Found one!

It's the calm before the storm; This weekend's going to be a whirlwind. Massive wedding at Bolton, party all night tonight, Closing on our apartment hopefully (Yes, we found one!) but more on that in a minute. Then a drive to New York State to meet my potential Bernese Mountain Dog in laws. Lots to do still before the wedding and at the moment I'm just enjoying some quiet time with JC Penny's who, seems to be feeling my stress lately and won't stop following me around resting by my feet / mrowling inquisitively at me. I think she senses my nervousness... that or she wants me to switch her back to "Mariner's Catch" and lay of the "Mixed Grill"... but i say cmon' it's grilling season, live a little.

We found an apartment, i still can't fucking believe it. When we set out i was skeptical, by the 2nd week, i was flat out disgusted. This town, with all it's beautiful Victorians and townhouses seemed so out of reach. Mostly because I want a dog... But we had other lofty apartment goals we wanted to see met, and we were willing to give it a shot:

1. eat in kitchen; large enough for two people to cook together and eat in.
2. Open floor plan: No claustrophobic hallways and tiny rooms. We need space if we're going to live together happily. that leads to #3
3. 2 Bedrooms - we can't sleep in the same bed together... we're not married. (Ha!) we want an office, or a place where when we want our personal time, we can have it.
4. Yard?
5. Washer/dryer/dishwasher?
6. Classic style, wood trim, etc - There are too many beautiful old homes in this town to live in a box, i want to see weird angles, rounded corners, lattice work and ornate wood staircases...
7. A landlord that's not insane!
8. Animal friendly.
9. Affordable.

IMPOSSIBLE i said. I thought at least, outwardly i was stoic. But the impossible happened, after viewing a lovely place and the end of S Union that we felt was a little to far away from our works, we were asked if we wanted to look at a unit right downtown, but that wouldn't be ready till august (perfect) as it was being completely renovated into a 2 bedroom. We thought, what the heck couldn't hurt. The spot was on Orchard Terrace, only a block from both our respective current apartments, and a block from work and play... what we saw was a dream; everything on that list was there, in spades... albeit, gutted, covered in dust, busted up sheet rock, nails and random splitters and exposed wiring.
Thankfully we have active imaginations. It's going to be beautiful mark my words, JC is going to love all the south facing windows in the kitchen and the dogs going to love the backyard. Jenny and I are going to love having all of you over as soon as everything calms down in the Autumn and life gets a little more relaxed.

Right now, i have to go buy some converse all-stars to go with my brown suit.