The Great Unveiling: The Unit

One quick announcement: this is officially post #200 in my blog. I just popped a bottle of champagne to celebrate. I know you're wondering, it's Andre. Only the finest for blog milestones such as this one.

Okay, okay. I slacked off big time. But here are the pictures I've been promising for so long. I'll start with all the move-in pictures so you can see what we were up against. Then we will get to the post-move-in, pre-finished pictures, which is where we currently stand. Or sit, really. I wouldn't write this blog standing up.

Things left to do include:

1. Finishing--more realistically, starting--the guest room/study. We need to find a bed and either one big desk or two small desks to go in there. Right now, it is packed full as our storage room. Outlook appears hopeless. Not pictured below: mess in guest room.



2. Getting all of our art on the walls. Hard to do when you're not sure where all the furniture, etc., is going to end up. But I think we've waited long enough. Main issue: too much wall space, not enough art.

3. Getting either a love seat or a chaise lounge for the living room. One couch just doesn't cut it for the GHS (Gross Household Seating) level when you want to have social events.

4. Getting a TV stand for our newly re-acquired big screen (the original TV from last year's condo is now in our possession, free of charge).

So, without further ado, the pictures!


The living room on moving day.


Dining room on moving day.

The first meal in the house. Picture isn't perfect, but it was phenomenal. We had tomato, fresh mozzarella, basil, and balsamic glaze as an appetizer. For dinner, Melissa made a chicken pasta pesto. A+.



The kitchen on moving day...though it looks much worse now so I won't post current shots. We had a busy weekend.


The guest bathroom on moving day. You can barely catch a hint of the horrendous shower curtain that was included with the condo. Quickly removed.

The guest bathroom currently. With our own southwest-themed curtain, etc.


Not naming names, but one of us tuckered out a little early on Day 1.


Master bathroom on moving day.

Master bedroom on moving day. The balcony outside the door connects the guest room to the master.

Master bedroom, looking at entrance and 'hallway' with closets on either side leading to master bath.

The master bedroom, as it currently stands. The end table on my side of the bed is missing due to pseudo-man cave construction, to be pictured shortly.

And now for the downstairs in its current state.


The living room, as viewed from the stairs just inside the front door (front door would be immediately to the left as you descend the stairs).


The pseudo-man cave. I say 'pseudo' because it's really not a cave, but a real live living room. And basically the only room in the house, since it's all opened up. But this was my college football Saturday set up. Sadly, our Hokies couldn't pull out the big win against Alabama. We couldn't even look good trying. But the gurus seem optimistic about the season still, so I will hold my tongue.


The dining room, complete with a Melissa doing homework.


Looking from the dining room into the living room/fireplace area.

The last thing to include is maybe the greatest part of the house. At least it will be once the weather improves in a few months. Our 'waterfront' back patio.


Deacon followed me around helping with the photos.

This is our living, breathing, fruit-bearing lime tree.

Looking the other way, back into the house.

The tree-obstructed, road-leaping waterfront vista.

Well, that's all she wrote. Welcome to our home. If you want a better look at it, you'll have to come visit and see for yourself. There is a chance we will be doing guided tours via webcam by appointment only.

New House, New Classes, Same Sam

So it's been awhile. I've made some promises. Regrettably, I didn't keep any of them. I said I'd bring you pictures of the new place. But it's not finished yet. I said I'd blog about Beach Week 09 and Nantucket. I didn't. My procrastination is at an all time high right now with all the things going on. That is not to say I'm not getting things done, because that would be a lie. It just means that I am not necessarily getting all the right things done.

To start with, this summer was probably one of the greatest summers I've had. Maybe ever. It was too good. I don't know how to be a student again. Or still. A month in Italy, topped off with a week of partying in Ocean City with the McDaniel clan, then a perfectly relaxing week in Nantucket/Boston, is probably the best vacation lineup a guy could ask for.

