Our Price is Right Shirts are Complete!

With 8 days to go before the start of our road-trip, Joe and I are starting to get all of our ducks in a row. Meaning, he's doing boring things like scheduling car appointments and figuring out the cheapest most inexpensive place to buy new tires, and I'm doing fun things like designing our Price is Right shirts and perfecting our road trip binder.

**Side note** Thanks honey, our lives would not work without all of the effort you put in to the "boring stuff **End of side note**

I didn't have the best of luck with the iron on transfers (I think I left the heat on too long at parts, because the shirt has a weird tinge to it in some places... the perfectionist Kate wants to burn them, but they were the last in their size at Michaels and were on sale for $2.50, so the frugal Kate wins out). In theory I love iron on transfers, in reality they always betray me.

Anyway, drum-roll please....

I had to make sure to leave enough room for the name tag (which is why the design starts lower than it typically would on the shirt).

I also had to make sure I didn't use green shirts. Rumor has it, your chance of getting chosen lessens if you wear a green shirt because it blends in with the set and, therefore, doesn't show up as well on TV. Since we fully intend on having one of us make it to Contestants' Row, I'll take any rumors as fact (just in case).

Also, according to our friend Stacey(who made it on the show in the Bob Barker days and says that the prizes now are worlds better than the prizes when she was on), I should wear a flower in my hair. Stacey wore a flower, and every time we see a chick in the audience wearing a flower, that chick is also chosen. So I will now be on the hunt to find a cute flower/headband thingy. Boy, my chores for this road trip never end ;)

We will be going to Disneyland with Stacey the day before Price is Right. That will either be a huge mistake because I won't be able to walk and I'll have a Monte Cristo hangover, or a great idea because I'll still be high on the Disney magic.

My bet is that I'll still be high on the Disney magic, but will also probably look like Sebastian since I can't be in the sun without burning no matter how much sunscreen I apply.

This will be me high on Disney magic, but burned to a lovely Sebastian red

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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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Journey to the Pacific Northwest

It's been a whirlwind 100 (or so) hours, but I'm back from our quick trip to Portland and Spokane.

Since Joe and I are spending April with my family (gotta get some quality time in before the big move!), we figured we should start saying goodbyes to other family and friends along the west coast.

The first stop on Goodbye Tour 2013 was to Portland. One of my dad's aunts and her kids and grandkids live there, so I wanted to be sure to visit before the move. I'm so glad we did! I've always wanted to spend more time with them - so it was the perfect opportunity to get to know them better and to have a great (albeit short) time in PDX.

On Tuesday, my parents, Joe, and I flew out of Santa Rosa at 11 a.m. and arrived at 2 - just in time for a late lunch at my dad's aunt's sports bar.

The next stop was Powell's bookstore - my one request for the trip. Powell's is an amazingly huge bookstore with both used and new books. For a thrifter like me, "used" books are a huge draw :) Unfortunately, Powell's is so gigantic that I got a bit overwhelmed, and I spent a ton of time trying to figure out which section to peruse. Next time I'll have a plan of attack and make a list of books I want before I go.

After that was dinner with most of the family. Great company, lots of chatting, and yummy food and drinks = a great time had by all!

We started out the following day with a trip to Voodoo Doughnut. I've always wanted to go there, and was super excited to finally get to try these famous doughnuts. We all shared bites of the following: Voodoo Doll (chocolate frosting and filled with raspberry jelly), Bacon Maple Bar (topped with real bacon!), Captain my Captain (vanilla frosting and Captain Crunch), Marshall Matters (cake doughnut with vanilla frosting and m&ms), Old Dirty Bastard (chocolate frosting, Oreo's, and peanut butter), and an Apple Fritter!

For the first time on the trip, I busted out my camera and started snapping away.

**Side Note** I am in NO WAY a photography expert, so don't expect too much haha. I am still learning my new Canon Rebel, and so I had it on automatic shooting to save time. My goals right now are to learn how to compose a good picture (framing, subject selection, etc), and then I'll gradually start experimenting more with aperture, ISO, shutter speed, etc. **End of Side Note**

A Must-Do When You Visit Portland!

I Love Pink ;)

Clever Doughnuts!

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

The Bacon Maple Doughnut was my Fav!

After gorging ourselves, we headed up to Mt. Hood. There is a lodge there that was used for the exterior shots of the hotel in The Shining. Being a ridiculously huge horror movie buff (I wrote my college thesis on slasher movies for gosh sakes), this was a site I've always been curious to see!

More pictures...

Exterior - I tried to avoid cars in my shots, which made it difficult to capture much of the hotel lol

High Up on Mt. Hood

Cool Ceilings!

Delicious Hot Chocolate

Wine is Good Too ;)

After our trip to Timberline Lodge, we went back to my dad's aunt's house and she made us a delicious dinner! The family came for dinner again - so it was more great company, lots of chatting, and yummy food and drinks!

Bright and early the following morning (I'm talking 6:30 a.m. here people!) we piled into the mini-van and drove up to Spokane, where I went to college and where my aunt and uncle live. We made a detour to visit my best friend from college who just had a baby. I took over 150 photos of him - he's TOO PRECIOUS FOR WORDS!

Such a Sweetie Pie!

Mommy Practice ;)

Around 4 p.m. we rolled into Spokane - tired from the drive, and my biological clock ringing from adorable baby exposure haha.We enjoyed some wine, an excellent dinner, and had fun catching up with my aunt and uncle.

The next morning we visited Gonzaga! I was so excited for Joe to finally get a glimpse at where I went to school. I took too many pictures and spent too much money on Zag apparel. Oops - sorry Joe ;)

I'm realizing now that I missed a bunch of shots - but it was raining and I couldn't have my camera out the whole time we were walking around. Here's some of what I got:

St. Al's

Love the Stained Glass!

The Wall - You Can Write Announcements About Your Club, Etc.

Can You Tell How Much is Wall and How Much is Years of Paint?!

Bing Crosby - Probably Our Favorite Alum!

Another Shot

Where My Beloved Zags Play

We're the Bulldogs!

Afterwards we went out to lunch, I forced us to make a detour to the Goodwill (this thrifting obsession won't fade - and I am glad it hasn't since I found a Zag shirt for me, a Ralph Lauren Polo for Joe, and a ton of cheap books!), and then we drove to Coeur D'Alene, Idaho so the guys could hit up Cabella's and the gals could do girly shopping. Unfortunately, most of the shops were closed by the time we got there - but we were able to find a fun restaurant for dinner.

The restaurant had an awesome self-serve wine station in the basement. I'm adding this to my Christmas wish list ;) I'd like one for my kitchen and one for next to my bathtub.... hey - a girl can dream, right?!

Best.Invention.Ever.

Joe Agrees

It was another early morning this morning - with another 6:30 a.m. departure. We had to drive back to Portland for a 2 p.m. flight that was pretty delayed because our co-pilot was missing.

And now we're home! I'm uploading pics, eating leftover Easter candy (because I apparently didn't eat enough calories over the last 100 hours haha), and gearing up to watch more Walking Dead. My parents LOVE the show, and even though they are finished, are re-watching season 3 with us. We are two episodes in, and it is already my favorite season.

What a way to spend my first week as a free (from work) woman!

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New Hair for a New Chapter

So what did I do with my first day of freedom?

Got my hair did of course :)

Before and after shots for y'all:

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