First Impressions

Well, hello friends. Long time no type.

We arrived in Philadelphia a week ago today, and finally have internet (as of about 20 minutes ago). That means I can get back to blogging. Yay!

We also finally have gas for our stove/oven (as of about 2 hours ago), so that means we can have REAL COOKED FOOD TONIGHT! Boiling water will be pretty much the most exciting thing that has happened to me in days.

(It's amazing the little things in life that you miss when you can't do them!)

So what are my first impressions of our new city-of-residence?

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The Good:

(1) Our Apartment

I absolutely flat out LOVE our apartment. I can't say enough positive things about it. It's old (built in 1899!) so there are a few quirks (runny toilet, low clearance on the stairs - even I have to duck, and lots of floor creaking) - but that's nothing compared to the charm and the SPACE. We have two bedrooms (one will be Joe's office), high ceilings, a kitchen island, and a large bathroom.

For fun's sake, here's what was going on in the world the year our apartment was built:

• The Treaty of Paris (ending the Spanish American War) was ratified by the US Senate
• The first death by car accident occurred
• The paperclip was patented 
• Antarctica was discovered
• Al Capone was born 

That also means our apartment existed before the Titanic sunk or World War I - in other words, Mary Crowley of Downton Abbey would have been 8 years old

(2) The People

I don't want to come across as a California-hater, but I don't find the people in CA to be very friendly on the whole. So far, everyone we have come across in Philly has been super friendly and helpful. I was a bit concerned about this given the stereotypes about East Coast attitudes, but either those stereotypes are wrong, Philly is a major exception, or we have just lucked out this first week. Fingers crossed it is not the latter.

(3) Proximity to UPenn

Being this close to UPenn is not only very convenient, but is super exciting because we can actually SEE Joe's dental school every day (we're just 2.5 blocks away). When seven months ago we weren't even sure he would get accepted anywhere, living mere minutes from the school that will make him a dentist is a real "pinch me I must be dreaming" experience.

I also love that being so close to the school means that there are cute little bars and restaurants and it feels "college-y." University City is over the river from Downtown Philly, so we aren't living in the middle of things. Plus, there are actually trees and available parking spots!

The Bad:

(1) This Ain't the Burbs

I'm not a fan of big cities. Even though I had to spend an hour each way commuting to work in San Francisco, it was worth it because we got to live in the burbs. We were 10 minutes from Costco, Target, Trader Joe's, Michael's Crafts, a mall, and pretty much every other store you could possibly want.

Living in Philly means that running errands is an event. You can't just quickly run to the store - you've got to plan it out. Target is at least 30 minutes away (that's without traffic, which is pretty much a certainty) and Costco and a mall are closer to 40 or 45 minutes.

It also means that I am going to have to seriously suck it up and get over my driving anxiety or I will be a prisoner in my own home.

***Side Note*** I got my driver's license while living in a town so small it didn't have a stoplight. I never got used to driving in cities or on freeways, and with commuting via public transit and Joe preferring to drive rather than be a passenger, I haven't had much time behind the wheel for a few years. This has only made me more nervous of a driver. ***End of Side Note***

(2) Humidity and Bugs

California is pretty awesome in terms of not having a lot of bugs and not having humidity. The temperature hasn't been bad since we've been here (it's rained half of the days), but the humidity makes me feel disgusting. I am definitely not used to it, and I'm scared to think how gross I'll feel when it gets hotter. I also have several bug bites. No mom, we don't have bedbugs. Speaking of bedbugs, Philly is the #1 city for bedbugs in the US. How nice.

(3) Liquor Laws

In Pennsylvania and New Jersey, you can only buy alcohol at liquor stores (besides bars and restaurants, obviously). Because the free market can't sell alcohol as it pleases, that means it is grossly overpriced. So long cheap Costco vodka :( Thanks puritans.

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All-in-all, I think I'll be happy enough here for four years. This apartment sure makes it easier to be happy. Once again, I LOVE LOVE LOVE it. I'll include pictures soon - but right now it is a total disaster zone.  

 

 

 

 

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Apartment Chosen!

We officially have an apartment! We weren't so sure that would happen since a mere 30 minutes before our cousin toured the "Mystery" apartment a lease was signed.

The apartment management company called and said he didn't need to come for a walk-through since it was already taken, and my heart sank. So Joe and I sat down, did some analyzing and number crunching, and came to a decision:

We are going with "Ka-Ching"!!!!

Yes, the rent is more expensive than what we were aiming for, but we wouldn't need to buy bus passes (a $160 savings per month) and they pay for heat (which, in the winter, can get really pricey). We also decided that we would forgo cable for Netflix and Hulu Plus.

Since I am already not going to be seeing Joe a lot, a 5 minute walk is much better than a 20+ minute walk to school each way. I can have lunch with him and bring him dinner if he is studying late.

