It's not Unpacking... it's Organizing!

The hardest part of the unpacking process hasn't been getting us out of the boxes- nope, it's been getting stuff organized.

And I've been on an organizing frenzy!

It's also a multi-step process: line the shelf- sanitize all the dishes and then- yes, color-code them into coordinated cabinets. (see below)

Steam-clean, wash, sanitize, arrange, organize.

Even my towels are now color-coordinated into my linen closet.

And I purchased and assembled a shoe rack and then put all my shoes into color coordinated bins in the garage.

My closet? Yup- that's color coordinated too.

Moving has also been such a great excuse to get RID of stuff. We have donated enough to clothing to Goodwill to keep them going for a month!

Now, while I've been compulsively and meticulously organizing our stuff, Arun's been doing his share. He has used his skills with google and the phonebook to coordinate all the people we need for our move.

For example, our plasma tv can't have a tail to the outlet- so he hired an electrician to get the outlet moved.

Our third garage door didn't have an automatic garage door opener, so he hired someone for installation.

Last Saturday, we had 9 'visitors' (as Arun likes to call them) in our home doing all kinds of things:

a guy to take away our 180 empty boxes, someone to assemble our formal dining room table, a guy to fix our Comcast (since the Dish guys manage to cut our internet when they installed our satellite), a plumber, carpet cleaners, landscaper etc. etc. etc.

So here's the tally of the workload:

Me: unpack 180 boxes, arrange and organize entire household contents

Arun: call service-people

Yeah- next time, I think we're going to switch roles!

But all's well that ends well- and ladies and gentlemen- we are now MOVED IN!

Our House

Well, folks- we have finally moved into our new Tucson home.

We had 184 boxes and so much furniture, it makes your brain hurt.

Arun, of course, immediately freaked out- "Just throw everything out! How are we going to unpack all this stuff??"

The "we" in that sentence, is a royal 'we' because what ensued was that Arun left for San Diego for work, and I spent 72 hours in a frenzy of unpacking. But guess what? I did it.

Even though the movers told us that people "live out of boxes for months," I had us completely unpacked in three days.

The problem with unpacking by yourself is that the other person has no IDEA how much work this stuff takes.

Arun returned home from San Diego and commented, "This place looks a LOT better."

Thanks...hon!

Anyway, so the neighborhood we chose is in Sabino Mountain.

It's right next to Sabino Canyon which is one of the most highly visited tourist attractions in Tucson- tons of great hiking and outdoorsy activities.

To get atop our neighborhood, you go down this GREAT road that just elevates you to views of the mountains surrounding us, and the city lights below us.

The gates open to a gorgeous clubhouse and pool, where people watch the sunset against views of the entire city.

You then pass by the two-million dollar properties perched atop the cliffs and down to our more modest street.

We have a three-car garage, two-story home with 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, formal living and formal dining, and loft.

Those are the specs.

THESE are the pictures :)

So first up are the Formal Living/Formal Dining area (top)

Then the kitchen (I LOVE the cherry cabinets!) (bottom)

We turned one of the upstairs rooms into Arun's office (top)

I have an office as well (not pictured)

And then a guest bedroom awaiting visitors!! (bottom)

Our patio is so amazing- facing right into the desert. We have an orange tree in the back, and there's a little family of quail that live right beyond our fence!

More pictures to come, but that's it for now! :)