Hi readers!
I just published Lila Eloise's first post, titled Deep Breathe. I'm currently writing up a few posts and my plan is to post once weekly. I'm tweaking the next post and you may or may not see it sometime in the next few days, I guess you'll just have to stay tuned!
If you liked the first post, let me know. If you didn't, also let me know! Feel free to bring up anything you would have liked to seen or a direction you want the story to go. I have a loose storyline but want the blog to be somewhat interactive. If you have any ideas for Lila Eloise, let me know and you might see them popping up in her story.
I hope you enjoy the first post and be sure to come back for more!
Friday, June 17, 2016
Deep Breath
I stretched my back and shook out the tension in my hands as I pulled up to the curb on Arlington Avenue before shutting off the engine of my rundown Cavalier. I had been driving for five hours to my new home and only stopped to finish my grad school enrollment at the University of Minnesota. As the hours passed, I became more and more nervous for what was in store. Taking a few deep breaths, I opened my door and approached the building that matched the number in my email where a middle-aged woman was standing on the front porch.
The woman smiled as I approached her, "Lila?"
I met her on the bottom step of the porch and stuck out my hand. "Lila Eloise. It's nice to finally meet you, Diane," I introduced myself, sliding in the subtle correction and a small smile as I spoke.
The struggle of having two first names was nothing new to me, but I held on to the same hope for twenty-three years that people who learned my name would assume I didn't just include my middle name when introducing myself. My parents both came from large, close-knit families and had wanted me to carry names from both families. The result was a combination of both grandmothers' names and a lifetime of awkwardly correcting everybody I met, including the property manager for my new house, who I realized had asked me a question and was now looking at me expectantly for an answer.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't catch what you said," I blushed. "I must be more exhausted than I thought."
Diane gave me a warm smile before answering, "Oh no worries dear. It sure is a long drive from Milwaukee. I'm sure coordinating graduate school registration and a big move in the same day can't be easy. Let's get you squared away so you can get some rest and take care of what you need to. I was just explaining to you that this house is in a good location but is lacking a few updates. The owner of this property has explained to us that he is comfortable with a tenant making updates and doing small remodels, as long as they do not require a permit from the city. If this is something you are interested in, we ask that you keep receipts for materials and any invoices. You may drop them at the office any time before your next month's rent is due, we will make copies and forward them to the owner, and you will get a receipt stating that amount is taken off your rent owed for that month."
As we toured the inside, I saw issues that didn't show up in the few pictures I was able to see before I requested to rent the place. The old hardwood was faded under scratched and the cabinets were fresh out of the seventies. The kitchen and living room were a very generous size but needed new paint and trim horribly. Diane showed me the half bathroom off of the laundry room, which seemed to be the only newly updated area in the whole house. We retraced through the living room, where I noticed a small sunroom with French doors leading out to the wrap-around porch. One of the bedrooms was very small and looked like it had belonged to a preteen girl, with purple carpet, pink walls, and a zebra stripe border running through the room. The closet lacked doors and I noticed the window that looked cracked from the outside belonged to this room.
Diane walked me past another bathroom that was missing the door and I was beginning to doubt myself when we stopped in front of the other bedroom. It was the largest room of the house and had a closet nearly the size of the other bedroom. I looked up and saw a row of three skylights and noticed another door in the room. When I opened it, I saw the most beautiful bathroom I had ever laid my eyes on. It had a shower stall with jets in the wall and an over-sized soaking tub that matched the floor tiles. The vanity was a makeup artist's dream and the quartz sink was spotless. Diane explained that the owner had redone the master suite when he bought the house but ran out of funds to continue the rest and decided to rent instead.
"Well, here it is. Some of it looks quite rough, but remember, you can fix it up as you desire," Diane reminded me as she turned to me. "Now, do you have your original lease agreement?"
I offered up my signed copy of the lease and Diane gave me the other copy I had faxed in the week before. "Here is your lease with all of the stipulations for this house. You'll notice in the pets clause that this owner will allow a maximum of two animals at his discretion and that will be an agreement that needs to be put in writing at our office. This packet includes our office address and contact numbers, as well as emergency maintenance numbers. Rent is due the first of every month and can be dropped off at the front desk, our drop box, or mailed in. If you mail rent, it must be post-marked by the 30th of the previous month. Late rent is charged $5 every day late for the first week and a $35 collection fee is added at the end of that week if it is not paid. Late rent is then charged $10 every day late the second week and you will be considered for eviction if it is not paid by the end of the second week. We know all sorts of things can happen, so if there are extenuating circumstances, please contact us as soon as you can and the office will work with you to come up with an exception and put it in writing. However, if you must do this, you may forfeit your security deposit," Diane ran me through the agreements as we walked back outside to the porch.
