Our First Apartment (Well, for now it's just his)

Before I asked Camille to marry me, we had already discussed our desires for children in the future, subtleties of combined incomes, and where we would like to live. In light of that, you would think that the proposal was completely unsurprising, but you would be wrong. The events of that day were probably just as shocking for me as they were for her (see the engagement blog).
One of the reasons all the preemptive conversation happened was the necessity of finding a place for me to live. The lease was set to run out on the house I shared with Nick, JD, and the Mike’s. I didn’t want to leave myself in the uncomfortable position of moving my things to storage and my parent’s garage as I scrambled for an apartment that would let me move in at a moment’s notice. Foregoing the romance of pretending the whole thing was a secret, we agreed that we would be married in the not too distant future and whatever I chose would eventually become ‘ours’ rather than ‘mine.’ So we began our pursuit of a place together.
At first, we searched Las Colinas. That is where the church rests, where we spend quite a bit of our time, where Camille lives now, and it is simply nice. It is a quiet, slow paced, mid-middle class haven not too far from malls, restaurants, or downtown if we need some excitement. Our efforts there showed a lot of promise, but nothing in the end that we were prepared to settle on. What we saw was either not quite the space we were looking for or a little more than we wanted to pay.
One day, on a whim, I stopped at Addison Circle, a modern loft community that is reminiscent of urban New York. The apartments are settled on the 2nd through 4th floors in most cases, sitting on top of cool courtyards, shops, a coffeehouse, and eateries. I had heard of its reputation for expense, but thought I would check anyway. It was surprisingly more affordable than I expected. It is considered ritzy, I assume, because of the modern, professional atmosphere and a minimum salary requirement. Realizing we could fit Addison into our budget, we started a more serious examination of what it had to offer.
With the help of Christie, who was wonderful, we found quarters that we consider perfect. After two or three visits we made up our mind and signed the papers. I moved in on August 15th, largely with the help of Mike and Tyler- thanks guys. When you enter in you are standing on the hardwood floor of the kitchen which is small, but functional; a good size for a one bedroom. There is enough room for oven, dishwasher and refrigerator to sit comfortably and for a few people to move around. The living room is as wide as the kitchen is long, which is skinny for a living space. Our great challenge was in discerning how to use the awkwardly shaped room. The solution was in thinking of it as two small rooms without a divider. The area closest to the kitchen has the dining room table and the far side an office area, with my desk and bookshelf.
Stairs beginning in the office area and heading to a landing above the kitchen take you to the TV room, which I rarely sit in. I have decided not to sign up for cable until after our wedding, so I am spending the next six months as profitably as possible. I have a tendency to zone out when watching TV alone and I am sure I would waste countless hours that could be better spent reading and writing. That being said, I have spent some of today watching Futurama on my laptop.
The door to the bedroom is on the left wall of the living room, opposite the staircase. The bedroom is nothing to speak of. It has enormously high ceilings, like the rest of the apartment, but other than that is a squared area with four walls. It is where I have put my favorite chair and, consequently, where I do most of my reading. It contains the door that reaches the bathroom, which is nicer than I am used to. It, too, has hardwood floors and a big garden tub. I haven’t resorted to glasses of wine a bubble baths, but if I wanted to, there is opportunity.
The apartment is nice, but not something I would necessarily put in a magazine. It is not the layout or the furniture that make it special. It is special to me, because it will be ours. It excites me whenever I think that it is not mine alone. Saying goodbye to self centeredness in regards to domicile has been easy and welcome so far. I am not naïve enough to think that everything so far has prepared me for actual coexistence, but the idea has been entirely pleasant rather than scary.

Posted by Matt