Beach Week 09 was highlighted by Doug's and my (how in the world do you properly write a double possessive like that?) Beach Week 2009 Cornhole Championship with a spotless 8-0 run to seal the title. Tim and I won the BW09 NCAA Basketball Championship playing the 1 and 2 for Virginia Tech (non-basketball fans, the 1 and 2 are the starting guards on a basketball team, with the 1 playing the point--the floor general and the team's best ball handler--and the 2 playing the role of shooting guard--generally a team's best outside shooter). We cut down the nets after a tight battle with UNC, leaving Tyler Hansbrough without his much-coveted trophy. Sucker. Other than that, we set sail with Jerry, rode the high seas with the Captain, and as always, Dumsers was nearby and plentiful.

Nantucket was probably just shy of the polar opposite of Ocean City. Instead of a week long party, this beautiful island was the perfect quiet getaway to finish up a fun but exhausting summer. Much appreciation to my mother and grandmother for bringing us out to visit them at their summer retreat (really, it's more of a secluded cottage in the 'woods' of Nantucket). Melissa's first trip to the Cape started with an easy flight into ACK, Nantucket's newly expanded airport. We rode bikes to Quidnet Beach and Seshachacha Pond (about a mile or two each way) and strolled along the beach there. Melissa and I cooked dinner each night, giving my Mom a much deserved respite from her duties. The produce on the island is unparalleled, the seafood as fresh as can be. The salty, humid air awakens a hunger, literally, that you have never known. We enjoyed sandwiches on the island's renowned Portuguese bread, tasted one of the dessert world's best kept secrets in Indian Corn Pudding, grilled fresh Tilapia from the seafood market, sampled all the brews from the Cisco Brewery located on Nantucket - all delicious. I took Melissa to all my childhood haunts, save for Pocomo, which we did not have time for. We hit Dionis Beach but had to weather a light rain, went to Miacomet but fought the cold winds, walked the Moors but were enveloped in fog, rode bikes to Siasconset (to the locals, it is just 'Sconset, as no one pronounces the "Sia") to show Melissa one of my favorite towns in the world. We wandered the streets of downtown Nantucket, a larger, more glorified and historic version of downtown Annapolis. We both had our first Nantucket bar experience where we met a quasi-celebrity in Rick Pitino's son. He was a very cool guy, and we enjoyed hanging out with him and his wife and their friends. My one complaint about the Nantucket trip is that it was too short. I could have stayed there two more weeks and still felt that way, though. C'est la vie.

On our way back home, we sidetracked through Plymouth, riding the Steamship Authority's Ivanhoe fast ferry to Hyannis, where Darrell and Erin picked us up for a Boston adventure. Plymouth is the site of my ancestry, where my family allegedly arrived on the Mayflower. I saw a replica of the Mayflower, the Mayflower II, stood over Plymouth Rock, stood before a statue in homage to another potential ancestor of mine, Massassoit--the famous Wampanoag chief that created the first Thanksgiving. We ate a delicious seafood lunch on the water in Plymouth before driving to Quincy, where Darrell and Erin live. We took a quick breather at their apartment before heading in to Boston, where neither Melissa nor I had ever been.

We stopped at Government Center to get the notorious scorpion bowls, which as far as I can tell is just a huge bowl full of various types of alcohol. They are meant to be enjoyed by groups of people. We did two people to a bowl. It was a great start to the day. They are only found at Chinese restaurants, and this particular one had all appetizers at about $3 each, so we feasted on some steak on a stick, crab puffs, chicken wings, and other goodies.

In to Boston, we met up with some friends of our hosts who were very welcoming. We hung out at their house, where I fought a constant onslaught of molesting mini-dogs. Then, I got in touch with the younger Rick and met him and his wife at a charity concert in the VIP room at the House of Blues, directly across from Fenway Park. No game there this day, unfortunately. We also stopped at Church, a bar with a homemade 'tequila inferno' shot that is made by infusing gold tequila with habanero peppers. It burned.

