Summer birds will be the death of me

Ok yeah, that's way dramatic, but when one is tired and woken up at 5am because of chirping birds . . . one feels a desperation.
I have been living in NW Portland for a little over a year now. When I was little, (middle school age is still considered little, right?) I dreamt of living here. I loved window shopping at the tiny boutiques, eating Escape from New York pizza, eating cheesecake from Roses (when it was what is now Restoration Hardware) and recently enough, drinking tea at Tea Chai Te. Whenever I'm here, I feel like I've been transported to old Portland with it's Victorian homes and cobblestone streets, some still in existence.. You can still see the old rings horses used to be tied to as well.
My first apartment in NW Portland was toward the middle of the alphabet and off of 21st. There was ample parking, 3 minutes from work and 5 minutes from the gym. It was, however, far from the hustle of bustle of things, which I thought was fine. It was about 5 dollars less than what I pay now, and probably a little more than twice as large as I am living in now.


This is my old apartment in the middle of the alphabet. It was very roomy, actually, too roomy. I stated to accumulate things I really didn't need like an extra couch, an extra book case, some more side tables, etc . . . And it fit more than three people at a time.


This is the kitchen. I definitely had much more counter space than I do now, and I've learned my lesson: MORE COUNTER SPACE!




This is my new apartment. As you can see, it's pretty tiny, and cluttered, but heck, it's cozy. Definitely too hard for two people to live in, but not impossible.


And that's the bedroom. It's much larger than the living room/dinning room area. How do I know? I measured cuz I contemplated putting the bed out there . . . no work. And yeah, that's Isaiah. Shh, he's taking a nap cuz he has a cold.

So I'm sure you, as were the movers, wondering: why the HECK did I move? Well, there is one very good reason: noise. Over at the middle of the alphabet, I constantly got woken up by my neighbors. If it wasn't for doors slamming in the middle of the night, it was early morning, late night, middle of the day sex. Have sex whenever you want, but for god sakes, don't wake me up at 3am! And again at 5am and again at 6am, when I have to get up at 6:30 am. Everything they did, I could hear. I could hear them talking, playing video games, walking (I was upstairs) and I moved in during the warm month of July last year, so I could hear their fan. Omigosh! That fan! I was going to jump out a window if I had to hear that fan one more time. So, since I wake up early and go to bed late, I figured I need a place that is MUCH quieter than that cuz the crankiness of not enough sleep was starting to seep into my daily relationships.
Then I found this apartment. Off of 23rd, right in the hustle and bustle, 8 apartments and one landlord who owned the building. It's still has that cute 1910 feel, but everything is new, all the hardwood floors, the sinks, the cabintry and lighting fixtures. Old meets new, just like 23rd itself. I found heaven. The only thing that is tough is that it's tiny. I wish I had found this place sooner, cuz then I would have bought an appropriate sized couch and not an extra book case (I have three.) Also, the neighbors seem really nice, the landlord is super nice and I can sleep at night. Eeeexcept for those birds! But seriously, what am I supposed to do about that? Shoot them? Move? Live in a sound proof box? No. I just have to remember to shut the bathroom door at night.
I must say, I'm glad I live here since I'm in the middle of everything and walk everywhere, but now that I have this out of my system, I'm ready to move on to a cheaper location. But until then, I think I'll go for my evening walk and enjoy the sights and sounds of NW Portland.

*disclaimer* First and last photos not taken by me. I take no credit for them. I only take credit for the really crappy home shots. This blog will mainly have only my photos. I'll try harder next time.