KCKG: An Update on Living, Working, Family and Friends - Living

I have been living in KC for 18 months. I think it's about time for an update, don't you think?

The short version:

• January 2016: Move to KC and begin job at UMKC
• April 2016: Get accepted to Ph.D. program
• July 2016: Freak about about being accepted to Ph.D. program and fly to Aruba
• July 2016: See this incredible opportunity at MCCKC, interview twice, don't get it
• August 2016: Start a Ph.D. program 
• October 2016: Move exactly one block east in my same neighborhood
• May 2016: Leave UMKC, go back to the community college at MCC

The long version:

Living

When I moved to Kansas City, I fell in love with my neighborhood, Columbus Park. Like I LOVE it. It's the old little Italy of Kansas City and now has a huge Vietnamese population. I should be shamed about the amount of pho I have eaten in the past year. My neighborhood is adjacent to River Market so I can walk to City Market every Saturday morning. I can walk to the street car. When I worked at UMKC, I was 10 minutes from work. Now my commute is about 15 minutes longer, but I have learned to love the commute. (Plus my previous walk into work took 8 minutes, so really, it's not that much longer). 

I lived in this adorable, exposed-brick, third-floor apartment with gorgeous views of the sunset and sunrise. The outside was so historic I had a stone lion on the front. It was gorgeous. However, it wasn't really practical for me. There was limited storage. The management was meh. The kitchen was meh. The bedroom was up a spiral staircase, which isn't the best decision for a sleep walker (no, I never fell down those stairs).

Those top right windows were mine. 

On the day I moved into the apartment, ever the retail-hound, I was still looking at Trulia, and another apartment had just been renovated and opened that day. I loved it so much that I told my dad while I was moving and his response was, "Well, we can just quit moving you up here and move you over there." Obviously not a real choice, but secretly, I loved the other place. 

Cue eight months later, I have grown less enchanted by my current apartment and I'm month-to-month on my lease. A unit opens up in the other apartment. I go and look. I can't decide. Of course. After a day of thinking, I text the owner and say I don't know. He says that he is there and showing someone else if I want to pop over. So I walk out my back door, cut through the alley, and walk over in 2 minutes. It's that close. 

And guys. This kitchen. This kitchen kills me. I love it. It's so beautiful. It won me over. The apartment as a whole is smaller, it's ground level, and has street parking, but it has more storage, all updated appliances, two patios... and this kitchen. The pics don't do it justice (I took these when I was looking at it for the second time). And I love it. 

All the cabinets. 

Granite. Subway tile. Stainless. Swoon. 

Yes, my washer/dryer is in my kitchen. But again, ALL the cabinets. 

So, I take it. 15 days later, I move one block away. My pretty subway print I made no longer shows my current address, but it's still a timestamp of my move. 

The prints have found a new home that isn't so shabby.

And with that, I'll split up my next chapters on working, family, and friends in KC.