We planned on moving to the burbs anyway second year, so this is one year of a bit more extravagant living than we expected.

And now for some pictures (please keep in mind I am a kick ass decorator. Our apartment will be super cutely decorated):

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Still No Decision - Might We Stay Homeless?

Joe arrived home around 2 a.m. yesterday morning, and apartment hunting went both better and worse than expected.

Better because we have several apartments we are considering.

Worse because all of those apartments have pretty big negatives.

What's especially frustrating is that one of the property management companies had an apartment they couldn't show Joe until this week (yes, when he is on the other side of the country), but they thought (and Joe agreed) that it sounded pretty perfect for what we are looking for. So now we have to wait until tomorrow afternoon when my cousin is going to do a walk through and Face Time us so we can get a sense of the size, etc.

Thank goodness my cousin can check it out (he goes to Drexel which is right next door to Penn) - but I do worry that we might lose something else in the meantime (and I want this decision made so I can stop thinking about it!).

As of now, we have the following apartments as possibilities on our list. The prices are all the same, except #1, #4, and #6, which range from $100 more to $450 more per month than the others.  There are also no major differences in which utilities are covered (essentially none):

1.) Studio (0 bedrooms)

Pros: Even though it is a studio, there is a small hallway to the front door and bathroom and the kitchen is separated, so it doesn't feel as studio-y as studios usually feel. Very clean. Nice hardwood floors. Good closet space. The room is quite large with high ceilings (which should help with any claustrophobia). The closest apartment to school (5 minute or less walk). There is a washer and dryer in the building. Nice property management company.

Cons: It's a STUDIO - not sure I can live in one room with Joe for at least a year, no matter how much we love each other. Given that it's close to school, parking will be more difficult. It's on the fourth floor and there is NO elevator. $100 more than the other apartments. No dishwasher.
 
2.) Wallpaper (2.5 bedrooms)

Pros: Two bedrooms plus a small bonus room that I could turn into a walk-in closet or we could us as an office for Joe. Deck off of the living room. Nice property management company.

Cons: Very outdated with some truly crazy wallpaper (get the nickname now?). Smells terrible due to current tenant, so questionable as to how clean they can get it once she is out. No washer/dryer in unit or in the building. No dishwasher. Grody carpet throughout. One mile from school.

3.) Three (3 bedrooms)

Pros: Most space - three full bedrooms. Hardwood floors throughout. Pretty good shape overall.

Cons: No washer/dryer in unit or in the building. No dishwasher. Would cost a lot more to heat/cool due to size. The property management company says tenants can only have "one drink per day." While I'm not a partier, I also don't like being deceitful (And come on, we all know that I can't stop at just one glass of wine). One mile from school.

4.) Fancy (2 bedrooms)

Pros: GORGEOUS. Recently renovated with dark wood, granite counter tops, great paint color selection, etc. Two bedrooms. Washer/dryer in building. Lots of students live nearby.

Cons: No dishwasher (who does such a kick-butt job at remodeling, yet doesn't add a dishwasher to a kitchen that has the space for one?!). $250 more per month than the other apartments. One mile from school.

5.) Basement (1 bedroom)

Pros: Managed by the same company as "Fancy" and it, too, has been recently remodeled. Washer/dryer and dishwasher IN UNIT! Small backyard space that is enough for Joe to BBQ or for me to up-cycle furniture and do other similar projects/crafts. 10 minute walk to school.

Cons: Graffiti on the inside wall of the yard - creepy. Basement apartment with entrance at the back of the building (is this safe - it's not viewable from the street - I worry someone could wait in the backyard?) and outdoor stairs leading down to the front door (outdoor stairs + snow + a lack of grace = Kate falling down the stairs at least once). Also, the property management showed us the apartment even though it is an immediate move-in and not a June 1 move-in - they said they would hold it but they would have to bump up our rent or charge us for May.

6.) Ka-Ching (2 bedroom)

Pros: Less than a 5 minute walk to school. Very spacious. Big kitchen (relatively speaking). Washer/dryer in building. Best reviewed property management company according to Penn's off-campus housing website.

Cons: No dishwasher. Two stories (which is mostly cool, but means I'll have to go downstairs in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom). The priciest - $450 more than the other apartments per month. Parking might be a little tough since it is close to school. Though it is in good condition, it is showing its age a bit. Would cost a lot more than the others to heat/cool due to two stories and the size.

7.) Spiral (1 bedroom)

Pros: Decent size for a one bedroom in the area. Washer/dryer in building. 8 minute walk from school. Bedroom is a loft - which is kind of cool, and it's a pretty large "room".

Cons: Bedroom is a loft, so I'd have to be quiet any time Joe is studying. Also, the bathroom is on the lofted part, so I'd have to go up a spiral staircase any time I had to go to the bathroom. No dishwasher. No closet in the bedroom. A little run-down looking. Property management company doesn't have a great reputation.

