Success on the Eastside!

No I didn't pass my driver's test. I've yet to go back.... however we have finally finagled us a place to live for the next year.


Voila!

It's totally rockin' & probably the nicest place we've ever lived. Also a complete fluke in finding it. We had an appointment to see an apartment down the street that we'd been pinning some hopes on but the leasing agent never showed & no one was in the office that was supposed to be open all day. Someone who lived in the building was gracious enough to show us their place & it was nice but we really wanted to see the other plans available. After waiting about 45 minutes we decided to go get some lunch & come back. On the way back we walked past this pretty park & these townhomes were across the street with a sign that said "now leasing" so Calvin gave the guy a call & made an appointment to see them the next day (Sunday).

Meanwhile, we saw a few more apartments & one more townhome that was really nice but pretty far away on the East side of Redmond. Some of the other places we saw were really depressing & ugly & way too expensive for what you got. Most of the places come with a communal centre that usually has a business centre (fax, printers, etc.), workout room, pool, hot tub, movie room & living room area that you can book for parties. While this is great, it increases the rental prices & even though the common areas look fantastic, when you get to some of the apartments they don't live up to the expectations these areas raise. We also don't need any of this because we have discounted memberships at a fantastic gym complete with 4 pools, etc., etc., etc. (Seriously, the gym is insane!) So.... we were getting really frustrated with trying to find an apartment. The areas we liked in Seattle itself didn't seem to have much available without paying an arm & a leg for, plus we were severly limited by the dog restrictions. We started looking Eastside, which is across Lake Washington & consists of Bellevue, Mercer Island, Kirkland & Redmond (where Microsoft is) & prices weren't that much different but the farther we went the more likely they were to take out dog, plus it would be that much closer to work for Calvin who is getting a bit tired of the commute he's making every day now. We narrowed down apartments to one on the island & one south of Bellevue but decided to look one more day & check out the apartments that no one cared to show up to. Bonus for us I say!

Anyway, we got a 2 bedroom, 2.5 bath 3 level townhome with 1600 square feet for less than most other places we were looking at. I mean the place technically has more square footage than our house in Ottawa so all of our crap will fit & we won't have time pressures to get rid of stuff right away, but actually sort through what we need & what we can sell or give away. The place is across from a really nice park with bbq's, an excellent playground & lots of huge trees. We'll be walking distance from downtown Redmond & grocery stores (Whole Foods!) & a huge off-leash dog park & & &....


New car + new house = I am so spoiled!

Can you tell I'm happy? And so less stressed. It's like a huge weight has been lifted off our shoulders & we can get down to really enjoying ourselves here. Doing stuff like choosing baby's first Halloween outfit.


This sweet mermaid is not it. Despite the happy demeanor above she hated this dress contraption so much I thought she was going to rip it off her flailing limbs. Good thing she loves hamming it up for the camera or you would be able to feel her wrath through the ether of the internets & you would be afraid. Very afraid.


Be not afraid my friends for tomorrow is Talk Like A Pirate Day!!
Are you ready?