Guster, Ben Folds Five, and Barenaked Ladies

Last night Andrew and I had a fun date night with my siblings and their spouses. Well, all but one of their spouses. My brother-in-law refused to join us because of his virulent hatred of BNL, but the rest of us were there. It was fun to have a little get together with all the siblings; we don't get to do that very often, and I definitely think we should make it a regular thing.

We went to the Guster, Ben Folds Five, and BNL concert, and it was so much fun. This concert was a little different for me because I usually go to a concert for the headliner and the headliner alone. This time, I knew both opening bands as well as the headliner, which was pretty awesome.

The night opened with some really weird guy whose name was Boothby . . . something-or-other. He was singing about kittens in bags and baseball-playing spiders, and it was just odd. But after that, the night got considerably better, because Guster came on.

Guster was arguably the best part of the night. Our seats happened to be right behind a group of guys who were diehard Guster fans and new every lyric of every song. I was a little sad I wasn't to that level, since I only know two of their albums. But the songs I knew were incredible, and I thoroughly enjoyed the songs I didn't know. Guster was so awesome live. They were funny and sounded awesome. They even played a little side show near their merch table between Ben Folds Five and BNL. I now want to buy the rest of Guster's albums and see a show that they headline. 

Ben Folds Five was up next, and while they sounded amazing live, they didn't play many songs that I know. I think there were only two that I could actually sing along with. 

I spent most of their set just staring at Ben Folds's hands. I was in awe of his talent; I wish I could play the piano like that. 

The final act of the night was, of course, Barenaked Ladies. 

I know a ton of BNL's music, but they also played a bunch of songs that I either didn't know or didn't like. The best part of their set was "One Week," which had everyone singing along (or attempting to, at least), and "If I Had a Million Dollars." They also did this little medley of current and older radio hits that was pretty dang entertaining. 

All in all, it was a fun night. It was nice to go out and do something fun and get my concert fix.

Moving Is the Worst

The move is officially done. Meaning that all our stuff is in our new apartment. That does not mean, however, that the unpacking is done. Not by a long shot.

I've never really enjoyed moving, but I never fully appreciated how much it sucks to move when you actually own all your furniture. All the other moving I've done in my life has been as a single person in student housing where the most furniture I owned was a TV, a piano, and some bookshelves. I never had to move a washer and dryer or a bed or a dresser. With this move, we had a washer and a dryer, a bed, two dressers, two TVs (plus their stands), four bookshelves (with the books to fill them), and assorted shelving units. I know it could have been worse (we could be moving with kids and all that that entails, or we could be moving from one house to another), but this was still abysmal.

But we did it. We managed it with a ton of help from our family who helped us load, unload, and unpack. We have even cleaned and completely checked out of our old apartment. Though we didn't technically have to be out until the end of June, it's so nice to just have it be done.

The unfortunate thing is that the frustration doesn't begin and end with the move. We have a balcony/deck, and the previous tenants had some dogs that they didn't let off the deck. The turf had been destroyed and smelled awful, so it had to be torn up. Under that was rotting wood, so for the first two days, we had a tattered deck that looked terrible. We also only have one garage door opener, which means that one of us has to park our car and get out to get into the garage and open it up before we can park in the garage. It's more than a little annoying. Then there have been the issues with the cable and internet. Comcast has been a beast to work with, and poor Andrew has been so frustrated. A technician is coming out this afternoon and will hopefully fix everything up for us.

On top of those issues, we have to buy a few things we need for this apartment that we didn't need before, like floor lamps and kitchen cabinet organizers and maybe even patio furniture (our deck is huge and I would really like to actually use it). Then we have to agree on how to arrange rooms and decorate. And decorating is going to require us to buy some more frames and print some new pictures.

All in all, moving is a physical and emotional strain, and it's a weeks-long process. I've been exhausted every day for at least six days, and Andrew and I both come home from work a little ornery. Last night I was so tired I fell asleep before 10:00. It will be so nice to be done with everything and have things set up the way we want them, but the process of getting there is rough.

Despite all the whining in this post, I am incredibly glad that we moved. Our apartment is really nice, and I think we'll love it once we get past the initial issues. I love our new furniture. It's so cute and really comfortable. I love that during the day, we don't have to turn on a single light. There are enough windows to fill the entire apartment with natural light, and it's fantastic. I love having a garage. I love having such a big deck where we can grill and relax in the summer. And I absolutely love how close I am to work now. It takes me at most ten minutes to get to work, and it's wonderful.

So even though moving is horrible and I hate it, I'm glad we did it. And I'm glad that every day we get a little closer to being unpacked and to calling this place our home.

Four and a Half Days and Counting

Well, this is it. The last week that Andrew and I will live in Utah County. And while Utah County has been incredibly good to me over the past eight or so years, I cannot wait to get out. I've wanted to move back to Salt Lake ever since I graduated, and I am beyond thrilled that it's finally worked out.

I am also out-of-my-head excited that I only have four and a half days left of this nasty commute! Only nine more one-way trips. I can do this.

And on Saturday, the move will be complete. Sure, we still have to pack and then load and then unload and then unpack and then set everything back up and then decorate, but I'm choosing to look on the positive side. And once it's done, it'll be done and we won't be moving for at least a year. Which is probably the best part of all.