movin' on up

I can't believe I haven't gotten around to writing about this yet, but...WE HAVE AN APARTMENT!!!! And it's bigger than the shoe box which we are currently inhabiting. Nick and I are now the proud renters of a 2 bedroom, 1200 square foot apartment in Andersonville. It is everything I had hoped for -- brand new hard floors, gigantic living room and dining room, big bay window looking out on the street, big bedrooms, lots of closet space, and half a block away from all the fun stuff on Clark Street in Andersonville. It's a third floor walk-up, which will make moving day super fun, but I always feel much safer the higher up I am. Not that I don't feel safe on the ground in Andersonville -- the median resident is a mid-thirties lesbian, possibly with an Asian baby (that is not based on any sort of official statistic, but merely my own observation). But seriously, I love the neighborhood. It's much more chill than Lincoln Park or Lakeview, but still boasts all the wonderful restaurants, fun bars, cute shops, and is near public transit. And it's dog friendly, so when I finally save some money, I can get that pooch I've been longing for!

The apartment is vacant right now, so I'm hoping to be able to get in and do some painting during the last couple weeks of June. I've always wanted to have fun colored walls, so I've started brainstorming some color schemes for the various rooms. I'm thinking a pale green for the living room, a reddish-orange for the kitchen, and some kind of blue for the bedroom. Decorating is going to proceed rather slowly (budget dependent), but we are planning to get a new sofa immediately. We went looking yesterday and found a few we liked in our price range. Now we just have to measure the living room and doorways to see what will fit. A kitchen island will be the second priority -- the kitchen has almost no counter space. I found a pretty cheap one at ikea.com, so I'm planning an Ikea trip sometime in the near future. Nick is working a couple of days a week at Brite Smile in Schaumburg, so trips to Schaumburg have been pretty routine lately. (And I got a free teeth bleaching -- as Nick says, I'm one step from becoming a Lincoln Park trixie, since I got my teeth bleached and have been going to the tanning bed for my sister's wedding. All I need now are some blonde highlights.)

Come July 1st, I'll be a city resident once more! Hooray! And we'll have a great guest bedroom, so guests are welcome anytime!!!