Huge Milestone: The Car Arrived

While we are still waiting for any news about when we will get our household goods, we have reached a huge milestone in the whole relocating-across-the-big-pond yesterday:

Our car arrived!

M was almost crying when he came home from work :) he missed his black baby! And you know what true love is? He let me drive the care in within the first 2 hours of it being here. THAT'S true love, indeed.

I can sum the rest of the day up with only a few words: carwash and cruisin'! We've had a blast, and to be honest it was one of the happiest moments we've had for a long time. The whole moving and especially the issues we are having with the company that is moving our household from Germany to the USA, are really a mood killer. And a money eater. Which causes money issues. You know how it is... Well, I will tell you more about that soon!

But: If you ever have to ship your car across an ocean, I can definitely suggest calling the people from CFR Rinkens. They, and especially our go to girl Connie, did an awesome job! Thanks again!

Happy Tuesday!

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Free! // 8 Days Left In Germany

Howdy dear readers!

I know, it was a little too quiet round here lately... The whole moving process was tougher than
I thought it would be. The moving company missed to book the container, so our household goods won't arrive in AR before mid April - if that early. Plus since we had 3 cbm extra stuff to be shipped, the moving cost a little more than expected. 800€ more. Ugh.

2 days ago I finally gave the keys to our apartment back to the realtor, and living at my sister's place since then. Usually it felt weird to leave places I lived in, but this time the only thing I felt was: relieved!

Bye Bye, Tannenstrasse 1!

Living with stuff that fits in 2 suitcases was fun for a while, but I'm ready to have a "real" life again.  I sleep on a couch for 4 weeks now, and I'm scared it will break my back again. It's not even a futon or a sleeping couch, it's more like a large love seat.... Ugh.

Tomorrow me, my sister and nephew will pack up the car and go to Trier. I will stay there until I leave Thursday night to go to Frankfurt airport. This gives me time to hang out with my other siblings, dad, and friends. I'm so ready to leave though!!! I will be back for my birthday mid June, so saying "goodbye" is more like a "see you later".

Happy Thursday and talk soon :)

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Wordless Wednesday LinkUp // Happy Hump Day!

<center><a href="http://grapefruitprincess.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-real-wordless-wednesday-what-i.html" target="_blank"><img alt="Real Wordless Wednesday" src="http://i1000.photobucket.com/albums/af126/anneeversary/wordless_wednesday.png"/></a></center>

An InLinkz Link-up

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Finally an update!

You can tell we are about to move... Let the chaotic days begin!

Hello my lovely readers and sorry for being MIA lately! 

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas time and a smooth start into 2014? I definitely did! M arrived on December 21st. We picked him up at the airport, and I can't even describe how happy I was to finally be with him again after 8 long long months!!! We've had a wonderful time, eating out, strolling Christmas markets, drinking Glühwein, cuddling up on the couch watching movies... I really needed that! I missed my man so so much!

Christmas was wonderful as well. My family came all the way to Bavaria and we had a great time together!

So this is actually the main reason for me not blogging for a couple of days. Yep, I'm sugarcoating it :oD. Weeks would be more correct in this case.

I'm making huge progress in the whole moving process though! The apartment is very empty - I keep selling stuff! Love it! The moving company will pick up all the goods we will take to the states mid February. I hope I will be out of here and handing over the keys by the end of  February as well. 

Monday night the Realtor will bring the first couple of people over who are interested in moving in. Fingers crossed they will take my kitchen furniture!!! 

M's car will be shipped next week. Hallelujah! I still have to remove the trash bags full of stuff from the trunk, clean it inside and outside. But my brother in law promised to help me, so I am pretty much relaxed.

But the biggest news I am about to spill tomorrow! So make sure to stay tuned! 

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Relocation: Saying goodbye to... most of my furniture

Slow but steady our apartment in Germany is getting emptier. I don't see any sense in taking e.g. IKEA shelves to the USA. We will only have one small container to ship all our belongings, so what's not worth the high shipping cost (around $5000 is the best quote so far) will have to stay behind. Which is most of the furniture, besides a few of my beloved antiques, the bed minus the mattress and box-spring.

