Life Update: I’m in Maryland!

In which: Maggie waxes philosophical about life on the road (sorta), her sister’s basement, and an overabundance of headboards.

So the title says it all — I made it to Maryland! After a fourteen-hour drive on Friday punctuated by The Adventure Zone, cheese fries, and a lot of staring at my dog, I arrived in Maryland so worn out that my face and arms had gone a little numb (scary when driving).

But hey, I’m here! I slept off my drive all weekend, dumped all my stuff in my future roomie’s house (sorry, [redacted]), and split my time between freezing my butt off in my sister’s basement (in a good way), finishing Aven Colony, and trying to get some work done while my brain is still stuck on I-95 somewhere in North Carolina.

It’s been a heck of a week, but I made it!

Financially, 14-hour road trips are not very cash money in today’s economy. (Or like, they are, in that you need a lot of cash money to make them possible.) I’m hurting for cash this month but feeling like I’ll be okay-ish.

I planned on pulling money out of savings to pay for basic house stuff, like a bed and a desk and whatnot, and moving in with my friend [redacted] means I won’t have to spend money on things like a couch and a dining room table. (I also talked myself out of an insane Prime Day deal on a Fire TV, so score one for me.)

I do feel bad that there’s a metric f*ck-ton of my stuff littering my friend’s house right now, as it was pouring when we unloaded the truck and some of my boxes are physically starting to fall apart. What’s funny is that her cat has decided these decrepit boxes are his new throne, so I’ve received many funny photos and videos of Fettuccine doing his thing while my pile of broken boxes lists concerningly to one side.

Leaning tower of salad bowls, I swear to Grohl. But they only need to stay like that until Friday, when I officially move in, and I’ll have the house to myself all day so I’ll be able to get all of my belongings out of the way.

Golly, I’m such a good roommate.

(Let’s not talk about the bed frame currently dominating the living room because it’s too heavy to carry up the steps, or the desk that I have to go pick up from the porch at some point today because my Amazon orders that were supposed to arrive on SATURDAY decided to show up four days early and make my future roomie regret sharing a space with me.)

All in all, I budgeted $1,000 for “new house stuff” and I’ve managed to stick to $850-ish for a nice mattress, a bed frame, and a nice desk. I don’t know yet if all of that will fit in my room (jury’s out on the desk, but I’m gonna figure it out), but my plan is to turn as much wall space as I can into storage (shelves, baybeeee) once I’m actually there and not bombarding [redacted] with extremely heavy Amazon boxes.

In the meantime, I’ve been working from my sister’s basement (did I mention that already?), sleeping on a futon that’s like probably six inches too short for me (my fault, given I bought it), and trying to find some semblance of productivity in the middle of 95-induced exhaustion and general brain meltdown.

Plus, I’ve got some fun news!

The Undercard Collective, the Millennial-friendly, music-focused giving circle I started with my friends Amber and Kyana, has its first official meeting tonight! We’re using tonight as a kickoff party, featuring our Very Special Guest Tyeshia Wilson (of Philanthropy Together).

At some point, I’m sure I’ll go into great detail on UCGC and everything we’re doing with it, but for now I’ll just say it’s been a massive labor of love, we’ve raised $475 since June 1st, and we’re on track to raise a total of $895 (which one member — not me — has generously agreed to match until we get to $1000) for our first grant cycle.

Considering my goal was $250 total, I am deliriously happy about this. It’s such a great feeling to see this taking off, especially since it’s a project I’m sharing with friends and not just something I’ve put work into without really seeing a payoff. That’s my biggest issue with carrying through on things, so watching UCGC grow has been a straight-up gift.

I haven’t been reading much since I got to Maryland, but before I left Florida I finished Going Bovine and Nomadland, and I know I’ll be working my way through my sister’s kick-ass bookshelf of high fantasy and YA chicanery novels now that I’m officially in Maryland. You know, as a treat.

For now, I just gotta focus on surviving a couple more days until I can be living in my new place, unpacked and ready for action!

Til next time,
Mags