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!

Surprise Guest

This weekend, our friend Chad decided on a whim to come out to visit! Unfortunately, I had to work Fri-Sun so I was bummed to miss out on all the action. I was able to participate in beach day on Saturday which was great. We had 80s temps with perfectly clear skies. We got up early and went out to breakfast at the Lahaina Beach Club. After some delicious grub, we laid out on the beach for a couple hours. 

 

Saturday night, the boys went out downtown in the Gaslamp. Drew said that it got him really excited to move downtown! I am getting anxious too!! 

Apartment

I have been searching for apartments like a madwoman for the last week! We officially decided that we want to move downtown. The problem is 1. finding a studio or 1br that is in our price range 2. finding an apartment that offers 2 parking spots. It is ridiculous because most places charge between $60-125 on top of rent for each parking space or only include 1 parking space in the rent. 

We want to find something pretty quickly because we are planning on starting a new lease June 1st. It has been hard because we have opposite schedules and have been super busy! 

So, our search continues! Hopefully, we can lock something up in the next few weeks and even that is cutting it close! 

Vegas baby!

Drew and I had a fabulous time last weekend in Las Vegas! We drove out there to  meet up with my friend Megan for her brother's wedding. It was so good to see her after 9 long months!!!

Here is a rundown of our weekend:

FRIDAY
*Check in at Bally's
*Ate at "Nosh", a deli in the lobby area of Bally's
*Met up with Megan and family at the Flamingo
*Saw X Burlesque at the Flamingo which was Megan's mom's suggestion and it ended up being quite risque and questionable (haha). Good thing it was only $30.
*Went to Wild Bills for a couple margaritas
*Lost $10 in about 2 minutes of playing penny slots on my favorite machine called JACKPOT PARTY.
*Ate some yummy gelato

SATURDAY
*Went to Paris to buy a 24 hour buffet pass. Ate incredible amounts of delicious food.
*Went back to hotel and fell into an after buffet food coma for a few hours
* Hung out with Meg's family at Ballys for a while.
*Went to O'Sheas to gamble and listen to a live band that was FANTASTIC. Megan and I danced the night away.
*Drew and I left at 1am because we thought our hotel had a buffet that went until 2am...we were wrong. Ha! Our hotel didn't even have a buffet. So, we went to a bar/restaurant called Tequilas for some burgers. Bummer!

SUNDAY
*Went to Planet Hollywood buffet which was okay, nothing compared to Paris!
*Fell into another food coma for a couple of hours.
*Met up with Megan to eat a cookie sandwich which was 2 chocolate chip cookies with frosting in the middle. Delicious. Then, we said goodbye and Megan flew home.
*Drew and I went to Sbarro for pizza.
*My favorite part of the trip was going to the top of the Eiffel Tower at Paris! So cool!!
*Got some crepes at Le Creperie in Paris.

MONDAY
*Got up super early and drove back home!

Our trip mostly consisted of eating and sleeping but we had so much fun! Next time, I think we'll just go for Denny's 3.99 breakfast so we don't sleep away our vacation haha.

 The #1 thing on my list for my next Vegas trip is FREMONT ST. I have heard from tons of people that it is a blast!