then i'm moving out
wow. a lot of shit has happened.
first, my girl is getting married! my best friend, Angelique, recently got engaged to her fiancee Ben, and the two are starting to discuss wedding plans, etc. This is just, wow, I am so happy for her, so enthralled. we must get together soon. We, clearly, have so much to catch up on.
So there's that, and then there's the massive change that happened in my life in all of one week. For the last couple of months Anna and I had been making tentative plans to move to Austin. For a minute I thought they would be like those plans we made in high school, you know, "And then we'll both open up a restaurant." Honestly, just the two of us trying to convince ourselves that the future wouldn't be so bleek. But then we visited right after graduation, and she found a job that day. So it slowly sunk in, and it was so exciting because this is where I want to live, and it was conceivable that we actually could move here in the near future.
Last Monday Anna had an observation day with Texas Campaign for the Environment, an environmental lobby group for the state of Texas. She and I along with her ex boyfriend Raymond all came down here for her observation day. Raymond and I dropped her off, and then he and I went touring the town. We went up and down Guadalupe, had amazing milk shakes and italian cremes from an indian cafe, and went and saw the bats. We discussed philosophy over dinner, had a couple of peach iced teas, and then went to pick Anna up. She informed us that she got the job, and we all celebrated with a trip to 6th street for $1.00 wells.
The next day we devoted entirely to apartment/home searches, reluctantly draggin Raymond along. By 11:00 am we had called at least three apartment hunters, visited with another one of them, and had a list going on of potential apartments we would be willing to move into. We just hadn't been able to get anyone to take us anywhere, we were distrusting of their salesmenship, and several apartment hunters hadn't been listening to what we wanted in an apartment. (SOCO area, north of Benwhite. Hyde-park near UT. Anything close to Guadalupe. Nothing east of I-35.)
So, after lunch (at Kirbey Lane Cafe) we set up shop on their air conditioned porch, connected to WiFi and then craigslisted the shit out of Austin apartments. It was fate, because last Monday there were over 500 listings in Austin Apartments. We found a really quaint looking apartment in the Hyde Park area, and went ahead and called the realtor/apt. hunter (this was like, the seventh one of the day!) and he was so atypical.
The other hunters were like "Why don't you come to my office and I'll make some phone calls while you sit there staring into space." or they were like "let me get your e-mail, i'll e-mail you a list soon" all the while refusing to listen to what kind of space and area we wanted to be living in. They were also taking their sweet time, unwilling to listen to the fact that we wanted, no that we absolutly must, secure a place, fill out applications, and pay our downpayment by 5:00 pm that day. See what I mean when I say no one was listening to us! But this hunter was way cool. He said "I'll meet you there, and if you don't like it we can drive somewhere else."
So we drove to the apt., but it was around noon, and the office was closed for lunch. It was 101 degrees outside, so we opted to just skip this apartment and go look at another.
The other was a small townhome, also in the hyde park area. Immediately I was charmed by the wooden stairs and balcony we walked up to get to the front door. But I didn't expect to see or feel the way I did once I stepped inside.
The living room is a loft-esque space with hard wood floors, and a little nook. I thought it was nice, but I wasn't overwhelmed until I saw the staircase leading up to the second floor. We went upstairs and toured the rooms, one with two walk in closets perfect for housing Anna's birds, the other facing west, with a nice picture window so I can get plenty of sunlight in the evenings.
I was sold immediately. Anna agreed. We basically signed the paperwork right then, having to pull a few strings because I wasn't elligible to rent due to my lack of employment. My mom had to be my guarantor. So we moved in on Friday, and have been unpacking and getting settled since then. Today Anna had to return to Houston for her final day of waitressing, and she's returning with our new kitten, Cuppy, who looks like peanut butter and chocolate swirled together.
It's also her birthday so when she gets back I'm sure we'll hit up 6th street for a couple of drinks, and come home. I have a long day tomorrow.
first, my girl is getting married! my best friend, Angelique, recently got engaged to her fiancee Ben, and the two are starting to discuss wedding plans, etc. This is just, wow, I am so happy for her, so enthralled. we must get together soon. We, clearly, have so much to catch up on.
So there's that, and then there's the massive change that happened in my life in all of one week. For the last couple of months Anna and I had been making tentative plans to move to Austin. For a minute I thought they would be like those plans we made in high school, you know, "And then we'll both open up a restaurant." Honestly, just the two of us trying to convince ourselves that the future wouldn't be so bleek. But then we visited right after graduation, and she found a job that day. So it slowly sunk in, and it was so exciting because this is where I want to live, and it was conceivable that we actually could move here in the near future.
Last Monday Anna had an observation day with Texas Campaign for the Environment, an environmental lobby group for the state of Texas. She and I along with her ex boyfriend Raymond all came down here for her observation day. Raymond and I dropped her off, and then he and I went touring the town. We went up and down Guadalupe, had amazing milk shakes and italian cremes from an indian cafe, and went and saw the bats. We discussed philosophy over dinner, had a couple of peach iced teas, and then went to pick Anna up. She informed us that she got the job, and we all celebrated with a trip to 6th street for $1.00 wells.
The next day we devoted entirely to apartment/home searches, reluctantly draggin Raymond along. By 11:00 am we had called at least three apartment hunters, visited with another one of them, and had a list going on of potential apartments we would be willing to move into. We just hadn't been able to get anyone to take us anywhere, we were distrusting of their salesmenship, and several apartment hunters hadn't been listening to what we wanted in an apartment. (SOCO area, north of Benwhite. Hyde-park near UT. Anything close to Guadalupe. Nothing east of I-35.)
So, after lunch (at Kirbey Lane Cafe) we set up shop on their air conditioned porch, connected to WiFi and then craigslisted the shit out of Austin apartments. It was fate, because last Monday there were over 500 listings in Austin Apartments. We found a really quaint looking apartment in the Hyde Park area, and went ahead and called the realtor/apt. hunter (this was like, the seventh one of the day!) and he was so atypical.
The other hunters were like "Why don't you come to my office and I'll make some phone calls while you sit there staring into space." or they were like "let me get your e-mail, i'll e-mail you a list soon" all the while refusing to listen to what kind of space and area we wanted to be living in. They were also taking their sweet time, unwilling to listen to the fact that we wanted, no that we absolutly must, secure a place, fill out applications, and pay our downpayment by 5:00 pm that day. See what I mean when I say no one was listening to us! But this hunter was way cool. He said "I'll meet you there, and if you don't like it we can drive somewhere else."
So we drove to the apt., but it was around noon, and the office was closed for lunch. It was 101 degrees outside, so we opted to just skip this apartment and go look at another.
The other was a small townhome, also in the hyde park area. Immediately I was charmed by the wooden stairs and balcony we walked up to get to the front door. But I didn't expect to see or feel the way I did once I stepped inside.
The living room is a loft-esque space with hard wood floors, and a little nook. I thought it was nice, but I wasn't overwhelmed until I saw the staircase leading up to the second floor. We went upstairs and toured the rooms, one with two walk in closets perfect for housing Anna's birds, the other facing west, with a nice picture window so I can get plenty of sunlight in the evenings.
I was sold immediately. Anna agreed. We basically signed the paperwork right then, having to pull a few strings because I wasn't elligible to rent due to my lack of employment. My mom had to be my guarantor. So we moved in on Friday, and have been unpacking and getting settled since then. Today Anna had to return to Houston for her final day of waitressing, and she's returning with our new kitten, Cuppy, who looks like peanut butter and chocolate swirled together.
It's also her birthday so when she gets back I'm sure we'll hit up 6th street for a couple of drinks, and come home. I have a long day tomorrow.