Just a little.

The trailer, in the midst of packing.

Then, leaving the California house for our cross-country road trip.

On the road.

So even though I've technically been on vacation the last two weeks (betcha couldn't tell from my copious blogging, eh?), it's been busy with packing, traveling, unpacking and working on house projects while I had my parents in town. My basement has become just as messy and full of boxes as it was when I first moved into the house in May - but this time, I know there are no more coming after them. They're the last boxes. Those words sound so, so sweet to my ears. And my sore shoulders.

Exhaustion aside, we made lots of progress over the last few days. I'll be sharing photos and updates soon for the basement, office, living room and the yellow room. Meanwhile, I'm just enjoying being back at home. Minnesota and this house, both. Home sweet home.