The Last (Almost) Two Months

Warning: this might be the longest post I’ve every written. You might want to come back later if you’re not in the mood to read a too-wordy, too-emotional summary of the past several weeks. But there are pictures at the end, I promise.

Wow, where to even begin with catching you guys up with what’s been going on in my life the past (almost) two months in Connecticut? I guess I’ll start at the beginning and go from there. But first of all, let me just say that moving ain’t easy. Whether it’s just moving down the street or across the country, it can be very stressful and exhausting.

Since I found it difficult to apartment search in Connecticut before my move from all the way across the country, I made arrangements to live with an uncle temporarily until I found a permanent place to live. I am SO lucky to have had family to depend on in Connecticut – especially those that were willing to take me in as a roommate, pets and all!

My first week in Connecticut was rough and definitely didn’t go anything like what I had expected AT ALL. Within my first week:

• Mister E went out of town for two days with friends a day after we arrived here, leaving me feeling abandoned after I just moved across the country to be with him.
• I went apartment searching and found that my expectations were WAY too high for the price range that I was looking in. There were some apartments that I refused to go inside of – I could tell just from the outside that it was a no-go. It was very discouraging.
• I developed a chronic cough that kept me up for HOURS at night and scared everyone away from me within a 50 foot radius. I also didn’t have insurance coverage since I was in between plans.
• Prince developed a cherry eye. I’ll let you guys look up pictures of what a cherry eye actually is since it’s way too gross to post a picture here, but basically, it’s when a gland at the inner corner of one of the eyes pops out and is exposed. It’s revolting looking and the surgery to fix it can come with a hefty price tag.
• I missed my belongings. Besides a suitcase full of clothes, a duffle bag of shoes, and a tote bag full of pet supplies, all of my belongings had gone into storage in Connecticut. And as much as I loved having my uncle’s company (and his cable + DVR), I missed having my own place and felt like I was intruding into his life – especially with having my pets there.
• I locked myself out of my uncle’s condo twice(!!!!) with no phone or anything. I had never locked myself out before and besides being entirely embarrassed that it happened (twice, nonetheless), I had to beg to use stranger’s cell phone both times to get a hold of my uncle. And since I didn’t have my uncle’s phone number memorized, I had to call my mother in Florida and have HER get a hold of my uncle. Even more embarrassing.
• I found that I really missed my old company, my old job, and my old coworkers. Everything at my new job was off to a good start, but it just made me homesick for my old job.
• Mister E became scared by what an emotional mess I was in Connecticut and seemed to be distancing himself a bit which just made me more of an emotional mess.
• I was spending over two hours driving each day as part of my commute to work. I knew that it was just a temporary situation since I was apartment searching in neighborhoods close to my new job, but the gas bill was really starting to add up.
• I got my period and had crazy hormones for entire first week.

All of these things seemed to happen all at once, making it the perfect storm. Along with dealing with the stress and exhaustion of just driving across the country and starting a new job, having to face all of these other unexpected feelings and issues just felt like too much. I cried every day for the first seven days straight here. It started with crying in front of Mister E and when I felt like he was starting to pull away, it culminated with an hour long crying session over the phone to my mom. It was one of those hard crys where I could barely breath and felt like I could just throw up from it all.

Despite now living near my boyfriend, family, and friends, I had never felt so alone before. I was second guessing my decision to move and the feeling of regret started to sink in. I was surprised to find that what I really wanted was my mom or dad, which just made me feel worse. I thought that I was an independent and capable adult – not someone who just wanted a reassuring hug from a parent telling me that everything would be alright.

And somehow even from a thousand miles away, my mom found a way to give me just what I needed. She let me cry out all of my fears of sadness and regret and then kindly told me that she loved me, but I needed to pull myself together. I had already made the move to Connecticut and couldn’t change that fact, so I needed to find a way to make it work now. She reminded me that a making such a drastic change in your life is never easy to do, and it’s ok to be experiencing some of the feelings I was having – no one would judge me for having an emotional breakdown. And then she said the thing that I think all people need to hear to make them comfortable with making big decisions – I just needed to give Connecticut three months. If in three months, things weren’t getting any better and I still was feeling the same, I could call my old boss and beg for my old job back and just move back to Seattle. Somehow, thinking that a decision can be reversible, makes it so much easier for me to accept it.