I put ads on several Facebook pages, local newspaper websites, eBay, and eBay Classifieds. "eBay Classifieds" worked best for me so far! 

Some people are really rude though, and trying to get our stuff waaaaay too cheap! I mean, bargaining is fun, I know! But the prices I set  are really low already. Maybe it bothers me because I cherished my stuff for a long time and took good care of everything. I don't know. But most of our prices are already so low, I think it's not right to bargain. You can ask if it is the last price, but please don't get rude.

Two examples:

I've sold this nice side table (solid wood) for 5€ (around $6)...

...and this for 10€ (about $14) yesterday.  FYI: it retails at $129 at IKEA.

Do you think this is too expensive???

By the way: Is it crazy that I'm happy when my stuff gets picked
up and I see it is going to be with a nice person from now on? :oD

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Relocation: Saying goodbye to... my fave gadgets.

Moving from Germany to the US made me face one huge issue (well, there might be more, but this one is HUGE for me): 220V vs. 110V! My new enemy!

What I do a lot lately is to look at the back of the devices I want to take to and use in the USA. If it says something like "100-240V, 50/60 Hz", it will work anywhere in the world with the right plugs. Guess what? Most of them only say "220V". Which pretty much sucks. All my beloved kitchen gadgets, lamps, washer, dryer, stereo... (tbc) are only designed for the German electrical system. 

What does a blogger do (what does the fox say... sorry :oD) to keep track of what to re-buy? 

Yep, a nice Pinterest board that is!

CLICK

I keep adding stuff... Just realized there is no coffee maker yet. I need to win the lottery... 

All these different electrical systems sure is pure science. Voltage, frequency, plugs, adapters, transformer, converter... Waaaaaah! It even is a whole new language! 

I'm just happy I will still be able to use my laptop, iPad Mini, phone, and Wii! All I need is a couple of converters (ha, I learned that today!). But everything else, I will have to leave behind. My family and friends might be happy! 

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I can finally spill the beans!

I'm really excited about this huge change in my life. If you are a follower of my blog, you might have seen some hints here and there during the past months. I sure had to tell my family first, and my boss (means I quit last week and will officially be leaving my job December 31st). Yesterday I told my friends all over the world via Facebook (German version below):

So...

Michael, Coco, and Anni will pack up their stuff and move to the USA! 

Michael is already over there, working hard, living in our new apartment in El Dorado, with nothing more than a futon, plastic table, camping chair, and of course his computers. Yep, he is literally a happy camper right now! Oh how I can't wait to start decorating!! I love it. It's a 2 bedroom apartment, small, cozy, cute, in a nice neighborhood. Since Arkansas won't be the place to stay for more than 1-2 years, we decided not to buy a house. Our goal is to transfer to California, and buy there.

I've sent some boxes over already, but the big moving day will be around end of January. So there will be a whole lot going on in my life now! I started selling furniture, decoration, stuff we won't or can't use in the states anymore. I have a secret Facebook group where I post pictures of stuff I want to get rid of, so if you are interested, shoot me an e-mail with your Facebook info and I will add you. 

Plus: I sell clothes and purses on a German platform "Kleiderkreisel" as well. Just hit the "Shop" tab in the navi bar, and you will see everything I put on there. Keep checking back, cause I add things almost every day!

If you see something you like, let me know, and we will find a way to get it to you - if you can pay via PayPal! I ship world wide, but might have to charge you.

I'm so happy I can finally talk about all this! Keeping it a secret was tough... Now I'm happy! 

So be prepared to read more "moving" stories ;o) and relocation stuff on here from now on! I might freak out every once in a while as well I bet. Oh and look at the new buttons in my sidebar! I will definitely be a proud "Southern Blogger"!!

Are there any bloggers from Arkansas reading my blog? Hit me up! Blate time!!!

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