Home is where the blender is

It's funny how a place doesn't really feel like home until it has all of your worldly belongings in it. We've been living in Austin about three weeks (more for Sam), and as of a furious weekend of unpacking, we finally have a real and functional apartment. No longer are we sitting cross-legged on the ground, re-washing plastic cups, and talking about how shallow and materialistic we are for missing our high end blender. Now we're sitting on couches and chairs and can revel in very-un-Buddhist smoothie making with abandon! Beds that don't inflate also have a renewed importance to me. 

Anyway, as I sit typing this from my couch, with my feet on a coffee table, on a laptop that is connected to the Internet through wireless magic (that this is a novelty is really my own fault because I forgot to pack the wireless router in my suitcase), I just wanted to share a few pictures from our newly furnished pad. 

Here is the kitchen! The finishes are a bit cheaper than our previous places (say what you will about landlords weaseling out of rent stabilization, but it does make them have to spend more on fancy appliances), but it'll do the job. Now I no longer have to limit my cooking repertoire to what I can make in a single sauce pan and pot combo. We've been eating a lot of pasta. 

This is the dining area corner adjacent to the kitchen. We're really enjoying eating meals at a proper table. It was a bit touch and go for a bit while the movers couldn't figure out how to put all the pieces of the table back together, but luckily they persevered.

This is perhaps my favorite room in the house. We finally have an office! This means not only do I not have to work in the living room, but Sam will not keep me up when he's working late at night, as his desk is no longer in our bedroom. Additionally, we have a walk-in closet devoted just to The Bard's Cards stuff, so that won't be piled alongside our bed anymore. I should also add that this room will be our guest room should anyone reading this like to visit! To those who aren't sick to death of air mattresses, it could really be quite comfortable. There's also a futon option.

The bedroom. Doesn't really photograph well, but it's a bit bigger than it looks and also has a walk-in closet. I suppose it's a shame I gave away a good chunk of my wardrobe for the move, although I don't really miss any of it. In fact, I realized even though all my other clothes have arrived, I keep wearing the same few favorite things I'd brought with me originally. It's not the clothes I missed, just the kitchen appliances.

Finally, here's the living room! It can be kind of hard to get the layout from the order I put these, but basically you walk into this room and the dining area/kitchen is directly across. You can also see our little balcony. It doesn't get much sun during the day, which is great for keeping the apartment cool, although not so great for my attempted patio garden. Also, not great for my patio garden is Dinah insisting on eating everything except the wheatgrass we expressly bought for her to eat. She is enjoying the balcony as much as we are though. It's really nice to be able to sit outside with a cup of coffee in the morning or a beer in the evening. I guess hypothetically I could be typing this out there too. Wireless internet is a wondrous thing.

Anyway, thanks for those who expressed concern during our time of exile in an empty apartment. I'm happy to say that we firmly settled in. So I guess we live here now.