hello.hello.hola.

hello friends!
you know that we've been on a house hunt, right?

So, two months ago, we pulled out our metro map and began to pinpoint stops that were strategic - stops that were easily accessible and could efficiently take Joshua all the places he needs to go on a weekly basis (because he's a city-traveling fiend, I tell you!)
. . . . And so we began to visit those metro stops - one by one; we would walk a ten minute radius of that metro stop - looking at the street life, the restaurants, the schools, the church buildings, the parks, the social meeting points, and the quantity of dog poop on the sidewalks (just kidding . . . kind-of).   We would walk with cell phones in hand - - calling the telephone numbers on for rent banners that hung in the windows of vacant apartments.

dang.  house hunting is serious business.

(seriously, though, why can't people just put the number of rooms and the price of the rent on those banners too?  it would have saved us from calling about 20 apartments that were way above our price range, and 20 more that were only one bedroom)

Well, on one of our walks, I saw it:
a red tiled building
with beautiful old windows,
on a street lined with big trees and coffee shops;
it was just right.
There were no banners hanging anywhere,
but there were empty windows (ah, yes . . . there were empty windows!)
So I waved my arms and gesticulated at the doorman on the bottom floor long enough to convince him to come out and ask me what I wanted.
We were ideal renters, I told him - didn't he know of anyone in the building who might want to rent out their empty apartment to a lovely little family? (we didn't have the kids with us, so it was easier to look calm and ideal)  He thought there might be, so we left our information,
and waited;
and were never called back.

But two weeks later, we were walking through the neighborhood again (because really, I had fallen in love with the neighborhood)
and
goodness gracious!
there were two huge for-rent banners hanging from that red-tiled building!
We called.
Apparently, the entire building had been purchased; there was an apartment up for rent.
three bedrooms.
within our budget.

We asked if we could see it, and the manager was hesitant - he said that it needed a lot of work done on it before he could show anyone.  I told him we weren't easily scared off; I begged to see it. (although, I tried to sound less like I was begging and more like I was a professional, strong woman making a request)

In the end we did get to see it, and it does need a lot of work . . . but I'm smitten.

it's not ours yet; we still need a few more details to fall into place before we actually commit.
but I'm hoping
hoping
hoping
(and praying!)
that it's the right place for us.

here:  take a peek;  isn't it perfect?
the kitchen,
a bedroom
and the view from the rooftop