We are already trying to find a time to return to Boston for a longer trip. Less than 24 hours in any spot is not enough to really enjoy what it has to offer. Maybe next summer.

I don't have the patience to upload any photos at the moment. All the pictures from the aforementioned trips are on Facebook, so feel free to browse them there if you want to. If you're not my friend on Facebook and are dying to see these pictures, we can probably arrange something.

Pictures of the condo will be up at the end of this weekend, when we finally get everything set up. It has been a slow-going work in progress.

To set the mood, I'll describe it. Then you can see if my description gives you a strong enough mental image that the pictures seem familiar when I post them.

We are on the first floor, and to enter our condo, you have to duck under a low growing tree trunk that snakes up over our walkway. We are on the right hand side as you walk up. The door opens inward to pergo flooring throughout the lower level. Immediately to your right, a floor lamp rises above your head with a horizontal mirror with coat/key/hat hooks affixed to the wall (courtesy of yours truly). On the floor is a wrought iron end table with a glass top for Melissa's purse and things. Just beyond the table on the right hand side is a carpeted stairway that leads to...yup, you guessed it...the second floor. More on that in a minute.

Directly ahead as you close the door behind you, you will see a glimpse into our kitchen. As your view spans to the left, you will see a very open living room with a large, full wall sliding glass door/window hybrid that is entirely covered by those cheap white blinds/slats that hang vertically. If you trace the back wall, the one that the door sits in, you will hit a bookshelf, our entertainment center, another bookshelf, and then our fireplace and mantle, before finally reaching the future dog corner where Deacon will live, and then the wall. Turn that corner and you will reach our dining room, which completes the short end of an L. We have our pub height round table set up against the wall with one side flipped down so that it is flush with the wall. Four chairs - two matching wood and two metal afterthoughts - sit around the table. Underneath is an Ikea rug with three bands running longways - dark brown, light beige, and dark brown again. Turn to your right again and you hit the kitchen. As you step into the kitchen, you have counter tops on either side of you. To the left, you have a microwave, a dish drainer, then the double sink, then some open counter, then our older-than-dirt refrigerator. A small gap after the fridge leads to two sliding/folding doors that open to our in-house laundry room (just a nook with a washer and dryer and a shelf above them). As you stand in front of them, look to your right and you will see down the hallway to our front door again, which has a narrow vertical window with more of those blind/slats covering it. On the opposite counter, beginning from the dining room end again, you hit the coffee maker, our toaster, our oven/stove, and then lots of open counter space. Next to the laundry room is a deep pantry, past that a coat closet. Once in front of the coat closet, you are again in the living room. To your right, sitting against the wall that is shared by the kitchen and living room, is our couch. We have two black Ikea Lack series end tables and a large black Lack series coffee table. If you sit on the couch, you will be treated to my 32" LCD HDTV and my brand new LG 5.1 surround sound (partially thanks to birthday money from Mom). An area rug sits under the coffee table with leafy patterns set in various earthy colors--dark and light browns, reddish hues, and some brown-green shades.

Stand up from the couch and take a hard left towards the stairs. Ascend, and at the top you will be looking directly into the study/guest room/Liz and Mom's room. To your right is a full bath, decorated in southwestern themes with mostly browns, reds, and oranges. Kokopellis enjoy the room here. And the air is filled with a pumpkin spice scent, courtesy of the Leo's reed diffuser birthday present to Melissa.

To the left, a midget full-length mirror is attached to the wall at the end of the short hallway. The study is not at all set up yet, so there is not much point in a description. But in the room, directly to the right is relatively deep closet. Directly ahead is another sliding glass door/window hybrid with the same white slats hanging. Beyond the sliding door is a small balcony that is shared by the master bedroom to the left. Walk back out of this room and take a quick right and another quick right and you'll be in the master suite. Directly in front of you is our oscillating tower fan, a matching floor lamp to the one downstairs, and a red Ikea dresser. There is an identical sliding door/window set up against the far wall that leads to the balcony. Melissa set up our festive white light string around that door. The bed sits against the left wall, with the non-existent head board against the wall and the bed stretching out into the middle of the floor. Matching black Ikea Lack end tables sit on either side of the bed - his and hers.