8.) Mystery (1 bedroom ?)

This is the apartment my cousin will check out tomorrow. All we know is that it is a 1 bedroom with some "extra space" - this could be similar to "Wallpaper" where it is just a really tiny extra room, or a nook or something - we're unclear. They have a dishwasher and maybe a washer/dryer (washer/dryer is a little uncertain - the guy said there was and so did the Zillow post, but on their list of properties it doesn't say washer/dryer). From the pictures, it looks larger than some of the other apartments Joe visited. It has hardwood floors and new(ish?) paint. According to Joe, it's in the best neighborhood aside from "Studio" and "Ka-Ching" which are right next to the school. However, this apartment is one mile from school.


As you can see, lots of choices, but no clear winners. My parents are starting to freak out about West Philly violence (it's not a very safe place - heck, that's where the Fresh Prince had to flee to Beverly Hills from!), so they are urging us to go with "Studio" or "Ka-Ching."

According to my dad: "An extra $450 per month is cheaper than a $30,000 funeral." (To which I responded - "WHAT?! How much does it cost to bury someone?" and we got off on a tangent about funerals and how we'd like our body to be handled after we die, and then my mom walked in and got sad that I was moving to such a "dangerous place").

We are keeping our fingers crossed that the decision will be easier after 1 p.m. tomorrow (when my cousin does the walk-through). Until then, the word "apartment" has been outlawed in our house. I am so sick of talking about it!

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Apartment Hunting: Day 1

Joe has reported back, and day 1 of apartment hunting didn't go as well as we'd hoped.

While the people showing the apartments all seemed very nice (hugely important - I don't want to deal with a rude property management company), the apartments themselves were incredibly tiny.

Tiny as in: no closets in the bedrooms and kitchens that consist of a small fridge, sink, stove, and maybe one 24"x24" counter (if we are lucky).

**Side note** How the HECK did I forget dishwasher on my score sheet?! **End of side note**

Tiny as in: "Katie, our last place was big compared to these places." (Our last place drove me nuts with its lack of space, storage, and the fact I had to jump over his desk chair to get to my side of the bed).

Yikes.

We always planned to move to the burbs during the summer between year 2 and year 3, but we wanted to start out as near to the school as possible because we:

A.) Don't want to socially isolate ourselves (we are both homebodies and living in the burbs would only enable our self-isolation)

B.) Don't know how often he will need to be on campus (if he spends most of his day there, I'll want him close so he doesn't waste free time on a commute. Plus, I can stop by with dinner, etc. if he has to study late)

C.) Want to experience the city life (though we've come from San Francisco, neither of us felt like we really lived in the city since I lived as far west and he lived as far south as you could get in SF before we got married, and then immediately moved to the burbs)

After today, however, Joe said that it looks like the burbs will be a move we make after the first year.

Joe is wonderfully adaptable, so if he doesn't think it will work long-term, I am a bit afraid to see what these apartments actually look like... something I may not be able to do until we actually get to Philadelphia because Joe forgot to take pictures of the first 5 places he saw.

Poor guy was too worried about that dang score sheet and apparently Philadelphians "talk really fast." I knew that score sheet was over the top.

Although today was a bit more depressing than we anticipated, I'm strangely not freaking (so out of character!). I have a weird feeling that tomorrow he will find the place. And I feel like he'll know at once that it is absolutely perfect and he won't find anything better in the price range (you know, like when he met me for the first time - minus the price range part haha).

Plus, the worse the place, the more of a creative challenge it will be to make it a beautiful home. I better get to pinning ;)

And wherever we are (no matter how tiny) will be just that - home - because we are there together.

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Apartment Hunting

Joe and I are in the very pleasant position of not currently paying rent. We moved out of our last apartment at the end of March, and won't be moving into a Philly apartment until the first week of June.

While I love the fact that we're no longer writing $1,500 rent checks for our humble abode (the Bay Area housing prices make me sick!), the time between the Bay Area and Philly was so long that we couldn't find an apartment before we moved out. It's a little disconcerting for a planner like me to have no clue as to where we will be living in just a couple short months - so I am excited to say that Joe will be flying out to Philly on Wednesday morning with the mission of finding us an apartment!

Yes - you read right - Joe is flying out. Not Joe and me. Just Joe.

Since round-trip tickets cost around $350, we didn't want to spend the money to fly me out as well, so I've left the apartment hunting in his very capable hands.

However - I will certainly be there in spirit, as I've created both a score sheet and "Apartment Considerations" guide (Joe knew when he married me how obsessed I am with well-executed planning haha).

I've only lived in a couple of apartments before, so I am sure I missed things we should be asking, but I thought it might be helpful to share in case anyone else is moving soon.

