unfortunately the trip down south to see my BFF and her men was canceled last minute. she’d had major braxton hicks contractions the two nights prior to our visit and was plain exhausted so we decided it’d be best for her to rest instead of entertain us :( we were both pretty bummed but it was the smart thing to do and we’re just gonna go a few weeks after the little girl is born [her due date is this coming saturday so cross your fingers…].

i spent the weekend relaxing and sorting out the basement instead. we bought a couple of plastic containers and i went through every.single.box down there. our christmas decoration is down to those two plastic containers now and overall the sh*t in the basement has shrunk by half. it’s pretty much ready for the move which honestly is a big relief. now the apartment is up next in the coming weeks…

we also picked up our new [used] kitchen last week. i talked the janitor into giving me a key to the new building so we can store stuff in our basement there, which is great. picking up the kitchen went well [my brother and ben helped]. i was exhausted by the time i got home that night [almost midnight] but i already LOVE the new kitchen.

we will have a different [white] dishwasher and didn’t take the counter top either because we have to switch around the stove and the sink anyway. also, i think i’d like a lighter color counter top but we still have to decide on that…

i love having the oven up high like that :) the whole kitchen is solid wood and in great shape. i can’t wait to see it all set up at the new place. oh and we bought this for some additional counter-/storage-space.

the latest GREAT find is our new wardrobe. it really was a lucky find because they guy had listed it on that website several times in the past few weeks but because he lives about an hour away no one was really interested before. so when i read the add the price was way down. i asked him for some photos and when it had to be picked up. when he told me that he needed to get rid of it by the end of the month told him that i really liked the wardrobe but that unfortunately it was too short of a notice to arrange for someone to pick it up. next thing i know: he offers to drop it off in bremen for an additional 15 euros (!). OF COURSE i said yes!!! so we met at the new place this past saturday at two and carried the pieces into the basement there. i LOVE the wardrobe. it’s less than a year old, in great shape, pretty solid with sliding doors and big enough to hold most of our clothes. so YAY! :)

overall things have been going more than great apartment wise. i’m relieved to have the kitchen and wardrobe at the new place already because those are two of the biggest items in the move. the basement is all set and my ex-colleague is about to sign the contract for our current apartment any day now. once that’s settled, i will be a lot more relaxed. what’s left is to hope for the workers to get our new place done a little early so we can go in before september 1st and put in carpet and laminate. but even if we won’t be able to do that it’ll be okay. in that case we’ll probably move on september 5th but we’ll see…

right now we’re in the process of trying to decide what kind of laminate to put in. we don’t have a big budget but we also don’t want the “classical” birch tree color any more. we would like something a little darker and are leaning towards walnut [nussbaum] or oak [eiche landhausdiele] right now. C more towards walnut, me more towards oak. both still too expensive but i’m determined to find one of them on sale by the middle of august!

we also haven’t decided on colors yet. we want to paint one wall in every room some kind of color but can’t seem to agree on something really. this moving together business is hard but i guess that’s part of the process. we’re [both!] pretty excited about the new place and looking forward to living there so i’m sure we will find compromises and come up with solutions. ideas anyone? pass on your ideas for inspiration. i appreciate every kind of input! oh and happy 2009 halftime. xoxoxo

seriously. especially now with the upcoming move. i’m spending so much time online trying to find bargains for the new place, it’s not even funny. BUT my patience has been rewarded a few times already and i found a few nice things online on a local site kinda like craigslist. love it.

SO, today we signed the contract for the new place. it’s official. both our names are on it = it’s going to be OUR place! if C was a little more relaxed about the whole thing i could even enjoy it and be really happy. unfortunately he’s not big with change to begin with and change that includes work + spending money is his least favorite kind of change. which is especially bad because if you know me, you know how excited i get about something i’m looking forward to and i just want someone (my PARTNER) to be excited with me. C - not so much :( i know he’s gonna eventually love the new place as well but it’s just frustrating some times and a lot of work *sigh*

over to the good news department now: we found someone who wants our current apartment. he’s an ex-co-worker of mine and wants to keep all the floors and the big closet in the bedroom = we don’t have to deal with that. in exchange he’s gonna do all the renovating himself and he even wants to buy the kitchen from us = we don’t have to deal with that either. we already pretty much have a new (used) kitchen which i like a lot and i’m gonna pick it up with my brother and (hopefully) a couple of friends on the 27th. i’m gonna try and get a key to the new place so we can put it in the basement there because it’d suck to carry all that sh*t into our current basement now just to move it again at the end of august.

