New Apartment, New Routines!

The last 2 weeks of my life have been filled with moving, settling in to my new place, and preparing to teach a 4-credit, 4-week summer course.  I promised a few people that I would share photos, so here we go.  I figured sharing via the blog would be easier than e-mail so that I can narrate.  :)

A little backstory: I was living in a 3-bedroom house in which I had to mow the lawn, shovel the snow, and pay way too much in utilities.  When I was looking to move to this town, it was all I could find that would allow me to have a cat, did not have mold eating through walls, wasn't too expensive, and didn't involve me living right next door to my students.  This house was not good for me though!  It was too big and took too much effort to take care of.   I also think there were hidden mold issues because I always felt horrible when I woke up in the morning.  I was there for nearly 2 years but I finally moved out last week!

My main worry about this move was that I was moving from a large house where I had an office and an exercise room to a 1-bedroom apartment with people living above me.  I am still adjusting.  

There are a whole lot of upsides to this place though!  I can walk to work in under 7 minutes.  I can walk to downtown in about 10 minutes.  Underground parking...I live in Wisconsin, this is a lifesaver in the winter!  Also, I am saving so much money!  The rent is cheaper, I won't be driving so much, and hopefully the utilities will be lower too.  I hope to use these savings to cover buying healthy, fresh food from the local market (which I can walk to) and farmer's market during the summer.

Health-wise, I am seeing a few other upsides to this apartment.  Since I walk to work, I can't just get in my car and drive to the grocery store at the end of the day and buy whatever cravings I am currently having.  I have to first walk home and drop my bag and lunch tote off and then head down to the basement and get my car out.  At the end of a long day, unless I have absolutely nothing to eat, I am not going to do that.  I am making my shopping trips much more deliberate and so far it has been helping me stay on track.

Photos below are of my new place.   I am still trying to figure out how to organize everything and where to shove things when my closets are full so bear that in mind when looking at my messiness.  I'm trying.  Unfortunately, my good camera is still on the fritz so I used my point and shoot,  This camera makes my cat's eyes glow which I find very creepy, so I apologize!  She was pretty comfy on the couch next to the AC.



I think this one's obvious...





Kitchen...my favorite room!

  

Living room.  Sorry for the glowing eyes on the couch.

 

Living room.  I was worried I wouldn't have enough space to workout, but I just move my ottoman and I didn't put my coffee table in this apartment.  I haven't had an issue thus far with any of the workouts I've done since moving here.  Yay! 
My cat, Bella, is hanging out on the couch....but she blends in.  Where's Waldo?

"Dining Room?"  I'm not sure what to call this area.  I had the choice between putting a desk here or my kitchen table.  I figured since I am so close to work and that my table could double as a desk, I would use the table.   It's a tight squeeze but works just fine.



So that's my new place.  I also recently downgraded my cable so I could upgrade my Netflix and watch movies and TV episodes through my Wii.  Why didn't anyone tell me to do this sooner?  It's great!  There were a number of documentaries that I wanted to see but I always forget to return the DVDs to get a new one in the mail.  I'll probably discuss these documentaries in more detail later but I highly recommend seeing Food, Inc. (also on PBS every now and then) and FoodMatters.  Both are great and give you a new perspective on what you eat and where it comes from.  Last night, I watched Killer At Large which is a documentary on obesity in America.  It was worth seeing once but it wasn't that great.