A tour of my apartment [part 2]

It took me long enough, but I have finally gotten around to taking the pictures for part 2 of my little apartment tour. If you missed part 1 of this post, you can find it here.

My couch is actually scheduled to be delivered next week so if all goes well, I will be able to share a picture of my then a little more furnished living room soon.

We’ll start with the bedroom – which is still looking a bit minimalistic what with the lack of pictures on the wall but I do plan on putting up some frames eventually.

My bedroom

I have yet to find a nice bedside table for my bedroom to replace the pink IKEA table (which used to be on my balcony in my previous apartment).

My bedroom

I love my dressing table. It was really the only non-essential piece of furniture I bought and it was a great decision to get it.

My walk-in closet

I love my walk-in closet! It’s great having so much space for my clothes and being able to easily pick what I want to wear. Not to mention it’s super-easy to make my bedroom look all neat by simply shoving everything into the closet. Heh.

My office

This is my office. So far the most redundant room in my apartment as I haven’t been using it at all due to the chaos that reigned in this room and particularly on the desk until this weekend. But believe it or not, I am currently sitting at my desk writing this post so I am thinking I’ll be using it more in the future. Ironically, this is probably the room that looks the most moved in out of all the rooms in my apartment.

My office

I’ve already run out of space on my bookshelves.

My office

As you can see, there is still lots to do, especially in terms of decorating but so far I haven’t had the time or inspiration for that. I still have a few small boxes of random junk to sort through but eventually, I want to get around to putting up some pictures on the walls.

(Unhealthy) obsession

For the best part of the past couple of weeks I have been doing one of the following three things:

  • Working
  • Sleeping
  • Reading a Stephanie Plum novel

The Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich

I started reading the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich the other week and am completely hooked. I just got books 7-15 in the mail yesterday morning and am now onto book #11 (yep, the 5th book in under 48 hours). I have really been procrastinating on everything except reading (because I want to), working (because I have to), and sleeping (because I have to). It’s probably not healthy* but every now and then being so into a book (series) is really fun too! And the books really are great and frequently make me laugh out loud.

I just wish there was an endless supply of Stephanie Plum novels, because at this rate I’ll be all caught up with the series by the end of next week. And then what will I do? I’ll probably go into withdrawal and cry for a weekend.

Good thing #17 will be out in June. Two days before my birthday too, coincidence? I think not. And if all fails, I have the next Sookie Stackhouse novel (out in May) to tide me over.

I am about to go and pack for a three-day business trip, and you bet I will be taking a couple (and by a couple I mean three) of the Stephanie Plum novels with me.

Are you a fan of the Stephanie Plum series? Are there any other books you get a little crazy about?

* Probably neither is my, let’s call it infatuation, with Morelli and Ranger from the Stephanie Plum series. Or with Eric from the Sookie Stackhouse series. How old am I again?

Why I am lucky

It is Sunday morning and I am sitting in what used to be my bedroom (and I secretly still consider it mine) at my parents’ house in Munich. I have spent this weekend in Munich getting to hang out with my friends and my brother. Since I moved, I have spent every other weekend in Munich because I don’t know anyone yet where I live now outside of work. To be honest, I don’t think I will anytime soon because there is a distinct lack of opportunities to meet people in this small town that has hardly any infrastructure.

Friendship {via weheartit}

I love the weekends I spend at home because right now, they are the only social interaction I have outside of work and the internet. Luckily I am exhausted most nights from working a full-time job for the first time in my life so I don’t mind just staying at home watching TV and luckily I am a pretty self-reliant person. I love spending time with my friends but I also enjoy being by myself. For an extroverted person, my situation would probably be much harder to bear.

Despite this, I do consider myself lucky. I don’t live in Munich anymore but I do live so much closer than I used to. Munich is now just 90 minutes and a €10 ticket away on the train and if I wanted to, I could go home every weekend. I don’t but I could.

Being able to spend every weekend in Munich means I don’t miss out on friends’ birthdays anymore. I can go home for all the important events and I see my friends much more frequently than I used to before I finished grad school. Weekends do always seem too short though, and it is hard to squeeze everything (and everyone) into the 1.5 days I have here but I always remind myself that the next weekend in Munich is not that far away. Somehow time passes much more quickly now that I am working.

Last night, my best friend celebrated her birthday and we all met at a Mexican bar/restaurant and had dinner, drinks and great conversations. It was great to see all of them and spend a few hours together. It felt like nothing had changed, even though everything has changed. I am so thankful for my friends, some of whom I have known since middle school.

As hard as it is adjusting to living in such a small town, even though I know it won’t be for forever, I am so grateful for living so close to my hometown and to my friends there.

A tour of my apartment [part 1]

I promised you guys a tour of my apartment this week. I cannot keep that promise 100% because I have not finished packing everything away yet but I did finish half of my apartment so today you’re getting a tour of my living room, kitchen, and bathroom. I was going to wait with the pictures but today was really sunny and I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to take decent pictures so I took them right after getting home from work. As you will see, my living room is still pretty bare. I have yet to put any pictures on the wall (I haven’t quite made up my mind yet and have to buy a few more picture frames as well), and don’t have  a lot of furniture yet. In terms of that, the living room is the most unfinished room of the apartment – as you will see, the office and bedroom are pretty much finished the way they are now. But let’s just get started with the tour …

My living room

This is my living room – still a bit bare. My couch will be delivered at the beginning of April.

My living room

The dining area. I adore the wooden paneling on the wall and ceiling.

My living room

My dining area and part of the kitchen.

My living room

I will have to buy some furniture for that corner of the living room. I was thinking one or two 2×2 Expedit cubes from IKEA. Thoughts?

My kitchen

The kitchen. I love having a big fridge all to myself.

My kitchen

The other end of my kitchen. Love the wooden beams in my kitchen and living room, they really give the apartment a rustic feel. The apartment was completely renovated before I moved in (new floors, new kitchen & bathroom, everything) but the wooden beams and the paneling in the living room hint at the old age of the house.

My kitchen

My small but growing collection of Starbucks city mugs.

My kitchen

Pictures on my kitchen wall – I just put them up yesterday and love how they turned out. Both postcards and frames are from IKEA. I thought the postcards would be perfect for the kitchen.

My bathroom

The bathroom.

My bathroom

The bathroom is pretty small but I do have a bathtub.

Well, that’s it for now. I will probably not be able to do part 2 until next week as I will be leaving for Munich right after work tomorrow, but I hope you enjoyed this first peek into my new apartment. As country as this town is, I really really love my apartment.