Spring Cleaning and Soul Cleansing

I must have caught the Spring Clean Bug! My house has gone through a major transformation this past week! It all started with moving one table.. And it was like the book "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie." In order to move the table, I had to move the shelf, in order to move that shelf I had to rearrange the closet, and before I knew it I was buying a new couch! 

All last week was spent rearranging my furniture or organizing my home! I had some projects I wanted to work on, but I just couldn't focus until I got it all done. Sterling and I have often joked about writing about book. "If You Give Rachael A Project." Because like the original book, "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie" one things eventually leads to another until something either genius or disastrous happens. 

I'm hoping this week's couch purchase ends up being a good one. 

I'll post photos on Instagram tonight! 

It was 1 in the morning when I rubbed my tired eyes and told Sterling he was totally right to tease me about that book. But I can't help it. My mind just works like that!

I've been living in this apartment for 6 months now! I can't believe it's been that long. Time has flown by. This apartment is small, so I didn't thing rearranging the furniture would even be possible, but it looks great. It's so open, fresh and beautiful. I've also been following some rules for Feng Shui lately and I'm already feeling so much better. The energy of the house feels lighter and fresher. 

Plus, I strongly believe that cleaning a home is a metaphor for cleansing the soul. As I donate and release old things from my home, I release old energetic cords, emotions and memories. It makes space in both the home and the soul for something new. Rearranging furniture, and organizing items in your home helps rearrange memories, thoughts and ideas that come up.. leaving you with a new perspective and outlook.  

I'll be sharing an entire blog post dedicated to those two elements very soon! I've had a lot of messages and comments about my process of keeping my house beautiful and clean.

I'm just waiting on that couch to be delivered! 

I'm hoping as soon as the couch is here I can be done with this spring cleaning process! As much as I love it, I'm ready to start painting again and getting those decks going! 

Plus, I need to get some better photos of my house! These instagram photos just aren't doing it for me anymore.

My Happy Spot

I have a happy spot. It's nestled next to my easel, covered in pillows and overlooks the hill. I get a pretty good view of the city, and at night when it rains.. it's pure magic.

I knew it was my spot before I even signed the lease. I knew which pillows I would line the windowsill with. I knew I would have plants and crystals near it. I knew it would be somewhere I would go daily.

I have some vines growing from the ceiling that are one day going to engulf the area.

Everything about this spot is magic. I am even territorial about my spot. It's my space for healing, relaxing and sitting. Of course, it's also my home. So I get to be territorial.

This is where Merlin and I sit each morning and night. Sometimes I sip hot cocoa, sometimes coffee or tea.

My spot overlooks the city as well as part of our courtyard. The great thing about my complex, is everyone has a separate back door. The front doors are always locked and a bit hard to get to. I've used my front door a handful of times, it's just more practical to go through the back door where I have a private staircase. No one uses their front doors here at the complex, so there isn't much traffic in the courtyard. I've also noticed no one else sits in their windows like I do. Everyone keeps their blinds closed. I know each unit is different, and mine may be one of the only ones with low windows like this.. but it's nice that I can sit in my spot and not worry about anyone watching me, or noticing me as I watch them.

I love to watch the traffic on 1st avenue. It's mostly people walking by slowly. Going in and out of the little connivence store, waiting for the bus, or waiting for a taxi.

I've never been one to people watch unless I'm at a great distance. I have such a hard time with crowds and people watching in crowds makes me anxious and tired. I'm not sure how other empaths do it, but I tend to take on emotions and feelings of others when I'm near too many people. I haven't stepped foot in the mall or a movie theater in over 2 years.

But people watching from my window is nice. Because looking at the small individual walking with purpose, with the glittering city backdrop is beautiful.

This spot always gives me the greatest ideas of what to paint or draw.. and my next painting.... I'm hoping to paint my spot. Or at least something like it.

Having a happy place has become very important to me. This is where I go to get grounded, inspired, and centered.

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My Dream Apartment

Guys!! I did it. I found my dream apartment! And I really do mean dream apartment. I dreamed it up a few months ago!! Here is the story, and sorry, this blog post may be a bit long...

This weekend was absolutely nuts. I had no idea this weekend would turn out the way it did.

It started off with a tour of Art Space housing. I mentioned on here how much I wanted to live at Art Space. I was told by several people it was extremely hard to get into. Some of them are income based, and some of them aren't. They are beautiful apartments with exposed pipes, cement floors, and a very "arty" feel. Some of them require a portfolio too. I was pretty excited we found an opening!

Art Space allowed pets and had an art studio. We liked it, but for some reason it just didn't feel right.. Like, I can't explain it... that apartment was perfectly in my price range, allowed pets, and was art space!! But, we were right across the street from a homeless shelter, the dogs and I would also have to walk pretty far for them to find grass. It was right in the middle of downtown.. Plus they had a 2 pet only policy.. and I really don't feel comfortable "sneaking" a pet in... 

