The new place

We moved into apartment 3310 on Towerland Drive in Airdrie on the 1st of December 2012. It was a cold, snowy, gloomy all around miserable day. Being a Saturday D was at work so I packed our things into the rental car and headed over to meet the agent and collect the keys. It was strange feeling knowing that pretty much everything we owned could fit in one small sedan. I met the agent who showed me through the and then left me to begin moving in our stuff. It took a few trips up and down the stairs but before long all of our things were inside, and I was all alone. It was so quiet. After the few months we had enjoyed holidaying in the states constantly on the go with my loud and crazy family then the chaos of driving back and forward to Airdrie every week I was suddenly all alone and overcome with feelings of being lonely, relieved, excited, proud, sad, anxious and terrified all at once. I started to cry. And once I started I couldn't stop. So I pulled out our new comforter, laid down on it next to the window and as I watched the snow fall down I bawled my eyes out all afternoon.

Airdrie is a really nice small town about 15 mins North of Calgary in Alberta. On clear days you can see the rocky mountains. It has all the amenities that are important to us - plenty of shops, public transport, small movie theatre, gym and the Calgary International airport close by. I knew as soon as we would be happy here.

Morning on the Main Street of Airdrie only a few mins walk from our place

Nose Creek runs directly in front of our apartment which is closest to the camera on the 3rd floor

To begin with all we had was some items for cooking & eating plus 2 chairs kindly given to us by one of D's new work friends but that really was it. We had a comforter to sleep on - no mattress and no bed. I won't lie it was a fairly uncomfortable first week but as soon as we had the funds we were borrowing a friends truck and driving to Ikea. We also managed to pick up some items from the local Salvation Army thrift store too.

Our bed is a mattress on the floor but it's comfortable enough and beats sleeping directly on the floor so we're happy with this for now...


Yes, we're sleeping Japanese style

D's bedside table - LACK from Ikea $12.99 SOLD!

With all the snow outside we really did need a bit of life inside

My bedside LACKing a soda and candy for once, not often it looks nice like this

We both love the bathroom, probably because of the cool treescape shower curtain and Marty the Moose we bought in Banff NP. This is the only animal head that will ever grace my walls!

I'm having at least 3 baths a week LOVING the bath... plus showers on the other days hehe

This bath tray from Ikea makes facebooking in the bath a breeze

The living room has been tough to make look 'full'. For a 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom apartment it is very spacious. And because we don't have a table & chairs or coffee table it feels fairly empty sometimes. Putting an orange throw on the floor fills in some of that space and adds a pop of colour. No way we could afford a rug so we've made do!

Small inexpensive decorations - I made the bear coasters from felt and the owl from a used toilet roll

The wall that reminds us of home and all the awesome people we are privileged to call our family & friends

The living room, the couch is ugly but comfy and the cute armchair makes up for it.

Luckily for us the rentals here come with a fridge so that's an expense we haven't had to bear. There is also a laundry room on site so no expensive washer or dryer either yahoo!

We love this fun reference to deliverance. I smile every time I open the fridge

The stove is HUGE compared to standard ones in Australia, the rest of the kitchen is fairly standard though