colors

One cool thing about my new apartment is that the landlady is letting me pick colors for when she repaints. I'm tempted to do something trendy* but doubt I would actually go through with something like that. Maybe just for the bathroom or something....

The main living space is my main concern. In our house, we have a big red couch and a little red loveseat. I will be taking the loveseat with me. In an attempt to make my apartment all homey and awesome (because our house is both homey and awesome), I had the thought that I could have the apartment living room painted the same color as the living room in my house. 

Is that weird? 

*like purple, because I am loving purple right now.

Update on moving

I looked at 6 places. Fell in love with the idea of living in a downtown area but nixed it since it was farther from school, more expensive and not dog friendly.

In the end there were only 2 to choose from. 

1) 1 bedroom about 5 min from school. New (but very small) kitchen and new bathroom. Very cute. Boring, but safe location. Landlady works in my department. Listing said no pets, but she agreed to let me have visiting animals. Cats, dog and husband! Financially do-able, but I'm not going to be paying off any credit cards or buying a new Anthropologie wardrobe anytime soon.

2) 4 bedroom house with 3 roommates currently but one is moving out will not to be replaced. Nice house, nice roommates. One is afraid of dogs but willing to compromise. Other is allergic to cats. One in my department has reputation for being very social and a bit of a partier. Also seems to be a bit bossy/know-it-all (10 minute instructions to other roommate about exactly how she should cook fish...and it was only seasoning, butter and foil). One is a smoker, but only outside. But it is goodbye-credit-card-debt-hello-cute-shoes cheap!

I decided on the 1 bedroom. The whole roommate thing was a little too much for me. With the new job, an upcoming field season, and a house and husband in a different state I don't want to worry about whether or not it is my week to buy dish soap. The smoking roommate is an issue as well because smoke can trigger my migraines. That is not a risk I really want to take. Finally, while they tried to stress that I should feel at home and can use everything in the house as if it were mine, it just didn't feel like I would be comfortable. 

Having my own space and being surrounded by my own familiar things sounds much more inviting. From our last long distance experience*, I know how miserable it can feel to be stuck in a place you hate far away from the people you love. If I am much less likely to hate my own apartment, that alone is going to be worth the extra money!

*when I lived in the trailer from hell because it was provided for free

Homeless

While everything has been falling into place, I still don't have a place to live in Postdoc City. Tomorrow I am going to visit, see 5 apartments and meet 1 set of potential roommates. 

Ack!

Apartments and roommates? It never occurred to me that I would be doing this again as an old married lady. I didn't even know where to start so I used Craigslist and it turns out that one landlady and the roommates are actually in my department at the new University!

The ideal place just doesn't seem to exist. If the roommate thing works out, it is only a 6 month lease, cheap as can be and has potential for the Grackle to bring the dog for weekends. No cats, ever. My own apartment, however will allow me to have my own space and potential for kitties to stay with me but this will cost at least twice as much. No dogs ever. 

I'm trying to be open to all possibilities until I see everything and not freak out about it all. As a postdoc I'll basically live in the lab 16 hours a day anyway, right?