Sunday

Drew's cousin Eric is in the Marines and is training here at Camp Pendleton. He was able to come and stay with us for the weekend.

On Saturday, they went golfing and then went to a Padres game.

On Sunday, I accompanied them to breakfast at Big Kahunas which is right down the street from us.

We had the most amazing appetizer...BIG KAHUNA BALLS.

They were amazing....as you can see Drew shamelessly scraped the cheese out of the pan until it was clean. 

Marino's

Drew and I went out for dinner on Friday at a place in PB called Marino's Italian Restaurant. It was recommended to me by a coworker so we had to check it out before moving. 

I can't exactly describe the vibe I got from this place...the decor looked like it was from the 60's.   

The food was awesome and they had super cheap beer. 

It was the Italian version of Cheers; the owner, the waitresses, the cooks all called their customers by name. It made me want to be a regular somewhere :) 

We got SO much food and I felt like I was about to explode afterward...but of course...

I found my sweet tooth! We walked all the way down Garnet to find some dessert.

Here's the Gelato.

Here's the bus stop.

Yum yum yum yum. 

Padres vs. Brewers

Drew and I went to the Padres vs. Brewers game last night at Petco Park. It was the perfect night for a ballgame.

Who did we cheer for you ask? Drew wore a Brewers hat with his Padres t-shirt. I was in completely neutral gear. I would say that Drew was all Brewers all the way until the very end of the game when Orlando Hudson (former Twin whoop whoop) won the game with a deep sacrifice fly to bring the runner in from 3rd for a Padres win 1-0.

I was a true San Diegan and cheered for the Padres the whole game!

We went to the game with Matt and Amber- Matt is one of Drew's friends from work, who he also worked with in Madison and Amber is Matt's girlfriend. 

Drew got a great deal from work: 

$20 per ticket for:

-general seating ticket

-1 hot dog

-1 soda

-1 San Diego hat

It was a fun night! We are both excited that we will be within WALKING distance of Petco so that we can mosey over to a game whenever we want!! 

Kevin and Nicole

My brother and his girlfriend came to visit us on Sunday. They flew into Santa Barbara in the beginning of the week and made their way down the coast to us by the end of the week.

Here is a list/photos of what we did:

1. Walked to the bay that is a block from our apartment.
2. Visited Pacific Beach and walked out on the pier (it was SOOOO windy!!).
3. Drove by my future school and our future apartment.
4. Went to Coronado, walked along the beach and checked out Hotel DEL which is an obsession of mine since Marilyn Monroe filmed Some Like It Hot there.

Marilyn Monroe was shown walking by this very tree in Some Like It Hot. SO COOL! It is a truly spectacular hotel and I really want to stay there for a night sometime. 

4. Walked through Balboa Park.

5. Went to the Marina area and looked at all the ships/Bob Hope dedication/kissing sculpture. 

6. Ate dinner at Old Town Mexican Cafe which had bad food and awesome margaritas. 

We missed out on going to Cabrillo National Monument because they closed early so we'll have to save that one for next time. 

Everyone was exhausted from our "power tour" and so we came back to the apartment and watched YouTube videos and went to sleep. Well, Drew and I slept but Nicole and Kevin had a ROUGH time sleeping on the air mattress wedged in the corner by the patio. I don't think they appreciated how hot the apartments gets at night or that motorcycles were zooming by at 2am on a Sunday night. Sorry guys :) did I mention I am excited for people to visit when we are in our new place??? Hehe!! 

Drew had to work the next morning but Kevin, Nicole and I went out for breakfast at The Menu which is right  next to our apartment. 

It is a nice change in the routine to have people come out and we had a great time bumming around with them!

Filling You In

Ok, I am filling you in a little late because so much has happened with our apartment hunt! SO, I'll start after Drew went in after the Sunday showings to fill out an application for Vantage Pointe.

Monday- I went to Vantage Pointe to fill out my application.

Tuesday- I wanted to see all of the properties that we were researching just so that I knew we made the best choice and didn't miss out on anything! I went to Aloft on Cortez Hill to check out a platform loft apartment that they had available (they only had 1 apartment in the whole building available!) It was very nice and much larger than the other platform loft floor plans we looked at. It also had a huge closet that I salivated over. The lady said that a second parking spot would be available if my car fit on a lift type thing that would be raised above Drew's car. That sounded incredibly dangerous. Otherwise, there is a lot of street parking and there are special parking permits that you buy through the city for only $7 a year. Too bad that isn't offered in other parts of downtown! The overall apartment complex wasn't as nice as I anticipated it would be. It is only 3 years old so I thought it would be in much better shape but the pool area was really dirty and had torn chairs and the gym was really small. The Cortez Hill area is really nice, it has a "neighborhood" feel which is strange considering it is part of  the hustle and bustle of downtown. It seemed like a little bit of an older crowd and by that I mean mid-30's. It is quiet and seems nice but Drew and I are looking to enjoy the 20's scene while we are in our 20's :)

Wednesday- Viridian Lofts. This is the property that I was originally obsessed with. The lofts are right above The Yard House, which is a restaurant that has 100 some beers on tap and great food. I really liked the floor plan and knew that Drew would love the huge patio. It was a cool unit and the patio was great but I don't like the area that it is located in. A block behind the property is where the trolley line runs which is also the place where the BUMS like to kick it. A block in front of it is Horton Plaza/Mall which is congested and loud. Another bad thing was that they only had ONE washer and dryer on each floor and that could definitely be problematic. The parking was awesome 2 spots included in the rent on a private level of a parking garage but this place was also the most expensive so I guess it evened out. It is probably a good thing that we didn't choose this one because PAYLESS is across the street and that could seriously decrease the funds in my piggy bank :)

Overall, we decided that we made the best choice ever by jumping on the opportunity at Vantage Pointe. We received official word that we have the apartment we wanted and we will be moving in on 5/27!

