We signed a lease!!!!!

After an extremely anxiety inducing week, we finally signed a lease. It was a super stressful process and pretty much I never want to do it again... We basically learned that you have to be the absolute first person to see a property, so you can guarantee to be the first to put in an application, and then you will get first refusal. One bedrooms are in high demand, so we had to be pretty agressive. We ended up being first in line for four different apartments over the course of like 3 days. One adorable one with a great kitchen, but it was over a bar. Another that we loved but was supposed to be 850 sq ft. We measured. It was 500... Another that was super nice, but the location was less convenient for nathan and not much storage. The apartment we ended up getting, we had the second showing, but we got there mega early and the showing before us was a few minutes late. Are you two my 12:00? You bet we are. The girl after us filled out an application, but she was 7 minutes late and now she doesn't have it. I would feel bad for her, but she was late after all. Anyways, my self-induced stress-sickness can now be over because we have a really beautiful apartment with (almost) everything we wanted. Pictures! The previous owner's stuff is all in it, and she's moving, so it's kinda messy. Apologies. Also, rooms are difficult to photograph. No wonder they use those wide-angle lenses.

 Here is the living room looking into the dining room (that's right, living AND dining) and then nathan is at the threshold to the kitchen and the bedroom is beyond that.

 The bedroom--there's another window on the wall you can't see. The closet isn't walk-in, but it goes far back and has lots of space. There is another very large closet off the living room with some built in cabinets inside and more hanging space. The storage in this place was very alluring.

 The electric stove was our one big concession. Nathan really wanted gas : ( but we will have a dishwasher! : ) (on the right, you can just see the edge in this picture). Lots more counter space than in our current apt, which we were looking for. Our little galley kitchen is very hard to cook in. This is still galley, but significantly bigger. The idea is that we will cook at home more. The door leads to the basement and back parking area and laundry. 

 Bathroom--no clawfoot tub (sigh...there was one in two places we almost got) but very nice and clean tiling, and some of the old character was left intact. 

 At the entrance to the bathroom there is a little built in vanity area that is super cute. You can't see in this picture, but the wall on the right hand side in there is completely built-in cabinets that have tons of charm and functionality.

Chandelier!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Need I say more. Also note picture moldings that run throughout. It's a little hard to tell, but the ceiling curves between the picture molding and the top.

 The living room looking in the opposite direction. You can see our faux fireplace. We are allowed to paint pastels, so if anyone has any color ideas, I'd be open. Right now it's a lot of white!

 Ok, this picture stinks, but apparently after this tree loses it's leaves, if it's clear, you can see the olympic mountains from here.

 A close up of the built-in in the living room.

 It has a cool little landing at the top of the stairs where our door is. It was hard to get a good shot though.

And here is the outside of the building. We are the top window on the left. I think it will be super cute once we get all our nice stuff in there. It is located right on the bus line for nathan and walking distance for me to work and dance class, so that is probably the best part of all. No more dealing with bus 49 on a daily basis!

We don't officially have it until Sept. 1st. Hopefully the girl will move out a few days early, but if not we will have to load all our stuff into a truck, stay somewhere, and then unload it all the next day, since we have to be out of our place by the 31st. Yuckers. We shall see...the girl is out of the country until next week, so we can't ask her. I'll keep you updated!