Goodbye, Roy Street

Yesterday, I said goodbye to my first real adult home. It wasn’t my first apartment — that was in St Louis, but let’s face it, TeachForAmerica could hardly be considered a “real life” situation. Apt 306 in Chandler Hall right here in Seattle was really my first adult home.

I moved to Seattle in the summer of 2006. Completely disillusioned and jaded by a year spent teaching in the inner-city of St. Louis, I fled back to the best place I knew: the Pacific Northwest. I found myself a job at the University of Washington and needed to find myself an apartment, STAT. I looked and looked and looked. I adjusted my price range up and looked some more. I kept adjusting and kept looking…

And then I found it.

Chandler Hall is a dear old building in Lower Queen Anne, and it was just perfect to me. A cozy studio with huge windows that caught afternoon light, aged hardwood floors, black and white floors in the bathroom and kitchen, and… get this… the green glass drawer pulls from Anthropologie I always lusted after in the kitchen.

I loved it the second I saw it, so much so that I decided to rent it without getting anyone else’s opinion first… and that, my friends, is a big deal.

For nearly four years, Apt 306 was my home. I laughed in it, I cried in it, and I grew from a recent college grad into a real, true adult in it. That apartment saw quite a bit, and for posterity’s sake, I thought I’d list some of my favorite moments:

*The nights I hosted our weekly girls night. Eating, talking, watching Grey’s Anatomy, and eventually knitting with your best friends can’t be beat. I particularly enjoyed hosting a season premier party one year, complete with Grey’s Jeopardy!

*Spring time, when the trees outside my apartment would suddenly transform from bare dead sticks into beautiful lush greenery.

*Private dance party, just me and my Aussie.

*Girl’s Christmas, where we ate a massive lasagna and opened presents. My tree, decorated in glittery gold ornaments and strings of pearls, was always so pretty!

*The many moods of the Space Needle, as seen when I walked down the stairs to my bus.

*Sneaking the family pet, Rudy, into the pet-free building… and of course, crowding my entire family into an apartment built for one!

*Sticking my “Bravo” stickers from Weight Watchers onto the bookmark I had stuck to the fridge. That apartment saw me lose 80 pounds.

*New Years Eve, 2009. My Aussie is the funniest drunk in the world.

*My 26th birthday, when I woke up to three drunken girls (my sister and her friends) sleeping on one air-mattress on the floor, and Aussie sleeping by my side. AWKWARD!

*Waking up to the sunshine on summer mornings.

And so many more! I loved that little apartment, and it took me a long time to give it up. I won’t miss the hours wasted trying to find parking, or the growing cracks in the ceiling, or doing my laundry in the basement — but I will miss my little haven.

Goodbye, little apartment on Roy Street! You were a wonderful home to me. You were there for me when I grew up, and now that I’m grown, it’s time for me to move on.