Somewhere To Lay My Head

I had an amazing birthday! Not just because it was my birthday and was able to hang out with my friends but because I officially found out that I got an apartment at the complex I was really wanting to live at!!! Well, technically I found out on Friday but on Saturday (my birthday) was when I signed the lease agreement and faxed it it back which officially claimed unit #611 as mine. It's mine, all mine...muhahahahaha...

I'm sure you can see why my birthday rocked so much. That and Jaslynn, Lauren, Lindsay, Chris and I all went to see Wall-E before I went to dinner with the family. Then Sunday, to further extend the birthday celebration, Jaslynn, Becca and I went mini-golfing at Boomers, out to dinner and had some Yogurt Creations. (For those of you that don't know, Yogurt Creations is an amazing frozen yogurt place where you get to build your own treat) I amazingly got a hole in one while golfing (yes, that's without cheating!) and I'm not counting the hole in one we all gave ourselves for the hole that was out of order. I even won, and I'm not talking about winning like Grandma wins at these low-score-wins type games. After mastering the putting greens, and Jaslynn driving her golf ball deep into the "pond" we head inside to try our hand at the arcade games. Becca, as usual, gravitated towards the ticket winning games because she always kicks butt while Jaslynn and I played games such as air hockey and a water rafting race where you have to paddle the oars. By the last stretch of that one my arms were killing me! Once we, or should I say Becca, were done winning tickets and playing games we turned in our few hundred tickets to get our awesome prizes. We all picked out some stylin' gellie bracelets, temporary tattoos (that we applied in the parking lot), a raspberry eraser, and on of those springs that looks like a rubber ball was cut in half. Yep, good loot. And yes I really did just turn 23, not 13.

After our athletic endeavors, we were famished and because nobody over the age of 15 eats at Boomers, we went to dinner at Red Robin. I absolutely love their Raspberry Limeade!! In fact they come in the coolest glasses..kind of curved with a red stripe twirling up around it. Well, I commented that I'd love a glass like that and so Jaslynn, being the awesome friend that she is, asked our waiter if "seeing as it's my friend's birthday, is there anyway she could get one of these glasses?" To which he replied, "I think I could manage that, do you have any way to sneak it out?" I didn't realize until later that we can buy the glasses for $5 a pop, and that probably because we're so cute and Jaslynn asked nicely and it was my birthday he just gave it to me on the house. :) Birthday's rock.


So, the other day I was thinking, 'Self, you have a school to go to, a place to live, a plan of places to apply for jobs at, what else do you need?' And to that I replied, 'Kitchen stuff and a couch!!!' Well this week, both of those needs have been payed attention to, with many thanks going out to Grandma N. and dad's co-worker, John. I found out that John recently got a new couch so is selling me his old one, which has one of those nifty beds that folds out perfect for visitors coming to buy me dinner! I don't even know what the couch looks like but I don't care because I get a couch and that's way better than my previous plan of just getting a futon! And on Saturday a FedEx package arrived from Grandma containing a plethora of kitchen goodies! Sadly, I don't mean chocolate chip cookies, I'm talking about silverware, pots, an ice cream scoop, hand mixer, and other wondrous items. I'm very excited about the hand mixer because I love to bake cake and it's just fun to use the mixer and then you have to lick the batter off the beaters as the cake bakes. Mmmmm...chocolate cake. But even better than the fact that I can bake chocolate cake is that this is the exact same mixer that we have here! When I first pulled it out of the box I had to pause a second to remember that I had opened the box because I thought dad was messing with me by putting our mixer in there. But no, it was just the same style, classic! I joked that at least I won't have any questions about how to use it.


So that pretty much catches everyone up on the more important happenings the past few weeks. Next up for me: my final day at the bank (thank goodness!) and a mini vacation to Ruth Lake and the Winchester Mystery House!!!! I am so excited to go to the WMH, I've been wanting to go for a long time. Expect photos for that one!

Loves!

Be Very, Very Quiet...We're Apartment Hunting

About two weeks ago Dad and I drove up to Bakersfield to look for an apartment for me come August. This is the second time we've been up, the first time with for transfer student orientation back in April. Well this time we had a real map and we knew how to use it. Also, Dad has a colleague that lives in Bakersfield and he was kind enough to highlight on said map the areas that would be good to live in. Basically he drew a giant "E" on the west side of the city, though from our previous visit and adventures around town dad and I knew that the east side would probably best be avoided. Not to say that the east side is bad...but there sure are a lot of bars on some of the neighborhood windows...plus the campus is on the west side of town so I'd have farther to drive. Not that it'd be any farther than the 20-35 miles I have been driving to campus the last few years, but hey, with gas prices at twenty trillion dollars a gallon who wants to drive?