 I loved the apartment, but still felt unsure about how some things would work. 

We decided to not put the deposit down until we knew. 

We drove around and scoped out the area, got some phone numbers an searched for "For Rent" signs.. It was disappointing. We just couldn't find anything! We later met with Sterling's sister. We talked to her about our fears.. figured we could make things work at art space. She mentioned her place might have openings, but she wasn't sure of the policy with pets. The office hours were closed, but we took note of the complexes number. 

That's when we got a plot twist. The car wouldn't start! The car had been giving us problems.. not starting, not staying charged, certain things would go out. We tried to work with it. Jump it with a little battery starter or get it jump started by other people. Anyways, as we left Sterling sister's house the car wouldn't start at all! Nothing would get it to work.. So we decided to de-stress by taking a walk around the block. 

We talked about how hard it is being adults. The car not starting.. things being hard with moving. It's been really difficult finding a new place to live! I have checked craigslist daily, and haven't found anything. As we walked we stopped in front of this building. 

I stopped in awe and took pictures. I dreamed about this place! I recognized it from a dream! We then got back to the car, where someone helped us jump it and we were on our way.. distraught that we still didn't have a place.

The next day the car wouldn't start at all. After walking to an auto store 3 times, getting it tested, and buying a new battery we finally got it working.  It was stressful, we didn't know if it was the alternator, the battery or the starter. We hoped it would be the battery, as that would be cheapest. As we walked to the auto shop I mentioned maybe we needed to put our money and energy into a new car... maybe moving wouldn't work yet and we would have to stay a few more months, maybe move in the spring. We couldn't find a place, our car wasn't working.. life was stressful and expensive. 

Once we figured out it was just the battery we started driving to charge things up. 

It was Saturday so I figured no one was open, but I was still decided to call some of the numbers we took down the day before. On a whim, I looked up Jenica's (Sterling's sister) apartment management. They have tons of complexes so I hoped they had an opening. Since it was Saturday I thought I would just leave a message. Turns out they were open,  I told them we were on our way. 

It was totally unexpected, but they had an opening. A HUGE one bedroom, with an extra "mud" room.. Pet friendly, with a very low deposit and a month free. 

Best part? 

The apartment was in the exact same building I dreamed about! 

We walked in, and I was in love. 

The Mud room. 

The kitchen. look at that sink!! And those details... The hinges.. 

The door knobs are all original. 

The living room is huge! 

The bedroom's back door.

The apartments were built in 1910 in one of the first neighborhoods here. We are about one block from the city, on a hill... so when we take the dogs on a walk we will see the view! We are right next to a few cathedrals who chime on the hour.  Everything seemed to fit into place. The apartment has a lot of the old antique features, like the original knobs and hinges. It has some exposed pipes like the Art Space had, but is much bigger. There is soooo much storage too! The living space in the new place is twice as big as where I am here! We can paint, and do what we want as long as we don't ruin anything. It's amazing. I thought about using the mud room for the art studio, but since it will be one of the main entrances we decided to incorporate the studio into the entire house! Meaning the living room space will be the studio, but with living space in there too. That might not make sense.. but I'll post pictures. We have a little back yard space that is shared with other tenants as well as a beautiful court yard. 

There are a few down sides, but I really think we can make it work. It's a bit more expensive than I hoped.. but I think we can make it work. Like a gold fish grows as big as his bowl... we are entering a new bowl, and with it, we will grow. 

We are also situated very very near the mail box for our unit. This means several tenants will be checking their mail outside our door.. every single day as well as the mail man coming. We are near the entrance so there will be so much traffic near our place! The dogs are going to have a very hard time adjusting. They bark at everything already! So, I've got some training to do.. I'm pretty nervous about their transition.. so any tips would be great. They can be very barky dogs.. and I would hate to get complaints about them! I am thinking about posting a little note by the mailbox explaining my dogs are new to city life. 

We get to move in in two weeks! So much sooner than I thought.. So I have been scrambling around packing, cleaning, changing addresses, and getting things figured out. Two weeks! 

I absolutely can't wait to move in. It's beautiful. We had such a good feeling in there. It has all the things I loved about the art space, but so much more. Plus it's in such a safer neighborhood. 

It's such a charming apartment that feels like a home. Once you walk out it suddenly feels like a city!

 I can't wait to post pictures of the finished house. 

I'm very thankful the car broke down so it could give us the opportunity to take a walk and find the dream apartment! Everything fell into place in such a perfect way... 

Now to figure out the money, packing, lifting, truck renting part! 

Yikes! Why is moving so stressful! 

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