Chez Moi

Princess William asked me today on the phone when was the last time I actually got to pick my own apartment out. Hmmm...2005 in the UAE. And before that...1997 in college. Actually, I sort of got to pick my place in Portugal. I went with the bossman to look at three places, two of which were terrible and one of which (at the time) was (seemed) amazing. It didn't seem like much of a choice, really, but I wasn't complaining.

I didn't get to pick this place. I did choose to live here, though. Some friends of mine went to the states for a year, and were going to put all their things in storage for the time. I offered to live in their place so that (a) they could return to the same apartment when they got back to France and (b) I could save up awhile longer for furniture and appliances and (c) take my time looking for an apartment.

So I'm here now, and in about six months I'll begin the process of looking for my own place. Once I find that place, I can still live out of this one while looking for furniture and moving things slowly over to my new place. I love not being rushed into big decisions. And this apartment is really great. It's HUGE. When you figure that in the last two years, I was pretty much homeless, living in a hotel, sleeping on a futon in a children's playroom, etc., this place feels like a mansion!

It has a massive balcony, a massive (especially for France) kitchen (with a dishwasher!!!), a big living room, two bedrooms, and two baths. And about 40 closets.

Here's the living room/dining room/office.

From the other angle.

It's a super quiet apartment, which is wonderful. It's near a bus line that gets me to the downtown touristy area pretty easily, and on one of the metro lines, and it's about 3 kms from the beach. I feel like I'm pretty far from camelridingcowgirl and Classy Spice, but hey...same city is better than 4 hours on a bullet train or with an ocean between us.

It's so wonderful to finally, after all these years, have a place that is mine. That I can call home. Where I can put down some roots. Just wonderful.