Apartment - Living Room

Probably the best thing about the apartment is the living room.  it's huge and spacious.  7 windows, that were replaced before we moved in, so we know they are nice and new.  It gives Dillan a ton of space to run around and spread his toys all over the place.  We are really lucky in that aspect.  Even gabby our bird has her own corner to be part of the social-ness but without being in the way.

In addition to replacing the windows they kept the cool original stained-glass windows that were put in about 100 years ago when the building was built.  there is also a nice built in curtain rod that I use to hang pictures.

The windows were really nice at Christmas.  I could put lights and ornaments in the windows.  With the long radiator with wooden cover, Dillan was kept a safe distance from the decorations.

We also had more than enough room for a large Christmas tree... and the gate to keep dillan from pulling all the ornaments off, without comprising too much of the play space.  so nice.  :)

There's also this awesome fake fireplace for our stockings and some fun decorations.  there is a plus in it if we had wanted to purchase an electrical wooden log set-up for the "real" fireplace affect. 

We would be so lucky if our next place could have such a large and spacious living room.  Fortunately we spend most of our time there so we are getting great use of it.  
I won"t mention how the new windows seal up the place so well there is constant dew on the windows so we need to run a dehumidifier to keep the windows water free.  it's not perfect but it's still the best place in the apartment.

Apartment - Kitchen

Normally the kitchen is a place I try to keep an open mind.  I want a huge kitchen with lots of work space but that's rarely available.  Our current kitchen is a decent size, however it's not laid out very well.  There's only 2 1/2 feet of counter space.  room for very little.  The appliances are old, the burners on the stove are crooked, the refrigerator makes a ton of noise when it runs.  We have our microwave on a butchers block table.  we bought additional counter space with shelves for additional storage.  My Kitchen Aid resides on that.  however there is no outlet near it so I have to move the Kitchen Aid to use it.  

Fortunately we do have this fun shelf over the sink.  I store some of my fun daily use stuff.

 

Another super duper fortunately, is the pantry.  We are so happy to have a pantry.  We were afraid we were going to have to use the closed in pack porch for food storage.

Outside the kitchen is a closed in back porch that acts as storage right now.  A lot so empty boxes as we wait for our next move.  the empty boxes from the wonderful baby things we have gotten since Dillan was born.  Plus several wedding gifts that we don't use on a daily basis and don't have room for in the pantry. 

What kitchen isn't complete without a wooden ironing board that folds out of the wall but not completely when it's too humid.

The small kitchen was one of the things that I thought I could deal with for 6-9 months, i was wrong.  but I'm still trying to work with it.  I do a lot of preparing on the dining room table.  When Dillan is sleeping, I take my Kitchen Aid into the living room and plug it into the wall and sit on the floor.  yup!  it is so time to move.

Apartment - Lights...

I've done my sharing of moving over the years.  As a child I was lucky and didn't move at all.  My parents still live in the same house that I was raised in.  How special! :)

After college I lived with my parents for a while until I had a job and could afford to move out.  Since then i have lived in 5 different places.  As i prepared to moved and looked at places, the amount of time I planned on living there definitely had an impact on some things that i wasn't fond of but could live with for a while.  I always have a list of "must haves", "don't want", and "could live with".  

In our most recent place, we thought we would be here 6-9 months, a year tops... well this week is 16 months at this apartment.  way longer and the "could live with" things are driving me crazy.  Yes there are some wonderful aspects to the apartment, however the things i thought I would only have to deal with for 6-9 months have worn out their welcome.

A few more charms aspects of the place are the wonderful light fixtures...
we have sconces all over the place.  
  This one is over the brick (non-working) fireplace

 

There are fives of theses around the living room.  It can be flooded with light...

This is the light in the dinning room, not exactly centered over our dining room table...

sitting under it, you could have a nice view looking up...

There are two matching sconces to the dining room light. 

Most of these we hardly use.  We brought a couple lamps with us with softer more inviting light.  In each bedroom there are lights and ceiling fans.  A definitely plus especially living on the second floor in the summer.

After the weekend...

Mondays are never good even when a weekend was less than stellar.  But it's always better than any week day.
Four out of the last five days I've had broccoli as part of a meal.  I don't like broccoli but as part of a decision my husband and I made before we were married, we decided to eat better, it's starting to become part of our diet.   I'm not just talking about eating out less, or skipping take-out, or eliminating fried foods.  Neither of us did much of that.  It's more about learning to eat new and healthier foods.  Brown or wild rice.  Quinoa.  Salmon, talipot, mahi mahi.  Vegetables.  Things like that.  Over the years we have added all of that to our diets, vegetables including bell peppers and asparagus.  With our baby son, we are adding even more as he tries new foods too.  Avocados, sweet potatoes, butter nut squash.  My husband and son have taken a quicker liking to these foods than me.  I've also added broccoli, which Steve's already likes, to my list of foods to work on.  It's amazing how my taste buds have changed over the years.   Things I eat now I wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole when I was younger and vice verses.  I guess you are always changing and growing, even if you don't realize it.