Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Coast Swap: New Home Tacoma WA

We took house #5 from the our apartment hunting. We're so excited to live in a house! (Especially after two weeks in a hotel.) Special thanks to Brock for helping us move in our furniture. Stephen's RI boss was in Tacoma for the weekend, and recommended North Tacoma as a great place to live.


Stephen spent his first month in Washington working from Absher's main office in Puyallup, but now has an office on-site at his new project: a $15 million housing redevelopment in South Tacoma.


Stephen has made a couple business trips to Seattle for meetings and conferences. He got to tour this new building, which lets in too much daylight, causing office workers to hide behind umbrellas!


We celebrated our 4th anniversary with a visit to Seattle. We got couples massages at the Little Red Day Spa. Stephen also wanted to show Ginger the new Seattle Public Library, designed by Rem Koolhaus. 

 



We walked down by the piers and visited fun shops.


A hipster band played outside the original Starbucks. 


We visited Kelsey and Peter, who just bought their own home!



Stephen's friend and coworker Jason has returned home to Puyallup after two years working for Absher in Rhode Island. They spent a day hiking and touring a bed and breakfast with treehouses!

 

Ginger is volunteering with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship with the possibility of returning to part or full time work. She is planting a chapter at Tacoma Community College. Subscribe to her prayer letter here. Ginger is also working part time as a cake decorator at Albertson's bakery. She loves doing silly kid's cakes, and also learned to make giant roses.

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Coast Swap: Apartment Hunters Puyallup/Tacoma Edition

What we are looking for in an apartment:

  • 2 bedrooms (one to use as Ginger's office and also to have guests stay with us)
  • possibly a second bathroom (to better accomodate guests
  • maybe a personal yard for Clementine?
  • a short commute to Stephen's office in Puyallup 
  • flexibility to move when Stephen's job moves to a work site
  • an apartment that doesn't require renovation (taking a break from that)

We toured 9 different properties, but we'll show you highlights, top two in each category: Apartment Complexes, Duplexes, and Houses.

1. Massive Complex


  • $949 (pet deposit $500, half refundable.)
  • 2 bed, 2 bath, second floor.
  • tenet pays for water, electricity, trash. 
  • no a/c
  • distance from office: 3.9 miles, 7 minutes
  • Many complexes just like it all over town!

  • Amenities: 24 hour weights room, pool (9-9) 
 


At first we thought this is the sort of place we'd like to live temporarily while for our dream apartment (and waiting for company to assign Stepen somewhere more permanent) but it immediately overwhelmed us. The amenities didn't make up for feeling lost, crowded, and crushed. 

2. Kids Complex

  • $975?
  • 2 bed, 2 bath (1 shower, 1 tub) 1 bonus room
  • great living room, small kitchen
  • cons: small kids playing in parking lot
  • just North of Puyallup, distance from office: 5 miles, 10 minutes 
 



3. Tall Duplex

  •  $1100
  • 2 bed, 1.5 bath, 1 car garage
  • on busy street (odd driveway angles)
  • lawn care up to tenant
  • fenced back yard
  • 6.2 miles, 17 minutes to office
  • spacious, two floors! 



4. Tiny Duplex


  •  $850
  • 2 bed, 1 bath
  • small living room, no dining room
  • w/d in separate building, coin-op
  • all utilities: $150
  • distance to office: 9.3 miles, 16 min
  • (not sure we can make our furniture fit.)



 5. North House

  • 2 bed 1 bath, $925
  • North Tacoma, nice neighborhood
  • fenced yard, not allowed to use garage (owners store boat there)
  • small kitchen, combined dining/living room (fireplace)
  • distance to office: 16 miles, 32 minutes
  • cute, may be a little crowded. 


Kitchen is small, but has good features. 
Fireplace is cute, not sure how to fit dining and living room into this space. 

6. Red Leaves House


  • 3 bedroom, 1 bath, $1125
  • North Tacoma, distance to office: 18 miles, 35 minutes
  • Garage is inaccessible to cars thanks to odd driveway edging. Streetview blocked by red leaves bush.
  • Spacious kitchen lacks dishwasher.


most quirky kitchen applicance ever: a toaster oven built into the wall!
nice remodeled bathroom
cute triangular backyard
 Which, oh which will it be? How would you choose?

Saturday, April 6, 2013

Coast Swap: Billings MT + Missoula MT + Spokane WA + Puyallup WA

Billings MT
April 6, 2012
2683 miles


Mandy and Nick loved Clementine! She's so tired of driving in the car, she would have loved to stay with them.