Of course she was right about everything. Once I was off my period, I instantly started to feel better about things and things started to actually get better. My chronic cough turned out to be a result of allergies which was fixed in time with the help of Allegra. Once I stopped being a crazy lady who would spontaneously burst into tears, Mister E and I found a comfortable happy groove for our relationship. Prince’s cherry eye didn’t pose an issue for his actual eye and was just a cosmetic problem, so I decided to hold off from the getting the surgery until things calmed down a bit. And best of all, after three weeks of living with my uncle, I finally found an apartment within my price range that I was happy with! This put an end to my long commute and allowed me to get all of my belongings back.

It seems kinda silly now remembering how awful my first week was and how depressed I was about everything. It certainly took time, but I can now say (weeks later) that I’m happy here in Connecticut. I still miss Seattle and my old job, but I’m really enjoying spending so much time with family and like I said, Mister E and I have found a comfortable routine for our relationship that seems to be making both of us happy.

And thankfully, my first week from hell in Connecticut ended on a high note by celebrating my 25th birthday with a fiesta along with Mister E and friends.

Fruity margaritas and chunky guacamole? Don’t mind if I do. Besides the cheesy sombrero, it was a wonderful night that was very much needed. While my last birthday might be my favorite (having Mister E fly across the country and surprise me was the best), getting to mark my 25th birthday with a drastic move and huge life change will always be a memorable milestone.

And another highlight about Connecticut? There’s a Dunkin’ Donuts within a mile radius from wherever you are (Dunkin’ Donuts doesn’t exist in Seattle). Definitely greatly appreciated.

Oh, and that apartment that I mentioned? It’s pretty much everything that I was looking for and is conveniently located close to work and even has a park across the street along with a walking/running trail. It felt great to finally find the place that will be my permanent home for the foreseeable future. Even better was Mister E moving ALL of my belongings in by himself in just over an hour. Have I mentioned how grateful I am for him?

And since my mom is dying to see my new place and she might be the only one who’s actually left reading this post by this point, here are some before and after pictures from move-in day:

(living room / dining room)

(living room again)

(bedroom)

(kitchen)

It’s been a long and tedious process getting unpacked and finding everything its new home. Even though I’ve been in my new apartment for almost a month now, I still have boxes to unpack and furniture to buy (to replace items that I had decided not to bring in the move and sold in Seattle). But at least some of us had a good time with the unpacking process.

FYI, some of us = Kaylie.

Oh, did you come to this blog expecting to see food pictures and weren’t expecting me to pour my heart and soul out to you guys? Alright, fine. I’ll shut up now and talk food. My first few weeks here were filled entirely with too many pretzel M&Ms (best thing that humankind has ever invented), Kettle honey dijon potato chips, and Dunkin’ Donuts. That is, when I had an appetite at all. Whether it was just the emotional stress or my chronic cough, I went an entire week without much of an appetite. But don’t worry, I made up for lost time once it returned with my pretzel M&Ms.

Once I got off the junk food kick and settled into my new place, the majority of my meals were either Honey Nut Cherrios or Greek yogurt. Sometimes when everything else in your life feels complicated, it’s best just to go with simple food. Or you know, that’s what you could at least tell people when the real reason is that you haven’t even unpacked your pots and pans and don’t have a microwave and haven’t even thought about cooking a real meal.

And since it took me three days to finally find the box that my silverware was packed away in (it only took two days to find those pots and pans), my stand-in replacement was a too-cute ladybug measuring spoon (which unfortunately happened to resemble a baby spoon).

I can confidently say that the absolute best thing about moving into my own apartment was unpacking my coffee maker. My uncle isn’t a coffee drinker and that means that I went weeks without my daily coffee except for the days that I was willing to shell out the cash at Dunkin’ Donuts.

Unfortunately, after enjoying the very first cup that I brewed, I promptly dropped the pot. Meaning that I had to go another five days without my daily coffee until I found a replacement coffee maker. Like I said, moving ain’t easy.

If you actually made it to the end of this post. I congratulate you and you may be my new best friend now. And if you didn’t read anything that I actually wrote and just skimmed through the pictures, that’s alright too. I love you all – the readers and the skimmers – just the same and am so honored that you even come to More Fruit Please in the first place.

I’ve been putting off writing this post for a while now just because I knew it would be a doozy (it took me nearly three hours just to write it!), but I have to say, it feels so good to have everything off my chest and out there now.

My internet at my apartment gets installed tomorrow (!!!), which is ridiculous since I ordered it three weeks ago, but I digress. You’ll be seeing a lot more posting from me over the next few weeks since I have a bajizillion summer happenings and summer recipes to still catch you up on.

Thanks for reading!!

Advertisement