it is almost winter.... which can only mean...

we have mice again.

oh and didn't we have an exterminator come three times last year? yes.

and didn't we lay traps and try to warn the rest of the mice family not to mess with us this year? yes.

well, they are back which was evidenced by the hole in the stacy's pita chip bag and the half eaten brazil nuts in my pantry.

good thing we have a live-in exterminator this year................ stay tuned............ #mousewatch2012

 

The Secret Garden Pumpkin Patch

So I know any of you that follow us on Twitter, Facebook or our blog (yes we complained for a really long time......) saw our quest to find an apartment in August. We really appreciated all the comments, retweets and texts of encouragement as we had to move out of our apartment of two years :( yes i did cry when we left... were homeless and taken in by great friends for a week, left all our belongings in another wonderful friend's house for the week and moved in across the street bit by bit. If I took one thing from the whole moving experience, it was truly seeing what great friends we have made in DC. Between housing us and our things, we couldn't have asked for more. So after all the trauma, we have left everyone in the dark about our new place! It has finally come together after a month. Moving created one other problem for us - we had no furniture! All our other places were furnished and all our furniture has been sitting in my parents garage for the past two and a half years (thanks!!!!). Luckily, my WONDERFUL mother packed a uhaul with a couch and a bed and other things and drove the 13 hours up to DC. Isn't T the best!!! I took off work and the two of us not only parallel parked a 16 foot uhaul on a DC street, but unloaded the entire thing, unpacked almost every box and returned the uhaul in five hours. It was awesome. T & Lo Powerhouse. Maybe we should start a company? Or not
.... So anyway, a month later here are some pics of our new apartment. Hope you'll come visit :)

Nomads No More

We had a few requests from our readers to inform them once we became apartment renters again. Lucky for everyone, we have arrived at that spot in life. After the strenuous application process, we were able to sweet talk someone into letting us rent their apartment. I have to take credit for this one, because we decided that if the renter was a female, I would do all the talking and if it was a male, Lo would throw out the bait. Well I won! Gotta love flirting with a middle age lady. I must be good at it. :)

So yesterday we got the keys to the Secret Garden. That is the name of our new place. Lo named it, clearly. I would have preferred to call it the "ultimate man cave", but that was quickly ex-nayed. You will see the name fits by the posted picture.

Along with our joy for the new place, we are also sad to leave behind our old apartment. You never really realize the great things that occurred in a place until you close the door that final time. A world wind of emotions run through your body. Bittersweet.

I am posting a few pics. Some are of us packing and others are to reminisce the good times we had on Maryland Ave.

Early stages of packing

And the boxes start to stack up

Last but certainly not least, the tv, spirits, and ironing board must go

The Penthouse back to its original state (minus our touch)

Sianara Penthouse (with our touch)

Funtimes at Murrrrland

(thats how people say it here....no comment)

Welcome to the Secret Garden

(aka the UMC, "Ultimate Man Cave")

More to come from this lovely abode. Until next time.......

Housing UPDATE

So I know everyone is walking on egg shells waiting to see if we find an apartment. We found out we did not get the apartment that I loved so much. This taught us one thing. Owners judge you by what you are wearing. Do not wear your gym clothes, but dress up like you're going out. Is this real life? Oh yes, it is. Until we find somewhere new, we have moved into the residence below.
New address - 1 Box on a Street, Corner of 3rd and Maryland NE...

T MINUS 19 DAYS......

Just Call us Nomads

If you follow me on twitter, facebook or really are in any communication with me, you are aware that Wesley and I are in the middle of the search for an apartment. The internship program Wesley is involved with is ending, which also means that we have to move out of our lovely abode (that we haven’t been paying for….!!!). So needless to say, yall will not see our bright and shining faces flying down as much, if at all, this fall. L Paying rent is going to come as a harsh reality!!

Okay back to being nomads. This is the fifth time is our married life that we have moved. Yes fifth. And no, I did not stutter. We have moved five times, and this time will be the fourth in DC. We are basically expert movers especially since we don’t have any belongings up here besides dishes, glasses, and clothes. This also makes it quite difficult since we are about to move into an empty apartment and we don’t have things like… ummm… a bed… or a couch. This should get interesting. Craigslist, anyone? Apartment shopping in DC is basically like applying for a job. Wesley and I spend every hour after work online looking for places to live. When we first started looking we would just send emails like this:

Hello,

My husband and I have to move out of our apartment 22 August. Can you send me some more pics of your places? We want to come see the apartment at a good time for you.