I can hardly wait and I am driving Drew nuts. He will be in Florida when we are supposed to move in so we will see how we handle the whole move-in situation.

I can't wait to have people come to visit now that we have proper accommodations for everyone! So come see us pronto!

Sunday showings

Sunday morning we continued our search for an apartment.

This was a BIG day for us.

1. Vantage Pointe- really nice 1 bedrooms, a lot of the units have never been lived in before, 2 months free deal, able to purchase a 2nd parking spot. balcony, really easy freeway access, floor to ceiling windows with nice view, super close to my school.

2. Trolley Lofts- not the greatest area, not very clean, not secure, definite no no.

3. Lofts at 707 10th - super cool building, would be a nice place to live, saw some cool units- great 1 bedroom, no 2nd parking spot.

After our tours, we decided immediately that Vantage Pointe is the place for us. We called them right away and told them that we wanted an apartment!! Drew went to fill out an application and put a hold on one of the units. I went back this morning to see the unit he chose (he did a really good job choosing) and I filled out my application. Now we wait a couple of days for the credit check to pass and we will officially have an apartment! :-) We are both super thrilled that we found a place that matches all of our preferences and we think it will be a great place to live. Our lease starts 5/27 and we will start moving in shortly thereafter.

Here are some links to our apartment building so you can check it out:

http://www.equityapartments.com/bbrochure.aspx?PropertyId=3974&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=sandiegoproperties_vantagepointe&s_kwcid=TC|4015|vantage+pointe||S|p|8261360113

(we have an A-16 floor plan)

http://www.forrent.com/apartment-community-profile/1000057348.php

I decided to still look at the other 2 properties tomorrow and the next day just to see what they're like. I'm sure we made the right decision but I will be forever curious if I don't see the other 2.

Friday Showings

Drew and I went downtown for 2 apartment showings on Friday morning.

Both properties were developed by the Oliver McMillan Company. OM basically has a monopoly over downtown apartment living.

We viewed:

Lofts at 677 7th- they have a few platform loft styles that we viewed. Drew liked one of the units because it had a balcony and views of the city/Petco park. I thought it was nice but the lack of closet space was a turn off. Plus, it only comes with 1 spot and they don't allow the purchase of a second so I would have to get monthly passes at the public parking garages...which apparently a lot of people do but it still stinks. On the other hand, this is one of the more affordable places we are looking at so that could end up factoring in.

and....

Lofts at 655 6th- here we viewed a couple studios and a platform loft. The first studio felt like it was smaller than the current place we are in. SO, immediately we said NO! Even though Drew and I love each other dearly, we both agree that a little SEPARATION in our living setup would be quite enjoyable. It is so hard having opposite sleep schedules while living in a studio.
The second one we viewed was great because it had a separation wall. The downside to this one was that it was on the ground level so the courtyard where people party is right outside the door which could potentially be loud/sketchy. The good thing is that this property allows for the purchase of a second spot for parking!

Overall, these properties were nice and would be just fine to live in but I think we can find something better!

We have 3 showings tomorrow/today (Sunday) so it will be interesting to see how these compare!
After Sunday, I will be solo in viewing 1 property on Tuesday and 1 on Wednesday. We are going to probably try to make our decision on Wednesday so we can make sure we get the unit that we want.

It's nice because we only have to give 30 days notice to our current place (our lease is officially up on June 18th) so I still have some time to get that in.

I will update you after the Sunday showings...I can't believe we will be moving in just a few weeks!

APARTMENTS

Drew has been unbelievably busy at work so I have been doing pretty much all of the apartment searching on my own. I actually really enjoy "the hunt" for things like this (I did the same thing for nursing schools) and my life has been consumed by Craigslist, Rent.com, Padmapper, ect. 

I have stumbled across a lot of really great looking places and it is reassuring that there seems to be a lot of availability right now. We already have 4 showings within the next week and we will probably see a few others as well. 

We are looking to move June 1st---and I cannot believe that is only a few weeks away. Hopefully, we will have an apartment signed for by the end of next week! Drew keeps reminding me not to be stressed out since he found our current apartment in 2 days. 

So for now I am trying to organize showings which has been difficult since some places are hard to get in touch with! This one place that I WOULD LOVE to live at has not responded to my various emails and phone calls. I am going to drag Drew with me on Friday morning to see if anyone is there  

I'll update you all after the showings! 

My week at Home

It has been so long since I have posted anything! I have yet to tell everyone about my week at home (even though I saw most of you).

So here are some highlights:

-having the girls over to catch up especially my substitute sister Rosanne!
-seeing Savanna and Tristan
-catching up on movies with Dad
-watching the TWINS!
-Out with Eau Claire friends to dinner in Hudson at Mama Maria's then to Cowboy Jack's in Bloomington for some drinks.
-seeing sister Kiki! for the first time in a VERY long time.
-Eating Carbone's pizza.
-hanging out with mom and dad.
-Easter with Drew's family in Bloomington.
-Easter with my family in Eagan.
-Out to Hell's Kitchen and then Whiskey Park (where I saw my friend Bridget from grade school!)  in Minneapolis with high school friends.
-Bonfire at the Ross residence with Drew's family :)
-Eating at Teresa's (my favorite Mexican restaurant)

It was so nice being home but it felt strange for both Drew and I since it had been so long since we'd been home! It had been 9 months since I had been home!

I am quitting my job July 31st and will be coming home the beginning part of August because I don't anticipate   being able to do much travelling during school :)  So thankfully, it will be a shorter period of time before seeing you all!

Here is my favorite picture of the week:

A family picture with everyone smiling normally??? Unheard of!