Cleaning out the pantry.

Today {and yesterday} was a day where I ran errands after work and was on my feet until 7-ish. When I got home both days I was TUCKERED out and I was HANGRY {a delightful combination I assure you}. Take-out would have been a glorious solution but, alas, it's good to not spend money, we ate out several times last week and {this is a big "and"} we've got a lovely pantry that needs to/should be depleted for Moving Time {I anticipate many interesting concoctions in the next six weeks}. 
To haul ourselves to Washington, D.C. we're planning on selling as much stuff as we can {garage sale and Craigstlist}, sending a pallet of non-breakables up to 500 pounds on Amtrak and shoving as much as possible into our car with a roof-top storage thingy. Because of all this, the less we have when we move the better and that means that we need to do some serious eating of the reserves.

These certainly aren't in the pantry but I AM loving our local produce.

Last night's feast included quinoa that had been languishing for a while and tonight we polished off an old can of Ro Tel {do you love this stuff like I do? It adds tons of flavor to most anything.} with black beans and had meatless {gasp!} burrito/wraps. I did cook the beans in chicken broth so I confess it wasn't truly a vegetarian meal. Trader Joe's has these little tubes of chicken stock concentrate that I toss into anything I can because it packs some major oooomph {yumminess}.
Moving on from all things culinary, how DO people move across a country? It's done all the dang time, of that I'm sure, but how we are going to do it is what I'd like to know. Way back when, Mikey {who's from Arizona} and I were coeds in Minnesota which was quite a hike but this is actual moving. We're not living in dorms. Nor are we 18 years old. There are no childhood bedrooms waiting for us back home.
As {literally & figuratively} REAL as this is for us, though, I am ready. I'm sad, very sad obviously, to leave our lives. I have a job I love. I have family here. I have a city I know as well as a dear old friend. We have roots. But, as everyone tells me upon hearing our news, it's time. We're young {relatively} and thus yet childless; the world is our oyster. The possibilities are endless. Et cetera. Really and truly, though, I do wholeheartedly believe that this is an amazing new horizon and I have to thank my hubby for having the motivation to return to school, to better himself, to educate himself and to broaden his {and mine} {and our} horizons; thanks sweetie!

Can we grow pink poppies on the east coast?

Have you ever made a huge life change along these lines? They come as geographical moves but career and familial/relationship growth as well. In my humble little opinion, these leaps of faith require a great deal of courage and I commend all those who commit to a new job, a new city, a new mate, a new state...and I will hopefully draw from your gumption as well.
xoxo, natty ♥