First, the scoresheet. Since each category varies wildly in importance, we won't be tallying up the scores and picking the apartment with the most points. Instead, it's just an easier way for us to compare places when he gets back to California.

**Side Note** To be clear, the safety "color zones" have nothing to do with race lol. It refers to this sweet safety map someone made of Philadelphia. FYI: UPenn is in the University City neighborhood **End of Side Note**

Next, elaboration on these "considerations" - as in, what the heck do I mean by these different considerations and what do I think are important things to know/ask.

Click here for a link to that Google Doc.

We still have a couple of days before Joe starts his tours - so if anyone has ideas of things I am missing - leave me a comment and let me know :)

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Moving Day Re-Cap

Yesterday we officially moved out of our apartment - it did not go as planned.

Originally, Joe and I thought we'd easily be able to fit our stuff into a pod (after all, we purged a lot and also stored a ton of things in my parents' attic in anticipation of the move).

Once the pod was delivered on Thursday, it looked a lot smaller than expected, but we figured it could do the job.

(That's what she said)

But on Friday when Joe moved down the couch, mattress, and box springs - just those items almost filled the pod entirely.

Uh oh.

So I texted my mom and asked if they could bring my dad's truck so he could bring either our couch or bed back to their house for storage.

Poor parents - little did they know just how little we knew about moving. (And thankfully they brought a large van instead of his truck!)

They arrived yesterday at about 9:30 and we didn't finish moving until 3. In that time Joe and I had to face the truth that neither our couch nor bed would fit in the pod, and that we'd have to start figuring out what other things to leave behind.

**Side note** For those dental school wives/girlfriends/sig others out there, I have to say I am a bit surprised Joe scored so well on Quantitative Reasoning on the DAT given how he grossly overestimated the capacity of the pod haha **End of side note**

Since our furniture is all Ikea, it's not SUPER expensive, but we certainly didn't want to replace it all - so I went online and priced out all of our furniture so we could prioritize the expensive items best we could.

Thankfully, probably due to years of my dad packing our car for family trips, somehow he and Joe were able to fit quite a lot.

Let's please take a moment of silence to remember the items that didn't fit: our couch, big living room chair, mattress & box springs, TV stand, and bedside tables.

...

My wallet is not going to like replacing them. And, despite my latest obsession with thrifting, I get the heebie jeebies thinking of getting a used bed and couch. MAYBE a couch. Definitely not a bed (especially not with the bedbug issues they have on the East Coast).

It wasn't an entirely depressing day. Joe's highlight was smashing a broken cabinet from our bathroom. My highlight was throwing ropes down to the guys from our 8th floor window (it was so weirdly fun):

And the best part was being finished:

Now we will spend most of April at my parents' house 2 hours north of San Francisco. It'll give us quality time with them, one of my brothers and his gf (my other brother is away at college), my grandma, our god-daughter and her parents, and some of my friends from high school. 

On Tuesday, though, we take a quick trip up to Portland and Spokane to visit family for a few days. 

Our adventure has officially begun!

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Packing

With 72 hours to go before we move out of our apartment, there is quite a bit left do.

Since my body has the worst timing for getting sick, of course I have been battling an awful cold for days (or maybe it's allergies - not sure which. All I know is I am exhausted, my nose fluctuates between running and impossible to breathe through, and I am sneezing so hard that my body aches. Oh - and my teeth hurt for some reason.)

Luckily, Joe already said that he would do pretty much all of the packing since I am working up until the day before we leave. Score!

All I needed to do was sort my stuff into what should be packed for the pod and what should be packed for the road-trip. Little did I know how hard it would be to pack for this road-trip!

Technically, we will be "homeless" from March 31 - June 3rd or 4th, but we will be staying with relatives and other places with washers/dryers for about 6 weeks of that.

Even so, that is a LONG time - there are lots of things going through my head (ie: how many razors should I pack? How many deodorants? Will I get tired of the same clothes? Will I gain/lose weight - and should I pack bigger/smaller stuff just in case? What if one of my black flip flops break - they are looking pretty worn - should I buy an extra pair? Oh, shoot - gotta pack tampons. How many will I need? Let's whip out the calendar and figure that out. Oh! And contacts - how often will I wear contacts versus glasses?)

The result of all of those "what ifs", "should I's", and "wills" means that I over-packed . . . just a bit

Joe doesn't have anything in these bags except for some extra razors and deodorant - besides that it's all me.

Before you think I had zero restraint, here's the clothes that didn't make the cut, and will be packed in the pod:

Excuse the handwriting - sick + tired of packing = I don't give a crap about my handwriting.

Kate's fun moving fact of the day: I always pack clothes in garbage bags because I can shove them in between furniture / boxes easier.

Tomorrow (assuming I am feeling better) Joe and I will be going to our favorite restaurant for our last San Francisco meal. Can't wait :)

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