i don't have many pics of my new place since my stupid camera doesn't work.  but my mom was able to take a few when they came to visit.  these pics are the greatest, but at least they're something since i've been getting some requests for pics!

my bathroom

the kitchen and dining area

sorry for the blurry pic, but this is my bedroom so far (it still needs some more interesting stuff/decor, but i'm working on it gradually). i love have a bigger bed now (even though it's only a full, it's an upgrade from a twin!)

the common room. i love that we get a lot of natural light as these two walls are all window.  i also love that i can check the weather just by seeing what the people on the street are wearing (we're on the 2nd floor).  but then again, it's like 20 degrees warmer in our apartment than outside so the morning cold feels great and refreshing.  this room is so comfy to chill and watch tv (if stupid comcast actually worked!)

the view from the window behind the tv.  it looks out onto the intersection of charles and saratoga and onto the superfresh.

the view from my room. nothing exciting. construction, starbucks, and parking garage. at least i can see my favorite number on the building and i love how the orange glow from the streetlamps pours into my room at night.  i don't like the construction noise and sirens so much though...

the wall in between my bathroom and walk-in closet, displaying some pics from my travels, above the single piece of furniture bought for my place.  how lucky am i to get furniture passed onto me from my aunt and parents!

my big closet! it looks much better now and has a little less stuff, but yes, i know i have a lot of stuff.  can you believe this is only 75% of my stuff from home?

me at my desk, which i no longer use for writing papers and doing schoolwork! and i have more room for stuff than i know what to do with.

now onto some pics from home...

  this is the only pic i was able to take of my room before i left.  even though i won't miss all of the yucky pink of iced blush (aka my room), i still miss my loungy room.

i miss cooking in our renovated kitchen...

from the same angle, this is what our kitchen used to look like. drastic change, huh?

i miss my renovated bathroom, especially my shower! 2 showerheads (one of which is one of those raining, overhead thingys) and tiles all over!

i wish i had a pic of my old bathroom so you can see the major difference, but i absolutely love my bathroom at home, especially the glass-tiled wall!

even though i miss my "new" home ("new", since almost all of it got renovated or additions), i'm still happy to be here in baltimore and having a whole new experience!

besitos!

:>

i moved down to baltimore this past saturday, along with a lot of crap i have! i think i must have brought 75% of my stuff down. i wish my camera worked so i could have taken pics of my crap in my renovated house, which i was leaving behind, and of my crap in my new apartment.

i'm thankful for my tita violy and jerome for giving me a lot of furniture for free (including my full-sized bed, sofa bed, 2 shelves, and desk) and helping my brother and dad load it into the uhaul. i'm also grateful that my parents drove down with me and helped me move in and get everything set up.  (well, i'm basically grateful to them for everything in my life.) so moving on...

1) apartment: so nice! i have my own bathroom and walk-in closet in my bedroom. one wall is all window so i get lots of natural light during the day. i love waking up to the light (and sound of cars and construction - sometimes) and going to sleep with the cool orange glow from the streetlights. i'm only on the 2nd floor, fyi. so there are 2 towers in my apartment complex with 27 floors each (i think) and it's attached to a plaza that has a food court, a superfresh, a cleaners, wine store, coffee store, etc. the proximity to such amenities (including banks, restaurants, pharmacies) was a definite plus. not to mention its 4.5 blocks away from my job! i can walk to it (although the steep incline is a little daunting, especially in heels!) and because of that i don't have to rush, and dare i say it, i could even be on time, or even early! anyways, back to the topic of the apartment...it's so nice looking too! it looks like a hotel! i think it used to be office buildings. the downside is the parking in the garage below the complex is mad expensive and with a waiting list! needless to say i didn't bring my car and trying not to need it (even for work-related purposes) for at least a few months. that is going to be a lot for me to get used to! i miss my car! the common room gets a lot of natural light too, with 2 of the main walls are windows all across. the kitchen is nice too, even without having granite countertops and stainless steel appliances. the laundry room is on my floor, there's an outdoor pool, a fitness center, a business center, a sweet community room, guest suites that are nicer and cheaper than hotel rooms, 24-hr front desk security, and more! we'll see if all these things live up to the excitement, but then again, i have yet to do my laundry, the pool isn't open, and i doubt i'll use any of the other stuff! besides the 3:45 am wake up call from the false fire alarm the other day (it reminded me of those weekly early morning fire alarms at hill, standing in shorts and tanks in the wintertime cold) and the cable and shower issues - which have been resolved, i like where i live. it's convenient, safe, nice, and reasonably cheap!

2) my roommate: another reason why i like where i'm living is because of my roommate. she's 24, thai, from california, and a 1st-year phd student in population health at jhu's bloomberg school of public health. she's so cute and adorable, fun, nice, chill, and smart. i really lucked out with the apartment and her (i didn't know much about her till after we worked things out) because she was looking for a roommate through craig's list, and yes, i know cl can be shady. but after some phone calls with her and the guy that was moving out (due to a new job, not her!), seeing the place with my parents, and meeting her with my friend reisey, it seemed like it would work out. and it has been! so glad that the roommate situation is working out! 

3) mt. vernon: the area i live in is in the downtown (which is nothing compared to philly's), but known for its cute restaurants and shops, cultural events, and art/music. it's where's jhu's peabody institute is, so it makes sense. the people are very nice, even saying hi and good morning to me on the street. i have yet to still fully explore the area, but when i first saw this area, i immediately fell in love with it and knew that i wanted to live in this area for what it offers, its proximity to my job, and it's not as crazy and busy as other areas that are up and coming. although i live closer to the harbor and what is the more conventional idea of downtown, the cool things of mt. vernon are still very close. other areas of the city are fun, like federal hill for the bars and nightlife, and probably canton and fells point from what i hear, but i have been so busy to really check out the rest of baltimore, even inner harbor! so whenever somebody comes to visit, you know what we're going to do!

4) my job: so today was my first day at my job. just to recap for those who don't know, the reason why i moved to baltimore was for this job as a grants specialist/analyst with the ryan white program in the baltimore city health department. basically, the city's health department gets federal money for ensuring that the uninsured, underinsured, and those that have no other means (generalization here) and have hiv/aids get quality hiv care and services. so as part of that federal grant, a clinical quality management program is established and that's where i work, helping review agencies to make sure they meet standards and goals and helping them implement recommendations to do so. assessing federal and local standards, collecting and analyzing data, evaluating agencies based on data, writing reports and recommendations, and then help to implement them - that's what we do. i'm excited by the thought of all of that! despite government bureaucracy and my nervousness, anxiety, and fear, i'm excited! my first day wasn't all that exciting though, just orientation, getting my computer set up, and reading lots of materials. boy, do i have a lot of stuff to read. apparently the program is going through significant infrastructural changes that they are expanding the staff, so i'm only the 2nd new hire in the slew of new employees to come. i'm gonna hafta try to get over the space of the office as it's pretty much open and you can hear people talking, especially when they're on the phone because there's only one line for the whole office! i haven't attempted to answer the phone because i'm afraid that when i do, it'll be someone looking for how to access a particular service and i wouldn't know what to tell them yet! and the one time, i did answer the phone call transferred to me, they were looking for raven, the administrative assistant! yes, there's another raven in the program! crazy! not two johns or marys, two ravens! so they refer to her a lot and i keep thinking they're talking about me! we're going to have to figure out how to distinguish the ravens in the group.

boy, i think that's a lot for now. i wish i could put up pictures to make it more interesting, but i need a new camera!

any recommendations for a good, reasonably-priced digital camera?

keep me posted with your vidas!

:>