"And, the most important part," she produced three keys and a garage door opener and handed them to me, "one is for the garage door, on is for the front door here, and the third is for your sunroom doors. Feel free to make spares if you need, but please keep the receipt so our office knows how many keys are with the property." Diane smiled at me before shaking my hand again, "It's been a pleasure to meet you Lila Eloise. I hope you enjoy your new home and I would like to welcome you to the Twin Cities. If you need anything, I included my card in your welcome packet. Please don't hesitate to give me a call."
I thanked her and made my way back into the house where I sat up on the kitchen island and looked around. I had packed the Cav as full as I could with clothes and belongings, but the rest was under the care of movers who were scheduled to arrive tomorrow afternoon. It was Monday evening, and I would be starting my program in a little over two months, but I only had another week until I started my new job. As I sat looking at my empty house, I was suddenly overcome with emotion. I had graduated from Milwaukee a year ago as the man I thought I would marry watched me cross the stage. I was working on the athletic trainer staff at my former high school and dancing for a professional basketball team. I was close to my family and friends, and I had left that all behind. I had run away to a new city, five hours from my family and knowing nobody. As I got lost in my thoughts of running away from my problems, my phone angrily vibrated on the kitchen island next to me.
I glanced over and saw a new text from a familiar number. As much as I willed myself not to, I read it:
Lila Eloise! I didn't think you were really leaving Milwaukee last time we talked. Why would you do something like that? You had everything here. Your career, the Bucks, your family. ME????!?!? If you wanted to go to grad school, why didn't you do it here? I thought we were going to fix things.
I felt hot tears forming before throwing my phone toward the living area, effectively breaking off the back cover and sending the battery skidding. I hopped of the island and sighed. I wanted to believe I had done the right thing; my parents had given my nothing but encouragement, but here I was, alone in an empty house with nothing to look forward to. I began dragging my belonging in from my car before parking it in the garage and losing myself in a night of unpacking and two bottles of wine.
The woman smiled as I approached her, "Lila?"
I met her on the bottom step of the porch and stuck out my hand. "Lila Eloise. It's nice to finally meet you, Diane," I introduced myself, sliding in the subtle correction and a small smile as I spoke.
The struggle of having two first names was nothing new to me, but I held on to the same hope for twenty-three years that people who learned my name would assume I didn't just include my middle name when introducing myself. My parents both came from large, close-knit families and had wanted me to carry names from both families. The result was a combination of both grandmothers' names and a lifetime of awkwardly correcting everybody I met, including the property manager for my new house, who I realized had asked me a question and was now looking at me expectantly for an answer.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't catch what you said," I blushed. "I must be more exhausted than I thought."
Diane gave me a warm smile before answering, "Oh no worries dear. It sure is a long drive from Milwaukee. I'm sure coordinating graduate school registration and a big move in the same day can't be easy. Let's get you squared away so you can get some rest and take care of what you need to. I was just explaining to you that this house is in a good location but is lacking a few updates. The owner of this property has explained to us that he is comfortable with a tenant making updates and doing small remodels, as long as they do not require a permit from the city. If this is something you are interested in, we ask that you keep receipts for materials and any invoices. You may drop them at the office any time before your next month's rent is due, we will make copies and forward them to the owner, and you will get a receipt stating that amount is taken off your rent owed for that month."
I nodded my head as I followed along, thinking this wouldn't be too bad of a deal. Sure, the house looked a little shabby from the outside. It had a porch that wrapped around the front and one side of the house, with steps that led out to the back yard, a generous size for a home in the city. Some of the boards in the porch looked broken and the hand rails were missing in places. The outside needed a fresh coat of paint and one of the side windows had a crack. Some of the shingles looked old and needed to be replaced and the screen was ripped on the front door.
As we toured the inside, I saw issues that didn't show up in the few pictures I was able to see before I requested to rent the place. The old hardwood was faded under scratched and the cabinets were fresh out of the seventies. The kitchen and living room were a very generous size but needed new paint and trim horribly. Diane showed me the half bathroom off of the laundry room, which seemed to be the only newly updated area in the whole house. We retraced through the living room, where I noticed a small sunroom with French doors leading out to the wrap-around porch. One of the bedrooms was very small and looked like it had belonged to a preteen girl, with purple carpet, pink walls, and a zebra stripe border running through the room. The closet lacked doors and I noticed the window that looked cracked from the outside belonged to this room.
