Friday, February 27, 2009

5 floors up

Last night I had a full nights sleep. This set the stage for a wonderful day.

I'm feeling much better. My body no longer has that exhausted feeling and I'm blowing my nose much less.

At 10am I met a friend at the Evite museum for breakfast. The museum has a beautiful patio out back. It's very charming. We spent a couple hours chatting over coffee and scones (scons). The scones turned out to be sugar cookies; like the kind you eat at christmas. Much like the nachos served with mustard here...I should have learned not to get my hopes up. I'll be sticking to the medialunas from now on.

At 12:30 I returned to the apartment to finish up packing. My strategy (even though it's just 5 floors up by elevator) was to take majority of my clothes (that were dirty) to the lavendaria (place that washes the clothes for you). Even still, to my surprise, everything fit in my two suitcases and one backpack....ok ok, plus two plastic bags too.


(photo below: Mitch ready for the move)

My roommate said she would help me move. Even though it was just an elevator ride away I wanted the help / support, but she bailed. She bailed because my new landlord / neighbor moved the move-in-time by one hour. After I told her the news, she groaned and said 'oh but it's so beautiful outside' to which i replied 'you don't have to help'. 'oh are you sure?'......

It's not that she bailed that upsets me, it's that she didn't want to do it in the first place, even though she offered. Last night at 1am she said 'oh i'd rather go get sun' to which i replied 'no problem, can you just let me know so that i can ask a friend'.....she wavered then said 'no, i promised you, i'll help you'. This morning she asked me to be home from breakfast at 12:30 so that we could walk to the lavenderia together. I was home by 12:30, but she wasn't ready to go until 2pm.

3pm (moving time rolled around) and she was still at the apartment. I already texted my friend who I met up with for breakfast asking her to help me. She was so kind to come over. Once she was in my room, ready to help me move my roommate came in and said, 'i can help you if you want'. My roommate also wanted to come up to ask my landlord/neighbor about another apartment that he has that she is interested in. I told her that my friend just came over to help, that I didn't need her help and that I rather meet with the landlord/neighbor by myself to get everything straightened away with the apartment. (just a lil bit peeved by her not keeping a promise, then bailing on me last min, then asking to help so that she could 'get something' out of the deal.)

My friend helped me jam everything into the elevator (which is tiny...we both barely fit with all my things, but we made it happen).

5 floors up....even though the new apartment has many, but little, needed repairs (that he will fix while I live here) my neighbor / landlord went Well-Well-out-of-his-way to make it feel like home instantly. There were flowers on the table and everything was clean and put away. Just today he bought new sheets, pillow and comforter. He not only bought new sheets but he made up the bed too. He wasn't pleased with the dishes he found at the store, so he is loaning me a few of his until he finds nicer ones. How Welcoming!

He showed me around and then he excitedly showed me the kitchen. He opened the frig where there was a bottle of sparkling water, one beer and a bottle of champagne. He said "here's some champagne for you to drink tonight to celebrate your new apartment."

These past few months I've felt so lucky that so much has gone well for me. Today is one of those days. Much like an unlucky person, I can't stop asking 'why me'?

(photo below: my new livingroom. he told me it gets blindingly bright in the mornings.)
(photo below: the ruff part of the wall is where there was once a hallway that connected the neighboring apartment. the plaster needs to dry first and then will be painted)

(photo below: once the other room is finished being repaired I'll move my bedroom there; it's bigger but for now this room is cozy with a large closet. it's also freshly painted)
(photo below: balcony WITH PLANTS (which i love). i'm also above the tree tops, so i get to look at more green)
(photo below: another view from my balcony)
(photo below: all the way down....)

6 comments:

curator of cute said...

omj! i love your new place. how super sweet of your landlord to stock your fridge for a little celebrating :)

yillabean said...

i know i know, that was super kind of him to do.

i really like the new place too.

i can't wait for the blast of sunshine tomorrow morning!

Nancy said...

I am so glad you are feeling better. The apartment looks great and the landlord sounds sweet... the new sheets, beverages, etc. Enjoy! That is so lame of the roomie.

Anonymous said...

It looks great, Yill. Your balcony is better than ours. Wouldn't it be nice if you could just stay there?

By the way, we are just back from having easily the best meal we have had in Buenos Aires. At Francesco, on Sinclair, owned by some chef from Lima, Peru. The ceviche was as good as one gets in high class joints in LA. But ... really expensive.

jenna said...

Wow, great place! I hope something works out so that you can stay, with a roommate or something. Your landlord is a doll, too.

I know you won't miss your old roomie, but will you miss AcrobatCat?

yillabean said...

My roommate is a good person. She's very positive thinking and has a lot of energy, she just happens not to be too reliable. Now that I know this, I can better plan when I hang out with her.

I'm not a cat person and I've never been interested in cats....but Acrobat Cat had dog like features. I'll miss teasing her, her fake attacking me and her waiting for me at the door when I arrived home. She very was entertaining.