on cohabitating

Is that even a word? After typing it and saying it in my head, it doesn't seem like it. Anyway, we are five months into this cohabitation deal. A few One of you may be wondering how things are going so far. I'm happy to report that we're doing pretty well. We have had our ups and downs though, which I'm sure everyone who has lived with their significant other can attest to.

Most of our issues come from the general upkeep of our apartment. Before we moved in, K was not-so-secretly under the impression that I was kinda sloppy. That's not true. I'm not anal about keeping things neat and tidy, but I'm no slob either. In my opinion, we're pretty even in that category. He leaves socks in the living room, leaves his gaming chair in the middle of the room, leaves the toilet seat up, and throws his dirty clothes ON TOP OF the laundry bag. In turn, I sometimes leave dishes in the sink overnight, leave bobby pins laying around, and shed hair on the sink and bathroom floor. No big deal, but I hate when he complains about that shit while I'm standing on one of his many socks in the living room.

Money-wise, things are okay. We're comfortable, considering, but there have definitely been some sacrifices. We don't go out as often as we did before we moved in together because now we have these little annoying things called bills to pay. I know, right? The perils of being an adult. We could certainly be doing worse though, so I'm thankful we are in the financial position we are in until the economy collapses and everything goes to shit.

Our relationship is better these days. Things got a bit rocky in the beginning, and maybe I'll go into the details some other time, but for now we're good. We talked and worked out some things, but other issues still need to be discussed. Aaand that's enough of that cryptic ass paragraph.

So yeah, all in all, I'm happy. I feel at home here. Now to make some friends...

one year re-anniversary...

And a post to represent each month. Unacceptable. Will blog more.

It's been a while, I guess it's time for an update, huh?

So for the most part I am settled in. It's been an adjustment. I do miss my family and friends back home and I have yet to make any new friends here, so that's been kinda hard. Babe and I haven't had many outings since we moved which sucks. Either it's raining or there's some reason to go to his mom's. We went out to eat twice and really that's about it. Kinda sad now that I think about it... I'm not saying we have to go spend money - obviously this economy and these damn gas prices don't allow for much of that - but I'm sure there's some free or at least some cheap fun we can have. I guess it'll be up to me to figure that out.

I have a job working for his brother's company which I'm grateful for, but I need to start looking elsewhere. I really appreciate his brother helping me out, but the job is just so out of the way. I'm part time right now, and I spend as much time getting to and from work as I do at the actual job. I need something closer. What I really need is to be my own boss but I don't foresee that happening any time soon so yeah... Hourly it is.

Funds have been... I'm not sure yet. I know when we first moved in I spent more than I should have, but that was to be expected. I think I'm getting a better handle on my spending now. Our agreement was that I would take care of the utilities and my own expenses and Babe would take care of the rent and his own expenses. We had some miscommunications about the groceries [I'll talk about that in another post, maybe tomorrow] but I think we've got it together now. That was a learning experience in and of itself, grocery shopping. Hard to separate the needs from the wants when you're walking down that cookie aisle. But like I said, I think I'm getting a handle on it. I told Babe I wasn't spending any money on anything we didn't need for the rest of the month. That was on May 7th, and I've kept my word, so I do have *some* willpower.

I haven't been back home yet but I'm hoping to remedy that next weekend. My dad and I have birthdays that weekend so I'm excited to see my parents and my brothers and whoever else plans on coming by. Also I plan on making a 7 layer rainbow cake [with some help from my friends]. Mmyeah. I'll be turning 25 with a kiddie cake. Don't hate.

Alright well that's it for the night. More updates and shit to come. Later taters.

it's official...

After the three longest moving days ever, we are all settled in and I really like the apartment. You don't realize how much shit you have until it's time to pack it all up and move it into a new space. I filled up a 10' uhaul and my dad's trunk and still have stuff that I forgot or couldn't fit. It took about 8 hrs to get the truck, pack my stuff, and drive to the apartment. Because we finished so late, we didn't have time to unpack anything and we had no soap or food so we slept at Babe's mom's house. The next day we picked up the couch, table & chairs, and vacuum from his brother's house, went back to get his stuff and moved that into the apartment. The next day we moved more of his stuff, finally got groceries and appliances and proceeded to put everything in its place.

