This whole apartment hunt thing is exhausting! 
But, Mal and I saw a place this afternoon that had some serious potential. It’s good to know that they’re out there!
Before visiting the apartment, Mal and I met at Dunkin’ Donuts for a little afternoon pick-me-up.
I ordered a small decaf iced coffee with milk and sugar.
And a single chocolate glazed munchkin. Totally worth 70 calories! 
Apartment #2
I liked Apartment #2 right away. 
The apartment is a 2-bedroom on the second floor of a single-family, owner-occupied house. And, the owner has the most adorable 10-week-old golden retriever puppy. Murphy would love her! The location is walking-distance to shops, parks, and pubic transportation. The apartment itself has just about everything we want– parking, laundry, a big backyard, plenty of storage– except a dishwasher. Boo! 
So, now Mal and I are on the fence about whether we can live without a dishwasher or not. Growing up, I never had one, so I know the woes of washing dishes by hand. I’ve also come to appreciate the convenience of having a dishwasher, so it might be tough, especially since I enjoy cooking and baking so much more now.
I think we’re going to keep this apartment in mind, but continue to look for a more ideal option.
Dinner
Mal worked late tonight, so I threw together a quick dinner for myself. I made a big salad with gorgonzola, sliced turkey, and balsamic vinegar on top
For dessert, I enjoyed a new gluten-free cereal mix from MixMyGranola that they sent me to try out. My “Carrost ‘N’ Cake” mix sort of tasted like eggnog. Very yummy!
I ended up turning the cereal mix into a 3-Minute Cookie.
And then later eating 2 bowls of it with vanilla soy milk.
I cannot be trusted around cereal. 
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We’re showing our apartment to another couple and then relaxing and catching up with American Idol.
Good night!!! 
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P.S. I love celebrity gossip, so I have to ask: what the heck is going on with Heidi Montag?!? She looks TERRIBLE!!! Blah!
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You are lovin those three minute cookies! I must try it asap!’
heidi montag does look horrible! blech…anyway, i am completely and totally obsessed with the 3 minute cookie. it’s so fun experimenting with flavors…i did a triple chocolate one for breakfast today!
I also need to try the three minute cookie! This past weekend I made your recipe for banana oatmeal chocolate-chip cookies and they were DELICIOUS!! I love that they are so healthy, because I could eat them all day long!
I’m not sure if anyone mentioned a portable dishwasher, but my brother and sister in-law have one in their house and it works great for them. Definitely worth looking into if you love the apartment you found!
Glad the apartment has potential…maybe with just 2 of you a dishwasher isn’t too important, if the rest of the place is worth it??
My husbands apartment didnt have a dishwasher. It was awful. Ugh.
I didn’t have a dishwasher in my first apartment but I really didn’t cook then. Now, with two kids, I would die.
Heidi does look terrible. So sad….she’s so young!
I guess the advantage to apartment #2 is that the owner lives downstairs… he would have to respond to your maintenance requests, etc. pretty quickly!
Heidi… oh, Heidi. I read People on the plane and just don’t get it. She aged herself by getting 21267 procedures done… she looked great before!
p.s. I read that she sold less than 1,000 albums since its release.
oh girl, i know about washing dishes by hand. but just think of it this way: extra calorie burning!
my boyfriend and i rent a house in st louis…and we do not have a dishwasher. it is definitely a challenge, because he loves to cook and i love to bake. however, we love everything else about our house, so it is worth it! we keep reminding ourselves we are only renting and can definitely have a dishwasher when we own a house.
I totally agree. Heidi looks awful! She did like 10 procedures in one day. Thats just unnatural and gross.
Hope you find the ideal apartment soon!
I tried your favorite dessert as an afternoon snack today: half a sandwich thin w/ PB and chocolate chips. You’re right — delicious! Thanks for the idea.
I’m sad about Heidi
She has issues and I feel bad for her.
That apartment sounds pretty nice-sucks about no dishwasher though
It would be hard to live without one-that’s for sure!
Wow, I could careless about a dishwasher. I do care about location, sunlight and cost in that order. If a place doesn’t get some good sunlight through some good windows I won’t spend anytime there.
I miss DUNKIN so much!! I’d make a fortune if I opened it on the WEST coast
Heidi Montag DOES look awful. I thought she was adorable long before any of the surgery.
I dont have a dishwasher, and although its irritating, I manage. Its more the time aspect of handwashing dishes that gets to me.
I’ve grown up in a house with a dishwasher but we always hand washed dishes and use the dishwasher as a dish rack. My dad insists the dishwasher wastes WAY too much water. So we only run it once every month or so to give it a good rinse/clean.
If everything is perfect I say go with apt #2 and save some H20!
I, too, cannot be trusted around cereal!
Run as quickly as you can away from any apartment without a dishwasher. My past two apartments have been dishwasher-less, and it dramatically affects my willingness to cook. A dishwasher is simply a must. Trust me, you’d be miserable without it.
couldn’t you buy a dishwasher? I have one at home but not at my uni house, and it’s actually not too bad…it just makes me appreciate dishwashers even more
Heidi Looks like she’s 15 yrs. older, in my opinion. And when you have that much surgery at 23, where to you go from there? Botox injections at 23 ? Ridiculous! I don’t know if you’ve seen any of the interviews she’ given lately, but her face is so tight she can barely talk, and when she does she sounds like a total idiot!
I so know what you mean about cereal. When I was studying at uni, I used to have a box of cereal on my desk that I ate by the handful. Before I knew it it, it was half gone. It’s so addictive!
I thought you already sublet your current apartment?
