Our new apartment

Melody and I moved apartments about 2 weeks ago and after a lot of hard work we’ve finally got the place looking good. It was very hard combining two apartments into one but I suppose we able to get rid of some unnecessary stuff. We also bought some new furniture and we have a spare bedroom for visitors.

The new apartment is huge, almost 1300 square feet and we have a balcony with a gorgeous view.  We have a small glimpse of the ocean and San Diego Bay, a nice view of Cabrillo State park and Point Loma.  Also we’re not disturbed by the planes, trains and fire sirens anymore.

We have ran into one problem, the lady below us is old and cranky.  Before we moved in the landlord installed all new hardwood floors throughout the place and I suppose our neighbor below doesn’t like the sound of us walking around.  I personally believe the hardwood floors are worth it!

Here are some of the pictures I took this past weekend:

Map of my move

Thanks

Damien
@DamienH

Apartment living and recycling

I’ve been living in apartments for my entire California experience, about 4 years now. Apartment living lacks many benefits, I miss having a yard, I can’t stand the limited storage and I find it very challenging to recycle. I think the challenge makes sense really. Space is limited and the recycling bins are 5 stories down on the other side of the parking garage. There is no recycling shoot, only a trash shoot so it’s easier to just say “screw it”.

I’m not saying that I’m the most Eco-friendly citizen but I at least make an effort. I unplug my plasm at night and I’ve installed all energy efficient bulbs thanks to the SDG&E subsidy. I refuse to use my AC but I understand that luxury doesn’t pertain to most places outside of southern California. I also recycle and it’s not too much of a hastle.

To store my recyclables I converted one of my bottom kitchen cupboards into a storage bin. It’s one of those cupboards that is huge, it stretches all the way back behind the oven and is very inaccesible. I lined it with garbage bags for leaks and I basically throw anything that is recyclable in there. I spend about 20 minutes every two months sorting through my recycling stash and another 10 dragging it downstairs. I also keep a brown paper bag by my front door for paper recyclables, especially mail.

My effort is minimal and I’m able to recycle a lot, which I think is more than most other apartment dwellers can say.

Damien
@DamienH

The weekend

This past weekend was quite fun.  I didn’t actually do anything to make my life any better but I did have a good time.  On Friday I went directly from work to the new “Little Italy Bar and Grille”.  It’s really close to work and reasonably priced.  I had some sushi and a couple of beers with Max, Steve, Pam and Corey.  The bar is really chill and it doesn’t draw in a loud crowd.  Also it is happy hour before 7pm and they have a lot special.

After the Little Italy Bar and Grill Max gave me and Steve a ride down toward the Gaslamp and we headed out to Dublin Square. We picked up my roommate Chris a long the way.  Dublin Square is an awesome little Irish pub on 4th ave.  It has a great vibe and very attractive waitresses.  The beer selected is limited for an Irish place but they did have Newcastle so I was happy.  After a couple rounds there I headed home and with a nice buzz going I decided to crack open a bottle of wine.

Melody got off work around 11:30 and headed back to my place.  She picked up a couple bottles of wine and some really good cheese.  We had cheese and wine and watched about 10 minutes of Apocolypto.   I think I had drank too much becasue my patience with the subtitles was very limited and I very quickly lost track of what was going on.

Saturday was really boring for most of the day.  Melody and I went to Ikea and did a little work at her new apartment.  I installed one of the coolest pieces of Ikea crap in my kitchen and it’s awesome.  It is a magnetic strip that you attach to your kitchen wall.  Once it’s all set up you can hang/stick knives and other cool kitchen ware too it.  It is really surprising how much it makes a difference.  When Melody left for work I went up to her place with Chris and set up some stuff in her kitchen.  Turns out that the Ikea “dish dryer” I installed was not build very well.  It was really crooked and I she just was not impressed atall.

Saturday night was a ton of fun.  I started of drinking a couple beers and watching TV at my place with Chris.  At 9:30 we met Jess, Derek, and Jess’s friend Sara at the Gaslamp Tavern.  After a couple beers and one really awful shot of tequilla Chris and I headed over to Tivoli’s and Jess, Derek and their crew went to Stingaree.  I love stingaree but I wasn’t in the right mindset for a big night out.

At Tivoli’s I was joined by Melody and 3 of her co-workers.  They were really nice and part of me was worried that I said something stupid because I was starting to get really drunk.  I closed my tab which I found out the next day was way too much for what I drank and then we all went back to my place for some more wine and cheese.  At this point my memory was really blurry.  Apparently I made myself a really strong Gin and tonic. Needless to say I have nothing more to write regarding the remainder of that evening.

Sunday was a big waste of a day.  Don’t get me wrong it was really nice and relaxing but I didn’t get much done.  I started of my day around 9am which is the time I always wake up no matter what time I went to bed or how much I drank.  Breakfast, well really it was brunch, was excessively long.  It took about 2 hours because we cooked so much food.   We had crepes with steak, cheese, ham, turkey, gravy.  Then we had quesadilla’s with ham and cheese.  Melody also felt the need to make her own garlic butter and make fresh garlic bread for us.  Don’t get me wrong.  I’m not a 400 lb raging fatass but we did eat a lot.

After that we spotted around not doing much.  I check out some architectural drawings for multi-family homes and then we started working on Melody’s apartment.  I’m tired of writing so lets just say her apartment turned out really nice.  We bought a big entertainment center.  Put up curtains instead of the hideous blinds they have.  We also cleaned up a lot and hung a lot of stuff on the walls.  I think she finally likes the place now.