Oh, what a bittersweet day! Yesterday, starting at 6am, we ate Cheerios out of plastic cups, packed some last-minute boxes, filled our Uhaul to the brim, cleaned our first little apartment 'til it shined, and said goodbye to Eau Claire. We are so thankful for our awesome friends who helped us get through the day! It was certainly a whirlwind.
Check out this ingenious porch/ramp setup (above). 
I loved that they had manly man competitions to see who could carry the most furniture all at once. Matt said: "Don't worry, Jess. I'm really good at lifting awkward stuff." Everbody's gotta be good at something, I guess! Meanwhile, the ladies (Gretch, Jenny, & I) tended to the housework;)
Our sweet sistah Jenny helped SO much with all of the cleaning!! I could not have coped with the sad emptiness without her. 
Eric says we moved just like rednecks (he is from the South)...Filled up the front porch with all of our junk! I guess maybe that is true. It made a lovely observation deck for me to watch our expert moving boys.
After all of our labors, we headed down the street to the GRAND for a final farewell. It was a perfect, breezy day to sit outside! (Miss you, Cara!) I must say that working as a barista/waitress here was one of my favorite jobs EVER. It was one of my silly little dreams to be a coffee shop girl before I graduated from college. True story: I don't even drink coffee. I just love the way it looks and smells. Something about coffee culture just charms me. Ok...back to moving!
It was 12:00 and we were ready to begin our journey. The Uhaul was loaded, our tummies full, and a Family/Friend gathering & *Going away party* awaiting us in Fairmont! We were ahead of schedule for once! But, thank you Uhaul, for not having our car tower ready and giving us hoop #1 to jump through. Jeff's convo went something like this. Gruff Mr. Uhaul: "We're sorry sir. We don't have any auto-trailers in Eau Claire." Jeff: "Well, we reserved one a month ago and were supposed to pick it up last night with our truck." To make a long story short, and to avoid further defaming of the Uhaul company, we made it to Fairmont in time for leftovers from the special BBQ my parents threw! Moving Lesson #1 learned: Everything is ok in the end, but you can guarantee that it won't go according to plan. It's a good thing that we're moving to San Fran without too many plans.
Moving Lesson #2: Saying goodbye to your bike is almost as hard as saying goodbye to old friends. I'm not sure what I was thinking. When moving, you need to be in the mindset of reduce, get rid of, recycle. I loved this old bike. DEARLY. It was my mom's K-mart bike from back in the day, and my great steal while shopping in the attic a few years ago. Brother Ben even painted it orange for me. So cute. Honestly, loved this bike. But, it didn't work very well. It only had 3 gears (all dysfunctional), squeaky brakes, and was impossible to ride up inclines of greater than 20 degrees. I could not imgagine myself taking on the topography of San Francisco with this old granny of a bike. None of my friends wanted it, so in good faith I set it on the side of the road. Just when I thought things couldn't get worse (i.e. no car tower for the trip), a middle-aged woman in a cute knit cap and sweater, classy khakis, and darling slide shoes walked up the sidewalk and asked if I was giving away the bike. In convo, I told her it was all hers. She told me that she had just moved to E.C. after living for 17 years in Cali. She said, "I love it here, but there's just something about California. I don't know what it is. Maybe it's the ocean? People will tell you not to move there. It's expensive and there are too many people there. But you've gotta follow your dreams!" Weird experience. It always amazes me, the people God puts in our lives at different times for different reasons.
Moving Lesson #3 learned. TRUST GOD! He has everything figured out for us, we will be o.k. Faith is an astounding thing. So to wrap it all up, yesterday was a very, very wonderful day. We loved being welcomed by our family & friends in Fairmont! We are so blessed by everyone's warm wishes, helping hands, gifts of gas money, and chocolate chip cookies. We hit the road tomorrow. Cali here we come!
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