To the left, you will have a narrow 'hallway' that is about as long as it is wide...which is to say "not very." On either side are small closets. Beyond the closets is the master bathroom. It does not have much decoration in it yet, as it has a sliding door and does not require a shower curtain. We haven't picked a color scheme for it yet. For some reason, both bathrooms have the same pergo flooring, which doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

So, there you have it. I hope you enjoyed the tour. Pictures will be coming shortly, as officially promised in writing here. Hopefully I'll be a little more consistent with the blog from now on.

Tonight, we are going to the Cardinals v. Packers preseason game with the Gulleys. Can't wait!

Another 'Do Dinner Story

First things first: before I get in to dinner, I want to point out (against my better judgment, in regards to jinxing) that the Redskins and the Hokies have not lost a game since Adelina was born. Quite the opposite, in fact, since both teams have notched upsets (Redskins over Cowboys might be one of the biggest wins the 'Skins have had in a long time, and VT over Nebraska--though it was not a huge upset in terms of rankings--was a huge win in that we are very young, and were one the road in one of the most hostile environments in football. Nebraska has only lost 4 times at home on a Saturday night in the modern era, and we beat them decisively, even if the score doesn't portray that).

But that is neither here nor there. Let's talk culinary arts.

I went to the grocery store with a plan this time. I wanted some fresh vegetables to mix with the chicken I've had from CostCo. I'm down to the last four chicken breasts (2 went down tonight, so two left once I finish these leftovers). So I bought a red, a yellow, and a green bell pepper (stop light peppers, for those less savvy vegetable shoppers), and a red onion. I thawed out two chicken breasts on Sunday and sliced it in to bite size pieces. Then, I threw it in a bag and marinated it with a teriyaki and pineapple marinade. Today, I chopped up the peppers (all of them) and half the red onion.

I started with some white rice (real live rice, not Minute Rice) and threw it in a pot of boiling water, as per the directions, with some ground sea salt. Then, I sprayed a separate frying pan with olive oil and threw in the peppers as I chopped them. The onions went in last. I dusted the ingredients with more sea salt, ground black pepper, and some powdered garlic, then poured on a little of the teriyaki marinade as I sauteed them.

The rice finished a little sooner than expected, so I had to let it sit on minimal heat while the rest cooked. The pan was not big enough for everything, so I had to deposit the peppers and onions in a bowl while I cooked the chicken. Once that was almost finished (and had some time to shrink in the heat), I poured all the peppers and onions back in and let them sautee together. I let it cook a little longer than necessary for fear of salmonella-ridden CostCo chicken. I'm still alive, so I think I'm safe.

The whole time I was cooking, Melissa hung out with me on the phone so it was as if we were making dinner together. Cheesy, I know, but with these long distance things you have to find your pleasures somewhere. Don't judge.

Once it was all finished, I spooned out a large portion of rice (probably enough for two, though technically I made four servings), then scooped what was probably an entire pepper, a third of the onion, and most of a chicken breast (I cooked both). All in all, I think my plate could have comfortably served two, with at least three more reasonable servings leftover. But, me and my tapeworm need satiating, so I went to work on the monstrous plate. Mel stayed on the phone while she ate some leftover Chinese food. It was like eating dinner together, I suppose.



Analyis: Delicious. By far the most extravagant meal I have ever made on my own. I opted out of making a salad because I figured it would just be too much food and too much hassle. I was getting enough veggies with the peppers and onions. Next time, I'm going to throw in some roasted peanuts (cashews could work, but would be second place behind peanuts) with the same recipe. I think it was missing a little crunchy texture. Other than that, it was almost perfect. And I have tons more to enjoy tomorrow.

