A lot has changed lately and I wanted to write down some random thoughts, reflections & feelings along the way, but turns out there were many things to do and not always enough time to do them. So instead, I'll just do an all-in-one blog post going back to the last few months. hehe
I guess the big changes all started back in June, last year...June of 2009. I was driving to the gym and received a text, saying something like "...I'm ready to move in together." It was a surprise, to say the least! I'd known for a long while that I could see myself living with Juan, especially since at the time I was already visiting him at least twice during the workweek (and sleeping over) and then most of the weekends. So much to the point that my mom would jokingly call me "the visitor" whenever I'd come back home. lol So that night we talked about it all and more in the coming days. I was a bit nervous, not about the actual move, since I did feel ready for that. I was ready to start a new phase of my life with someone I love and to start learning more responsibility and how to manage things out on my own. I loved living at home, had a wonderful relationship with my family and there was never any drama. I didn't feel like I had to leave because I was intruding...it was more just me feeling ready to start this new stage. The hardest part for me was telling my family, especially my mom. I knew it was gonna be toughest on her. It usually is, right? Especially since I'm her first born and only son. Back when I first came out to her, she said "You'll always have a home here." And I always felt that love.
After our first initial moving in together talks, we kinda got a bit sidetracked in the summer and didn't look into apartments as much. Mostly because Juan was on summer break and didn't want to spend it all alone in the new apartment. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of also sidetracking my conversation about moving ou with my family. Flash forward a few months later, October. We started getting more serious again about looking for apartments. So then I finally had the talk with my family. It was tough telling my mom. I didn't know when/where was the right time. So I just kinda brought it up one night as she was washing dishes. I could tell she was a bit sad right after hearing it. It broke my heart, but I knew I had to do it, and I knew even then that it was just gonna take time and eventually (like right now, in the present) things would feel better. That same night when my dad got home (he was out on some errand) I told him about it too. He took it better (at least it seemed) and said that he understood, that there always comes a point where we all have to go out on our own. He had to do it and so did my mom, both at even younger ages and off to a whole new country, too! Me, I was just moving a 10 min good-traffic drive across the city. I had it easy. hehe
So in the coming weeks we looked through several ads and postings and hit up a few open houses. We agreed on the Culver City general areas, since it was a convenient/nice area that was between both our jobs. Having never lived in an apartment or done apartment hunting, I didn't know exactly what to look for. One of the very first apartments we looked at really struck us. It was a nice building, small & quiet, didn't have that hotel feel to it, and the apartment itself looked roomy, clean and full of closets & storage. But like any smart purchase, you should never just go with the first thing you like. We looked around at some more apartments. Some were ok but just something about them didn't strike us. Others were just kinda crappy! Our main concern was to just have a nice, clean apartment that wasn't completely falling apart. I know that you'll never really have the PERFECT apartment. There's gonna be a crack here, a missing piece there, etc. But we wanted something nice, and after seeing several choices that one apartment we saw at the beginning was still standing out among the picks. So we went back for a second look. There were actually two apartments vacant, the one we saw was downstairs so we checked out the upstairs one this time. We loved that one even more! In the end, that's the one we got! :)
It was the Monday after the AIDS Walk that we made it official. I took the day off from work so I could take care of business. We went to the apartment's management offices in Santa Monica to speak to the man who we had sent in the initial application to. I think we caught him at a bad time because he seemed to have some kind of attitude. He told us if we wanted it at the current price we'd have to bring him the money (cashier's check) that same day. As we left briefly to the bank, we were left with a bad vibe from that man. But I told Juan, "Don't let his attitude affect our decision, after today we probably don't even have to see him anymore." So we brushed his attitude aside, got our check, went back and turned it in. Signed the dotted lines, got the keys and voila! We were now officially the apartment's new tenants! And yes, that man had a better attitude then. hehe
A day or two later I picked up the new set of keys from our apartment and I started to move some of my stuff in little by little, as much as I could fit in my car trunk. I'd keep it in my parking garage at work and then drive it to the apartment during lunch (it's just a 15 mins or so drive). I did that most of that week during the day, and then at night we'd go look at furniture stores together. We needed to get some of the basic furnishings (bed, dressers, table, chairs, sofas, tv stand, etc). We were starting from scratch. We needed a fridge too, so I went to buy one while Juan went to pick out the sofas. Teamwork!
That next weekend we came into the apartment early on Saturday, October 24th, to wait for some of the furniture to be delivered. We ended up spending our first night in our new apartment that day, since we had a bed now. The next few weeks was spent doing a lot of random shopping sprees at the markets, Targets and other stores, buying anything we needed, from laundry baskets to trash cans to cooking utensils to cleaning supplies to....well, you get the idea. Fortunately we both had some savings to use, too. It seemed like a lot of spending but I knew it was only a one-time-period kind of deal. It's not like we could take all that stuff away from our family's homes. lol So we had to get a lot of things from the start. But once we had them, down the road the spending would be cut down to just the weekly necessities (food, restocking, etc.).
It took a couple months but eventually we reached a point where it felt like things were finally settled in. It felt like the moving process was finally done! Even now though, I know we still have lots of empty walls and a few empty corners that we can put stuff, but we have the main stuff we needed. We'll get more things along the way as time & money permit. We both have ideas of what we wanna do, but I guess we've been enjoying actually LIVING in our apartment now that we keep forgetting to work on more of the decorating. hehe Anyone know an interior decorator that will work for cheap? I'll feed him/her. hehe
Oh and speaking of feeding....there's the whole new world of cooking that I've been exploring! lol I don't particularly enjoy cooking...it's just another chore to me! But the end result is fun. Knowing that something I made is going into my man's tummy and making him happy is worth it! hehe I'm not good at making creative dishes with all kinds of spices and exotic tastes. My meals tend to be more basic. A couple of ingredients here and there thrown together. hehe But oh well, as long as we don't just have to eat sandwiches and frozen meals. :) Just this past week I made some spaghetti and fettucini alfredo, and some burgers and bbq chicken in the past weeks too. All pretty basic stuff, but we both love them. I need my own little Remy the rat to help me out!
So overall it's been a wonderful experience living together. Like any other couple we both have our grumpy moments. But we just take our time-outs and one goes to the bedroom while the other goes to the living room, and with time we miss each other and it's all forgiven. hehe But we've never been the couple to have huge serious fights, just random little silly arguments that are just as quickly forgotten. :) Along with the new apartment came new responsibilities: bills, laundry, ironing, cleaning, groceries, etc. More chores and work than before, but bring it on I say! So far we've managed to keep up with bills, not ruin any laundry, not burn my clothes and I've kept the house clean. So far, so good! We haven't met all our neighbors just yet, but the ones we did so far have been nice & friendly. It took some getting used to the new area too. Parking anywhere you go around here can be a challenge, but we find ways around it. I do like how there's more variety of people around here. Nothing against my East LA people, but it's nice running into people from all over around here. Whenever we go to the stores and markets I always hear random accents. Plus, lots of handsome guys too. hehe
The fact that I can sit down and write this blog means that things are more settled now. The whole hectic period of moving in and setting up finally passed and we can relax and enjoy our time now. We've had a few people over already and I still want to have more friends come by. I can't wait! But being the clean freak that I am, don't be surprised if you see me with a little dust pan walking behind you. LOL j/k
So I'm happy. I love our apartment, love the area and am as excited as ever for this new stage. I hope that the coming months & years are as good as ever, not just for us, but for our families and all our friends.
I think I hear the all too familiar sound of the Wii being turned on in the living room now! Time to log off and head on out there! :)