Diane walked me past another bathroom that was missing the door and I was beginning to doubt myself when we stopped in front of the other bedroom. It was the largest room of the house and had a closet nearly the size of the other bedroom. I looked up and saw a row of three skylights and noticed another door in the room. When I opened it, I saw the most beautiful bathroom I had ever laid my eyes on. It had a shower stall with jets in the wall and an over-sized soaking tub that matched the floor tiles. The vanity was a makeup artist's dream and the quartz sink was spotless. Diane explained that the owner had redone the master suite when he bought the house but ran out of funds to continue the rest and decided to rent instead.
"Well, here it is. Some of it looks quite rough, but remember, you can fix it up as you desire," Diane reminded me as she turned to me. "Now, do you have your original lease agreement?"
I offered up my signed copy of the lease and Diane gave me the other copy I had faxed in the week before. "Here is your lease with all of the stipulations for this house. You'll notice in the pets clause that this owner will allow a maximum of two animals at his discretion and that will be an agreement that needs to be put in writing at our office. This packet includes our office address and contact numbers, as well as emergency maintenance numbers. Rent is due the first of every month and can be dropped off at the front desk, our drop box, or mailed in. If you mail rent, it must be post-marked by the 30th of the previous month. Late rent is charged $5 every day late for the first week and a $35 collection fee is added at the end of that week if it is not paid. Late rent is then charged $10 every day late the second week and you will be considered for eviction if it is not paid by the end of the second week. We know all sorts of things can happen, so if there are extenuating circumstances, please contact us as soon as you can and the office will work with you to come up with an exception and put it in writing. However, if you must do this, you may forfeit your security deposit," Diane ran me through the agreements as we walked back outside to the porch.
"And, the most important part," she produced three keys and a garage door opener and handed them to me, "one is for the garage door, on is for the front door here, and the third is for your sunroom doors. Feel free to make spares if you need, but please keep the receipt so our office knows how many keys are with the property." Diane smiled at me before shaking my hand again, "It's been a pleasure to meet you Lila Eloise. I hope you enjoy your new home and I would like to welcome you to the Twin Cities. If you need anything, I included my card in your welcome packet. Please don't hesitate to give me a call."
I thanked her and made my way back into the house where I sat up on the kitchen island and looked around. I had packed the Cav as full as I could with clothes and belongings, but the rest was under the care of movers who were scheduled to arrive tomorrow afternoon. It was Monday evening, and I would be starting my program in a little over two months, but I only had another week until I started my new job. As I sat looking at my empty house, I was suddenly overcome with emotion. I had graduated from Milwaukee a year ago as the man I thought I would marry watched me cross the stage. I was working on the athletic trainer staff at my former high school and dancing for a professional basketball team. I was close to my family and friends, and I had left that all behind. I had run away to a new city, five hours from my family and knowing nobody. As I got lost in my thoughts of running away from my problems, my phone angrily vibrated on the kitchen island next to me.
I glanced over and saw a new text from a familiar number. As much as I willed myself not to, I read it:
Lila Eloise! I didn't think you were really leaving Milwaukee last time we talked. Why would you do something like that? You had everything here. Your career, the Bucks, your family. ME????!?!? If you wanted to go to grad school, why didn't you do it here? I thought we were going to fix things.
I felt hot tears forming before throwing my phone toward the living area, effectively breaking off the back cover and sending the battery skidding. I hopped of the island and sighed. I wanted to believe I had done the right thing; my parents had given my nothing but encouragement, but here I was, alone in an empty house with nothing to look forward to. I began dragging my belonging in from my car before parking it in the garage and losing myself in a night of unpacking and two bottles of wine.
Sunday, June 5, 2016
Welcome!
Hello readers!
Welcome to Living Like Lila, where you will follow recent graduate Lila Eloise as she begins graduate school at the University of Minnesota. Hailing from a rural Milwaukee suburb and having recently ended a serious long term relationship, Lila Eloise is navigating her way through a new state, new friends, and new love interests. If you made your way here from Small Town, Big Time, I'm happy to see you again and can't wait for you to see this new story! I am working on a few posts to get the blog up and running, so check back through the week; I promise to have one up by next Sunday! I am hoping to get into a posting schedule of Friday afternoons or Saturday mornings, but I have to feel out how the writing goes first. Until I have a set day, plan to see at least one post a week.
See you all soon!
Welcome to Living Like Lila, where you will follow recent graduate Lila Eloise as she begins graduate school at the University of Minnesota. Hailing from a rural Milwaukee suburb and having recently ended a serious long term relationship, Lila Eloise is navigating her way through a new state, new friends, and new love interests. If you made your way here from Small Town, Big Time, I'm happy to see you again and can't wait for you to see this new story! I am working on a few posts to get the blog up and running, so check back through the week; I promise to have one up by next Sunday! I am hoping to get into a posting schedule of Friday afternoons or Saturday mornings, but I have to feel out how the writing goes first. Until I have a set day, plan to see at least one post a week.
See you all soon!
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