Dinner at The 'Do

Location: The 'Do (my first attempt at a nickname for the condo has clearly failed, but no one stepped up with a better suggestion).

Time: One hour and thirty minutes ago.

Reason: Combination effect of hunger + dinner time.

Event: I cooked dinner.

Method: This is where the story gets complicated. Bear in mind, resources at The 'Do are limited at best. Week one, you may recall a household trip to CostCo for foods and (Oregon Trail allusion in 3...2...1...) other goods. We filled the wagon with packaged goods, caulked the wagon wheels and forded the Lakeshore River home. Among said goods was a large package of frozen chicken breasts, separated in twos, and a huge bag of organic wheat spaghetti, along with two giant bottles of Ragu pasta sauce.

After some lengthy conversations with Melissa about the methods for combining these ingredients, I settled on a simplistic approach to making dinner. The only seasonings and culinary accoutrements we have in the house are salt, pepper, garlic, Old Bay (thank you, Mel), butter, some Wendy's packets of bbq sauce and honey sauce (yea, honey sauce...ew), thousand island dressing, and real honey.

So, I had previously defrosted one packet of two chicken breasts. I sliced them in to manageable pieces, threw some butter in a frying pan and dropped in the chicken to grill it (possibly a little too much). In the meantime, I began boiling water with some salt (learned from Darrell) for the spaghetti. The coordination of timing was impeccable, and I patted myself on the back several times in the midst of cooking.

As the chicken approached bone white, I tossed in the noodles so that they could begin to soften up while I finished the chicken. Once I deemed the chicken "cooked", I poured out the grease and other unknown liquids via strainer and put the chicken back in the pan. Then, I added the Ragu (decent amount, but not the usual 'too much' I am known to use), a healthy portion of garlic and black pepper, and set the range top to medium so the sauce could simmer while the noodles cooked.

In one final, magical moment, everything was finished. I grabbed a piece of sourdough bread (not the best bread, nor is it a good flavor combination, nor do we have a toaster) and scooped out half of the pasta and half of the sauce and chicken on to my plate. I poured a tall glass of cold milk (not my usual, but again, limited offerings) and settled in to watch some TV. The other half went in some Tupperware for tomorrow's lunch. Much to my dismay, I discovered that Carl was watching Project Runway. Seriously. And giggling. I was appalled. So I ate quickly, cleaned up every pot, cutting board, knife, serving utensil, glass, plate, etc. and went upstairs. I make that cleaning point for one reason and one reason only: no one else in the house cleans.

I had to clean around all the other dishes in the sink. I now appreciate more than ever before what my parents went through in raising us. Thanks Mom and Dad.

Progress and Productivity

After an overwhelmingly depressing first day of orientation, things are on the up and up. I'm meeting people and settling in a little bit. First day jitters put thoughts of quitting in my mind, but obviously that's not an option. I think I'm home sick, which is strange for me. I don't remember ever feeling this way in Blacksburg, but maybe I repressed the sentiment.

A plethora of tasks to complete this week is slowly turning in to a short "To Do List", so I have filed this week (and this post) under progress and productivity. I have my student ID (Sun Card) and a bus pass (free for all students on all public transportation in Tempe). I have not yet gotten a parking permit, but I plan to ($280 for the year). However, we met our savior today. Kirill and I decided to sit at a table with a few 1L girls for lunch at the Max (the student center; think Squires, Hokies). By the time lunch was over, we were best friends. All three are ASU graduates, and one offered to drive us all over town to run our various errands (bookstore, commuter services, library for laptop configuration) and then take us home. While running around town (ignore the fact that she drove us on the wrong side of a median in to oncoming traffic), she offered--without prompting--to give us a ride to and from school every day. She has the parking pass for the Rural Rd. structure, which is across the street from the law building. She also plans to keep a similar schedule to me (9-5 every day, maybe a little earlier on one or two days, which fits my early Tuesdays perfectly). Jackpot.

