Playing House

Learning the ABCs of college apartment living. 5 girls all growns up ... or are we?

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Community Post: What It's Like To Move Into Your First Apartment

Whether you move out of the dorms or out of your parents house, getting your first apartment can be tough.

Alia is a buzzfeed author! And her article says it all ^_^

{Beth

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The 5 Most Hipster Things About Our Apartment

We aren't you average group of girls, so it's no surprise that are apartment isn't very average either. It is full of normal things, quirky things, old things, things that make you say "whaaaaat?", and, as you will soon learn, Hipster things.

1. Mason Jars…Everywhere

Because you can't spell hipster without B-A-L-L.

We use Mason jars as drinking cups, measuring cups, a Q-tip holder. You name it, we use mason jars for it.

Yes, that's hand soap in a mason jar. 

Which leads me to my next point:

2. Nothing Is In Its Original Container

We liked this vegetable oil back when everyone thought it was Izze soda.

3. This Christmas Tree

We're not conforming to your capitalistic ways and spending money on nature.

4. You Can Write On Every Possible Surface

Everyone writes on paper. We write on:

The Fridge

The Counter

Containers and Cups

The Walls

Even the food

5. This Typewriter

Can't do computers. Too mainstream

Bonus Item:

A full tea set

- Alia :)

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Bird Machine and Garlic Sauce

Over a month later and we are still laughing! Apartment life with these girls is endless fun. Now that we have settled in we've established some routines and created an environment. 

To keep order we all have jobs. I, for instance, am TRASH MASTER! I think the real secret to having a clean, beautiful apartment is painting the walls is kindness. "Hey :) when you come home do you think you can put your art stuff that's on the dining table away? It's just getting a little cluttered :) I love you!" <-- Text from Alexis to me.. asking nicely goes alooong way. That made me want to clean the entire apartment and bake her a batch of brownies! 

So we recently painted our walls! They are gorgeous. Come visit and see!

our chalkboard wall (chalkboard paint $10 a can at Lowes!) has served as a shopping list, anonymous confession board, sleep chart and endless fun! 

One of the exciting things about having 5 girls in one apartment is discovering things we all love. This month those things were Bird Machine and Garlic Sauce. Random but wonderful! Bird Machine is a song by DJ Snake (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKRJpcBcKBw) that we heard at the auditions for a dance group on campus. Listen to it. Now. 

Garlic sauce was a win from Trader Joes! It works in EVERYTHING.

When you knock on our door you will be greeted by a girl attempting hip hop with garlic breath ^_^ but you can know for certain that she will invite you in to join the smelly fun and you will not leave without a smile on your face! 

With God, love, respect, and bird machine it really doesn't matter how many girls you fit into one apartment. Joy will abound!

Come whenever you can and stay as long as you want! {Beth

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With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility...and Terror

Today I'm here to tell you about something that seems easy and harmless that you've probably done many times in your life but is actually pretty terrifying once you have to do it for yourself.

You've helped your mom find all the items on your family's long lists. You've gone in with friends to get a bag a few snacks and sodas. you've gone by yourself that one time when the house ran out of milk. But never have you ever had to do it ALL by yourself! Yes, that's right, I'm talking about grocery shopping!

We had a few days in the apartment before the fridge got there and as soon as it arrived we were eager to fill the kitchen with some food.

Alexis and I did the honors of making the first trip to the grocery store to stock the fridge. Once in the store and armed with a cart and some cash, we realized how terrifying the situation was.

For the first time in our lives we were given the money to buy whatever we wanted to. There wouldn't be any parents to make sure we ate right or a dining hall staff to limit what we could eat. For the first time we had to make the responsible decision to eat right and not spend all of our money in the process. 

Luckily our parents raised us with good values and we filled our cart with healthy choices. But shopping responsibly wasn't our only problem. We realized that we literally had to start from scratch with our kitchen. 

We had no spices, no condiments, no anything! We couldn't just make spaghetti (which was our first meal), we had to buy the oil to cook the meat, the spices to season the meat, and the hot sauce to put on it afterwards (don't judge me; everything is better with hot sauce).

After all of the shopping and struggling to make the right choices we had to deal with the terror at the register. Normally we just fill the carts and our parents pay for everything. We didn't even think to keep track of how much stuff we were buying.

It seemed like the longest check out process ever as we held our breath, hoping that the total would come out to be less than the $80 we were both carrying. 

Of course it all worked out in the end and we enjoyed our first meal in our apartment while having a Psych marathon. Because Psych is awesome.

-Alia :)

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All Moved In!

IT HAS BEGUN! Our time as roommates has finally started! This is the start of our long journey together during the most crucial time of our lives blah blah blah okay enough of that.

Luckily all of those grown up problems we were having worked out, and after almost an hour of signing paperwork, (I swear we killed like five trees that day) we finally got our keys! The excitement was too much to handle.

We had to take a minute to let that sink in. And the carpet was a soft as a cloud. And we didn't have any furniture... But that's not the point.

After the excitement wore off came the realization that we only had one bathroom!

5 girls + 1 bathroom= a hot mess. We had a mini freakout session. Once that was over we figured out a way to make it work.

To make a long story short: I absolutely love our apartment.

-Alia :)

p.s. In my next post I will inform you of the terrors of grocery shopping for yourself.

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say hello to Mr. Darcy the horned turtle! Maybe he's not the cuddly husky puppy we wanted.. boooo allergies. Maybe he's not the guinea pig we've been waiting to be born. BUT he is OURS. Our very first pet! Darcy is a wonderful companion. He's a great listener and very low maintenance. To all you lady horned turtles out there, yes, he is single! 

5 girls may seem like too many for one apartment. Adding a pet may appear ridiculous. My response to those who think this: where is your sense of adventure? Now I know we will all need our space. That is where respect and communication comes in. Nothing we can't handle with God's wisdom and grace!

The more people and pets in one apartment the more love! the more fun! The more tea parties! Everyone bring your turtles! 

{Beth

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We Forgot About the Grown Up Parts

Only a few more days until we move into our apartment and begin Playing House! After months of day-dreaming, brainstorming, and pinning like crazy, it seemed like apartment life would be all sunshine and lollipops... but then evil showed up. It showed up in the form of.... utilities (insert dramatic music here)! 

Internet! Electricity! And what the heck is Renter's Insurance anyways?!

We spent hours enduring background checks, comparing prices, and don't even get me started on the terrible hold music. While some phone calls were quick and easy, some of them made us want to pull our hair out (I'm talking to you unnamed internet/cell phone company).

Lucky for us we were all able to put on our "Big Girl Pants" and do it, 

Internet: done.

Electricity: turned on.

Renter's Insurance: we googled that and we got some.

All that's left is to sign the lease and move in and boy am I glad. I'm getting tired of this grown up stuff. 

Time to bake some cupcakes or something. 

- Alia :)

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Lesson One: blogging

This whole blogging thing is a lot more complicated than we expected.. themes, html codes? umm can't I just draw a picture for the background and type the titles on a typewriter? Anyways, the point of this is to record and share the adventures of apartment living first timers. All of us played house as kids.. now we are playing in real life. Pinterest recipes instead of mud pies, thrift store furniture instead of cardboard boxes, permanent roommates instead of 3 hour playmates. 

The planning began long before all of us found each other. We've become slightly more realistic in our dreams since. A rock wall in the spare room is probably not going to happen but hey we still have a pinterest board filled with plenty of other ideas! 

One thing we are sure of: Hospitality. 

when they walk through the door, we want people to feel at home. loved. full. 

Tea parties all day erry day

gotta go keep googling dis code business..ugly blog: unacceptable 

{Beth