Lauren

Well, this approach didn’t go so well. I would get minimal responses or none at all. I decided I needed to finesse it up… make myself look appealing. So my emails starting looking a little something like this:

Hi!

I have come across your wonderful apartment on Craigslist and would be interested in seeing it at a time that is good for you. My husband and I are in our mid 20s, both have great jobs with governments and do not have any pets. We are both non-smokers and are very tidy. This place would be super convenient for my husband as he works on the Senate side. I thank you so much for your time and I look forward to hearing from you.

Warm Regards,

Lauren Clay

Luckily, this email has gotten us a lot more responses and we have been to see a few places. Now, I am what some people might like to call “high maintenance”, but in terms of apartment shopping I am pretty low key. I don’t care if it is small, but I don’t want a dindgy bathroom, etc. Well, this weekend we found one that I really liked. A basement, but nice lighting… a little on the small side, but still a one bedroom…. And totally redone on the inside. Wonderful! BUT. Now it is like freakin applying for a job. We had to fill out an application and now wait. Wait and see if we are picked out of all the applications to actually get the apartment. There is no, yea yea I will take it! It is… I love it! Now fill out an application and wait in complete agony all the while hoping you aren’t completely homeless in three weeks with nothing but your clothes on your back rolling a tiny suitcase down East Capitol Street trying to find somewhere to call home. A little dramatic, but you know what I mean. So needless to say, we would love your thoughts and prayers that we actually get this apartment! Otherwise we are off on the apartment hunt again. Do you think it helps that I wrote a smiley face on my application next to where I signed my name? Just saying……

Wolo's New Extravaganza!

Okay, so Wesley and I have been apartment hunting lately to see if we can move to a different part of town (and a place with a separate bedroom!!). In the meantime, we did some redecorating (all credit going to Wesley... I was actually against this change in the beginning.. of course.. but now I love it!). We moved some things around.. and here is our new setup!From the front door...Our new living room nook!
Comfy...My little corner...To the kitchen!And this is our humble abode!!! Hope yall like it. :)

Maryland Ave

Soooo I've had a couple of immediate requests for pictures of our new place!! Here are a few undecorated pictures of our new place. :)

This is our living area. Our couch is going to be located here and this is where we sleep! It is a lot bigger than before! Check out our fireplace. Booyah.

Here is the bathroom. We love the sliding door frame and it is actually bigger than our bathroom in Jackson Square.
My favorite aspect! Our new kitchen! Full sink, garbage disposal, gas burners, open windows to the patio, and it's in its own room! LOVE IT. I am so excited. :)

That's all, and we love it!!!

LO

The Big Move!!!

Well today........ Wesley and I moved!!! Our new place is so great and so much bigger than our old place. It is amazing what you learn to love when you don't have it anymore.. We actually have a full size bed now AND a separate kitchen that has a dishwasher (we didn't have one in our old place)!! And we have air conditioning now... yes, we had no air conditioning before.. for five weeks... in the swamp heat of DC. We have two closets so we have plenty of room and our bathroom is actually bigger than it was in Oxford. I have no pictures tonight, but will try to pull through with some tomorrow (and definitely some of the kitchen). Off to bed for week SIX of work!

**Side note: I will say a sad farewell to the summer Olympics 2008. Until 2012... whoop whoopp... LONDON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

Miss EVERYONE.

Home Sweet Home............. kinda.

For all of you who haven't seen our lovely abode here in the District, I have attached a couple pictures for your enjoyment. Miraculously, we haven't hated it too much and actually haven't killed each other! Haha, kidding... but it is VERY TIGHT quarters. We like to say optimistically that we're glad it's small because it has forced us to get out of the indoors and get outside and explore our city. It is only temporary though, and we're actually moving one week from today!!!! Yay. Wesley says our new place is much bigger and we are going to have room for a couch. It's amazing how you understand how important a great couch is after you don't have one for a month. Tear.... big red comfy couch. Anyway, here are the unbelievable pictures. Look next week for picture of our new place!

(YEP. That's it. The whole thing. Love it.)