Just checking in to see how you're doing and to leave a mini update. I have all decor8 posts for May and June back on the blog *yay*, now I'm working on March and April. My husband jumped in to help me and we're making tons of progress. I am learning more about servers and databases than I ever thought possible thanks to the clever data architect in the house (woot woot!) and plenty of Whimsy & Spice baked goods which arrived today from Jenna and Mark. Perhaps I'll walk away from this experience a little more tech savvy since that would be nice and I was telling my husband that if things were going to fall apart on my little blog at least they did now and not in July since we're moving in six short weeks. Speaking of moving.... here's my currently temporary workspace, I'm in the living room now since we sold a bunch of our furniture and it left the house between Saturday and today so I've been moving around our rooms to make it feel less empty in here.

I love this chair with my desk but it's not that comfortable so I think I'll use it as a guest chair...

I painted the entire house, this wall was pale blue, and cleaned every nook. I also threw a huge tag sale in my yard a few weeks ago and that went exceptionally well. I've also been selling things on craigslist which have been selling like hotcakes. So far I've earned the exact amount that I need to ship over everything else by boat. By July 5th we'll only have a bed to sleep on and my desk and chair so we'll be living very light during the month of July. I'm feeling good about this relocation though and at this point I'm eager to just get on that plane and get going!

Part of me is still trying to grasp this huge relocation and wondering if at some point I'm going to wake up and really miss all of my things -- I've sold so much and watching people carry out my things is a bit tough. But I keep telling myself that this is all for the sake of starting over and getting out of my comfort zone. My heart keeps telling me this is exactly the right decision and I need not look back. I think it's important to not become so attached to home and possessions that we  forget to follow our dreams or put our life on hold because of "stuff". Whether we have emotional baggage or material (or both) it's best to shed and move forward. I've moved several times in my life, the last time I felt like this though I was 15 years old packing up my bedroom to relocate from South Carolina to New England. I was sad, terrified, scared and disliked the idea of leaving my life there. But you know, it all worked out and I had some of the best experiences of my life in this region and now as I hop over the pond, I'm bound to do the same over there: gain some, win some, but continue to grow and move forward. The only way to move forward is to leave behind the familiar things and to just go for it. The only way to move forward is to break free from your comfort zone. I'm breaking free.

But.

Well.

I've decided to allow myself to bring a few of my cherished peices with me just to connect a bit back to my life here someday. Show my someday kids this or that and say, "that was what mommy brought over from America". So I'm bringing along two chairs (one is the upholstered one shown here) and my giraffe lamp. My other giraffe lamp went to my best friend but I had to keep at least one because it's one of my top five favorite material possessions. Do you have a top 5 list? I'd love to know what things you cherish.

Care to play along?

Pretend you were relocating to a new country and only could bring 5 pieces of furniture and lamps. What would you take?

(images: holly becker for decor8)