Well at about 4:00pm in about 119 degree heat on Saturday Dad and I (well, probably less Dad and more me) were getting slightly frustrated because the apartment complex on Chuck Norris Ave, which we figured would be our cheap go to apartment complex if we couldn't find anything stellar closer to campus, doesn't rent to full-time students. In fact, many of the complexes we visited in the northern 'E' don't rent to full-time students. Something about how students are too low income but with a co-signer we then are too high income to qualify...baloney snot if you ask me. Oh, by the way, the street isn't really called Chuck Norris Ave, it's just Norris Ave but we "fondly" call it Chuck Norris. Really, if Conan O'Brian can show random Chuck Norris/Walker Texas Ranger clips, why can't we re-name streets for our amusement?

Dad and I, after stopping by Sonic for Happy Hour to cool off and reload my cup holders, decided to do a drive around closer to the school in the southern part of the 'E'. At about one block south and two blocks east from campus we happened across Super Cool Apartments. I 'bat-turned' into the complex (if you don't know the term 'bat-turn' you don't ride with me that much, hehe) and hustled ourselves from the A/C of the car to the A/C of the leasing office. There we met Janelle, a leasing consultant, and asked "How much is the rent on a one bedroom apartment and do you accept full-time students?" As she started to answer I pulled my towel from my back pocket to throw it in if need be, but rent is within our price range and they rent to full-time students! We chatted a bit longer about what's offered and were able to tour one of the one bedroom apartments that was currently vacant. It's nothing crazy phenomenal but it's really nice and I can see it as being my home while at school. Here's the layout:


If you are sitting there thinking, "Does that really say 'laundry'?" why yes, yes it does say laundry. Each and every apartment has it's own spiffy stacking washer and dryer unit as well as it's own water heater! The fact that I don't have to worry if my neighbor gets up one hour before me to take a one hour long hot shower every morning is fan-stinkin-tastic! And yes, that is also my own patio/balcony depending on if I'm first or second floor with private storage room/closet. In fact, I dig this place so much I'm going to brag about it for a bit here. It's fair, it's my blog and I've warned you. Some of the favorite community features are: clubhouse, two swimming pools, wading pool and spa, car wash, two lighted tennis courts, fitness center, covered parking, basketball court, volleyball court, RV parking, 24 hour maintenance service, A/C, playground, free ice cream, fridge, micro, oven, dishwasher, pets allowed (with pet deposit), free vacuum rentals, light bulbs available at the office... Yes, I did say free ice cream. While Dad and I were touring the apartment he checked the freezer and jokingly stated that there was no ice cream. Janelle pulled out her walkie-talkie and said that it was unacceptable and that we needed immediate maintenance service to re-stock the ice cream, kiddingly of course. So now, Dad and I joke that I can't turn down this apartment because it has free ice cream.

I took an application to the apartment complex and right now it's where I am planning on living come August/September. Unfortunately, they said they wouldn't know for sure if they will have vacancies until one month before so I wasn't able to apply on the spot. But now that it's July I can apply! I'm currently in the process of emailing them to verify if they will have a one bedroom apartment available in August, I'm hoping to move up early to find a job and earn some money before classes start September 15th. Also, I am filling out the application and had my signature notarized this afternoon at work by my co-worker Karen, Senior New Accounts Extraordinare. Typically the bank charges $10 per signature notarized but since as a notary public Karen works for the state she can choose whether to charge or not and she did mine at no charge! I love Karen. :) She doesn't know this but I'm going to give her a bottle of wine for being awesome and as kind of a good-bye from me when I leave the bank. We had hosted a chamber mixer at our branch one evening and there was a ton of unopened wine leftover so those of us that helped clean up got to take home three bottles minimum. Nice for those that drink wine but I am not too fond of it so mine are all being gifted out. Bribes accepted. ;) Kidding, kind of.

Ok, now that all the most current happenings on the apartment front are covered, I'm ending this essay. You're welcome and lots of loves to you.