Lets Catch Up A Bit Shall We?

It’s the first week in May. I’m just getting back to my apartment to hang out before dragging myself to my last week of classes. I throw on some comfy clothes, make a quick bowl of cereal, and I find my favorite spot on the oversized couch. Within minutes of taking my first bite, my cell phone goes off.

“Hello?”

A few minutes later I was pacing my apartment with excitement and shock. “Who do I call first?” Well that’s easy.

“Hey sweetie, so I just got a phone call from….”

After some discussion with my boyfriend and a long phone call with my mother, I decided to go for it. I’m moving to Washington DC to pursue a job I never thought I’d get.

Move in Weekend: May 26th

At promptly 6am my door is pushed open signally it’s time to get up. I pack my last minute items into my two overweight bags. By 7am, we are ‘ass in seat.’ My mother and I are on our way to the cities with a 4 hour car ride ahead of us. We make a quick pit stop to visit my Aunt Joann before we are dropped off at the airport. We get through security with no issues and just casually hang out by our gate. We board the plane a half our later due to a little weather delay in Atlanta. Little did we know, our day was about to be nothing what we expected. While in the air I decided to take a little nap to rest up before a busy next couple of days. I was abruptly awakened by the captain informing the passengers that we will be taking a weather diversion to Charlotte, North Carolina.

Apparently the thunderstorm currently in Atlanta was so bad there would be no way we could land. Once in Charlotte, we sat on the runway for a good hour and half till they finally gave us a gate. We ended up then sitting in terminal for another 45 minutes till they boarded us up and took off for Atlanta. We landed about an hour later in Atlanta to find an airport FULL of people. When we were sitting in North Carolina, the entire Atlanta airport stopped. Therefore, all flights were either cancelled or delayed. We sat in Atlanta for a couple hours. My mom overheard a gentleman talking about a flight leaving for D.C. at gate C2 at 1am. Our flight at 11:45 was just cancelled and we raced over to C2 to try to get a ticket.
So it’s roughly 2am in the morning and we made it on the last plane out to D.C. I’m relieved and exhausted to be sitting in my seat. As people are finding their seats and the last bit of luggage finds its place, it starts to rain.

Soon it’s pouring outside and the electrical storm begins its second wind. Everyone on the plane is ‘out like a light’ and I should be too! But this weather has made me very much awake and alert. This entire day as been awful, and all I can think about is maybe I’m NOT supposed to go to DC after all? Is this a sign from God saying, “Don’t Go!”

We are starting to gain speed as this large aircraft is making its way down the runway. Our take off is a bit rough, but nothing I can’t handle. I have been on over 50 flights and flying has never once freaked me out…although with the amount of turbulence from the storm and getting struck by lightning, to say I has freaking out is an understatement. I’m looking around at the people on the plane and everyone is sleeping! Are you kidding me! We are going to crash because of this awful storm and everyone is like “Whatever, I’m going to get a little shut eye!” Not me! My eyes are wide open the entire flight and fear has taken over. That was the longest flight of my life and once we touched solid ground, I could finally relax.

My mother and I got to our hotel around 4:30 AM. I don’t even remember falling asleep.

May 27th: Moving Truck

My mother and I wake up around 9AM. I’m still tired but I know I have a big day of unpacking and moving ahead of me. I check my cell phone and see there is a missed call and a voicemail:

“Hello Ms. Kvalsten, its 7:45 this is Washington Gas and we are at your front door.”

NO!!! I hurry and call them back. Since the reception in the hotel is awful, I have to sit on the window sill with my ear against the window. By the end of this very long conversation, there were a few outcomes:

1. I was in tears
2. I wasn’t getting my gas hooked up today
3. I was in tears

Not a good start to my first official day in DC. But I was trying to be optimistic. Earlier I had arranged to meet my landlord at my new place at 11 AM. I got ready quick and headed out the door to meet up with him while my mother hung out a bit at the hotel. After about 15 minutes of walking, I realized I was very much lost. I called up my landlord and these were his exact words, “Don’t move, I’m coming to pick you up.” Cool.

So what’s weird was that my landlord didn’t have my keys yet and my moving truck was going to arrive at my place at noon. This was going to be interesting. He takes me to his office to make some phone calls while I wait by my phone. Ten minutes to noon, I get a phone call:

“Hello Ms. Kvalsten, this is the moving truck. We are at your location.”

CRAP! I grab my landlord and say, “Dude, we gotta go”

A couple hours later, the moving truck was completely unloaded, and so far everything looked like it survived the trip. I found my apartment on Craigslist just days before moving out here and unfortunately, it didn’t have AC…Did I mention it was in the triple digits? Oh yeah, I didn’t have a fan either…fun times.

June 2011:

WEEK ONE: I had electricity, but no Gas, no shower head, and no blinds. Every day for a week I had to reschedule my gas hook up because I kept missing their arrival. Things weren’t off to the best start. A few months ago I was in a wedding, and the best man happens to live just a few blocks from my new apartment! Small world! Thanks to him and his wife, they let my use their shower for a couple mornings till I got a shower head!

WEEK TWO: Okay, things are finally starting to turn around. The IKEA furniture is built (which isn’t a fun job), my window AC’s are hooked up, and I have a showerhead! Wow! How exciting! I come home from a long day at work and I’m eager to make some dinner and just relax. I have the AC in my living room on low, I have a pizza half way done in the oven, and the TV is on to Brian Williams. Ahh…how nice is this.