i went to measure the new place last week and got even more excited. it’s going to be so nice once it’s fixed up and done - i’ve never lived in a place this nice before :) oh and we got our new washing machine last wednesday. it’s great. i mean, it washes our clothes clean and all so how could it not… what’s not so great though is the fact that we can’t close the bathroom door all the way any more. yeah, i know. that does kinda suck but it’s only for a few weeks (the bathroom in the new place is bigger and it’ll fit nicely) and we’ll be okay.

well, what else? hmmm… not much. i spent saturday with leni because her mom & dad went to a wedding in hamburg. it was fun and we had a good time together. she slept from 8 pm until 6:45 am which i guess it’s okay for a two year old. unfortunately i didn’t sleep well at all (strange place by myself, the responsibility and all that i guess…) and let’s face it: getting up at 6:45 am on a sunday sucks. which ever way you put it. also, that kid has no waking-up-phase whatsoever. she opens her eyes and she’s THERE. and talking. oh, the talking… i was pretty beat by the time i got home on sunday but nevertheless enjoyed the time with my girl :)

on friday C and i are going to head down south to see pia & mike one last time before they will be a family of four. looking forward to that because the last time i went i was so sick that i couldn’t enjoy the trip at all and certainly wasn’t great company.. plus, who knows how things will be once moritz’ little sister is here and how “easy” it’ll be to just stop by for a weekend. so jeah, looking forward to the weekend. even a little more than usually ;)

we got a new apartment. it’s the one i wrote about a few weeks ago. i am SO excited. we’re gonna move in around september 1st because they still have to fix up the whole place. if we’re lucky [and chances are pretty good] they will be done a week or two before that so we can put in a new kitchen, laminate in the living room and office andcarpet in the bedroom without having to pay double rent at all. the inspection of our current place didn’t go quite as i was expecting and he wrote down a bunch of things we still have to fix up: paint almost all the rooms, varnish the window frames, paint two of the doors… technically we’d also have to rip out the laminate, PVC and carpet BUT it looks like it won’t be a problem finding a new tenant who would be willing to do all that in exchange for the hardwood floors and some other things we plan on leaving here. which would be perfect.

one of my former colleagues looked at the place on friday and he would like to have it. before he told me that he’s looking for something i had already put an ad up on our local “craigslist” and got overwhelming feedback. so i will set up a time next week for all of those people to look at it as well but if no great offer comes along, think i’m gonna forward his information to our landlords. he already said he’d be happy to keep all the carpet, laminate and PVC as well as our old wardrobe. i would also like to leave the kitchen here, which is the one contra about giving him the place because he doesn’t have the money for that. so if one of the other people is willing to buy it for the right price i might go with them and he said he’d understand. it’s just such a p.i.t.a. to take out and move with the kitchen and i’ve been doing some research and am sure we’d be able to find a used kitchen for the price i’m asking. so we’ll see how that’s going to work out.

since our washing machine broke last week, we had also been talking about waiting to replace it until we move. there’s a washing machine in the new apartment building for everyone to use and we really don’t need to spend more money right now. but because the moving date has been postponed until september 1st and this past week has already been kinda annoying, we bought a new one tonight. i’m hoping for it to get here by wednesday so i don’t have to do laundry at a friend’s place again. we can hold out until wednesday/thursday.

so this is the front- and backside of the new apartment building. the area is so much nicer, cleaner, greener and more quiet. i can’t wait to live there. our apartment is on the second floor :)

at the same time i’m glad we still have some time to organize some things. so in the coming weeks i will be doing a lot of sorting and get rid of a lot of things i should have thrown out years ago. i seriously still have mixed-tapes from fifteen years ago flying around the apartment and all kinds of sh*t like that. it’ll be a lot of work but also liberating to get a little more organized and on top of things.

i can’t tell you how excited i am about having a guestroom/office and i already scored a nice [used] fold-out-couch for our guests to sleep on for only 35 euros. i can’t wait for breakfast in front of the big window in the living room, to shower in the brand-new white bathroom and cook in our [hopefully not too expensive and great] new kitchen. this is going to be a whole new chapter for us. it’ll be OUR place and an important and [if you ask me] overdue step forward. i cannot wait!