In other news, her husband is from northern Virginia and played football at Robinson, so we probably have a lot of the same friends. He is a huge Redskins fan, so I now I have a Redskins buddy (as soon as I meet him). And they have four season tickets to Cardinals games that they can never pawn off on people. The two of them go but never have friends to join them, so they offered us tickets.

We were invited to happy hour on Friday and she also offered to show us all the best restaurants and grocery stores, etc. around town over the course of the semester.

I'd say we really lucked out sitting next to them.

In other news, I completed my first chapter of assigned reading yesterday and took detailed notes (on the laptop) in outline form. I have one more section to read for that assignment, but it isn't due until Monday. I have reading due Friday, but the book hasn't arrived yet. It has been on back order for weeks. I hope it shows up tomorrow, but it will ruin my happy hour plans tomorrow if I have to read the assignment while everyone else is out.

I registered my clicker (no idea what it does yet). It's a remote control with a keypad on it, and it allegedly takes roll in class and allows you to participate in some way. I also registered for LexisNexis and WestLaw after getting a tour of the law library.

This all, no doubt, sounds dreadfully boring. But when it's new and it's productive and I've been pretty bored, my mind makes it exciting. So be excited, okay?

We did some more grocery shopping today. Our kitchen finally looks decently stocked. We still need dishes and pots and pans. We got a set of really ghetto kitchenware at Target, but I deemed it 'worth it' after a detailed cost-benefit analysis.

Tomorrow, I plan to buy season football and basketball tickets because it's only $100 for the package deal. Coming from VT, I am baffled. We payed $350 for football and somewhere in the low $100's for basketball if I remember correctly.

It's getting late. I'm going to do a little more reading, proactively, so that I can enjoy the weekend.

I also was invited to join the Donkey Bowl, another fantasy keeper league. I bought a franchise that recently came on the market. Hopefully, I will draft for this league a little better than I did for the AEPi Alumni League. I'll post about that in a minute. Separate topics.

Motivation to Write=Good

I've been wanting to write in here a lot recently, and I'm hoping that this translates to my brain functioning again. I haven't had to do much of anything that required deep thought for awhile. I'll take it as a good sign.

As you can probably deduce, a lot has been happening recently. Here's a brief recap.

The water coming out of the faucets and the showers at our condo is hot. Not just like warm because it's been sitting in the pipes under the sun for a little bit. Hot. Piping hot. It have to run the shower for five minutes before the water gets to lukewarm, and that's about as cold as it goes. I took cold showers in Maryland when the weather is reasonable. I definitely want cold showers here where the heat is unreasonable. And brushing my teeth with hot water is a little gross,too. We are hoping the landlords can get this problem sorted out soon.

We bought a TV today from a guy I found on Craigslist. It's a 50" Samsung and we got it for $650. I wish we had spent less, but I kind of felt sorry for the guy. Kind of. His brother was in jail and needed bail money, so they were selling all his stuff. Televisions, XBox360, laptop, all sorts of electronics. We don't have cable set up yet, so it's just sitting in the living room. This week hopefully we can remedy that.

I met up with Joe and Diane today at Loco Patron in Ahwatukee to retrieve my books and car keys and to have a drink with them. As usual, they were very nice. We chatted over Corona's for about 45 minutes or so. We parted ways with vague plans to do it again sometime.

I don't have any music on my computer because, despite valiant efforts, Max has been unable to fix my old computer with everything I've ever had on it. He is still trying, though I don't know what kind of progress has been made because he doesn't return my calls. So, I've been listening to iTunes radio, which is actually really nice. While doing all my readings, I rediscovered that music with lyrics is extremely distracting. So I've been listening to and falling asleep to classical music all day. It's actually pretty nice. With no TV, it's kind of eerie trying to sleep. I always have ambient noise in the background. It's interesting that I actually recognize a lot of the songs that have come on (though I couldn't name the composer if you wanted me to).

