Weekends and Apartment Hunting

What an absolute adventure this weekend has been!

Our weekend started on Thursday afternoon with a trip to Old Town Orange. We walked around, window shopped a little, and Michael got a haircut at a really great barbershop. The men in there were older, and looked like they had been cutting hair since they were my age. It was really neat. They told us about all the cool cars they used to own, and how much they paid for them when they were brand new (one guy paid $1900 for his brand new Chevy!!). Michael really enjoyed it since he had never gotten his hair cut at an actual barbershop.

photo by michael :)

Bright and early Friday afternoon we took off to continue our apartment search. You never realize how exhausting sitting in the car, driving around, writing down phone numbers can be, until you do it. My back was aching, Michael's legs were really bothering him, too. We were pretty exhausted, all around. 

As the day carried on, I was starting to feel a little discouraged. Most of the landlords we spoke to didn't really seem all that eager to rent their apartment. A lot of them were really rude and didn't want to take time out of their day to show us the apartment.

stopping for lunch and a churro

The apartments we did see were also not very nice. One apartment we were able to get inside of, looked pretty well taken care of outside. Once we got inside, it wasn't so bad--just on the older side--but the floors sloped down toward the center of the apartment. It was so strange! They made a V that ran down the length of the apartment. If we had tried to put furniture in there, it all would have wobbled. :/

The day did get better, though. We went over to Michael's uncle and aunt's home (near where we were apartment hunting) to babysit his son. Michael's uncle and aunt were going out on a little date and we were happy to babysit for them. Their son is such a crack up and he's a lot of fun to be around.

teaching michael to play the piano

Needless to say, by the end of the day on Friday, it was so nice to fall into our warm bed and sleep.

a drive-by night sky

Saturday started off a little slower. We knew we wanted to see some more apartments that day, so while I drank some coffee, Michael got some phone numbers and addresses and started calling managers and landlords. Nothing. Zip. No one was answering their phones.

We found some places online that looked really promising. We found one place that had French doors and a cute patio, but no one would pick up. We decided to drive down to the west side and see who would call us back. Eventually, a couple managers called us back. One said he would be available shortly to show us his place. We were pretty excited to see his apartment since it's only one level and it has only 4 units, total. A nice change from the the 30 unit building we currently live in.

When we got there, there were two other people to see his unit. I was so disappointed. As soon as I walked in, I loved the place. It was older, but had so much charm and character. Wood floors throughout, a shared garage, tons of storage, original tile in the kitchen. I loved it! The landlord told us he had just put the "For Rent" sign out the day before, and he suddenly had tons of people calling him, wanting to see the place. I felt like crying.

We had been searching of and on for a month, not really seeing anything that we liked a whole lot. Here was this place, that was old, charming, cute, and even had a front AND a back door. But I had to remind myself, Michael and I had been praying a lot about finding an apartment. I had to remember that God was in this, and we would find a place. Our whole reason for leaving our current apartment is so that Michael doesn't have to drive in an hour and a half of traffic to and from work. It's exhausting physically and mentally for him, and it's just not worth it, for us.

I wanted this apartment so much. The landlord was really friendly and wanted to know more about Michael and me. We told him we were married just under a year ago, and why we were moving to this area. He really seemed to enjoy learning about us. When we told him we loved his unit and were willing to put a deposit down that day. He said, "Ok, if you have the money, it's yours."

AHHH!! I wanted to scream! I was so exhausted from looking. I had been suffering from headaches and getting car sick every day from swinging my head around and quickly looking down to write down phone numbers, while in a moving car. I was so happy!! Michael was too, soon he would be home after work in under 30 mins.

in our new living room!

I am so thankful. I love the our new home, and I can't wait to move in! I will be sharing some more pictures of our new home, soon, so be sure to stop by!