it's official...

kirk and i have decided to move. nothing major, but after 15 years in our current apartment, it FEELS big.

we've talked about moving for a long time...but never had any real reason to do so. our current apartment has met our needs perfectly for the past 15 years, in fact, we moved in here 1 week before our wedding!


our complex has been well kept, friendly, safe, convenient, and relatively inexpensive...until recently. management changed just over a year ago, and i hate to say it but things have been on the downhill slope ever since. the manager is a nice person, i guess, but doesn't seem to take any pride in her job. either way, the property is not looking maintained, the residents are increasingly loud (i.e. nearly coming to blows outside our door over who is louder, "don't make me come down there, bro." "do it, bro, come down here, bro" "i will bro, don't worry, i will" "then do it, man, i'll take you down, bro"...) maintenance requests go for weeks unanswered, rent continues to go up, cars are being tampered with, security gates left unlocked...you get the picture. it's bad enough we live right next door to a 24 hour restaurant & the freeway. lol.

for some reason, we've been comfortable and satisfied here despite the freeway noise & police helicopters flying around every night - because within our little community, it felt just fine. now...not so much.

so...we are moving...a mile down the street, to a very similar apartment with the same owners.

ha ha. don't laugh...ok you can laugh if you like. for 2 people who LOVE change...we sure haven't made lots of residential moves together. but say what you will.

we chose our new residence based on good word-of-mouth (from folks who've moved from here to there,) we know & love the managers there, it is farther from the freeway, it is a 2nd floor unit (great news for the earthquake fearing inner me) and the best part: a fireplace...and it's about $75/month cheaper than where we are now.

how can we go wrong, right? :)

did i mention the first month's rent is free and they are putting in new tile & double-cleaning the carpet for us before we move in? yep. they rock.

we've started packing and have moved a few boxes over that won't interfere with the tiling/carpet cleaning situation...and our final move date is later this month. so excited.

hooray for change. for cleaning out closets of the past, ridding ourselves of things that have been weighing us down, starting fresh, and making a change.

even if it is a wee little one.