It's been a very long time since I posted on here, or anywhere. A LOT has happened since the last post. First, I accepted a full-time job, and it's the first full-time job I've had in about three years; previously I did contract and PRN work pretty successfully, until moving to Austin. I started this new job in March and quickly realized that a five-days-a-week job is pretty exhausting if you're not used to it. Definitely took some time for my body to become acclimated to that kind of schedule, but I'm used to it now and for the first time in a long time, I actually really like my job. I might even love it. Maybe. The second thing I've been up to since my last post is traveling. I went to Florida to visit family, and took a trip to New Orleans for Jazz Fest. Finally and most importantly, the main reason I have not been posting at all since March is that we got some unfortunate news regarding the teeny-tiny apartment that we rent and adore so much, and that inspired this very blog...the owners decided to sell it.
When I got the email that contained the news, I was devastated. My first thought was, "We'll never find another apartment this small." Then I realized how silly, and how true, that really was. I've just become so enamored with living in a small space, and the thought of anything larger meant I'd have to re-open my life to having and needing more things. I've also fallen in love with this particular place...it's location is perfect, being less than a mile from the river and running trails, walking distance to restaurants and entertainment and pretty much everything great that happens in Austin, and (bicycle) riding distance to my new job. Also, this apartment has such great windows that span the entire width of the place, and even better views...and it just makes this place seem open and bright and peaceful, instead of small and claustrophobic. I think I could live in a box or a train car if it just had big windows. It was also just difficult to wrap my head around the idea that we might have to move AGAIN. I've moved so many times in the past three years that I've lost count, and of those times the longest I stayed in one place was six moths, with most stays being three months or less. When we moved into this place, it was with the mindset that we'd be here for a while, definitely longer than six months; our initial lease was for a year, and I was looking forward to nesting, turning this place into a home that felt like ours. So, for a lot of reasons, it was awful to realize that we might be moving soon. Our lease wasn't up until December, and technically we had that leverage with the current owners; if we forced them to uphold our lease, any potential buyer would have to agree to allow us to stay on until our lease ended. And yet, I didn't know what situation they were in that was forcing them to sell now and wanted to be as flexible as possible for their sakes, so we let them know that, if necessary, we could end our lease sooner if the terms were fair, financially and otherwise. The owners didn't share with us why they suddenly needed to sell the place in a huge hurry, and the reality is that maybe they didn't need to sell now, they just saw an opportunity and were taking advantage of our willingness to work with them. We'll never know, but I'd rather be an accommodating person that got taken advantage of, then someone who made a tough situation even more difficult by demanding my rights.
But, in the end, things are working out better than we could have hoped. The process of selling the place was quick, and a buyer was found within days (even at the above-market price the unit was listed for). Even though the closing won't officially happen until sometime next month, we've heard from the realtor and current owners that the buyer is not interested in occupying the apartment and is thrilled to have good tenants already in place. Which means we'll definitely be staying until our current lease is up, and potentially longer if the new owners are fair and reasonable.
Long story short, I can get back to nesting in our tiny home...I haven't shared the entire place with you yet, and we've got some plans that I can't wait to tell you about, so stay tuned!
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