After a few horrible late nights of packing and cleaning, an 848-mile drive, and nearly a week of apartment hunting, the worst part of our move to Maryland is over. My mama (who flew out to Wisconsin to help) made it infinitely better — she calmed me down when I felt like we’d never manage to cram everything into our U-Pack box, cleaned the kitchen like a champ, and did most of the drive so I could sit with Moria. What a dame.

We thanked her for her help by treating her to lunch at Native Foods in Chicago, where we stopped on our way east. One of my close friends met up with us, and we braved the unseasonably cold temps and threat of rain and sat outdoors for our meal (not that we had a choice; we had Moria with us). Happily, they had set up some gas-powered heaters, so we were not uncomfortable. And my mom loved her first Native Foods experience — she was adorably excited about it for weeks before the trip. I’m pretty sure she only volunteered to help us move because I mentioned that we could stop there for lunch that day! (JK, JK.) She told everyone she talked to how happy she was to be there and how she’d come “allll the way from Rhode Island!” to try it. Just look how genuinely excited she was:

Moms are great. That includes S’s mom, who’s happily letting us stay with her until we move into our new place (more on that soon). She and Moria are getting along famously!

I know this is a short dispatch from Maryland, but I’ll have more soon. I’m two days into my new job, so expect to hear more about that! In the meantime, I’ll be trying to come up with a new tagline for my blog — “a vegan in Dairyland” is wholly irrelevant now that I no longer live in Wisconsin. :( Thoughts?