adventures of an american housewife in the south of france

Moving Weekend, Moving Bed Beard

Well it's finally here - Moving Weekend!  This afternoon while Michael was on a train from Paris to Montpellier, I went to the apartment, signed the lease and picked up the keys.  And I have to be honest, I'm really overwhelmed.  Before this new place becomes our home, the whole apartment needs to be cleaned, every single piece of furniture needs to be purchased and assembled, we need to learn how to work all the appliances (don't worry, the instructions are in French!), move all of our suitcases and boxes from the hotel to the apartment and unpack everything.  We can do it all in two days, right?  Have I mentioned that all the stores are closed on Sundays?  So we really only have about the next 28 hours to get most of this stuff done.  No big deal.

 

our Ikea shopping list - what are the chances they have everything in stock today?

This is a picture of the keys that I received for the apartment.  I have no idea what half of them do, but it will give you a little glimpse into the way the moving process works around here.

the keys

To help us, we've rented a giant van for the weekend to take trips back and forth.  There's just the small factor of driving on the tiny, winding, one-way streets of the city...it's going to be pretty insane and I'll leave it all up to The Hub.  He's a brave guy.  So brave, in fact, that as of this minute, he hasn't even seen the apartment in person yet - just pictures.

living room view from the kitchen

Fig's terrace

kitchen view from the living room. the brand new appliances make up for the hideous orange.

Not bad, huh?  I'm pretty excited and I just need to keep a few things in mind about how this weekend will go:  it's going to be a lot of work, it will be frustrating at times, and we probably won't be able to buy everything we need right away.  I think if I can accept these three things and take a lot of deep breaths I'll make it through this move without totally freaking out.

In the meantime, here's what Fig will be doing at the hotel.

sleep

more sleep

moving bed beard

We're going to spare him the torture of sitting alone in an empty apartment he doesn't recognize over the next day or two and take advantage of the fact that we have the option to stay in the hotel until June 1st.  I think it will be better for Fig if wait until we have most of our furnishings set up before we introduce him to his new home.  It might be a little quiet over here on the blog during the next week.  I'm not sure when our Internet will be set up and I'll probably be knee deep in cleaning and unpacking, but I promise to give you all an update with more pictures just as soon as I can.

Wish us luck!

9 Responses to “Moving Weekend, Moving Bed Beard”

  1. Julia says:

    YOU CAN DO IT!!! sending positive moving vibes to you, fig and hub. can’t wait to come see your new home :) xx

  2. Kathleen says:

    Just discovered your blog recently. I’m reading it with keen interest as my husband and I are considering moving to Montpellier. I enjoy your pictures and descriptions. Good luck with your move. The apartment looks great!

    • Natalie says:

      welcome kathleen! feel free to send me a note if there are any questions you have about relocating :)

  3. Jess says:

    go micholics! you’ll rock it. the place looks awesome and your keys look so petite and cute compared to the ones i got used to seeing in france (which are ginormous and look like they could open a medieval dungeon).

  4. Greer says:

    natalie!! i am so excited to FINALLY see pictures of your new place! its looks great! good luck with the move, miss and love you!

  5. Sarah says:

    Good luck Natalie, you will rock this move and your apartment looks amazing!

  6. Matt says:

    Glad you two are getting settled in proper-like! Can’t wait to hang with ya in a few weeks at the Spusta’s wedding :-)

    PS – I like the orange!!

  7. Natalie says:

    thank you everyone! it’s 2am and we just finished part I of our weekend moving extravaganza. so far, so good!

Leave a Reply to Greer

Design by RoyCreative