First thing's first. We FAILED at becoming vegan. It was pretty sad. After moving out to Ithaca, Lane and I valiantly attempted to cut all animal products out of our diet. We were able to go for roughly two days before cracking. We decided, since we were being "SO GOOD", that we deserved to treat ourselves to chicken wings.This, in itself, should show how desperate we were for meat, since I generally don't even like chicken wings. This went on for about two weeks, where we would stick to our vegan diet for about two days, then splurge on some sort of unhealthy meat product. It was bad. So we gave up. The end.
In other, long overdue, news, we moved out of the apartment we were living in at the beginning of the school year? When we got back here for the fall, the apartment we moved into was ATROCIOUS. We got in on a red-eye flight, and didn't even have the keys to the apartment (the property management company was supposed to put this in the mailbox for us... they didn't). Thankfully, I was eventually able to track down an emergency maintenance number for the place, and we had to wait for about half-an-hour to be let in.
The place was FILTHY. It definitely had not been cleaned, and for some reason, I could not stop sneezing. Turns out, that even though this property management company is known for cashing in security deposits for exiting tenants, they don't actually use it to clean. Fraud anyone? Not only that, there was mold EVERYWHERE. Seriously. EVERYWHERE. If you feel squeamish about mold, don't look at the following few pictures.
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| actual fruiting bodies of the mold. this was how mature it was, people. |
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| mold on the blinds (the management said were were responsible for them) |
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| dead bugs in closed cupboards? I doubt they cleaned. |
In addition to these areas, there was mold throughout the apartment, and water damage everywhere. So I was having severe allergies, and we told the management company that they needed to get rid of the mold, or release us from our lease. They told us that painting over the mold would get rid of it, but, obviously, since we're not idiots, we didn't believe them (apparently, for the management company, paint can fix anything, including crumbling walls).
We let them do their version of "fixing" things, then brought in a mold inspector. He examined the apartment and took some air samples to check on the mold situation. He sent these off to the lab, and when we got the results back, the report told us we had TOXIC BLACK MOLD. Not only that, when we talked to the inspector, he told us these were the highest numbers he had ever seen, and that it could be fatal (this, after the management company told me it was my fault that I was allergic to their lovingly raised mold). Oh, also, he let us know that the area under the bathtub was all dry-rot, so basically we could have taken a shower and fallen into the apartment below.
Needless to say, we decided to move out (thankfully, this had all taken place within the span of three weeks or so, and a professor in my program was kind enough to invite us to stay at his gorgeous house), and sued to get our deposit back. We ended up settling in our favor, but seriously, this property management company is exactly what is wrong with the world. Anyone moving into Ithaca, if you want to know who this is, leave a comment, and I'll let you know.
Thankfully, we stumbled upon the most gorgeous new loft, just outside of town. We saw pictures of it on Craigslist, and fell in LOVE with it. Turns out, the owner wasn't able to finish it before the fall housing rush, so it was still available when we got to it. Want to see pictures? I know you do.
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| the view from upstairs towards the kitchen |
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| where we sleep. |
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| where lane studies... sometimes. |
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| our spiral staircase. My toes in the upper right. |
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| our living room. amazing view & internet tv included. |
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| our living room, front door to the left. |
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| view from our windows. the deer love it here. |
All this, completely furnished, and includes our own washer/dryer (hallelujah), radiant heating (no dust blowing around), internet/utilities, and adorable animal neighbors. Seriously. Our landlord (who is a jazz pianist) and his girlfriend (who runs a wildlife rescue) have the cutest pets, and when they're out of town, we get to go over and play with the little creatures. One cute bunny with blue eyes, and two lovey kitties. They also used to have a white chinchilla, but, sadly, he passed away recently. He was the funniest thing - it was like he was constantly trying to take over the world. The only picture I have of any of the animals is Bubba the bunny, so feast your eyes:
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| bubba lapinopolis (greek, bc of the blue eyes) |
Bubba is very easily persuaded by food. You only need to shake his little jar of treats, and sing his "Treat" song, and he will instantly go to his cage. Pathetic, but adorable.
I think that's it for now... Oh wait, Chinese New Year is coming up! That's why the apartment is now actually clean enough that I can post pictures of it... it is also partially the reason for making this:
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| Char Siu aka Chinese BBQ Pork |
Win. I had never made it before, and it was surprisingly close to what one typically gets at a Chinese restaurant. We were pretty happy. Happy New Year!
