a new place

We went and looked at a prospective townhouse for us to live in when I move over. They had originally told me we could put $500 down and have first dibs on one that came available when we were ready to move it. The $500 would then go towards our deposit. Today they told us they were having a special...The deposit/holding fee had been knocked down to $99! There was no reason we shouldn't do it. We really liked the place and if they don't have one by the time we're ready we can get the $99 back. The only way we'd lose it is if we changed our minds...and if for some reason we did, forfeiting $99 wouldn't be so bad.

It was maybe bad of us to look at this place first as it was 2 levels (3 if we get the one with a garage) which now sets the bar pretty high for any others we see. We LOVE the two floor layout, it's so nice, it's homey and it really breaks things up. It doesn't feel at all like apartment-living which is something we're both ready to move from.

We made a budget to see if we can reasonably (meaning not have to scrimp, still have money for extras AND put money into savings) afford the place (the ideal one with the garage is $1750/month-life is much more expensive over in Western Washington, whew!). We can if I can get a decent job. And really decent means $15 or more an hour which had better be possible with a masters degree in Seattle...But you never know in this economy. We also really need to sell Nathan's car. It's sucking money out of his pocket so badly. Once that is gone life will be much easier...It costs over $800 a month for the payment and insurance. It's for sale, 2006 Nissan 350Z, please buy it!

Looking at this place of course made us extremely excited for June to get here (actually we'd probably start moving in May 15 and then I'd officially be over after graduation June 13). 4 months and 13 days left to be exact...:) I've already got lots of ideas on how to decorate the new place. Nathan is claiming the second bedroom as his man room (t.v., computer games, Xbox, etc)...which is completely fine by me. We will put the futon in there so guests can stay over too. The sweet thing about this place is that it has 2.5 bathrooms. Each room has their own plus a powder room downstairs...this means Nathan can have his own man bathroom too! Glorious considering Alisha and I decided men cannot see their own messes, specificially from shaving their faces, and therefore believe the bathroom is clean when it is clearly not...so with this many bathrooms we really only need to keep one spotless for people to see, the rest can just be cleaned whenever...is that lazy? I call it practical.