We're Moving...

On February 15, I came home to find a letter stuck into my door frame. It was from the apartment management, and it gave information on our new lease term. Our lease is up on April 30, so I was expecting the new rent information to come at some point. I did not, however, expect that the apartment management would increase our rent through the roof!

Mark and I currently have a one bedroom, 650 sq. foot apartment in downtown Minneapolis. We live on the 20th floor, and have an amazing view of the city from our living room. The building has great amenities, like a pool, workout room, sauna and whirlpool. We have had some problems, though. For Mark alone, the apartment size was great. Perfect for a single guy with a minimalist take on design. But for two of us? I feel a little like a sardine. I haven't had more than three hot showers in the morning in four weeks. Mark has had numerous nights where he'd come home from work at 4:00 AM and not have a place to park - in the parking lot that we pay for. So, we had talked about moving sometime in July or August. We have a lot of things going on between April and June, and thought it would just be easier to wait it out for a couple of months.

Not so much.

Apparently, our management decided that the apartment is worth much more now than it was a year ago. If Mark and I decide to stay an entire year and sign a new 12-month lease, our rent would increase $200. However, if we decided not to sign a new lease and instead to become month-to-month tenants, our rent would increase $250 plus a monthly fee of $100 for being temporary tenants, for a grand total of $350 a month. For all the issues we were having with the apartment, we weren't having that.

So, we decided to take on the endeavour of apartment searching. We looked online for three days straight, and I set up a few appointments to see some places. The first place we saw was an older building in the Warehouse District in Minneapolis. We walked in and it was old, small, and overall horrible. It had character - high ceilings, exposed brick and beams, old neighborhood. But the appliances were from the 50s. The carpet kinda smelled. The bathroom was mold covered. Due to my temporary insanity of being terrified that we'd never find a place, however, I loved it. Mark had a pretty fun time with me losing my mind, but was very calm and supportive the entire time. We moved on to the second place.

The second place was the Highland Ridge apartments in Highland Park, which is a neighborhood in St. Paul. Now, to those of you who don't live in the Twin Cities, you probably think that there is no difference between the cities. It's just one big city, really, with a river running down the middle. How wrong you are. The two cities are just as different as if they were on opposite sides of the country. Minneapolis is young, hip, trendy, and modern. St. Paul is older, more charming, and quiet. Minneapolis is chaotic. St. Paul is calming. I have lived in Minneapolis my entire life as a Minnesotan, and the idea of moving to St. Paul scared me a little at first. Mark of course had a much easier time with the idea - his home town is much closer to St. Paul and he spent many days and nights playing around the city of St. Paul with his parents. Plus, he works in St. Paul. So, I was a little reluctant to look at the next place, but I wanted to give any and every apartment a chance.

And I am SO glad that I did.

We loved this place. I mean, LOVED it. It was perfect. We walked into the lobby, where a large marble fountain welcomes you. As we walked throughout the building, we saw the pool (twice the size of the pool in our building now), the workout room, sauna, whirlpool, aerobics room (they have yoga and aerobics for their residents, free of charge), a game room, a community room. It was amazing! The building was beautiful. We finally got to the apartment itself. It was a two bedroom, two bathroom, 1010 square foot apartment with a private balcony. We walked in, and immediately fell in love. The kitchen and living room have a great flow together that leads you down the hallway to the bathroom, extra bedroom and master suite. Yeah that's right, master suite! We were both floored. Here's some pics:






The pictures of course don't do it justice, but it's wonderful. You can read all about the place here.

We told the woman right then that we loved it, and wanted it. We got a 24-hour hold on it, and I was back within 20 hours to pay our deposit and submit our applications.

So, St. Paul, here we come! I'm really excited about the new challenges and adventures that come not only with moving to a new home but moving to an all new area. I have great things to explore - like where's the bank and grocery story and movie theater? And what is the best biking and running routes? I'm really thrilled about it! And Mark even made me a deal - I get to decorate the master suite, bathrooms and living room if he can have the extra bedroom. Heck yeah! I have a feeling, though, that Mark's Swingers poster will now have a home...