Maverick & Jester hunt for a place to call their own

Aaaaah, the chore of finding a place to live...

When Maverick moved into Crystal's house he got his own room on the OTHER side of the house... seriously this place was like a mansion. It had 4 bedrooms downstairs, a partially converted basement with 3 bedrooms AND living room, bathroom, mini kitchen that were all used for junk storage and 2 bedrooms upstairs. There was only 1 working bathroom, it was upstairs; the downstairs bath had been in the process of remodel for years. I had the smallest bedroom. It was almost a glorified closet that had a closet in it.

Maverick excelled at the job he was at and soon got a promotion and a raise!! I was still working 2 jobs, The Firm & The Spa. He was very understanding that I needed to pay off debts and never pressured for more time or more this or more that. We made it work. Sometimes he stayed in his room (haha) and sometimes he was in mine with me.... OKAY - pretty much the only times he slept in his room was if I was off the next morning (rare) and wanted to stay up late.

Our first Holiday season as a couple was spent apart. Turkey Day I stayed in Chicago-Land while he flew to Florida and then for Christmas I was in Arkansas while he stayed in Chicago-Land.

As soon as my flight landed he was anxious to ask me to move in with him into our own place. The first of 2 proposals that every girl can't wait for her man to ask. Of course - I said YES!

We spent the next week talking & discussing about what we wanted in a place. Did we want to start out small and then find a bigger place when our family grew (yes, already talking about babies) or find a place that our family could grow into. Did we want a condo, a house, an apartment? Talking and fantasizing with Maverick has always been a great stress reliever for me.

That January I was laid off from the Firm so I had plenty of time to house hunt and - boooooo - look for another job. Thankfully I still had my job at the Spa but it was very very minimal hours. Every day when Maverick came home from work I had a new place for us to go and visit. Sometimes a few more than 2 but I was trying so hard to get out from under Crystal's roof... Moving in with her was the detriment to our friendship.

I was laid off from the Firm on Jan 3 and we signed our lease on a new place on Jan 18; it only took me 15 days to find us a place to live.

We rented a 1 bathroom, 1 bedroom condo in Arlington Heights not far from the Arlington Heights/Algonquin Rd intersection. I remember loving how big and open the floor plan was and the closet space was amazing. There was a balcony and Drake would just lay out there all day long if I let him. It was a beautiful place.

We had NOTHING when we moved in except literally the cloths on our backs. Everything furniture in the rooms we were renting were Crystal's. Most of my stuff was in storage back home and Maverick literally just had his clothes. I had a futon that I slept on and we brought the mattress with us to sleep on because the Futon was broken. So that means we needed a house full of furniture but we were broke...

Buy Here Pay Here to the rescue! We went to Aaron's and got us a living room set with TV. It was a giant oversized L-shaped sectional with one of those huge ottomans. It became our bed as well because we didn't want to over extend ourselves. After a few weeks and some budgeting we decided we could afford a mattress on the floor. We had our suitcases & boxes for dressers but that was what love built.

We were slowly making our condo our home. Instead of having to eat out every night or order delivery I was able to cook for my man. And oh did my man LOVE his gal's cooking!! He quickly discovered his favorite dishes and they became weekly menu items. Our life, as simple as it was, was perfect. We were even getting out and making friends - a little a time. There was this nature preserve walking trail that we visited almost every day and of course we were so close to our favorite restaurants for those special nights out.

About 6-7 months later we get a visit from our Landlord and he says that he's putting the house on the market... wanted to give us a heads up because there will be walk-throughs and the realtor would need to let us know when she's showing so we can be gone with Drakkus. About a month later we got a notice of eviction on our door from the BANK because our landlord wasn't paying his loan!! We had 30 days to vacate the premises.

This was just after we moved in - our first purchase together...
camera phones were so crappy back in those days, lol

 The rest of these photos was after we were able to go clear out my storage unit in Arkansas and get my furniture and stuff. I had a super cheap digital camera so the pics are a little better... but only a little.

This rocking chair Daddy purchased when Mother was pregnant with me.
It's considered and antique now.

antique - hand built dining room table & chairs

Drakkus de Elder Thyme - Seal Point Siamese

Vanilla Rum aka Nilla - cream & tan teddybear hamster

While this initial phase of co-habitation we also made a run to Arkansas to clean out my storage unit; and Maverick got to meet the family... All that coming up tomorrow!

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This post is the 3rd in a series of posts that will chronicle milestones and anniversaries. We're coming up on our 5th year Wedding Anniversary & this summer marks 10 years of our relationship officially beginning... I hope you enjoy!!