transitioning, Part II

So continuing after leaving off at the first night in Virginia - The moving truck showed up on Tuesday, a day early  as promised. This was really exciting, because one of my fears about loading all of our stuff onto a huge truck (that carries up to 5 other people's things at the same time) was that the delivery would be delayed and we'd be stuck without furniture for a week or so. Plus, it meant we had almost a whole week to get settled in before I had to start work. We managed to have most of the boxes unloaded by the weekend, when we had time to do some cleaning - and my amazing husband even sorted our the basement den which had been the dumping ground for the random storage type boxes and empty boxes/packing material. Good things about the new place: twice the size of our old condo, lots of closets - and a garage, and the basement den, a front porch and back deck that looks out into woods. Oh and it is quiet!! So excited about that. Seriously, I've been sitting on the couch all evening and the only sound has been the hum of the heater. This is a big change from the condo - we were on the 2nd floor and while we liked our neighbors - who really are very nice -they could be loud. We heard the downstairs neighbors talking and yelling almost nonstop, since they have 2 kids under the age of 3 who are rather mischievious. And we could hear the husband snoring at night! Ack. The upstairs neighbors weren't bad except that they had recently started wearing shoes inside which meant hearing their footsteps a lot. Anyway. Definitely appreciating the peacefulness of having quiet in my evenings now.

Work started on Monday (2 weeks ago at this point) and I think it's going ok. All of the newness makes it hard to buckle down and focus on work, but I did manage to accomplish some things each day, so I'll take it I guess. Already I can see that the opportunities at my new position are much more abundant than at my old one. That's what I was going for, so, hopefully this means I made the right choice!

I am having moments of missing Chicago. I keep dreaming about being at work in my old lab. Ha I guess I just can't get away. But while I don't miss the job, I had some fantastic coworkers who I will most definitely miss. Then there were the other friends I made in the city (and a few old college ones who lived there too) - it's kind of hard being in a place where I don't know anyone outside of the few people from work. But I know I just have to give it time. I moved to Chicago without knowing anyone and ended up with some great friendships. So, we will be settling in over the next few months. A lot of times I am not very good with change, but this one feels really positive. We shall see how this adventure ends up :)