There are some small issues with the apartment, but nothing serious. We saw two apartments before we saw this one and even though we didn't see this exact unit, I knew we would end up here. The other two that we saw were nice but they weren't it. The apartment is bigger than I remember it being which is good, and the bathroom wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The tub is pink but that's easily covered by a shower curtain, and the tiles are gray but some are different shades. Oh well. I start working next Monday so I'm excited for that. I'm tired of being cooped up in the apartment all day until I can get Babe to take me to the store. I need to make some Maryland friends.

Well he's home so we're gonna run out to the store. Later taters.

we got the apartment!

Insert [panic, excitement, worry, happiness].

April 1st, dudes. Babe and I are getting our own place. Part of me is super excited, part of me is worried. On the one hand, I'm excited to be with him on our own and to start our lives together. On the other hand, now that it's a reality, I'm filled with worry. What if I don't find a job? We saved a good amount of money and he has a good job, but will it be enough? And during these crazy, scary ass times in the U.S., what if something big happens? My dad is very into politics and every day he tells me or has me read something new about this effed up country and I can't help but feel anxious and worried. The stuff he tells me makes me feel like I've been punched in the stomach and sometimes I can't handle it. How am I supposed to live my life and go on about my business while the world is crumbling around us? I prayed that if this situation was going to be okay, that we would get this apartment so I'm just holding onto my faith that we will be okay. Everything is gloom and doom though, so I don't know...

Anyway, that's not what this post was supposed to be about. So. Moving. Yes.

My fiance's brother is giving us a sofa, so that's one less piece of furniture we have to buy which is awesome. It's not really my style, but who am I to turn down free furniture? I also remembered my mom has 4 matching chairs that we don't use, so I'm going to spruce them up with some Rustoleum and new fabric. These also aren't my style, but once again free is free. We still need a table and some other stuff. And now that we don't have to buy a couch, babe is contemplating buying a queen sized bed rather than the full I already have. A bigger bed would be great but that means buying the mattress, a platform, and new bedding. I'm not sure if I'm for it. We've also pretty much settled on just taking one of my dressers. I think we'd be better off with the two but we'll just have to make it work.

So there we have it. I'm moving. Oh boy. Aw yeah.

up next...

I wanna repurpose this

[obviously without the tank] into a bar.

apartment talk: bedroom

The apartment that I've been blabbing about will be available on April 1st. Babe said he's taking our applications in on Friday, so some time next week we should know whether we have the apartment or not. As you may know from some of my posts, I've been preparing for my big move for a while. I started buying small stuff after we got engaged last year and he and I have been compiling lists of what we'll need to buy when we move in. We were going to get a new bedroom set from Ikea [I love the Malm series] but it's not a priority. I have two big dressers that my mom bought for my room years ago. they were okay but I was never a fan of the color. I decided to paint them black and switch out the hardware.

This is the original knob and color of the dresser:

I love them. Babe is still on the fence though because he's thinking they might be too big for the room. I think they'll fit just fine though and we could definitely use the extra storage so we'll see.

apartment talk

So this is the floor plan [minus the den if it's not available] for the apartment that babe and I will hopefully be moving into. One bedroom, okay size, carpet throughout, decent kitchen. The bathroom is kinda ugly [I believe the tub is pink and the tile is light blue] but that's not a big deal. My problem is with the bedroom. The closets take up one whole wall and on the opposite wall there's a heater. I can't remember if it takes up the whole wall or not I just remember that it was in the way. That's two walls that we can't put the bed on. I also have two dressers that I planned on bringing with me [I'll post pictures of those at a later date - I repainted them and put new knobs on them]. I got bored the other night and did some placement mock-ups in paint [lol I don't have a good photo editor]. I want a square table for the dining area but I can't find a nice one that doesn't cost an arm and a leg. I would actually like to build my own - it seems like a fairly simple undertaking for what I want. I searched craigslist and didn't find anything to promising. For now I'm thinking about the Ingo table [painted white] from Ikea. If we can get a move-in date sometime soon, I'll go down there and we can visit thrift stores and whatnot to see what they have. I went to an Amish flea market in New Jersey recently and they had this black sofa and loveseat combo for $500 [and I probably could have talked the price down some more]. I wish I could have snatched it up but it's probably gone by now. I'm not liking the living room mock-up. I don't like that the front door leads straight into the room. I would like to put some type of divider a few feet across from the door to create a bit of separation between the front door and computer desk. I would also like to do that to break up the living room/dining area, maybe with the Expedit bookcase or a sofa table. This is getting a little ramble-y. I think individual posts for each room are in order. Hurrah!