We spent two nights in Billings to spend some time with family. Mandy and Nick did a great job hosting a brunch. Left- Stephen, Ginger, Ron, Nancy, Uncle Jim, Aunt Mary, Nona Lena (Jim's mother), Grandma Pearl, Mandy, Nick.

Missoula MT
April 7, 2012
3030 miles
46° misty


We drove north to Missoula to have lunch with Uncle John and Aunt Gloria. They made grilled cheese and delicious carrot soup with produce from their garden! We went for a walk on their beautiful property in the mountains.


On the road again, we stopped at an unusual tourist location: 50,000 Silver Dollar. The bar and the walls are covered with silver dollars that tourists have purchased then displayed since 1952. Some have become very valuable. 

Spokane WA
April 7, 2012
3242 miles
41° overcast
gas $3.43


Our last night on the road was spent in Spokane to see cousin Stephanie. She took us to a fun spot where everybody takes their photo- the Wagon in the park. 

Puyallup WA
April 8, 2013
3525 miles
55° sunny


We've arrived! Time to rest... next, looking for apartments, hopefully find one near Stephen's new office. So far, we love the beautiful green grass and flowering trees. 

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Coast Swap: Minneapolis MN + Mt. Rushmore SD + Devil's Tower WY

Minneapolis MN 
April 4, 2013
1599 miles
43° sunny, snow patches
Gas $3.65


We visited Vicki and Steve in Minneapolis for a night. They were kind to let Clementine stay over, though their two cats informed her that she ranked low in the household hierarchy. Clementine had fun playing with daughter Dominika, a junior in high school. Lukas is a senior this year, and was on spring break with family friends in Florida.


Steve finished remodeling their master bathroom. We loved the antique dresser converted into a sink! After we left, Stephen wanted to visit another remodeled house from HGTV's "Rehab Addict." Host Nicole Curtis bought this condemned house for $1 and remodeled it in three months. 


Mt. Rushmore SD 
April 5, 2013
2258 miles
63° sunny


This was Stephen's first time to see Mt. Rushmore. Ginger attended Rushmore Music Camp here during junior high and high school, and seeing it again brought back good memories of performing patriotic songs at the amphitheater at the memorial.


Devil's Tower WY
April 5, 2013
2398 miles
50° light rain


Devil's Tower had a walking path around it about an hour long. There was a light rain, but we enjoyed the walk with Clementine. The tower was once an underground magma extrusion, but many years eroded and exposed it.

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Coast Swap: Chicago IL

Chicago IL
1167 miles
41 ° cloudy
Gas $4.12

We had so much fun visiting our college friends Emily and Jordan in Chicago! We studied architecture with them at Texas Tech (and Stephen and Jordan took the MBA program together). They bought a house a year ago, and we enjoyed hearing about their architectural work on the house, being nerdy about the same things, and their drawings on the walls and same textbooks on the shelves.

The Chicago Model City can be found at the Chicago Architecture Foundation downtown.

Jordan and Emily are expecting their first baby next month. His name is Malcolm, and his bedroom is themed with dinosaurs. I love the dinosaur drawer handles best. 

 

Their cute 1920s neighborhood, in a near suburb of Chicago. Emily commutes to another suburb for work as an environment consultant, making use of her civil engineering degree. (She says she does more problem solving than engineering.) Jordan walks and takes the train to work in downtown. He's an architect working toward his license with EXP. 


Clementine befriended their 4-pound Pomeranian, Precious. 


Their neighborhood is very close to the Frank Lloyd Wright district. We took a tour of Wright's house and studio. They have excellent tours. It costs $5 extra for permission to take interior photos. 

Stephen stands by the Inglenook. The dining room is a room within a room created by high backed chairs and lighting feature. 


In front of Wright's studio, the large column capitals have the tree of life, a book, a floorplan, and storks. Stephen informed the tour group that it is a floorplan of the Florence Cathedral.



We sought out authentic Chicago food. Stephen had a hot dog for lunch, which Real Chicago Hot Dog: poppy seed bun, mustard, onions, relish, tomatoes, pickles, sport peppers and celery salt. at Big Guy's Sausage Stand. We went to Emily and Jordan's favorite pizza place for dinner: Lou Malnati's for real deep dish Chicago pizza.



 Emily had the afternoon off from work, and gave us a wonderful walking tour of downtown. She pointed out buildings by Sullivan, famous interiors and skyscrapers, and a dash of stories from a ghost tour.



The park has more modern architecture and art including "The Bean" a bean-shaped reflective sculpture. Seeing Chicago with Jordan and Emily was fun! We wish them the best with their new life.