Starting over

We've finally moved into our new apartment! With the move comes the reality that this will be our home for the next couple of years. With it also comes the reality that we moved into a new apartment with just our clothes and a few picture frames. I've learned that nothing makes you appreciate the basics like not having them. Trash cans, hangers, blinds, and that little cup on the dish rack where the flat wear dries all seem so trivial until you have to go out and re-buy them. It feels like my preliminary trip to KMart when I first started college. The good news is that we're not too remote and these things are accessible at stores only about a mile from our place. The bad news is that we already own all of this crap (in storage) and this money, in my opinion, would be better spent going somewhere fabulous, like hiking to the lost city of Petra or a weekend in Santorini.

Yesterday, I set out to buy boring necessities like sheets, a bath mat, and some door hooks. I came home with smelly candles, a cute picture for our kitchen, and two fabulous copper bowls used for serving Indian food.

So maybe my priorities are a little off kilter, but I justify it with trying to make this place feel a little more like home. And in my home, no matter the continent, there will ALWAYS be smelly candles.

I did manage to buy one boring necessity: a full length mirror. If nothing else, at least we'll look good. When I had finally trekked this massive thing home, I opened the box to find a bunch of stuff and no instructions as to what to do with it. I hate instruction manuals as much as the next guy until I don't have one to fall back on. So I relied on good old fashioned instinct to assemble that bad boy. And I did, with like five screws and some black rubber things left over. If I've learned anything from years of buying Ikea, it's that it's never good to have left overs.
(The Internet at the coffee shop I'm sitting at is pretty bad, so you're spared the stimulating images of my mirror in pieces on our floor.)

We'll post photos of the inside of our new place as soon as we've finished unpacking.
Hint: I was hoping it would fall off the truck, but our blue paisley sofa made it to the new place in all its hideous glory.

PS. Since writing this post, I broke our new ironing board, another boring essential. Must remember to put a new one on the list, along with one more copper bowl to complete the set.