Switching apartments & topless cars

Well, we got her moved.  From this apartment (see post about her room in this place here):

To here:

And we did it all in this:

I don't know what I was thinking. I certainly wasn't thinking I needed a big car. I was thinking since there was no furniture to move and that we would just be schlepping clothes and books and there couldn't be that many that we just needed a car. Any car.

What I drove when I was her age ... 1970 Fiat Spider 124

So when the gal behind the rental car counter asked if I wanted to be upgraded to a Spyder even though I had no idea what that was but the way she smiled made me want it, I said, "Yes."  It turned out to be Chrysler's newest convertible.

When we saw it, we thought it was kind of a dumb car to be driving around Berkeley (where a Prius is more likely) but I didn't want to go back into the place to exchange it and we were anxious to get to work. My daughter thought it would be too small and I just kept thinking we just had some clothes and a few books.
 

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She had soooo much stuff. It took us about six trips back and forth. That backseat was very small and even harder to load. After finally figuring out how to lower the convertible top (about 45 minutes) this is what we did for each load:
Step one: Open the trunk.
Step two: Set up the luggage barrier in the trunk.
Step three: Close the trunk.
Step four: Put the top down (or at least halfway).
Step five: Load up the backseat from the top.
Step six: Close the convertible top.
Step seven: Open the trunk.
Step eight: Remove the luggage barrier.
Step nine: Load the trunk.
Step ten: Take load to new apartment. Unload. Drive back to old apartment.

The only problem was that twice at least we forgot to do step nine. Oops. It took us about six trips. And did I mention her new apartment was at the end of a very long staircase?

So we were really not loving the car upgrade until we got to Ikea. It turns out having a topless car has its advantages!

We had hoped to get her a bed. She had gotten (If you are wondering if the word "gotten" is grammatically correct, you are not alone. Many people who hear others say gotten will tell them that it is not a proper participle of the verb phrase "to get." You may have even said it and had someone criticize or scoff at you. The reality is, however, that gotten is a very real and acceptable word. It is often the standard American English form to use when using it to mean "to acquire" or "to receive." In British English, it is mostly unused except in a few phrases. You can find more information here: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/gotten) rid of the twin bed she has had since she was a kid. The same bed she has moved from apartment to apartment for the last three years. She wanted something bigger. So we took the little convertible and went to Ikea. We fit a desk, a bed, a mattress (it was rolled up!) and some other fun stuff. And even got a little sun on the drive back. Our goal was to get her out of the old apartment (deadline to get out was next week). Whatever else we could do would only make it easier when she moves up in August. We got much more done then we had expected.

Day one ... flew in, picked up rental car, had picnic lunch on floor of new apartment, packed up old apartment, cleaned, moved stuff to new apartment:

Day two ... breakfast at Ikea, bought furniture, shopped at Goodwill***, a trip to Target, hung curtains and put furniture together until exhaustion set in (around midnight):

Day three ... worked until time to go to airport at noon. 

All and all a great start! She has a list of what she still needs to get and a lot of decorating to do (all her art to be hung) but like I said, it is a great start.

***Tomorrow: our Goodwill story and a closet makeover!