Melissa bought tickets to come visit for a few days in the beginning of September. We're both very excited. I'm going to ask my professors not to assign any reading that weekend so that we can enjoy the couple days, stress free. I'm sure they'll understand.

Orientation starts in the morning. We have to be there by 8, and we have a 30 minute bus commute (ugh), so I'm getting up at 6. That means I need to go to bed right about...now.

Pre-Orientation

We've been assigned about 40 pages of required reading for orientation. Yes, orientation. Not class. Not being graded. Just required reading to be prepared for the lectures we are going to have during orientation. In my new, optimistic mindset, I have decided to view this as a great opportunity to begin to re-train my brain for academia. The readings will, no doubt, help me get better acquainted with the legal world - a world in which I have very little knowledge and experience.

I've gone through three of the five required readings and one suggested reading. I have two short ones left to go. So far, it's all pretty basic. They go over the hierarchy of the courts, the methods for writing briefs, legal writing in general, some important terminology, and some advice on how to best approach legal studies.

"The more you learn about the world of law, the better your reading of cases becomes. The better your reading of cases becomes, the more you will understand class discussion. The more you understand about what's being discussed at multiple levels in class, the better your reading of future cases will become. Eventually, through this cyclical process, you will find that you have become immersed in the language and culture of the law and this once-foreign land will start to feel like home."

-excerpt from "Basic Briefing"

One can only hope.

Last night, the roommates and I met up with some other 1Ls at an apartment. Everyone seemed pretty nice and well put together. I'm still waiting for all the weirdos to come out of the woodwork. I presume tomorrow will be full of just that. I met my first Rubix Cube savant. The kid who hosted the gathering can finish the cube in under a minute and a half. I've seen it. He told me it was really simple, that you just had to understand the algorithms on each level of the cube. Right? Like I said...savant.

On the cab ride back from Scottsdale, I decided I will never take a cab ride back from Scottsdale. The cabbie got lost and tried to charge us the full fare, even though he took us to Mesa by accident. So, $30 later, we made it back safely. He was asking for more than that, but we just handed him the money and got out after a quick argument. I think once we argued, he was just happy to get anything, so he accepted the money and said "Ok."

Some CostCo shopping is on order today I think. We need to fill the house with food so I don't keep having to eat out. I also have to get my text books and car keys from Diane.

But I'm tired and unmotivated already. On the bright side, I won the coin toss and get to start out in the master bedroom. We plan on rotating rooms throughout the year. I'm hoping everyone will become content where they are and we can just stay like this.

The Condo

Soon enough, I bet this condo will get an affectionate nickname, like every other house I've resided in since college. For now, it's just The Condo.

This is an excerpt from an email I sent to my family and loved ones describing the layout with pictures to boot...

These are a couple quick shots of the place so you can see it. Basic layout...just inside the front door is the main living room where the leather furniture is. To the right, immediately, is a half set of stairs leading to the lower level bedrooms and a full bathroom. If you curve around to the right up the half stairs, there is another set of half stairs that leads to the lofted master bedroom, pictured, and another full bath. There are two closets, each almost the size of my old closet on Virginia St, and a full bath with two sinks and a stand up shower.

Back down to the main entrance, the immediate 'foyer' is tiled, but the rest of the place--minus the kitchen, which is also tiled--is carpeted. The living room hooks around in and L-shape to the dining room. Off the side of the living room is our private balcony, with a tree-obstructed view. The balcony is covered and has overhead fans, an outdoor table and four chairs.

The kitchen completes the square in the nook of the L, and is small but nice. All the appliances look new. The oven is spotless, has an electric range top (I guess that's what it's called). There is a vacuum in the house already. I haven't noticed an iron yet, but there might be one.