“BEEP!”

The power goes off.

I don’t have a flashlight or candles. My phone is almost dead and I have no idea what I’m going to do. It’s still in the 90’s outside and its 8pm at night. I pack up a little overnight bag and call up my neighbor down the road.

I lock my door with the pizza still in the oven and my stomach growling. Cool.

WEEK THREE: YAY! Blinds! But my shower doesn’t drain so I take showers in my crocks. How stupid.

WEEK FOUR: Curtains hung! Tub fixed!

July 2011:

Okay, so I have survived my first month. My apartment is starting to feel like home, pictures on the walls and curtains are hanging. My parents have come to visit for the Fourth of July holiday weekend and I was so fired up! I took them to the Eastern Markets for a nice walk and some shopping. We arrived at my place for a little rest before we continued our sightseeing from the day before until…

“Mom, I can’t find my cell phone?” My little sister Molly says as we are starting to leave.

We search my apartment and all our pockets and have no idea where it is. We are constantly calling it but we realize that it’s gone. We start walking towards Eastern Markets to see if she dropped on the way back. No luck. Needless to say, my little sister is beyond upset.

July 5th:
“BEEP!”

Power goes off…again.

I ended up sitting on the curb outside my apartment for about 3 hours till the electricity company could to a temporary fix. I call my boyfriend in tears.
I’m way over this.

July 7th:

After my parents left to go home, I started noticing that I was having a lot of toilet issues. I just had my toilet and tub fixed in June because it wasn’t draining properly. I called up my landlord to schedule a plumber to look at the issue. I get a call from my landlord the day the plumber showed up:

“Ms. Kvalsten the plumber is at your apartment and they can’t figure out what wrong with your toilet. Kirsten, we NEED to know what you put down there?”

At this point, I’m pissed because I’m 22 years old and I don’t stuff things down my toilet.

“Well, you’re not going to find anything down there but the obvious.”

“Okay then. If it’s our problem, we pay for it. But the plumber is going to have to crack open your toilet to see what you put down there. If he finds something, you pay.” Says my landlord.

“Fine.” Phone called ended.

I’m sitting at my desk at work just steaming after my phone call. I’m so upset because every week there is something new with my apartment and I’m tired of it. My phone rings.

“Ms. Kvalsten, we found a pink cell phone. We will send you the bill.”

Oh Molly… looks like she needs to break into her college fund early.

July 12th: Crazy Little Thing Called Love
My boyfriend is coming to visit me and I couldn’t’ be more excited! I have missed him so much and I can’t wait to show him DC! I’m at work while he is sending me updates:

- I’m at the gate
- I’m delayed, but still should make my connecting flight

What do you know! There is a bad thunderstorm in Atlanta and that’s what’s keeping the flight in MSP to take off. Great. Why is this happening again!? I’m sitting at my computer at work constantly checking updates on the Atlanta Airport and checking other flights leaving from DCA from Atlanta. It isn’t looking good. Its 10pm, I’m sitting slash pacing the living room of my apartment waiting for an update. I sent him a text with the last plane leaving ATL for DCA and instructions on which gate to run too. I get a call saying, “I watched the plane leave the gate.”

He ended up spending the night in the ATL airport and catching the 7:15 AM flight to DCA. I sat in near the baggage claim with cramps in my stomach and a huge smile on my face. My legs were shaking and I thought I was going to explode. When I saw him walking (fast) towards me, my heart fluttered and tears filled my eyes. He is well worth the wait. I will never forget how tight he hugged me. I never wanted to let go…

Aug: 5th:
Okay I have survived two months. I love my new job and starting to really get the hang of this new life. My apartment is starting to cooperate and I haven’t had any electrical issues for a month now. I met all my neighbors and I have a routine now.
I’m sitting on my new recliner that finally arrived after 3 weeks of waiting to get it delivered… but that’s another story.

It’s a Friday night and I have decided to say in and hangout for the night. Just a nice night of hanging out on the couch and enjoying a good movie. Then something happened that I have actually been anticipating:

A MOUSE RUNS ACROSS MY LIVING ROOM FLOOR!

I jump up about ten feet and somehow land on the back of my couch. I crawl very slowly over to my end table and snatch up my cell phone. I pause, look both ways, and then slowly steep down into the corner of my couch. I call my neighbor in frenzy and he gives out a little laugh. “I’ll be right over.”

I call my mother. I call my boyfriend. My neighbor is still not here and I have no idea what I’m going to do! He shows up after what seems like hours and we try to find the little mouse. No luck. That entire night I kept seeing it run here and then run over there. Great. This little mouse the size of a small beer pong ball is freaking me out!

I wake the next morning and slowly creep around my apartment. I don’t’ see anything. There is a little sticky mouse pad catcher outside my door left by my neighbor and I put it out. I see the mouse run up to it, stop in its tracks, and then run around it. Smart guy.

A friend of mine picks me up for day of shopping and I leave my apartment hoping to return to a caught mouse.

It was my lucky day! I get home that evening to find the little mouse stuff in the sticky stuff! YAY! VICTORY! …wait…now I feel bad. The poor mouse is only a baby! It has a family and I just caught it. My neighbor picks it up for me and we throw it away. I feel bad but at the same time, I don’t want to live with mice. I set up some more sticky trays around my apartment, just in case the mommy and daddy come to look for its baby. Boy do I hope they don’t come!