If you end up in an apartment without a dishwasher, invest in a portable dishwasher. You can always sell it on Craigslist when you move…
Salad looks great!! Apartment hunting is definitely exhausting, but at least you know all your hard work will pay off when you find the one you love!
Yay for good apartments!! Yeah Heidi is becoming the latest train wreck!! She looked awesome when she first started on the Hills and now she looks ridiculous!!!!
I’m the same way with cereal!
Heidi looks SCARY!
I can tell you that we’ve had a small dishwasher for a while when we moved into our condo and it was horrible – most things wouldn’t fit into it so Adam had to do the dishes by hand. Then it completely broke (started leaking) so ALL dishes had to be washed by hand and with the amount of dishes we go through, it was a nightmare. I have a feeling that you use up the same amount of dishes (different bowls for blogging, prepping, containers to go) and it really does get old fast. It’s obviously not the end of the world, but definitely keep looking. I’m sure there is something perfect out there!
I’m getting married in June and moving into my fiance’s house with no dishwasher. My tiny, one bedroom apartment has a dishwasher! Fiance grew up with no dishwasher and doesn’t want one at all. We’re compromising and not getting one in this “starter” house but the next house, he agreed to get one (when we’ll need it to sterilize baby bottles).
Tina, does the apartment have room for a portable dishwasher? I had no idea what those were until we had out first apartment without a dishwasher. My husband’s family used a portable dishwasher for years and it’s just a dishwasher on wheels that you hook up to the sink with a tube. Brilliant! Might be worth checking out if you really love this place.
I don’t really follow Heidi so I was unaware of her extreme plastic surgery, but I saw her on the cover of that magazine the other day and was appalled. I will never understand why people elect to change their appearance so drastically. To each her own, but it seems so sad to me–like you’re trying to erase who you are!
I’m sorry about the lack of dishwasher in the apartment. That’s unfortunate! Hopefully you will have better luck with the other apartments.
I can’t be trusted around cereal either! I eat way tooooo much.
Hi Tina – I just wanted to put in my two cents about a dishwasher. My fiance is a chef so we cook up a storm and dirty many a dish in our kitchen every night. We had a dishwasher in our old apartment but not in our house and we don’t miss it at all! We bought a rack that you can put your dishes on to dry and if you wash them right after each use it’s not a pain at all. Even if you are used to it, I wouldn’t consider a dishwasher a must have, especially if you found a place that is otherwise perfect!
You can buy a small portable dishwasher that attaches to the sink and rolls out of the way after use.
(if you have enough space, and are willing to run the dishwasher more frequently because they are smaller than regular dishwashers)
Heidi does look terrible. It is really sad that she did that to her self…and I see more surgery in her future. She is going to end up looking like the Cat Woman-GROSS!
I would hate to see you turn down a great apartment over a dishwasher. Could you perhaps talk to the owner about this concern and see if they could install one? If it’s the only thing holding you back, I’m sure they’d at least think about it
Good luck!
The apartment sounds great besides the dishwasher thing. I have lived in two places without dishwashers post college and I love to cook but hate to wash dishes, so your fears basically have been my reality. I don’t cook as much as I would like and baking is generally out of the question unless I go to a friends house, b/c it dirties up basically everything (measuring cups, spoons, mixing bowls, spoons, pans-wow did I really just list all the things that would be dirtied? Like I said I reeealllly hate washing dishes) It hasn’t made me eat out more, I just consolidate and eat out of bowls a lot, alot of one dish meals. I would love to get one of the portable dishwashers, but there is literally no where to put one in my place (it’s so small the washer and dryer are in the bathroom, gotta love old small houses
) also heidi montag. get a grip girl. love your blog, recently started following it- I can’t wait to try three minute oatmeal cookies- do you think they would work with blueberries (frozen not dried)? guess i will just have to see!
I live in an apartment now that has no dishwasher and although it has been tough, I’ve gotten used to it!
About Heidi, I think the whole story is sad (and at times disgusting) on many levels. First that she really has that little self confidence that she feels she needs all that surgery, that young girls are getting this horrible message that is all over the media and also that PEOPLE decided to run this story – they seem to just get trashier and trashier with ever issue. I do enjoy my celebrity gossip but this is just a new low.
A donut ball every now and then makes me happy
I couldn’t live without a dishwasher…but maybe that’s just me. I’ve always had one.
Yeah, I can’t believe what she did to herself. She looks like a cheap porn star now. Harsh, but true.
She used to be SO pretty. I actually feel bad for her. It must suck to hate your body that much.
With the dishwasher, I know how you feel! I have lived in homes without them and especially with how much I cook for the blog now we run the dishwasher every other day! I can’t imagine washing them all by hand everyday. It helps to be able to put some away. I guess it’s all priority but I can totally understand where you are coming from.
Heidi looks awful!! I hate how people get so addicted to plastic surgery and it ends up making them look so much worse when they are already beautiful! I haven’t seen the article, as long as they stress that it’s not good that she’s addicted then I think it’s a serious issue that needs to be discussed as long as they aren’t doing it in a trashy way. It is a serious issue and she obviously doesn’t look better so hopefully people will stop doing that to themselves!
Tina! Forget the dishwasher let me tell you something I have a nice fancy dishwasher but I hardly use it I wash all my dishes by hand as just like you its only My bf and I and my cat lol!
haha my twitter name is possiblymaybe!
I say hold out for a dishwasher. They are so nice and helpful. (Especially for those of us with busy lives.)
That apartment sounds pretty nice BUT i’d hold out for a dishwasher. But that’s just because washing dishes by hand is pretty much the very LAST thing I ever want to do.
Your munchkin face is priceless!
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