Movin' on up (or actually, down South)

My prior attempt at blogging didn't quite work out. It was helpful for me, but I didn't blog often. My goal is to remedy that with a new blog that is more general about the going ons of my life. And this is the perfect time since I will be moving to Austin in 3 weeks from Salt Lake City.

No, I have never visited Austin. No, I do not have a job there. No, I do not have family or close friends there. It is a completely new experience, one I'm glad I'm sharing with my boyfriend, Adrian. It is a daunting task to up and move to a new place, so I'm glad Adrian will be with me. Already, the stressful decisions have begun.

Currently our apartment is almost bare. A few weeks ago I sold off all the large furniture, except for the bed. Last week we had quite a successful yard sale, and then took all the remaining stuff to charity. Towards the end of the month, I'll begin boxing up what remaining things we have. The rule is that we can only take what will fit in the car or in a few boxes to ship. So with all that taken care of, the biggest stress is housing.

It is quite difficult to pick a place to live when you have no idea about the area. I've talked to people who live in Austin or have lived there and tried to get as much information as I could. Online I've searched through so many apartment sites and talked to realtors. I'm finding out about differences in deposits, fees, utilities and amenities. And it seems the more I learn, the more confused I become. There are so many options and I feel like I'm missing the crucial key to understanding them. We would like to stay with someone for a few months before we sign a long-term contract so that we can have time to explore the city, but that's still up in the air. Right now I'm throwing out lines and hoping something catches. So, basically, I end with a prayer that we won't be living in our car when we arrive in Austin.