ailanie.org

We are saying goodbye to our Webster House efficiency after four years.  That is to say, we are moving into a much-needed one bedroom apartment.  Woot!
 
The apartment search was arduous, as house hunts usually are.  We looked at several places and even budgeted to spend enormous amounts of money for one year so that we could see what living the high life was like.  But.... practicality prevailed and we went with our dependable, sensible and quite charming backup plan:  The West Park.  These are the same apartments where Beth and Brock live, although we will be living three floors above them on the 8th floor.  And, strangely enough, we will be directly above them... yes, we will be in the same floorplan, facing the same way (although able to see over the buildings looking out over the sunny direction south) just three floors up.  Talk about wacky. 
 
We're going to sign our lease this week and will move in March, overlapping an entire month with our current place, in part to give our landlady time to find a renter.  I do not foresee much difficulty in that, since we live in a prime location and for four long years could not convince ourselves that any other situation could beat the one we had, even with the lack of space.
 
I have really fallen into step with my job, and for the first time I feel I can use the word "career."  I got wind last week that I might be given a chance to prove myself soon.  They need someone to manage a project, someone who understands the technical aspects of the work.  Someone like... me?  We shall see, but my boss was only employed two months before he was promoted to a manager and had two employees under him.  He gave me the eye, like I might follow that path.
 
Jason and I are doing well, very excited about the move.  We're planning to furnish the place a bit, you know, buy some real furniture.  That's another perk of going with the less expensive place -- you can put the savings elsewhere.  Europe anyone?!?! 
 
More to come later, for now, I've got to go baste my Pork Tenderloin Pot Roast... Yum!

It seems like every Sunday night, I am either exhausted from running around to prepare for the week or I'm extremely inspired to begin projects I cannot possibly complete before my early bedtime of 10:30pm.  This weekend, I ended up staying up into the wee hours of Saturday and Sunday mornings.  I also ended up just enjoying my weekend.  Except for when Sunday night rolled around.  I realized I was overtired and hadn't done any running around preparing for the coming week nor did I have any desire to.  I didn't feel inspired to do anything save for acting like a grumpy butt. 
 
 
I recently had a conversation with a friend, who described going through life's evolutions over time as cathartic.  I wasn't completely familiar with the word, but I had a general idea from the context.  That didn't satisfy me, however, and so I looked it up on Wikipedia:
 

"as an adjective, cathartic means psychotherapeutic or emotionally beneficial, productive of catharsis; viewing art or listening to music may be cathartic experiences"

 
This friend of mine was describing this saying derived from a Native American methodology used to walk a more positive and peaceful path.  The concept involves having two beings inside of us, one is black and one is white, and they assume the forms of dogs.  The black dog holds negative emotions and desires, while the white harbors positive and compassionate emotions and desires.  The idea is that these two beasts are battling to "win" or basically be the dominant force of our entire being.  The moral of this story:  The winner or dominant force is the one that we feed the most.  How profound and yet so simple a concept.  Sometimes it pays off to take a step back and observe ourselves.  I know that when I do that, especially when I see myself feeding the black dog, I realign myself to feed the positive forces in me, since that's who I want to win. 
 
 
J and I have begun a search (and consequent and mandatory mind-shift) to find and move into a larger home.  We have accomplished a feat most gasp at: we have lived together in (large) studio apartment together with two cats for four years.  All I can say is, thank god for the balcony... hehe.  Seriously, though, we live in a perfect location, with a great sense of community, everything within walking distance (we haven't had a car for years now), including work - which is awesome, by the way.  Every time we've looked for a new place, our studio has always won out.  This time around, though, we are pretty sure we'd like more space.  We are looking for a one-bedroom at least, possibly with a den, or a second bedroom, if affordable.  Yeah.  Right.  Did I mention we live in Washington, DC?  Oh, and to be more specific, Dupont Circle?
Currently, our neighborhood searches include: Columbia Heights/Mount Pleasant, Gallery Place/Chinatown, Navy Yard/Waterfront area near the new Nationals' baseball stadium, Takoma Park, Bethesda, Cleveland Park, and Logan Circle. 
As you might notice, we've our work cut out for us.  We began by creating a list.  (For those of you who know me, you'll know this was my idea, and I loved every minute of it.)  There's a "We Can't Live Without..." list, a "We'd Love to Have This..." list, and a "What We'd Love to Put IN the New Place..." list.  The second thing we've been doing is perusing craigslist and the nearby neighborhoods on foot (when it's not FREEZING outside).  Our third thing is to make actual appointments to see the places we've found and (*cringe*) can afford.  Then, it's sit back and pick our top choice time.  I'm sure I'll write more on this as this develops.
 
 
All in all, for Sunday night, I'm pretty pooped out but feeling like I at least enjoyed myself and relaxed this weekend.  Sometimes, that's good enough.