Friday night, we went to the old apartment and cleaned some. I thought that we were going to stay there for hours and clean until we were done. Brett suggested that we work for a while and then come Saturday morning and finish up. That ended up being the perfect plan! We still got a little down time Friday night, and that was really helpful because our Saturday was very full!
We said that we would meet at Creekwood (the old apartment) at 9:30 on Saturday morning. I got there at 9:40 and we left at 11:00. The apartment wasn't spotless, but it was clean, and it was a million times cleaner than it was the day we moved him. Brett's apartment, like an ogre, had layers. We cleaned it in layers! We threw away a LOT of trash while we were packing. And then we moved his things. And then we threw away lots more trash. And then we vacuumed. And then we cleaned all of the surfaces. And then we packed the last little things. And then we vacuumed again. There you go. Layers. Layers of life, layers of dirt, layers of memories, and now they are gone. We turned in the keys and we are down to 2 dwellings to manage instead of 3.
When we left Creekwood, we went to the new place. I dropped off our rent check and then we got online to look over the email that our travel agent sent us about honeymoon options. One of my BFFs, Jennifer, who is also one of my matrons of honor, visited San Diego a couple of weeks ago, and she and her husband loved the hotel that they stayed in, and that hotel happened to be one that was on the list from our travel agent. But one of Brett's best friends, Chris, went to San Diego a few months ago and loved the hotel that he stayed in! And that hotel was also on our list! So we started to compare prices, but after a few minutes, we decided to just run over to the AAA office to see Amy, our awesome travel agent!
I have to take a minute to sing the praises of the greatness that is Amy! She is not only incredibly capable and knowledgeable where her job is concerned, she also happens to be FROM San Diego! So she gave us TONS of tips and suggestions. And when I say "gave us", I mean that she pulled out a map and drew all of the restaurants on there that she thought we should hit. Hello! Love her!
Amy got on her computer and worked her magic and the hotel that Jennifer stayed at ended up being a much better deal than the hotel that Chris stayed at. Because Brett is a AAA employee, if we book a package (car + hotel + flight) through them, when we return from the trip, we receive a 10% rebate. But Amy said that she always checks other services because sometimes you end up with a better deal by not choosing a AAA package. In this case, we saved money by piecing together a trip rather than choosing a package, because the money that we would save on renting a car from Enterprise instead of Hertz, which is who AAA uses, was better than getting back 10% after the trip.
So what I am trying to say is, WE BOOKED OUR HONEYMOON! And it was PERFECT! Brett and I have never traveled on our own before. He has really only traveled with work and I have really only traveled with church. So we didn't know what the pay schedule would be like. We were prepared to pay for the entire trip on Saturday if we had to, but we were hoping to only pay a deposit. Well, since we pieced together a package, we only paid for the plane tickets, which we got for a GREAT price, by the way! And then we reserved the hotel and car with a credit card, but we won't actually have to pay for them until the honeymoon is over. Can you believe that? I was so excited!
AND, because we had all that money set aside to pay for the trip, we walked out of the office with a significant amount of money! We have a list of things that we need for the apartment. Some of it is furniture, but there were a couple of pieces that we needed to complete our home theater setup. Because we upgraded our TV when Brett's went out a year and a half ago, it was time to update a fairly pricey piece of equipment, Brett's receiver. Our plan was to pay rent, then honeymoon, then when his tax return came, buy the receiver and a speaker transmitter. Well when we realized we had tons of time to pay for the honeymoon, we changed our plan! We left the AAA office and went to Fry's! We bought the receiver, and when his tax return comes, it will go straight to the honeymoon account.
So all of that was Saturday morning. Actually, we left Fry's at, umm... 1:20 maybe? Saturday afternoon was Kelly and Steven's wedding, so we had a frantic hour and half of me taking him home, running home to shower and get ready for the wedding, then picking him up and driving to a wedding in Arlington while my gas light threatened me with an afternoon on the side of the road! But we made it in time!
The wedding was BEAUTIFUL! The church was lovely, the bridesmaid dresses were perfect, the groom was choked up, and the bride was BREATHTAKING! I am SO happy for me sweet friend Kelly and so thankful that God has brought her such an amazing man. We had a great time at the wedding, as did all of the guests, and we were still home by 8:00!
We ordered Papa John's and got to work on wiring the receiver. Wiring is no fun. And poor Brett had to do it twice. Once when we moved in, and once again on Saturday when we replaced our receiver. But now we are done!
This afternoon, after a MUCH needed nap, we unpacked several more boxes, and in the process made the decision to grab one more bookcase. So this evening, we took a very productive trip to Wal-mart. Our goal is to finish all of the boxes this week so that next Sunday, after my first bridal shower (I'm so excited!) we can put up our wedding gifts in our clean, happy apartment.
I'm exhausted, but I am so in love and so thankful for God's blessings.
1 comment:
I'm so glad you've gotten all this done! It sounds like you're going to have a GREAT time! I can't wait to talk more about it!
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