We are headed to Switzerland!

So let me catch you guys up -talk about a whirlwind! We found out on March 12 that we would be moving to Zurich for 1 year on May 4th. Yeah - that's 53 days! Talk about an OMG moment! I will admit this wasn't the first rumbling about moving to Switzerland or I would have been much more freaked out!

Lot's of general moving stuff had to be taken care of in such a short time and on top of it, I own my own business, Swagger Gifts in Cary, NC, that posed it's own set of issues. Our first list of "To-dos" included:
1. Telling our Family (This was a VERY hard one for me as I work with my mom everyday and I am going to miss her very much!)
2. Finding a Store Manager for Swagger (So my mom won't be so stressed that I am leaving her with my entire store and so she can go visit her grandkids whenever she wants!)
3. Selling my car (yeah!)
4. Packing our stuff
5. Renting our Townhome


Doesn't sound like too much - right? Exactly. Oh yeah, and
1. Find a place to live in Zurich
2. Get all doctor's appointments in that you haven't done in a while
3. Forward all mail to a PO Box
4. Get someone to check our Mail (thank Mom and Dad!)
5. Get all keys duplicated so if anything goes wrong my Mom and Dad can fix it:) (Again - thanks Mom and Dad!)
6. Tell all our Friends
7. Buy all the technology I will need to be able to run my small business from Zurich
8. Add people to all our bank accounts incase "anything happens"
9. Visit our families!
10. Rent our Beach House
11. Rent our Rental House
12. Set up Direct Deposits for employees
13. Fix little stuff around our house like paint the deck, etc
13. Etc, Etc, Etc


Seriously - a lot of stuff! We have complicated lives:) But Nathan is a "do-er" thank goodness so it has pretty much been easy sailing. Honestly, not as stressful as I thought it would be. I think the stress comes in when the emotions of leaving my entire network of family and friends kicks in - but I can't think about that now or I will start crying:)


Major things that have happened:
1. We hired a store manager for Swagger Gifts- Heather Lilly! I am so excited that it worked out that Heather accepted the position! Heather has worked at Swagger for over 4 years and recently graduated from Peace College so it was the perfect fit! With her knowledge of all the intricacies of the store and her marketing degree I couldn't have found a more perfect fit! MAJOR stress reliever as I don't have to teach someone from scratch how to run Swagger!
2. We sold my car on Craig's List! It was awesome - 3 different families were fighting over my maxima! MY MAXIMA! Hard to believe for sure - but it was a good price and since Brian Walker has taken very good care of it over the years it is in great condition:)! Thanks Brian! The family who purchased it paid in cash - in TWENTIES! So funny that I thought I should include a photo:) We felt like we had just one bunch of money in Vegas!
3. We found out we can only take 1 cubic meter. Since us Americans aren't very good at the metric system - I couldn't quite visualize how big this would be, so I googled it. Not sure if I wanted to know the answer- but here is a picture.

We had a good laugh about this at Swagger - I have that much in clothes:) However, I later found out that both Nathan and I get a cubic meter so that is a little better. (Sorry Nathan that you will have to leave most of your stuff behind so I can use the second cubic meter to pack "momentos" to remind me of home - love you - mean it baby!)


So that is where we are. I promise to post shorter posts in the future - but you guys know I'm long winded:) I am looking at this "move" as an extended vacation so I hope to share lots of European adventures with you all!
xoxo, Mandy